;/  W'Vi : 

'•:-:,X (Wmi^&^l^dF/ISrtt^ 

^^W&'^^^^S^ 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


THE 


STATESMAN'S    MANUAL 


STATESMAN'S 

MANUAL 


M  ^.PRESIDENTS'  MESSAGES, 


INAUGURAL,  ANNUAL  AND  SPECIAL 

PROM 

1789  to    1846. 


EDWIN     WILLIAMS. 


NEW  YORK: 
EDWARD    WALKER. 


f. 


THE 


ADDRESSES  AND  MESSAGES 


OF   THE 


OP 

INAUGURAL,   ANNUAL,   AND   SPECIAL, 

FROM 

1789  TO  1846: 

WITH 

A  MEMOIR  OF  EACH  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS, 

AND 

A  HISTORY  OF  THEIR  ADMINISTRATIONS: 

ALSO 

THE  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES,  AND  A  SELECTION  OF 
IMPORTANT  DOCUMENTS  AND  STATISTICAL  INFORMATION. 


COMPILED    FROM    OFFICIAL    SOURCES, 

BY    EDWIN    WILLIAMS, 


IN    TWO    VOLUMES, 

VOL.   I. 


NEW    YORK: 
PUBLISHED    BY    K  D  W  A  R  D    WALKER, 

114    FULTON    STRKKT. 

1848. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1P4C, 

BY    EDWARD    WALKER, 

in  the  Clerk's  Oftice  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  State*,  in  and  for  die  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


STEREOTYPED    BY    KKDKI KM)   *   3AVAUE 
13  Ch«mb«r»  SUc*t,  N.  Y. 

R.  CRAIGHEAD,   PRINTER, 
(OR.   or    ri'LTON   AMD    DUTCH    STRICT*. 


THE    PEOPLE    OF 


THIS     W  O  P  K 

Is    3EUsjjectf  ullw    BcttfcateH, 

BY    THE 


INTRODUCTION. 


IN  the  compilation  of  the  work  which  is  contained  in  these  volumes, 
we  are  confident  that  we  have  performed  an  acceptable  service  to  the 
American  public.  Former  editions  of  the  presidents'  messages  have  been 
imperfect  and  incomplete  in  many  respects ;  particularly  in  having  been 
taken,  in  some  instances,  from  incorrect  copies,  and  abounding  in  typo- 
graphical errors ;  also  in  the  omission  of  numerous  important  special 
messages.  These  defects  we  have  now  endeavored  to  remedy ;  in  the 
first  place,  by  a  careful  comparison  of  the  copies  in  these  pages,  with 
official  documents  ;  and,  secondly,  by  diligent  research,  to  supply  the 
special  messages  and  inaugural  addresses  omitted  in  former  compila- 
tions. It  is  hoped  that  this  collection  will  be  found  to  contain  every 
address  and  message  of  all  our  presidents,  from  Washington  to  the  pres- 
ent chief  magistrate,  which  may  be  deemed  important  to  elucidate  the 
political  history  of  this  country,  or  to  satisfy  any  reference  that  may  be 
made  by  inquirers.  The  copious  index,  which  is  inserted  at  the  end 
of  the  second  volume,  is  a  new  feature  of  this  compilation,  that  former 
editions  have  wanted  ;  and,  of  course,  their  value  for  reference  has  been 
greatly  impaired,  by  that  omission. 

The  communications  of  the  executive  of  this  great  republic  to  the 
national  legislature,  and  the  expositions  of  his  policy  and  principles  to  his 
fellow-citizens,  on  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  high  office,  must  always 
be  of  interest  to  every  intelligent  and  patriotic  American.  To  most  of 
these  productions  of  statesmen  who  have  been  elevated  by  the  voice  of 
their  countrymen  to  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  nation,  we  may  point  with 
satisfaction,  as  containing  lessons  of  political  wisdom  which  will  endure 
through  all  time.  In  this  respect  they  will  compare  favorably  with  similar 
productions  in  the  annals  of  any  other  nation. 

To  render  these  writings  of  the  American  presidents  more  valuable  and 
complete,  as  a  continued  national  history,  from  the  adoption  of  our  con- 
stitution to  the  present  time,  we  have  accompanied  them  with  a  brief 
memoir  of  each  president,  and  a  history  of  the  events  of  his  administra- 
tion. The  latter  sketches  include  an  account  of  the  most  important 
transactions  of  Congress,  at  every  session  sinro  the  year  1789,  and  a  de- 


nil  INTRODUCTION. 

tail  of  the  prominent  political  events  and  movements  of  parties  during 
each  period. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  memoirs  of  the  presidents,  and  the  history 
of  their  administrations,  we  have  consulted  the  most  authentic  writers  on 
American  history,  as  will  appear  by  our  quotations  from  their  works  ;  to 
which  we  here  desire  to  express  our  acknowledgments.  In  this  portion 
of  our  labors,  we  have  endeavored  to  perform  the  part  of  a  faithful  and 
candid  historian,  whose  office  it  is  to  relate  events,  and  explain  causes, 
without  favor  or  prejudice.  We  feel  the  utmost  confidence  that  intelligent 
and  impartial  readers  will  duly  appreciate  this  task. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  Articles  of  Confederation, 
and  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  must  always  form  a  portion  of  the 
text-book  of  the  American  statesman  ;  and,  indeed,  of  every  citizen  who 
understands  his  duties  to  the  republic.  These  documents  are,  therefore, 
added  to  this  collection,  accompanied  with  notes,  and  an  historical  sketch 
of  the  political  events  which  led  to  the  adoption  of  these  Magna-  Char  (as 
of  our  liberties.  In  the  appendix  will  be  found  a  variety  of  useful  statis- 
tical information,  so  arranged  as  to  be  convenient  for  reference. 

The  American  who  loves  his  country,  will  examine  with  pleasi  ,-e,  as 
well  as  patriotic  pride,  the  political  history  unfolded  in  the  following 
voluminous  pages  of  documents,  biography,  and  narrative.  He  will  be- 
hold the  republic  founded  and  established  by  the  valor  and  wisdom  of  his 
ancestors,  in  the  different  stages  of  her  progress — from  the  dawn  of  her 
existence  as  an  independent  power,  through  the  blessing  of  Providence, 
overcoming  every  difficulty  and  danger — advancing  in  population,  wealth, 
and  territory,  until  she  has  acquired  the  first  rank,  in  physical  and  moral 
ability,  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

NEW  YORK,  January,  1846. 


CONTENTS. 


DECLARATION  or  INDEPENDENCE. » PAGE  xiii 

Articles  of  Confederation 1 

Constitution  of  the  United  States 9 

Amendments  to  the  Constitution .* 22 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  GEORGE  WASHINGTON 25 

Inaugural  Address,  April  30,  1789 31 

First  Annual  Address,  January  8,  1790 33 

Second  Annual  Address,  December  8,  1790 36 

Third  Annual  Address,  October  25,  1791 38 

Fourth  Annual  Address,  November  6,  1792 42 

Proclamation,  April  22, 1793 46 

Fifth  Annual  Address,  Decembers,  1793 47 

Special  Message,  December  5,  1793 • 50 

Proclamation,  August  7,  1794 51 

Proclamation,  September  25,  1794 , 54 

Sixth  Annual  Address,  November  19,  1794 55 

Seventh  Annual  Address,  December  8,  1795 60 

Eighth  Annual  Address,  December  7,  1796 64 

Farewell  Address,  September  17,  1796 69 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  WASHINGTON 79 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JOHN  ADAMS 95 

Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1797 103 

Address,  Special  Session,  May  16,  1797 107 

First  Annual  Address,  November  23,  1797 112 

Special  Message,  February  5, 1798 116 

Special  Message,  March  19,  1798 1 16 

Second  Annual  Address,  December  8,  1798 117 

Third  Annual  Address,  Decembers,  1799 121 

Special  Message,  December  23,  1799 124 

Special  Message,  January  8,  1800 125 

Fourth  Annual  Address,  November  22,  1800 125 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  JOHN  ADAMS 129 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 139 

Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1801 149 

First  Annual  Message,  December  8,  1801 152 

Second  Annual  Message,  December  15,  1802 158 

Special  Message,  January  28,  1802 161 

Special  Message,  February  24,  1803 162 

Third  Annual  Message,  October  17,  1803 162 

Special  Message,  October  21,  1803 166 

Special  Message,  November  4,  1803 167 

Special  Message,  November  25,  1803 167 

Special  Message,  December  5,  1803 168 

Special  Message,  January  16,  1804 168 

Special  Message,  March  20,  1804 169 

Fourth  Annual  Message,  November  8,  1804 169 


X  CONTENTS. 

Second  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1805 PAGE  173 

Fifth  Annual  Message,  December  3,  1805 177 

Special  Message,  January  13,  1806 182 

Special  Message,  January  17, 1806 181 

Special  Message,  February  3, 1806 181 

Special  Message,  February  19,  1806 183 

Special  Message,  March  20,  1806 186 

Special  Message,  April  M,  1806 186 

Sixth  Annual  Message,  December  2,  1806 187 

Special  Message,  December  3,  1806 19:2 

Special  Message,  January  22,  1807 193 

Special  Message,  January  28,  1807 1!*7 

Special  Message,  January  31,  1807 197 

Special  Message,  February  10,  1807 198 

Seventh  Annual  Message,  October  27,  1807 200 

Special  Message,  November  23,  1807 204 

Special  Message,  December  18,  1807.: 204 

Special  Message,  January  20,  1808 201 

Special  Message,  January  30,  1808 206 

Special  Message,  January  30,  1808 207 

Special  Message,  February  2,  1808 207 

Special  Message,  February  4,  1808  208 

Special  Message,  February  9,  1808 208 

Special  Message,  February  15,  1808 209 

Special  Message,  February  19,  1808 209 

Special  Message,  February  25,  1808 210 

Special  Message,  March  7,  1808 210 

Special  Message,  March  17,  1808 211 

Special  Message,  March  18,  1808 211 

Special  Message,  March  22,  1808 '. 212 

Eighth  Annual  Message,  November  8,  1808 213 

Special  Message,  December  30,  1808 218 

Special  Message,  January  6, 1809 . 218 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  JEFFERSON 219 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JAMES  MADISON 267 

Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1809 273 

Message,  Special  Session,  May  23,  1809 275 

First  Annual  Message,  November  29,  1809: 277 

Special  Message,  January  3,  1810 280 

Second  Annual  Message,  December  5,  1810 281 

Special  Message,  February  21,  1811 285 

Special  Message,  February  28,  181 1 286 

Third  Annual  Message,  November  5,  181 1 286 

Special  Message,  December  12,  181 1 , 290 

Special  Message,  December  23,  181 1 291 

Special  Message,  March  9,  1812 291 

Confidential  Message,  April  1,  1812 292 

Special  Message,  April  3,  1812 292 

Special  Message,  April  20,  1812 293 

Confidential  Message,  June  1,  1812 293 

Fourth  Annual  Message,  November  4,  1812 298 

Special  Message,  November  6,  1812 304 

Special  Message,  December  12,  1812 304 

Special  Message,  February  22,  1813 305 

Special  Message,  February  24,  1813 305 

Second  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1813 306 

Message,  Special  Session,  May  25,  1813 308 

Confidential  Message,  July  20,  1813 311 

Fifth  Annual  Message,  December  7,  1813 312 

Confidential  Message,  December  9,  1813 317 

Special  Message,  February  26,  1814 :.  318 

Special  Messaze,  March  31,  1814 319 

Sixth  Annual  Message,  September  20,  1814 319 

Bank-Veto  Message,  January  30,  1815 323 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Special  Message,  February  20,  1815 PAGE  325 

Special  Message,  February  25,  1815 327 

Confidential  Message,  February  23,  1815 327 

Seventh  Annual  Message,  December  5,  1815 328 

Eighth  Annual  Message,  December  3,  1816 333 

Special  Message,  April  11,  1816 339 

Special  Message,  December  6,  1816 339 

Special  Message,  December  26,  1816 339 

Special  Message,  February  3,  1817 340 

Special  Message,  February  6,  1817   340 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  MADISON 341 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JAMES  MONROE 383 

Inaugural  Address,  March  5,  1817 391 

First  Annual  Message,  December  2,  1817 396 

Second  Annual  Message,  November  17,  1818 404 

Third  Annual  Message,  December  7,  1819 411 

Fourth  Annual  Message,  November  14,  1820 419 

Second  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1821 426 

Fifth  Annual  Message,  December  3,  1821 433 

Sixth  Annual  Message,  December  3,  1822 443 

Seventh  Annual  Message,  December  2,  1823 451 

Special  Message,  February  24,  1824. .    462 

Eighth  Annual  Message,  December  7,  1824 465 

Special  Message,  January  13,  1818 479 

Special  Message,  December  17,  1819 481 

Special  Message,  February  25,  1822 482 

Special  Message,  March  8,  1822 483 

Special  Message,  March  26,  1822 485 

Cumberland  Road  Message,  May  4,  1822 491 

Special  Message,  May  4,  1822 492 

Special  Message,  January  5,  1825 635 

Special  Message,  January  10,  1825 536 

Special  Message,  January  27,  1825 536 

Special  Message,  February  14,  1825 538 

Special  Message,  February  17, 1825 539 

Special  Message,  February  21,  1825 539 

Special  Message,  February  26,  1825 540 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  MONROE 541 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS 563 

Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1825 575 

First  Annual  Message,  December  6,  1825 580 

Second  Annual  Message,  December  9,  1826 594 

Third  Annual  Message,  December  8,  1827 607 

Fourth  Annual  Message,  December  2,  1828 619 

Special  Message,  February  16,  1826 631 

Special  Message,  March  15,  1826 632 

Special  Message,  March  30,  1826 641 

Special  Message,  February  5,  1827 642 

Proclamation,  March  17,  1827 644 

Special  Message,  March  4,  1828 645 

Special  Message,  April  17,  1828 646 

Special  Message,  April  30,  1828 647 

Special  Message,  March  3,  1829 647 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS 649 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKKTCH  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON 671 

Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1829 '. .   695 

First  Annual  Message,  December  8,  1829 697 

Special  Message,  January  5,  1830 714 

Special  Message,  January  2t>,  1830 715 

Special  Message,  May  30,  1830 . . .    719 

Maysville  Road  Veto  Message,  May  27,  1830 719 

Special  Message,  May  26,  1830 !   828 


ft 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE, 

JULY    4th,    1776. 


THE    UNANIMOUS    DECLARATION    OF    THE    THIRTEEN    UNITED    STATES    OF 
AMERICA    IN    CONGRESS    ASSEMBLED. 

WHEN,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary  for  one 
people  to  dissolve  the  political  bands  which  have  connected  them  with 
another,  and  to  assume  among  the  powers  of  the  earth  the  separate  and 
equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitled  them, 
a  decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  they  should  de- 
clare the  causes  which  impel  them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident :  that  all  men  are  created  equal ; 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights ; 
that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  that,  to 
secure  these  rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their 
just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed ;  that,  whenever  any  form 
of  government  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the 
people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  new  government,  laying  its 
foundation  on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form,  as 
to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  happiness.  Pru- 
dence, indeed,  will  dictate  that  governments  long  established  should  not  be 
changed  for  light  and  transient  causes  ;  and,  accordingly,  all  experience 
hath  shown  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  are 
sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which  they 
are  accustomed.  But  when  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations, 
pursuing  invariably  the  same  object,  evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them  under 
absolute  despotism,  it  is  their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  such 
government,  and  to  provide  new  guards  for  their  future  security.  Such  has 
been  the  patient  sufferance  of  these  colonies,  and  such  is  now  the  necessity 
which  constrains  them  to  alter  their  former  systems  of  government.  The 
history  of  the  present  king  of  Great  Britain  is  a  history  of  repeated  injuries 
and  usurpations,  all  having  in  direct  object  the  establishment  of  an  absolute 
tyranny  over  these  states.  To  prove  this,  let  facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid 
world  : — 

He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most  wholesome  and  necessary 
for  the  public  good. 

He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  laws  of  immediate  and  pressing 
importance,  unless  suspended  in  their  operation  till  his  assent  should  be 


XIV  DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE. 

obtained  ;  and,  when  so  suspended,  he  has  utterly  neglected  to  attend 
to  them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  fdl  the  accommodation  of  large 
districts  of  people,  unless  those  people  would  relinquish  the  right  of 
representation  in  the  legislature — a  right  inestimable  to  them,  and  formi- 
dable to  tyrants  only. 

He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies  at  places  unusual,  uncomfort- 
able, and  distant  from  the  repository  of  their  public  records,  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  fatiguing  them  into  compliance  with  his  measures. 

He  has  dissolved  representative  houses  repeatedly  for  opposing  with 
manly  firmness  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of  the  people. 

He  has  refused,  for  a  long  time  after  such  dissolutions,  to  cause  others  to 
be  elected  ;  whereby  the  legislative  powers,  incapable  of  annihilation,  have 
returned  to  the  people  at  large  for  their  exercise — the  state  remaining,  in 
the  meantime,  exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of  invasion  from  without  and 
convulsions  within. 

He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  states — for  that 
purpose  obstructing  the  laws  of  naturalization  of  foreigners,  refusing  to  pass 
others  to  encourage  their  migration  hither,  and  raising  the  conditions  of 
new  appropriations  of  lands. 

He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice,  by  refusing  his  assent 
to  laws  for  establishing  judiciary  powers. 

He  has  made  judges  dependent  on  his  will  alone  for  the  tenure  of  their 
offices  and  the  amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries. 

He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  and  sent  hither  swarms  of 
officers  to  harass  our  people  and  eat  out  their  substance. 

He  has  kept  among  us,  in  times  of  peace,  standing  armies,  without  the 
consent  of  our  legislatures. 

He  has  affected  to  render  the  military  independent  of,  and  superior  to, 
the  civil  power. 

He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to  a  jurisdiction  foreign  to  our 
constitution  and  unacknowledged  by  our  laws — giving  his  assent  to  their 
acts  of  pretended  legislation. 

For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  troops  among  us  ; 

For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  trial,  from  punishment  for  any  murders 
which  they  should  commit  on  the  inhabitants  of  these  states  ; 

For  cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world ; 

For  imposing  taxes  on  us  without  our  consent; 

For  depriving  us,  in  many  cases,  of  the  benefits  of  trial  by  jury ; 

For  transporting  us  beyond  seas  to  be  tried  for  pretended  offences  ; 

For  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws  in  a  neighboring  province, 
establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government,  and  enlarging  its  boundaries, 
so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for  introducing  the 
same  absolute  rule  uto  these  colonies  ; 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  XV 

For  taking  away  our  charters,  abolishing  our  most  valuable  laws,  and 
altering,  fundamentally,  the  forms  of  our  governments  ; 

For  suspending  our  own  legislatures,  and  declaring  themselves  invested 
with  power  to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  government  here  by  declaring  us  out  of  his  protection 
and  waging  war  against  us. 

He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  coasts,  burnt  our  towns,  and 
destroyed  the  lives  of  our  people. 

He  is  at  this  time  transporting  large  armies  of  foreign  mercenaries  to 
complete  the  works  of  death,  desolation,  and  tyranny",  already  begun  with 
circumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy  scarcely  paralleled  in  the  most  bar- 
barous ages,  and  totally  unworthy  the  head  of  a  civilized  nation. 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow-citizens,  taken  captive  on  the  high  seas,  to 
bear  arms  against  their  country,  to  become  the  executioners  of  their  friends 
and  brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves  by  their  hands. 

He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections  among  us,  and  has  endeavored 
to  bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers  the  merciless  Indian  savages, 
whose  known  rule  of  warfare  is  an  undistinguished  destruction  of  all  ages, 
sexes,  and  conditions. 

In  every  stage  of  these  oppressions,  we  have  petitioned  for  redress  in  the 
most  humble  terms.  Our  repeated  petitions  have  been  answered  only  by 
repeated  injury.  A  prince,  whose  character  is  thus  marked  by  every  act 
which  may  define  a  tyrant,  is  unfit  to  be  the  ruler  of  a  free  people. 

Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attentions  to  our  British  brethren.  We 
have  warned  them,  from  time  to  time,  of  attempts,  by  their  legislature, 
to  extend  an  unwarrantable  jurisdiction  over  us.  We  have  reminded  them 
of  the  circumstances  of  our  emigration  and  settlement  here.  We  have  re- 
pealed to  their  native  justice  and  magnanimity,  and  we  have  conjured  them, 
by  the  ties  of  our  common  kindred,  to  disavow  these  usurpations,  which 
would  inevitably  interrupt  our  connexions  and  correspondence.  They, 
too,  have  been  deaf  to  the  voice  of  justice  and  of  consanguinity.  We 
must,  therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  necessity  which  denounces  our  separa- 
tion, and  hold  them,  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in  war,  in 
peace,  friends. 

We,  therefore,  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in 
general  Congress  assembled,  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  World 
for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do,  in  the  name,  and  by  the  authority  of 
the  good  people  of  these  colonies,  solemnly  publish  and  declare  that  these 
united  colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  states ; 
that  they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and  that  all 
political  connexion  between  them  and  the  state  of  Great  Britain  is,  and 
ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved  ;  and  that,  as  free  and  independent  states, 
they  have  full  power  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract  alliances,  estab- 
lish commerce,  and  to  do  all  other  acts  and  things  which  independent 


XVI 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


•tates  may  of  right  do.  And  for  the  support  of  this  declaration,  with  a  firm 
reliance  on  the  protection  of  Divine  Providence,  we  mutually  pledge  to 
each  other  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor. 

The  foregoing  declaration  was,  by  order  of  Congress,  engrossed  and 
signed  by  the  following  members  : — 

JOHN  HANCOCK. 


NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

JOSIAH  BARTLETT, 
WILLIAM  WHIPPLE, 
MATTHEW  THORNTON. 

MASSACHUSETTS  BAY 

SAMUEL  ADAMS, 
JOHN  ADAMS, 
ROBERT  TREAT  PAINE, 
BLBRIDOE  GERRY. 

RHODE  ISLAND. 
STEPHEN  HOPKINS, 
WILLIAM  ELLKRY. 

CONNECTICUT. 

ROGER  SHERMAN, 
SAMUEL  HUNTINGTON, 
WILLIAM  WILLIAMS, 
OLIVER  WOLCOTT. 

NEW  YORK 
WILLIAM  FLOYD, 
PHILIP  LIVINGSTON, 
FRANCIS  LEWIS, 
Liwii  MORJUI. 


NEW  JERSEY. 

RICHARD  STOCKTON, 
JOHN  WITHKRSPOON, 
FRANCIS  HOPKINSON, 
JOHN  HART, 
ABRAHAM  CLARK. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

ROBERT  MORRIS, 
BENJAMIN  RUSH, 
BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN, 
JOHN  MORTON, 
GEORGE  CLYMER, 
JAMES  SMITH, 
GEORGE  TAYLOR, 
JAMES  WILSON, 
GEORGE  Ross. 

DELAWARE. 

C.ESAR  RODNEY, 
GEORGE  READ, 
THOMAS  M'KEAX. 

MARYLAND. 

SAMUEL  CHASE, 
WILLIAM  PACA, 


THOMAS  STONE,  [ton 

CHARLES  CARROLL,  of  Carroll- 

VIRGINIA. 
GEORGE  WYTHE, 
RICHARD  HENRY  LEE, 
THOMAS  JKFFERSOK, 
BENJAMIN  HARRISON, 
THOMAS  NELSON,  JK. 
FRANCIS  LIGHTFOOT  LEE, 
CARTER  BRAXTON, 

NORTH  CAROLINA 
WILLIAM  HOOPER, 
JOSEPH  HEWES, 
JOHN  PENN. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. 
EDWARD  RUTLEDGE, 
THOMAS  HEYWARD,  JR. 
THOMAS  LYNCH,  JR. 
ARTHUR  MIDDLETON. 

GEORGIA. 

BUTTON  GWINNETT, 
LYMAN  HALL, 
GEOKGE  WALTOR. 


ARTICLES  OF   CONFEDERATION, 

TO  JLL  TO  WHOM  THESE  PRESENTS  SHALL  COME,  WE,  THE  UNDERSIGNED, 
DELEGATES  OF  THE  STATES  AFFIXED  TO  OUR  NAMES,  SEND  GREETING. 

WHEREAS,  the  delegates  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress 
assembled  did,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven,  and  in  the  second  year 
of  the  independence  of  America,  agree  to  certain  articles  of  confederation 
and  perpetual  Union  between  the  states  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts 
Bay,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut,  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  in  the  words  following,  viz.  : — 

Articles  of  Confederation  and  perpetual  Union  between  the  States  of  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Planta- 
tions, Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia. 

ARTICLE  1.  The  style  of  this  confederacy  shall  be,"  The  United  States 
of  America." 

ARTICLE  2.  Each  state  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  independ- 
ence, and  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right,  which  is  not  by  this  con- 
federation expressly  delegated  to  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled. 

ARTICLE  3.  The  said  states  hereby  severally  enter  into  a  firm  league 
of  friendship  with  each  other  for  their  common  defence,  the  security  of 
their  liberties,  and  their  mutual  and  general  welfare ;  binding  themselves 
to  assist  each  other  against  all  force  offered  to,  or  attacks  made  upon 
them,  or  any  of  them,  on  account  of  religion,  sovereignty,  trade,  or  any 
other  pretence  whatever. 

ARTICLE  4.  The  better  to  secure  and  perpetuate  mutual  friendship,  and 
intercourse  among  the  people  of  the  different  states  in  this  Union,  the  free 
inhabitants  of  each  of  these  states,  paupers,  vagabonds,  and  fugitives  from 
justice,  excepted,  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  free 
citizens  in  the  several  states  ;  and  the  people  of  each  state  shall  have  free 
ingress  and  regress  to  and  from  any  other  state,  and  shall  enjoy  therein 
all  the  privileges  of  trade  and  commerce  subject  to  the  same  duties,  im- 
positions, and  restrictions,  as  the  inhabitants  thereof  respectively,  provided 
that  such  restrictions  shall  not  extend  so  far  as  to  prevent  the  removal  of 
property  imported  into  any  state  to  any  other  state,  of  which  the  owner  is 
an  inhabitant ;  provided  also,  that  no  imposition,  duties,  or  restriction, 

VOL.  I.— 1 


2  ARTICLES    OF    CONFEDERATION. 

shall  be  laid  by  any  state  on  the  property  of  the  United  States  or  either 
of  them. 

If  any  person  guilty  of  or  charged  with  treason,  felony,  or  other  high 
misdemeanor,  in  any  state,  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  any  of 
the  United  States,  he  shall,  upon  demand  of  the  governor  or  executive 
power  of  the  state  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up  and  removed  to  the 
state  having  jurisdiction  of  his  offence. 

Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  of  these  slates  to  the  records, 
acts,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  the  courts  and  magistrates  of  every  other 
state. 

ARTICLE  5.  For  the  more  convenient  management  of  the  general  interests 
of  the  United  States,  delegates  ahull  be  annually  appointed  in  such  manner 
as  the  legislature  of  each  state  shall  direct  to  meet  in  Congress  on  the 
first  Monday  in  November,  in  every  year,  with  a  power  reserved  to  each 
state  to  recall  its  delegates  or  any  of  them,  at  any  time  within  the  year, 
and  to  send  others  in  their  stead  for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

No  state  shall  be  represented  in  Congress  by  less  than  two,  nor  by 
more  than  seven  members ;  and  no  person  shall  be  capable  of  being  a 
delegate  for  more  than  three  years  in  any  term  of  six  years  ;  nor  shall  any 
person,  being  a  delegate,  be  capable  of  holding  any  office  under  the  United 
States,  for  which  he,  or  another  for  his  benefit,  receives  any  salary,  fees, 
or  emoluments  of  any  kind. 

Each  state  shall  maintain  its  own  delegates  in  a  meeting  of  the  states, 
and  while  they  act  as  members  of  the  commitee  of  the  states. 

In  determining  questions  in  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled, 
each  state  shall  have  one  vote. 

Freedom  of  speech  and  debate  in  Congress  shall  not  be  impeached  or 
questioned  in  any  court  or  place  out  of  Congress  ;  and  the  members  of 
Congress  shall  be  protected  in  their  persons  from  arrests  and  imprison- 
ments, during  the  time  of  their  going  to  and  from  and  attendance  on  Con- 
gress, except  for  treason,  felony,  or  breach  of  the  peace. 

ARTICLE  6.  No  state,  without  the  consent  of  the  United  States  in  Con- 
gress assembled,  shall  send  any  embassy  to,  or  receive  any  embassy  from, 
or  enter  into  any  conference,  agreement,  alliance,  or  treaty,  with  any  king, 
prince,  or  state ;  nor  shall  any  person  holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust 
under  the  United  States,  or  any  of  them,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument, 
office  or  title  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  king,  prince,  or  foreign  state  ; 
nor  shall  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  or  any  of  them,  grant 
any  title  of  nobility. 

No  two  or  more  states  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  confederation,  or 
alliance  whatever,  between  them,  without  the  consent  of  the  United  States 
iu  Congress  assembled,  specifying  accurately  the  purposes  for  which  the 
same  is  to  be  entered  into  and  how  long  it  shall  continue. 

No  state  shall  lay  any  imposts  or  duties,  which  may  interfere  with  any 
stipulations  in  treaties  entered  into  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  as- 
sembled, with  any  king,  prince,  or  state,  in  pursuance  of  any  treaties  al- 
ready proposed  by  Congress  to  the  courts  of  France  and  Spain. 

No  vessel-of-war  shall  be  kept  up  in  time  of  peace  by  any  state,  except 
such  number  only  as  shall  be  deemed  necessary  by  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled  for  the  defence  of  such  state  or  its  trade ;  nor  shall 
any  body  of  forces  be  kept  up  by  any  state  in  time  of  peace,  except  such 
number  only  as  in  the  judgment  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  as- 


ARTICLES    OF    CONFEDERATION.  3 

sembled,  shall  be  deemed  requisite  to  garrison  the  forts  necessary  for 
the  defence  of  such  state  ;  but  every  state  shall  always  keep  up  a  well- 
regulated  and  disciplined  militia,  sufficiently  armed  and  accoutred,  and 
shall  provide  and  have  constantly  ready  for  use,  in  public  stores,  a  due 
number  of  field-pieces  and  tents,  and  a  proper  quantity  of  arms,  ammu- 
nition, and  camp  equipage. 

No  state  shall  engage  in  any  war  without  the  consent  of  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,  unless  such  state  be  actually  invaded  by 
enemies  or  shall  have  received  certain  advice  of  a  resolution  being  formed 
by  some  nation  of  Indians  to  invade  such  state,  and  the  danger  is  so  im- 
minent as  not  to  admit  of  a  delay  till  the  United  States  in  Congress  as- 
sembled can  be  consulted ;  nor  shall  any  state  grant  commissions  to  any 
ships  or  vessels-of-war,  nor  letters  of  marque  or  reprisal,  except  it  be  after 
a  declaration  of  war  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  and  then 
only  against  the  kingdom  or  state,  and  the  subjects  thereof,  against  which 
Avar  has  been  so  declared,  and  under  such  regulations  as  shall  be  estab- 
lished by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  unless  such  state  be 
infested  by  pirates,  in  which  case  vessels-of-war  may  be  fitted  out  for  that 
occasion,  and  kept  so  long  as  the  danger  shall  continue,  or  until  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  determine  otherwise. 

ARTICLE  7.  When  land  forces  are  raised  by  any  state  for  the  common 
defence,  all  officers  of  or  under  the  rank  of  colonel,  shall  be  appointed  by 
the  legislature  of  each  state  respectively,  by  whom  such  forces  shall  be 
raised,  or  in  such  manner  as  such  state  shall  direct,  and  all  vacancies 
shall  be  filled  up  by  the  state  which  first  made  the  appointment. 

ARTICLE  8.  All  charges  of  war,  and  all  other  expenses  that  shall  be 
incurred  for  the  common  defence  or  general  welfare,  and  allowed  by  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  be  defrayed  out  of  a  common 
treasury,  which  shall  be  supplied  by  the  several  states  in  proportion  to  the 
value  of  all  land  within  each  state  granted  to  or  surveyed  for  any  person, 
as  such  land  and  the  buildings  and  improvements  thereon  shall  be  estima- 
ted according  to  such  mode  as  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled 
shall  from  time  to  time  direct  and  appoint. 

The  taxes  for  paying  that  proportion  shall  be  laid  and  levied  by  the 
authority  and  direction  of  the  legislatures  of  the  several  states,  within  the 
time  agreed  upon  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled. 

AKTICI.K  9.  The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  have  the 
sole  and  exclusive  right  and  power  of  determining  on  peace  and  war,  ex- 
cept in  the  cases  mentioned  in  the  sixth  article — of  sending  and  receiving 
ambassadors — entering  into  treaties  and  alliances  ;  provided,  that  no  treaty 
of  commerce  shall  be  made  whereby  the  legislative  power  of  the  respective 
states  shall  be  restrained  from  imposing  such  imposts  and  duties  on 
foreigners  as  their  own  people  are  subjected  to,  or  from  prohibiting  the 
exportation  or  importation  of  any  species  of  goods  or  commodities  what- 
soever— of  establishing  rules  for  deciding  in  all  cases,  what  captures  on 
land  or  water  shall  be  legal,  and  in  what  manner  prizes  taken  by  land  or 
naval  forces  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  shall  be  divided  or  appro- 
priated— of  granting  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  in  times  of  peace — ap- 
pointing court;  for  the  trial  of  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high 
seas,  and  establishing  courts  for  receiving  and  determining  finally  appeals 
in  all  cases  of  captures  :  provided,  that  no  member  of  Congress  shall  be 
appointed  ;i  judge  of  any  of  the  caid  courts. 


4  ARTICLES    OF    CONFEDERATION. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  also  be  the  last  resort 
on  appeal  in  all  disputes  and  differences  now  subsisting  or  that  hereafter 
may  arise  between  two  or  more  states  concerning  boundary,  jurisdiction 
or  any  other  cause  whatever ;  which  authority  shall  always  be  exercised 
in  the  manner  following  :  whenever  the  legislative  or  executive  authority 
or  lawful  agent  of  any  state  in  controversy  with  another  shall  present  a 
petition  to  Congress,  stating  the  matter  in  question,  and  praying  for  a 
hearing,  notice  thereof  shall  be  given  by  order  of  Congress  to  the  legis- 
lative or  executive  authority  of  the  other  state  in  controversy,  and  a  day 
assigned  for  the  appearance  of  the  parties,  by  their  lawful  agents,  who 
shall  then  be  directed  to  appoint  by  joint  consent  commissioners  or  judges 
to  constitute  a  court  for  bearing  and  determining  the  matter  in  question ; 
but  if  they  can  not  agree,  Congress  shall  name  three  persons  out  of  each 
of  the  United  States,  and  from  the  list  of  such  persons  each  party  shall 
alternately  strike  out  one,  the  petitioners  beginning  until  the  number  shall 
be  reduced  to  thirteen  ;  and  from  that  number  not  less  than  seven  nor 
more  than  nine  names,  as  Congress  shall  direct  shall,  in  the  presence  of 
Congress,  be  drawn  out  by  lot;  and  the  persons  whose  names  shall  be  so 
drawn,  or  any  rive  of  them,  shall  be  commissioners  or  judges,  to  hear  and 
finally  determine  the  controversy,  so  always  as  a  major  part  of  the  judges, 
who  shall  hear  the  cause,  shall  agree  in  the  determination  :  and  if  either 
party  shall  neglect  to  attend  at  the  day  appointed,  without  showing  reasons 
which  Congress  shall  judge  sufficient,  or  being  present  shall  refuse  to 
strike,  the  Congress  shall  proceed  to  nominate  three  persons  out  of  each 
state,  and  the  secretary  of  Congress  shall  strike  in  behalf  of  such  party 
absent  or  refusing  ;  and  the  judgment  and  sentence  of  the  court  to  be  ap- 
pointed in  the  manner  before  prescribed,  shall  be  final  and  conclusive  , 
and  if  any  of  the  parties  shall  refuse  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  such 
court,  or  to  appear,  or  defend  their  claim  or  cause,  the  court  shall  never- 
theless proceed  to  pronounce  sentence  or  judgment,  which  shall  in  like 
manner  be  final  and  decisive,  the  judgment  or  sentence  and  other  proceed- 
ings, being  in  either  case  transmitted  to  Congress,  and  lodged  among  the 
acts  of  Congress  for  the  security  of  the  parties  concerned  :  provided,  that 
every  commissioner,  before  he  sits  in  judgment,  shall  take  an  oath,  to  be 
administered  by  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  or  superior  court  of  the 
slate,  where  the  cause  shall  be  tried,  '*  well  and  truly  to  hear  and  deter- 
mine the  matter  in  question,  according  to  the  best  of  his  judgment,  without 
favor,  affection,  or  hope  of  reward  :"  provided  also,  that  no  state  shall  be 
deprived  of  territory  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States. 

All  controversies  concerning  the  private  right  of  soil,  claimed  under 
different  grants  of  two  or  more  states,  whose  jurisdiction  as  they  may 
respect  such  lands  and  the  states  which  passed  such  grants  are  adjusted, 
the  said  grants  or  either  of  them  being  at  the  same  time  claimed  to  have 
originated  antecedent  to  such  settlement  of  jurisdiction,  shall,  on  the  peti- 
tion of  either  party  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  be  finally  deter- 
mined, as  near  as  may  be,  in  the  same  mariner  as  is  before  prescribed  for 
deciding  disputes  respecting  territorial  jurisdiction  between  different 
states. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  also  have  the  sole  and 
exclusive  right  and  power  of  regulating  the  alloy  and  value  of  coin  struck 
by  their  own  authority,  or  by  that  of  the  respective  states — fixing  the 
standard  of  weights  and  measures  throughout  the  United  States — regulating 


ARTICLES    OF    CONFEDERATION.  5 

the  trade  and  managing  all  affairs  with  the  Indians  not  members  of  any  of  the 
states  ;  provided  that  the  legislative  right  of  any  state  within  its  own  limits 
be  not  infringed  or  violated — establishing  and  regulating  postoffices  from 
one  state  to  another  throughout  all  the  United  States,  and  exacting  such 
postage  on  the  papers  passing  through  the  same,  as  may  be  requisite  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  said  office — appointing  all  officers  of  the  land 
forces  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  excepting  regimental  officers — 
appointing  all  the  officers  of  the  naval  forces,  and  commissioning  all 
officers  whatever  in  the  service  of  the  United  States — making  rules  for  the 
government  and  regulation  of  the  said  land  and  naval  forces,  and  directing 
their  operations. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  have  authority  to  ap- 
point a  committee  to  sit  in  the  recess  of  Congress,  to  be  denominated  "  a 
committee  of  the  states,"  and  to  consist  of  one  delegate  from  each  state  ; 
and  to  appoint  such  other  committees  and  civil  officers  as  may  be  necessary 
for  managing  the  general  affairs  of  the  United  States,  under  their  direc- 
tion— to  appoint  owe  of  their  number  to  preside,  provided  that  no  person 
be  allowed  to  serve  in  the  office  of  president  more  than  one  year  in  any 
term  of  three  years — to  ascertain  the  necessary  sums  of  money  to  be 
raised  for  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  to  appropriate  and  apply 
the  same  for  defraying  the  public  expenses — to  borrow  money  or  emit 
bills  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  transmitting  every  half  year  to  the 
respective  states  an  account  of  the  sums  of  money  so  borrowed  or  emitted 
— to  build  and  equip  a  navy — to  agree  upon  the  number  of  land  forces,  and 
to  make  requisitions  from  each  state  for  its  quota,  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  white  inhabitants  in  such  state  ;  which  requisition  shall  be 
binding,  and  thereupon  the  legislature  of  each  state  shall  appoint  the  regi- 
mental officers,  raise  the  men,  and  clothe,  arm,  and  equip  them,  in  a  soldier- 
like manner,  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States;  and  the  officers  and 
men  so  clothed,  armed,  and  equipped,  shall  march  to  the  place  appointed, 
and  within  the  time  agreed  on  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  : 
but  if  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall,  on  consideration  of 
circumstances,  judge  proper  that  any  state  should  not  raise  men  or  should 
raise  a  smaller  number  than  its  quota,  and  that  any  other  state  should  raise 
a  greater  number  of  men  than  the  quota  thereof,  such  extra  number  shall 
be  raised,  officered,  clothed,  armed,  and  equipped,  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  quota  of  such  state,  unless  the  legislature  of  such  state  shall  judge 
that  such  extra  number  can  not  safely  be  spared  out  of  the  same  ;  in  which 
case  they  shall  raise,  officer,  clothe,  arm,  and  equip,  as  many  of  such 
extra  number  as  they  judge  can  be  safely  spared.  And  the  officers 
and  men  so  clothed,  armed,  and  equipped,  shall  march  to  the  place  ap- 
pointed, and  within  the  time  agreed  on  by  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  never  engage  in  a  war, 
nor  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  in  time  of  peace,  nor  enter  into 
any  treaties  or  alliances,  nor  coin  money,  nor  regulate  the  value  thereof, 
nor  ascertain  the  sums  and  expenses  necessary  for  the  defence  and  wel- 
fare of  the  United  Stales  or  any  of  them,  nor  emit  bills,  nor  borrow  money 
on  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  nor  appropriate  money,  nor  agree  upon 
(he  number  of  vessels-of-war  to  be  built  or  purchased,  or  the  number  of 
land  or  vea  forces  to  be  raised,  nor  appoint  a  coinmander-in-chief  of  the 
army  or  navy,  unless  nine  states  assent  to  the  same ;  nor  shall  a  question 


6  ARTICLES    OF    CONFEDERATION. 

on  any  other  point,  except  for  adjourning  from  clay  to  day,  be  determined, 
unless  by  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  United  Slates  in  Congress  as- 
sembled. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  shall  have  power  to  adjourn  to  any 
time  within  the  year,  and  to  any  place  within  the  United  States,  so  that 
no  period  of  adjournment  be  for  a  longer  duration  than  the  space  of  six 
months  ;  and  shall  publish  the  journal  of  their  proceedings  monthly,  ex- 
cept such  parts  thereof  re-luting  to  treaties,  alliances,  or  military  operations, 
as  in  their  judgment  require  secresy ;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  dele- 
gates of  each  state  on  any  question  shall  be  entered  on  the  journal,  when 
it  is  desired  by  any  delegate  ;  and  the  delegates  of  a  state,  or  any  of  them, 
at  his  or  their  request,  shall  be  furnished  with  a  transcript  of  the  said 
journal,  except  such  parts  as  are  above  excepted,  to  lay  before  the  legis- 
latures of  the  several  states. 

ARTICLE  10.  The  committee  of  the  states,  or  any  nine  of  them,  sh  ill  be 
authorized  to  execute,  in  the  recess  of  Congress,  such  of  the  powers  of 
Congress  as  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  by  the  consent  ol 
nine  states,  shall  from  time  to  time,  think  expedient  to  vest  them  with  ; 
provided  that  no  power  be  delegated  to  the  said  committee,  for  the  exercise 
of  which,  by  the  articles  of  confederation,  the  voice  of  nine  states  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  assembled  is  requisite. 

ARTICLE  11.  Canada,  acceding  to  this  confederation,  and  joining  in  the 
measures  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  admitted  into,  and  entitled  to,  all 
the  advantages  of  this  Union  ;  but  no  other  colony  shall  be  admitted  into 
the  same  unless  such  admission  be  agreed  to  by  nine  states. 

ARTICLE  12.  All  bills  of  credit  emitted,  moneys  borrowed,  and  debts 
contracted,  by  or  under  the  authority  of  Congress,  before  the  assembling 
•  of  the  United  States,  in  pursuance  of  the  present  confederation,  shall  be 
deemed  and  considered  as  a  charge  against  the  United  States,  for  payment 
and  satisfaction  whereof  the  said  United  States  and  the  public  faith  are 
hereby  solemnly  pledged. 

ARTICLE  13.  Every  state  shall  abide  by  the  decision  of  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,  on  all  questions  which,  by  this  confedera- 
tion, are  submitted  to  them.  And  the  articles  of  this  confederation  shall 
be  inviolably  observed  by  every  state,  and  the  Union  sEairtJe  perpetual ; 
nor  shall  any  alteration  at  any  time  hereafter  be  ruade~iu  any"of  Them,  un- 
less such  alteration  be  agreed  to  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and 
be  afterward  confirmed  by  the  legislature  of  every  state. 

And  whereas  it  has  pleased  the  great  Governor  of  the  world  to  incline 
the  hearts  of  the  legislatures  we  respectively  represent  in  Congress,  to 
approve  of  and  to  authorize  us  to  ratify  the  said  articles  of  confederation 
and  perpetual  Union :  know  ye,  that  we,  the  undersigned  delegates,  by 
virtue  of  the  power  and  authority  to  us  given  for  that  purpose,  do,  by  these 
presents,  in  the  name  and  in  behalf  of  our  respective  constituents,  fully 
and  entirely  ratify  and  confirm  each  and  every  of  the  said  articles  of  con- 
federation and  perpetual  Union,  and  all  and  singular  the  matters  and  things 
therein  contained  ;  and  we  do  further  solemnly  plight  and  engage  the  faith 
of  our  respective  constituents,  that  they  shall  abide  by  the  determinations 
of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  on  all  questions  which,  by  the 
said  confederation,  are  submitted  to  them  ;  and  that  the  articles  thereof 
shall  be  inviolably  observed  by  the  states  we  respectively  represent ;  and 
that  the  Union  be  perpetual. 


ARTICLES    OF    CONFEDERATION. 


In  witness  whereof,  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands,  in  Congress. 
Done  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  the  ninth  day  of  July, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  oqe  thousand  seven  hundred^and  seventy-eight, 
and  in  the  third  year  of  the  independence  of  America. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  JONATHAN  BAYARD  SMITH, 

JOSIAH  BARTLETT,  WILLIAM  CLINGAN, 

JOHN  WENTWORTH,  JR.  JOSEPH  REED. 

MASSACHUSETTS  BAY. 
JOHN  HANCOCK, 
SAMUEL  ADAMS, 
ELBRIDGE  GERRY, 
FRANCIS  DANA, 
JAMES  LOVELL, 
SAMUEL  HOLTEN. 

RHODE  ISLAND. 
WILLIAM  ELLERY, 
HENRY  MARCHANT, 
JOHN  COLLINS. 


CONNECTICUT. 
ROGER  SHERMAN, 
SAMUEL  HUNTINGTON, 
OLIVER  WOLCOTT, 
TITUS  HOSMER, 
ANDREW  ADAMS. 

NEW  YORK. 

JAMES  DUANE, 
FRANCIS  LEWIS, 
WILLIAM  DUER, 

GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS. 

NEW  JERSEY. 
JOHN  WITHERSPOON, 
NATH.  SCUDDER. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 
ROBERT  MORRIS, 
DANIEL  ROBERDEAU, 


DELAWARE. 

THOMAS  M'KEAN, 
JOHN  DICKINSON, 
NICHOLAS  VAN  DYKE. 

MARYLAND. 
JOHN  HANSON, 
DANIEL  CARROLL. 

VIRGINIA. 

RICHARD  HENRY  LEE, 
JOHN  BANISTER, 
THOMAS  ADAMS, 
JOHN  HARVIE, 
FRANCIS  LIGHTFOOT  LEE. 

NORTH  CAROLINA. 
JOHN  PENN, 
CONSTABLE  HARNETT, 
JOHN  WILLIAMS. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

HENRY  LAURENS, 
WILLIAM  HENRY  DRAYTON, 
JOHN  MATTHEWS, 
RICHARD  HUTSON, 
THOMAS  HEYWARD,  JR. 

GEORGIA. 
JOHN  WALTON, 
EDWARD  TELFAIR, 
EDWARD  LANGWORTHY. 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

COPIED  FROM,  AND  COMPARED  WITH,  THE  ROLL  IN  THE  DEPARTMENT 

OF  STATE. 


WE  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union, 
establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common 
defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  constitution 
for  the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I. 

SECTION"  1.  All  legislative  powers  herein  granted  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  senate  and  house 
of  representatives. 

SECTION  2.  The  house  of  representatives  shall  be  composed  of  mem- 
bers chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several  states,  and  the 
electors  in  each  state  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of 
the  most  numerous  branch  of  the  state  legislature. 

No  person  shall  be  a  representative  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  been  seven  years  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  state  in 
which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several 
states  which  may  be  included  within  this  Union,  according  to  their  re- 
spective numbers,*  which  shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the  whole 
number  of  free  persons,  including  those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of 
years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three  fifths  of  all  other  persons. 
The  actual  enumeration  shall  be  made  within  three  years  after  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within  every  subsequent 
term  of  ten  years,  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  by  law  direct.  The  num- 
ber of  representatives  shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty  thousand,!  but 
each  state  shall  have  at  least  one  representative ;  and  until  such  enumera- 
tion shall  be  made,  the  state  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to  choose 
three,  Massachusetts  eight,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations  one, 
Connecticut  five,  New  York  six,  New  Jersey  four,  Pennsylvania  eight, 
Delaware  one,  Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten,  North  Carolina  five,  South 
Carolina  five,  and  Georgia  three. 

•  The  constitutional  provision,  that  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several 
states  according  to  their  respective  numbers,  to  be  ascertained  by  a  census,  was  not  intended 
to  restrict  the  power  of  imposing  direct  taxes  to  states  only. — Loughbormtgh  vs.  Blake.  5 
Whtaton,  319. 

t  See  laws  United  States,  vol.  ii  ,  chap.  124 ;  iii.,  261  ;  iv.,  332.  Acts  of  17th  Congress, 
1st  session,  chap.  x. ;  and  of  the  22-1  and  27th  Congress. 


10  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from  any  state,  the  exec- 
utive authority  thereof  shall  issue  writs  of  election  to  fill  such  vacancies. 

The  house  of  representatives  shall  choose  their  speaker  and  other  offi- 
cers ;  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment. 

SECTION  3.  The  senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two 
senators  from  each  state,  chosen  by  the  legislature  thereof,  for  six  years  ; 
and  each  senator  shall  have  one  vote.* 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  consequence  of  the  first 
election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into  three  classes. 
The  seats  of  the  senators  of  the  first  class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  expira- 
tion of  the  second  year,  of  the  second  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth 
year,  and  of  the  third  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  sixth  year,  so  that  one 
third  may  be  chosen  every  second  year  ;  and  if  vacancies  happen  by  resig- 
nation, or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the  legislature  of  any  state,  vhe 
executive  thereof  may  make  temporary  appointments  until  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  legislature,  which  shall  then  fill  such  vacancies. 

No  person  shall  be  a  senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  age  of 
thirty  years,  and  been  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who 
shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  state  for  which  he  shall 
be  chosen. 

The  vice-president  of  the  United  States  shall  be  president  of  the  senile, 
but  shall  have  no  vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

The  senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  also  a  president  pro- 
tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  vice-president,  or  when  he  shall  exercise 
the  office  of  president  of  the  United  States. 

The  senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeachments  :  When 
sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  on  oath  or  affirmation.  When  the 
president  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  chief  justice  shall  preside  :  And 
no  person  shall  be  convicted  without  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  the 
members  present. 

Judgment  in  cases  of  impeachment  shall  not  extend  further  than  to  re- 
moval from  office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy  any  office  of 
honor,  trust  or  profit  under  the  United  States  :  but  the  party  convicted 
shall  nevertheless  be  liable  and  subject  to  indictment,  trial,  judgment  and 
punishment,  according  to  law. 

SECTION"  4.  The  times,  places  and  manner  of  holding  elections  for  sen- 
ators and  representatives,  shall  be  prescribed  in  each  state  by  the  legisla- 
ture thereof;  but  the  Congress  may  at  any  time  by  law  make  or  alter  such 
regulations,  except  as  to  the  places  of  choosing  senators. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  year,  and  such  meet- 
ing shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless  they  shall  by  law 
appoint  a  different  day. 

SECTION  5.  Each  house  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns  and 
qualifications  of  its  own  members,  and  a  majority  of  each  shall  constitute 
a  quorum  to  do  business  ,  but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from  day  to 
day,  and  may  be  authorized  to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent  "members, 
in  such  manner,  and  under  such  penalties  as  each  house  may  provide. 

Each  house  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceedings,!  punish  its 

•  See  art.  v.,  clause  1. 

t  To  an  action  of  trespass  against  the  sergeant-at-arms  of  the  house  of  representatives 
of  the  United  States  for  assault  and  battery  and  false  imprisonment,  it  is  a  leeal  justifica- 
tion and  bar  to  plead  that  a  Congress  was  "held  and  sitting  during  the  period  of  the  tres- 
passes complained,  and  that  the  house  of  representatives  had  resolved  that  the  plaintiff  had 
Seen  guilty  of  a  breach  of  the  privileges  of  tne  house,  and  of  a  high  contempt  of  the  dignity 


CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED  STATES.  11 

members  for  disorderly  behavior,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds, 
expel  a  member. 

Each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from  time  to 
time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as  may  in  their  judgment  re- 
quire secresy ;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  members  of  either  house  on 
any  question  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one  fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered 
on  the  journal. 

Neither  house,  during  the  session  of  Congress,  shall,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any  other  place 
than  that  in  which  the  two  houses  shall  be  sitting. 

SECTION  6.  The  senators  and  representatives  shall  receive  a  compen- 
sation for  their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in  all  cases,  except  treason, 
felony  and  breach  of  the  peace,  be  privileged  from  arrest  during  their  at- 
tendance at  the  session  of  their  respective  houses,  and  in  going  to  and  re- 
turning from  the  same  ;  and  for  any  speech  or  debate  in  either  house,  they 
shall  not  he  questioned  in  any  other  place. 

No  senator  or  representative  shall,  during  the  time  for  which  he  was 
elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the  emoluments  whereof  shall 
have  been  increased  during  such  time  ;  and  no  person  holding  any  office 
under  the  United  States,  shall  be  a  member  of  either  house  during  his  con- 
tinuance in  office. 

SECTION  7.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in  the  house  of 
representatives  ;  but  the  senate  may  propose  or  concur  with  amendments 
as  on  other  bills. 

Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  house  of  representatives  and  the 
senate,  shall,  before  it  hecome  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  president  of  the 
United  States  ;  if  he  approve  he  shall  sign  it,  but  if  not  he  shall  return  it, 
with  his  objections  to  that  house  in  which  it  shall  have  originated,  who 
shall  enter  the  objections  at  large  on  their  journal,  and  proceed  to  recon- 
sider it.  If  after  such  reconsideration  two  thirds  of  that  house  shall  agree 
to  pass  the  bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to  the  other 
house,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved  by  two 
thirds  of  that  house,  it  shall  become  a  law.  But  in  all  such  cases  the  votes 
of  both  houses  shall  be  determined  by  yeas  and  nays,  and  the  names  of 
the  persons  voting  for  and  against  the  bill  shall  he  entered  on  the  journal 
of  each  house  respectively.  If  any  bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  pres- 
ident within  ten  days  (Sunday  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  presented 
to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  un- 
less the  Congress  by  their  adjournment  prevent  its  return,  in  which  case 
it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote  to  which  the  concurrence  of  the  senate 

and  authority  of  the  same ;  and  had  ordered  that  the  speaker  should  issue  his  warrant  to 
the  sergeant-at-arms,  commanding  him  to  take  the  plaintiff  into  custody  wherever  to  be 
found,  and  to  have  him  before  the  said  house  to  answer  to  the  said  charge  ;  and  that  the 
speaker  did  accordingly  issue  such  a  warrant,  reciting  the  said  resolution  and  order,  and 
commanding  the  sergeant-at-arms  to  take  the  plaintiff  inio  custody,  &c.,  and  deliver  the 
said  warrant  to  the  defendant :  by  virtue  of  which  warrant  the  defendant  arrested  the  plain- 
tiff, and  conveyed  him  to  the  bar  of  the  house,  where  he  was  heard  in  his  defence  touching 
the  matter  of  said  charge,  and  the  examination  being  adjourned  from  day  to  day,  and  the 
house  having  ordered  the  plaintiff  to  be  detained  in  custody,  he  was  accordingly  detained 
by  the  defendant  until  he  was  finally  adjudged  to  be  guilty  and  convicted  of  the  charge 
aforesaid,  and  ordered  to  be  forthwith  brought  to  the  bar  and  reprimanded  by  the  speaker, 
and  then  discharged  from  custody,  and  after  being  thus  reprimanded,  was  actually  dis- 
charged from  the  arrest  and  custody  aforesaid — Anderson  vs.  Dunn,  6  Wheaton,  204. 


12  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

and  house  of  representatives  may  be  necessary  (except  on  a  question  of 
adjournment)  shall  be  presented  to  the  president  of  the  United  States  ;  and 
before  the  same  shall  take  effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being  dis- 
approved by  him,  shall  be  repassed  by  two  thirds  of  the  senate  and  house 
of  representatives,  according  to  the  rules  and  limitations  prescribed  in  the 
case  of  a  bill. 

SECTION  8.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,* 
duties,  imposts  and  excises,  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common 
defence  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States  ;  but  all  duties,  imposts 
and  excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States; 

To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States  ; 

To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several 
states,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes; 

To  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,!  and  uniform  laws  on  the 
subject  of  bankruptcies^  throughout  the  United  States  ; 

To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin,  and  fix 
the  standard  of  weights  and  measures  ; 

To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securities  and  cur- 
rent coin  of  the  United  States  ; 

To  establish  postoffices  and  postroads  ; 

To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  by  securing  for  lim- 
ited times  to  authors  and  inventors  the  exclusive  right  to  their  respective 
writings  and  discoveries  ; 

To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  supreme  court ; 

To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas, 
and  offences  against  the  law  of  nations  ;|| 

To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make  rules 
concerning  captures  on  land  and  water  ; 

To  raise  and  support  armies,  but  no  appropriation  of  money  to  that  use 
shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years  ; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy  ; 

To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land  and  naval 
forces ; 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  Union, 
suppress  insurrections  and  repel  invasions  ; 

•  The  power  of  Congress  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  &c  ,  extends  to  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  to  the  territories  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  to  the  states. — Loughborough 
vs.  Blake,  5  Wheaton,  318.  But  Congress  are  not  bound  to  extend  a  direct  tax  to  the  district 
and  territories. — Id.,  318. 

f  Under  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  power  of  naturalization  is  exclusively 
in  Congress. — Chivac  vs.  Chivac,  2  Wheaton,  259. 

See  laws  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  30  j  ii.,  261  ;  iii.,  71  ;  iii.,  288 ;  iii.,  400 ;  iv.,  56-1 ; 
vi..  32. 

|  Since  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  a  state  has  authority  to  pass 
a  bankrupt  law,  provided  such  law  does  not  impair  the  obligation  of  contracts  wiiliin  the 
meaning  of  the  constitution  (art.  i.,  sect.  10),  and  provided  there  be  no  act  of  Congress  in 
force  lo  establish  a  uniform  system  of  bankruptcy  conflicting  with  such  law. — Sturgess  vs. 
Croitminshield,  4  Wheaton,  122,  192. 

See  laws  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  368,  sect.  2:  iii.,  66;  iii.,  158. 

U  The  act  of  the  3d  March,  1819,  chap.  76,  sect.  5,  referring  to  the  law  of  nations  for  a 
definition  of  the  crime  of  piracy,  is  a  constitutional  exercise  of  the  power  of  Congress  to  de- 
fine and  punish  that  crime. — l/nited  States  vs  Smith,  5  Wheaton,  153,  157. 

Congress  have  power  to  provide  for  the  punishment  of  offences  committed  by  persons  on 
board  a  ship-of-war  of  the  United  States,  wherever  that  ship  may  lie.  But  Congress  have 
not  exercised  that  power  in  the  case  of  a  ship  lying  in  the  waters  of  the  United  Mates,  the 
words  within  fort,  arsenal,  dockyard,  magazine,  or  in  any  other  place  or  district  of  country 
under  the  sole  and  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  United  Slates,  in  the  third  section  of  the  act  of 
1790,  chap.  9,  not  extending  to  a  ship-of-war,  but  only  to  objects  in  their  nature,  fixed  and 
territorial. — United  States  vs.  Bevans,  3  Wheaton,  890. 


CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED  STATES.  13 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining,  the  militia,  and  for 
governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States,  reserving  to  the  states  respectively,  the  appointment  of  the 
officers,  and  the  authority  of  training  the  militia  according  to  the  discipline 
prescribed  by  Congress  ;* 

To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over  such 
district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  cession  of  particular 
states,  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  seat  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States,!  and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places  pur- 
chased by  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  state  in  which  the  same 
shall  be,  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards,  and  other 
needful  buildings  ; — Arid 

To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into 
execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this  con- 
stitution in  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  department  or 
officer  thereof.^ 

SECTION  9.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the 
states  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by 

*  Vide  amendments,  art.  ii. 

t  Congress  has  authority  to  impose  a  direct  tax  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  census  directed  to  be  taken  by  the  constitution. — Loughboroitgh  vs.  Blake,  5 
Wheaton,  317. 

But  Congress  are  not  bound  to  extend  a  direct  tax  to  the  district  and  territories. — Id.,  322. 

The  power  of  Congress  to  exercise  exclusive  jurisdiction  in  all  cases  whatsoever  within 
the  District  of  Columbia,  includes  the  power  of  taxing  it. — Id.,  324. 

+  Whenever  the  terms  in  which  a  power  is  granted  by  the  constitution  to  Congress,  or 
whenever  the  nature  of  the  power  itself  requires  that  it  should  be  exercised  exclusively  by 
Congress,  the  subject  is  as  completely  taken  away  from  the  state  legislatures  as  if  they  had 
been  expressly  forbidden  to  act  on  it. — Sturgess  vs.  Crowninshield,  4  Wheaton,  193. 

Congress  has  power  to  incorporate  a  bank. — McCulloch.  vs.  State  of  Maryland.  4  Wheaton. 
316. 

The  power  of  establishing  a  corporation  is  not  a  distinct  sovereign  power  or  end  of  gov- 
ernment, but  only  the  means  of  carrying  into  effect  other  powers  which  are  sovereign. 
Whenevr-r  it  becomes  an  appropriate  means  of  exercising  any  of  the  powers  given  by  the 
constitution  to  the  government  of  the  Union,  it  may  be  exercised  by  that  government. — Id., 
411,421. 

If  a  certain  means  to  carry  into  effect  any  of  the  powers  expressly  given  by  the  constitu- 
tion to  ihe  government  of  the  Union,  be  an  appropriate  measure,  not  prohibited  by  the 
constitution,  the  degree  of  its  necessity  is  a  question  of  legislative  discretion,  not  of  judi- 
cial cognizance. — 7</.,421. 

The  act  of  the  19th  April,  1816,  chap.  44,  to  incorporate  the  subscribers  to  the  bank  of 
the  United  States,  is  a  law  made  in  pursuance  of  the  constitution. — Id.,  424. 

The  bank  of  the  United  States  has  constitutionally  a  right  to  establish  its  branches  or 
offices  of  discount  and  deposite  within  any  state. — Id.,  424. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  similar  to  the  articles  of  confed- 
eration, which  excludes  incidental  or  implied  powers. — Id.,  403. 

If  the  end  be  legitimate,  and  within  the  scope  of  the  constitution,  all  the  mtan.t  which  are 
appropriate,  which  are  plainly  adapted  to  that  end,  and  which  are  not  prohibited,  may  con- 
stitutionally be  employed  to  carry  it  into  effect. — Id.,  421. 

The  powers  granted  to  Congress  are  not  exclusive  of  similar  powers  existing  in  the 
states,  unless  where  the  constitution  has  expressly  in  terms  given  an  exclusive  power  to 
Congress,  or  the  exercise  of  a  like  power  is  prohibited  to  the  states,  or  there  is  a  direct  re 
pugnancy  or  incompatibility  in  the  exercise  of  it  by  the  stales. — Houston  vs.  Moore,  5  Whea- 
ton, 49. 

The  example  of  the  first  class  is  to  be  found  in  the  exclusive  legislation  delegated  to  Con- 
gress over  places  purchased  by  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  state  in  which  the  same 
shall  be  for  forts,  arsenals,  dockyards,  &c.  Of  the  second  class,  the  prohibition  of  a  state 
to  coin  money  or  emit  bills  of  credit.  Of  the  third  class,  the  power  to  establish  a  uni- 
('•inn  rule  of  naturalization,  and  the  delegation  of  admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction. 
—Id.,  49. 

In  ;ill  other  classes  of  cases  the  states  retain  concurrent  authority  with  Congress. — !>}.,  4S. 

But  in  cases  of  concurrent  authority,  where  the  laws  of  the  states  and  of  the  Union  are 
in  direct  and  manifest  collision  on  the  same  subject,  those  of  the  Union  being  the  supreme 
\aw  of  the  land,  arc  of  paramount  authority,  and  the  state  so  far,  and  so  far  only  as  such 
incompatibilit\  exists,  must  necessarily  yield. — Id.,  49. 

The  state  within  which  a  branch  of  the  United  States  bank  may  be  established,  can  not, 


14  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

the  Copgress  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  .eight  hundred  and  eight,  but 
a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dol- 
lars for  each  person. 

The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended, 
unless  when  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may  re- 
quire it. 

No  bill  of  attainder  or  ex  post  facto  law  shall  be  passed. 

No  capitation,  or  other  direct,  tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  proportion  to 
the  census  or  enumeration  hereinbefore  directed  to  be  taken. 

No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any  state. 

No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of  commerce  or  revenue 
to  the  ports  of  one  state  over  those  of  another  :  nor  shall  vessels  bound  to, 
or  from,  one  state,  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  duties  in  another. 

No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury,  but  in  consequence  of  ap- 
propriations made  by  law  ;  and  a  regular  statement  and  account  of  the 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public  money  shall  be  published  from  time 
to  time. 

No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States  :  And  no  per- 
son holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them,  shall,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office,  or  title,  of 
any  kind  whatever,  from  any  king,  prince,  or  foreign  state. 

SECTION  10.  No  state  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or  confedera- 
tion ;  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal ;  coin  money  ;  emit  bills  of 
credit ;  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of 
debts  ;  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the 
obligation  of  contracts,*  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

without  violating  the  constitution,  tax  that  branch. — McCulloch  vs.  Stale  of  Maryland,  4 
Wheaton,  425. 

The  state  governments  have  no  right  to  tax  any  of  the  constitutional  means  employed  by 
the  government  of  the  Union  to  execute  its  constitutional  powers. — Id.,  427. 

The  states  have  no  power  by  taxation,  or  otherwise,  to  retard,  impede,  burden,  or  in  any 
manner  control,  the  operation  of  the  constitutional  laws  enacted  by  Congress,  to  curry  into 
effect  the  powers  vested  in  the  national  government. — Id.,  436'. 

This  principle  does  not  extend  to  a  tax  paid  by  the  real  property  of  the  bank  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  in  common  with  the  other  real  property  in  a  particular  state,  nor  to  a  tax  im- 
posed on  the  proprietary  which  the  citizens  of  that  state  may  hold  in  common  with  the 
other  property  of  the  same  description  throughout  the  state. — Id.,  436. 

•  Where  a  law  is  in  its  nature  a  contract,  where  absolute  rights  have  vested  under  that 
contract,  a  repeal  of  the  law  can  not  divest  those  rights. — Fletcher  vs.  Peck,  6  Cranch,  88. 

A  party  to  a  contract  can  not  pronounce  its  own  deed  invalid,  although  that  party  be  a 
sovereign  state. — Id.,  88. 

A  grant  is  a  contract  executed. — Id.,  89. 

A  law  annulling  conveyance  is  unconstitutional,  because  it  is  a  law  impairing  the  obliga- 
tion of  contracts  within  the  meaning  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. — Id. 

The  court  will  not  declare  a  law  to  be  unconstitutional,  unless  the  opposition  between  the 
constitution  and  the  law  be  clear  and  plain. — LI.,  87. 

An  act  of  the  legislature  of  a  state,  declaring  that  certain  lands  which  should  be  pur- 
chased  for  the  Indians  should  not  thereafter  be  subject  to  any  tax,  constituted  a  contract 
which  could  not,  after  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  be  rescinded 
by  a  subsequent  legislative  act ;  such  rescinding  act  being  void  under  the  constitution  of  the 
United  Mutes. — Stale  of  Neu-  Jersey  vs.  Wil»»n,  7  Cranck,  164. 

The  present  constitution  of  the  United  States  did  not  commence  its  operation  until  the 
firt.t  Wednesday  in  Mnrch,  1789,  and  the  provision  in  the  constitution,  that  "  no  state  shall 
make  any  In  w  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts,"  does  not  extend  to  a  Mate  law  enacted 
before  that  day,  and  operating  upon  rights  of  property  vesting  before  that  time. — Ouing.i  vs. 
Kpted,  ;">  It'heaton,  420,421. 

An  act  of  a  state  legislature,  which  discharges  a  debtor  from  all  liability  for  debts  con- 
tracted previous  to  hi>  discharge,  on  his  surrendering  his  property  for  the  benefit  of  his 
creditors,  is  a  law  impairing  •'  the  obligations  of  contracts,"  within  the  meaning  oi  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  it  attempts  to  disc-barge  the  contract  ;  and  it  makes 
no  difference  in  Mich  a  case,  that  the  suit  was  brought  in  a  stale  courf  of  the  state  of  which 
both  the  parlies  wvre  citizens  where  the  contract  was  made,  and  the  discharge  o'  tained, 


CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  15 

No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any  imposts  or 
duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may  be  absolutely  necessary  for 
executing  its  inspection  laws  :  and  the  net  produce  of  all  duties  and  im- 
posts, laid  by  any  state  on  imports  or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States  ;  and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  tc  the 
revision  and  control  of  the  Congress. 

No  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  duty  of  ton- 
nage, keep  troops,  or  ships-of-war  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into  any  agree- 
ment or  compact  with  another  state,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in 
war,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit 
of  delay. 

ARTICLE  II. 

SECTION  1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  president  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office  during  the  term  of 
four  years,*  and,  together  with  the  vice-president,  chosen  for  the  same 
term,  be  elected,  as  follows : 

Each  state  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature  thereof  may 
direct,t  a  number  of  electors,  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  senators  and 
representatives  to  which  the  state  may  be  entitled  in  the  Congress  :  but 
no  senator  or  representative,  or  person  holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit 
under  the  United  States,  shall  be  appointed  an  elector.  "5, 

[}The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states,  and  vote  by  ballot  for  two  per- 
sons, of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with  them- 
selves. And  they  shall  make  a  list  of  all  the  persons  voted  for,  and  of  the  number  of 
votes  for  each  ;  which  list  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat 
of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the  president  of  the  senate.  The 
president  of  the  senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  senate  and  house  of  representa- 
tives, open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted.  The  person  hav- 
ing the  greatest  number  of  votes  shall  be  the  president,  if  such  number  be  a  majority 
of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed ;  and  if  there  be  more  than  one  who  have 
such  majority,  and  have  an  equal  number  of  votes,  then  the  house  of  representatives 
shall  immediately  choose  by  ballot  one  of  them  for  president ;  and  if  no  person  have 
a  majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  list  the  said  house  shall  in  like  manner 
choose  the  president.  But  in  choosing  the  president,  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by 
states,  the  representation  from  eacTTsfate  having  one  vote ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose 
shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from  two  thirds  of  the  states,  and  a  majority  of 

and  where  they  continued  to  reside  until  the  suit  was  brought. — Farmers  and  Mechanics' 
Bank  vs.  Smith,  6  WTieaton,  131. 

The  act  of  New  York,  passed  on  the  3d  of  April.  1811  (which  not  only  liberates  the  per- 
son of  the  debtor,  but  discharges  him  from  all  liability  for  any  debt  contracted  previous  to 


brought  upon  such  contract. — Sturgess  vs.  Crouminshield,  4  H'heaton,  122,  197. 

Statutes  Delimitation  and  usury  laws,  unless  retroactive  in  their  effect,  do  not  impair  the 
obligation  of  contracts,  and  are  constitutional. — Id.,  206. 

A  state  bankrupt  or  insolvent  law  (which  not  only  liberates  the  person  of  the  debtor,  but 
discharges  him  from  all  liability  for  the  debt),  so  far  as  it  attempts  to  discharge  the  con- 
tract, is  repugnant  to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  it  makes  no  diliV 


difference  in 
the  debt  was 


the  application  of  this  principle,  whether  the  law  was  passed  bffure  or  after 
contracted.— McMillan  vs.  Me  N rill,  4  Whiaton,  209. 
The  charter  granted  by  the  British  crown  to  the  trustees  of  Dartmouth  college,  in  New 


"!•.,'     ».->.    rr  wuu*  «  •   **    FTflcutwrj  *JJO. 

An  act  of  the  state  legislature  of  New  Hampshire,  altering  the  charter  of  Dartmouth  col- 
Ifge  in  a  material  respect,  without  the  consent  of  the  corporation,  is  an  act  impairing  the 
obligation  of  the  charter,  and  is  unconstitutional  and  void. —  /;/.,  "jjis. 

•  See  laws  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  rhap.  109,  sect.  12. 

t  See  laws  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  10'J.  *  Vide  amendments,  art.  xii. 


16  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

all  the  states  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  In  every  case,  aAer  the  choice  of  the 
president,  the  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  of  the  electors  shall  be  the 
vice-president.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more  who  have  equal  votes,  the 
senate  shall  choose  from  them  by  ballot  the  vice-president.*] 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing  the  electors,!  and 
the  day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  votes  ;  which  day  shall  be  the 
same  throughout  the  United  States.}: 

No  person  except  a  natural  born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  constitution,  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office 
of  president ;  neither  shall  any  person  be  eligible  to  that  office  who  shall 
not  have  attained  to  the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been  fourteen  years  a 
resident  within  the  United  States. 

In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  president  from  office,  or  of  his  death,  resig- 
nation,$  or  inability  to  discharge  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  said  office, 
the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  vice-president,  and  the  Congress  may  by 
law  provide  for  the  case  of  removal,  death,  resignation  or  inability,  both 
of  the  president  and  vice-president,  declaring  what  officer  shall  then  act 
as  president,  and  such  officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  disability  be 
removed,  or  a  president  shall  be  elected. || 

The  president  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his  services,  a  compen- 
sation, which  shall  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished  during  the  period 
for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that 
period  any  other  emolument  from  the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he  shall  take  the  follow- 
ing oath  or  affirmation  : — "  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will 
faithfully  execute  the  office  of  president  of  the  United  States,  and  will  to 
the  best  of  my  ability,  preserve,  protect  and  defend  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States." 

SECTION  2.  The  president  shall  be  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and 
navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  states,  when 
called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States  ;H  he  may  require  the 
opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  principal  officer  in  each  of  the  executive  depart- 
ments, upon  any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices, 
and  he  shall  have  power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for  oflences  against 
the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate, 
to  make  treaties,  provided  two  thirds  of  the  senators  present  concur ;  and 
he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate, 
shall  appoint  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls,  judges  of 
the  supreme  court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  ap- 
pointments are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  es- 

•  This  clause  is  annulled.    See  amendments,  art.  xii. 

t  See  laws  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  104,  sect.  1. 

I  See  laws  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  109,  sect.  2. 

5  See  laws  United  Stales,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  104,  sect.  11. 

jj  See  laws  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  109,  sect.  9 ;  and  vol.  iii.,  chap.  403. 

VThe  act  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  of  ihe  28th  March,  1814  (providing,  sect.  21,  that 
the  officers  and  privates  of  the  militia  of  that  state  neglecting  or  refusing  to  serve  when 
called  into  actual  service,  in  pursuance  of  any  order  or  requisition  of  the  president  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  liable  to  the  penalties  defined  in  the  act  of  Congress  of  28th  Febru- 
ary, 1795,  chap.  277,  or  to  any  penalty  which  may  have  been  prescribed  since  the  date  of 
that  act,  or  which  may  hereafter  be  prescribed  by  any  law  ot  the  United  States,  and  also 
providing  for  the  trial  of  such  delinquents  by  a  state  court-martial,  and  that  a  list  of  the 
delinquents  fined  by  such  court  should  be  furnished  to  the  marshal  of  the  United  States, 
&c.  ;  and  also  to  the  comptroller  of  the  treasury  of  the  United  States,  in  order  that  the  fur- 
ther proceedings  directed  to  be  had  there- on  by  the  laws  of  the  United  States  might  be  com- 
pleted), is  not  repugnant  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States. — Houaton  vs 
Mwe.  5  Wheaton.  1.  12. 


CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED  STATES.  17 

tablished  by  law  :  but  the  Congress  may  by  law  vest  the  appointment  of 
such  inferior  officers,  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  president  alone,  in  the 
courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments. 

The  president  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that  may  happen 
during  the  recess  of  the  senate,  by  granting  commissions  which  shall  ex- 
pire at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

SECTION  3.  He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the  Congress  informa- 
tion of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  consideration  such 
measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient ;  he  may,  on  extra- 
ordinary occasions,  convene  both  houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  case 
of  disagreement  between  them,  with  respect  to  the  time  of  adjournment, 
he  may  adjourn  them  to  such  time  as  he  shall  think  proper ;  he  shall  re- 
ceive ambassadors  and  other  public  ministers ;  he  shall  take  care  that  the 
laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and  shall  commission  all  the  officers  of  the 
United  States. 

SECTION  4.  The  president,  vice-president  and  all  civil  officers  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  office  on  impeachment  for,  and  con- 
viction of,  treason,  bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE  III. 

SECTION  1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  vested  in 
one  supreme  court,  and  in  such  inferior  courts  as  the  Congress  may  from 
time  to  time  ordain  and  establish.*  The  judges,  both  of  the  supreme  and 
inferior  courts,  shall  hold  their  offices  during  good  behavior,  and  shall,  at 
stated  times,  receive  for  their  services,  a  compensation,  which  shall  not  be 
diminished  during  their  continuance  in  office.f 

SECTION  2.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases,  in  law  and 
equity,  arising  under  this  constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and 
treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  their  authority  ; — to  all  cases 
affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls  ; — to  all  cases 
of  admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction  ; — to  controversies  to  which  the 
United  States  shall  be  a  party  ; — to  controversies  between  two  or  more 
states  ; — between  a  state  and  citizens  of  another  state  ; — between  citizens 
of  different  states,! — between  citizens  of  the  same  state  claiming  lands 
under  grants  of  different  states,  and  between  a  state,  or  the  citizens  thereof, 
and  foreign  states,  citizens  or  subjects. § 

In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls, 
and  those  in  which  a  state  shall  be  party,  the  supreme  court  shall  have 
original  jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  cases  before  mentioned,  the  supreme 
court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such 
exceptions,  and  under  such  regulations  as  the  Congress  shall  make.!] 

•  Congress  may  constitutionally  impose  upon  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  the  burden  of  holding  circuit  courts. — Stuart  vs.  Laird,  I  Crunch,  299. 

t  See  laws  of  the  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  20. 

j  A  citizen  of  the  District  of  Columbia  is  not  a  citizen  of  a  state  within  the  meaning  of 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States. — Hepburn  et  al  vs.  Ellzey,  2  Cranch,  445. 

§  The  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  has  not  power  to  issue  a  mandamut  to  a  secre- 
tary of  state  of  the  United  States,  it  being  an  exercise  of  original  jurisdiction  not  warranted 
by  the  constitution,  notwithstanding  the  act  of  Congress. — Marbury  vs.  Madison,  1  Cranch, 
137. 

See  a  restriction  of  this  provision. — Amendments,  art.  xi. 

||  The  appellate  jurisdiction  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  extends  to  a  final 
judgment  or  decree  in  any  suit  in  the  highest  court  of  law.  or  equity  of  a  state,  where  it 
drawn  in  question  the  validity  of  a  treaty,  &c. — Martin  vs.  Hunter 's  lessee,  1  Wheaton,  304. 

Such  judgment,  &c.,  may  be  re-examined  by  writ  of  error,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  ren- 
dered in  a  circuit  court. — Id. 

If  the  cause  has  been  once  remanded  before,  and  the  state  court  decline  or  refuse  to  carry 

VOL.  I.— 2 


18  CONSTITUTION    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be  by 
jury  ;  and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  state  where  the  said  crimes  shall 
have  been  committed ;  but  when  not  committed  within  any  state,  the  trial 

into  effect  the  mandate  of  the  supreme  court  thereon,  this  court  will  proceed  to  a  final  de- 
cision of  the  same,  and  award  elocution  thereon. 

Qiierr — Whether  this  court  has  authority  to  i*sue  a  mandamus  to  the  state  court  to  en- 
force a  former  judgment ' — Id.,  362. 

If  the  validity  or  construction  of  a  treaty  of  the  United  States  is  drawn  in  question,  and 
the  decision  is  against  its  validity,  or  the  title  specially  set  up  by  either  party  under  the 
treaty,  this  court  has  jurisdiction  to  ascertain  that  title,  and  determine  its  legal  validity, 
.111  i  is  not  confined  to  the  abstract  construction  of  the  treaty  itself. — Id.,  362. 

Qtiere. — Whether  the  courts  of  the  United  States  have  jurisdiction  of  offences  at  common 
law  against  the  United  States  ?— United  States  vs.  Coolidgt,  1  Wheaton,  415. 

The  courts  of  the  United  States  have  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  all  seizures  made  on  land 
or  water  for  a  breach  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  any  intervention  of  a  state  au- 
thority, which  by  taking  the  thing  seized  out  of  the  hands  of  the  United  States'  officer, 
might  obstruct  the  exercise  of  this  jurisdiction,  is  illegal. — Slocwn  vs.  Mayberry  et  al,  2 
Wheaton,  1,9. 

In  such  a  case  the  court  of  the  United  States  have  cognizance  of  the  seizure,  may  enforce 
a  redelivery  of  the  thing  by  attachment  or  other  summary  process. — Id.,  9. 

The  question  under  such  a  seizure,  whether  a  forfeiture  has  been  actually  incurred,  be- 
longs exclusively  to  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  and  it  depends  upon  the  final  decree 
of  such  courts,  whether  the  seizure  is  to  be  deemed  rightful  or  tortuous. — Id.,  9,  10. 

If  the  seizing  officer  refuse  to  institute  proceedings  to  ascertain  the  forfeiture,  the  district 
court  may,  on  application  of  the  aggrieved  party,  compel  the  officer  to  proceed  to  adjudica- 
tion, or  to  abandon  the  seizure. — /</..  10. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States  extends  to  a  case  between  citi- 
zens of  Kentucky,  claiming  lands  exceeding  the  value  of  five  hundred  dollars,  under  differ- 
ent grants,  the  one  issued  by  the  state  of  Kentucky,  and  the  other  by  the  state  of  Virginia, 
upon  warrants  issued  by  Virginia,  and  locations  founded  thereon,  prior  to  the  separation  of 
Kentucky  from  Virginia.  It  is  the  grant  which  passes  the  legal  title  to  the  land,  and  if  the 
controversy  is  founded  upon  the  conflicting  grants  of  different  states,  the  judicial  power  of 
the  courts  of  the  United  States  extends  to  the  case,  whatever  may  have  been  the  equitable 
title  of  the  parties  prior  to  the  grant. — Colson  et  al  vs.  Lewis,  2  Wheaton,  377. 

Under  the  judiciary  of  17S9,  chap.  20.  sect.  25,  giving  appellate  jurisdiction  to  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States,  from  the  final  judgment  or  decree  of  the  highest  court  of  law  or 
equity  of  a  state,  in  certain  cases  the  writ  of  error  m&y  be  directed  to  any  court  in  which 
the  record  and  judgment  on  which  it  is  to  act  may  be  found ;  and  if  the  record  has  been  re- 
mitted by  the  highest  court,  &c.,  to  another  court  of  the  state,  it  may  be  brought  by  the 
writ  of  error  from  that  court. — Gtlston  vs.  Hoyt.  3  Wheaton,  246,  303. 

The  remedies  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  at  common  law  and  in  equity  are  to  be, 
not  according  to  the  practice  of  state  courts,  but  according  to  the  principles  of  common  law 
an<J  equity  as  defined  in  England.  This  doctrine  reconciled  with  the  decisions  of  the  courts 
of  Tennessee,  permitting  an  equitable  title  to  be  asserted  in  an  action  at  law. — Robinson  vs. 
Campbell,  3  Wheaton,  221. 

Remedies  in  respect  to  real  property,  are  to  be  pursued  according  to  the  lex  loci  rei  silat. 
—Id.,  219. 

The  courts  of  the  United  States  have  exclusive  cognizance  of  questions  of  forfeiture  upon 
all  seizures  made  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  it  is  not  competent  for  a  state 
court  to  entertain  or  decide  such  question  of  forfeiture.  If  a  sentence  of  condemnation  be 
definitively  pronounced  by  the  proper  court  of  the  United  States,  it  is  conclusive  that  a  for- 
feiture is  incurred" ;  if  a  sentence  01  acquittal,  it  is  equally  conclusive  against  the  forfeiture, 
and  in  either  case  the  question  can  not  be  again  litigated  in  any  common  law  for  ever. — Gel- 
it  nn  vs.  Hoyf,  3  Wheaton,  246,  311. 

Where  a  seizure  is  made  for  a  supposed  forfeiture  under  a  law  of  the  United  States,  no 
action  of  trespass  lies  in  any  common-law  tribunal,  until  a  final  decree  is  pronounced  upon 
the  proceeding  in  rem  to  enforce  such  forfeiture  :  for  it  depends  upon  the  final  decreee  of 
the  court  proceeding  in  rem,  whether  such  seizure  is  to  be  deemed  rightful  or  tortuous,  and 
the  action,  if  brought  before  such  decree  is  made,  is  brought  too  soon. — Id.,  313. 

If  a  suit  be  brought  against  the  seizing  officer  for  the  supposed  trespass  while  the  suit 
for  the  forfeiture  is  depending,  the  fact  of  such  pending  may  be  pleaded  in  abatement,  or  as 
a  temporary  bar  of  the  action.  If  after  a  decree  of  condemnation,  then  that  fact  may  be 
pleaded  as  a  bar  :  if  after  an  acquittal  with  a  certificate  of  reasonable  cause  of  seizure,  then 
that  may  be  pleaded  as  a  bar.  If  after  an  acquittal  without  such  certificate,  then  the  officer 
is  without  any  justification  for  the  seizure,  and  it  is  definkivrly  settled  to  be  a  tortuous  act. 
If  to  an  action  of  trespass  in  a  state  court  for  a  seizure,  the  seizing  officer  plead  the  fact  of 
forfeiture  in  his  defence  without  averring  a  Us  penfens,  or  a  condemnation,  or  an  acquittal, 
with  a  certificate  of  reasonable  cause  of  seizwr*,  the  plea  is  bad:  for  it  attempts  to  put  in 
issue  the  question  of  forfeiture  in  a  state  court. — Id.,  314> 

Supposing  that  the  third  article  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  which  declares, 
that  "the  judicial  power  shaH  extend  to  aH  cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction' 


CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED  STATES.  19 

shall  be  at  such  place  or  places  as  the  Congress  may  by  law  have  di- 
rected.* 

SECTION  3.  Treason  against  the  United  States,  shall  consist  only  in 

vested  in  the  United  States  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  all  such  cases,  and  that  a  murder  com- 
mitted in  the  waters  of  a  state  where  the  tide  ebbs  and  flows,  is  a  case  of  admiralty  and 
maritime  jurisdiction  ;  yet  Congress  have  not,  in  the  8th  section  of  the  act  of  1790,  chap.  9, 
"  for  the  punishment  of  certain  crimes  against  the  United  States,''  so  exercised  this  power, 
as  to  confer  on  the  courts  of  the  United  States  jurisdiction  over  such  murder. — United  States 
vs.  Bevans,  3  Wheaton,  336,  387. 

Quere. — Whether  courts  of  common  law  have  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  admiralty 
over  murder  committed  in  bays,  &c.,  which  are  enclosed  parts  of  the  sea  ? — Id.,  387. 

The  grant  to  the  United  States  in  the  constitution  of  all  cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime 
jurisdiction,  does  not  extend  to  a  cession  of  the  waters  in  which  those  cases  may  arise,  or 
of  general  jurisdiction  over  the  same.  Congress  may  pass  all  laws  which  are  necessary  for 
giving  the  most  Complete  effect  to  the  exercise  of  the  admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction 
granted  to  the  government  of  the  Union  ;  but  the  general  jnfisdiction  over  the  place  subject 
to  this  grant,  adheres  to  the  territory  as  a  portion  of  territory  not  yet  given  away,  and  the 
residuary  powers  of  legislation  still  remain  in  the  state. — Id.," 389. 

The  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  has  constitutionally  appellate  jurisdiction  under 
the  judiciary  act  of  1789,  chap.  20,  sect.  25,  from  the  final  judgment  or  decree  of  the  highest 
court  of  law  or  equity  of  a  state  having  jurisdiction  of  the  subject  matter  of  the  suit,  where 
is  drawn  in  question  the  validity  of  a  treaty  or  statute  of,  or  an  authority  exercised  under, 
the  United  States,  and  the  decision  is  against  their  validity :  or  where  is  drawn  in  question 
the  validity  of  a  statute  of.  or  an  authority  exercised  under  any  state,  on  the  ground  of  their 
being  repugnant  to  the  constitution,  treaties,  or  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  the  decision 
is  in  favor  of  such  their  validity  :  or  of  the  constitution,  or  of  a  treaty,  or  statute  of,  or  com- 
mission held  under  the  United  States,  and  the  decision  is  against  the  title,  right,  privilege, 
or  exemption,  specially  set  up  or  claimed  by  either  party  under  such  clause  of  the  constitu- 
tion, treaty,  statute,  or  commission.— Cohens  vs.  Virginia,  6  Wheaton,  264,  375. 

It  is  no  objection  to  the  exercise  of  this  appellate  jurisdiction,  that  one  of  the  parties  is  a 
state,  and  the  other  a  citizen  of  that  state.— Id. 

The  circuit  courts  of  the  Union  have  chancery  jurisdiction  in  every  state  :  they  have  the 
same  chancery  powers,  and  the  same  rules  of  decision  in  equity  cases,  in  all  the  states. — 
United  States  vs.  Hou-land,  4  Wheaton,  108,  115. 

Resolutions  of  the  legislature  of  Virginia  of  1810,  upon  the  proposition  from  Pennsylvania 
to  amend  the  constitution,  so  as  to  provide  an  impartial  tribunal  to  decide  disputes  be- 
tween the  state  and  federal  judiciaries. — Note  to  Cohens  \s>.  Virginia.  Notes  6  Wheaton,  358. 

Where  a  cause  is  brought  to  this  court  by  writ  of  error,  or  appeal  from  the  highest  court 
of  law,  or  equity  of  a  state,  under  the  25th  section  of  the  judiciary  act  of  1789,  chap.  20, 
upon  the  ground  that  the  validity  of  a  statute  of  the  United  States  was  drawn  in  question, 
and  that  the  decision  of  the  state  court  was  against  its  validity.  &c..  or  that  the  validity  of 
the  statute  of  a  state  was  drawn  in  question  as  repugnant  to  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  decision  was  in  favor  of  its  validity,  it  must  appear  from  the  record,  that  the 
ict  of  Congress,  or  the  constitutionality  of  the  state  law,  was  drawn  in  question. — Miller  vs. 
NichoU*,  4  Wheaton,  311,  315. 

But  it  is  not  required  that  the  record  should  in  terms  state  a  misconstruction  of  the  net 
jf  Congress,  or  that  it  was  drawn  into  question.  It  is  sufficient  to  give  this  court  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  cause,  that  the  record  should  show  that  an  act  of  Congress  w'as  applicable  to  the 
:ase.— II.,  315. 

The  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  has  no  jurisdiction  under  the  25th  section  of  the 
judiciary  act  of  1789,  chap.  20,  unless  the  judgment  or  decree  of  the  state  court  be  a  final 
judgment  or  decree.  A  judgment  reversing  that  of  an  inferior  court,  and  awarding  a  venire 
facias  de  nova,  is  not  a  final  judgment. — Houston  vs.  Moore,  3  Wheaton,  433. 

By  the  compact  of  1802,  settling  the  boundary  line  between  Virginia  and  Tennessee,  and 
the  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  it  is  declared  that  all  claims  and  titles  to  land  derived 
from  Virginia,  or  North  Carolina,  or  Tennessee,  which  have  fallen  into  the  respective  states, 
shall  remain  as  secure  to  the  owners  thereof,  as  if  derived  from  the  government  within  whose 
boundary  they  have  fallen,  and  shall  not  be  prejudiced  or  affected  by  the  estnblishment  of 
the  line.  Where  the  titles  of  both  the  plaintiff  and  defendant  in  ejectment  were  derived 
nnder  grant  from  Virginia  to  lands  which  fell  within  the  limits  of  Tennessee,  it  was  held 
that  a  prior  settlement  right  thereto,  which  would  in  equity  give  the  party  a  title,  could  not 
be  asserted  as  a  sufficient  title  in  an  action  of  ejectment  brought  in  the  circuit  court  of  Ten- 
nessee.— Jtoblnson  vs.  Campbell,  3  Whtaton,  212. 

Although  the  state  courts  of  Tennessee  have  decided  that,  under  their  statutes  (declaring 
an  rider  grant  founded  on  a  junior  entry  to  be  void),  a  junior  patent,  founded  on  a  prior  en- 
try, shall  prevail  at  Hit-  against  a  senior  patent  founded  on  a  junior  entry,  this  doctrine  has 
ntver  been  extended  beyond  cases  within  the  express  provision  of  the  sf mute  of  Tennessee, 
and  could  not  apply  to  titles  di-riving  all  their  validity  from  the  laws  of  Virginia,  and  con- 
firmed by  the  compact  between  the  two  states. — /</.,  212. 

•  See  amendments,  art  vL 


20  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

levying  war  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid 
and  comfort. 

No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason  unless  on  the  testimony  of  two 
witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  punishment  of  treason, 
but  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work  corruption  of  blood,  or  forfeiture  ex- 
cept during  the  life  of  the  person  attainted.* 

ARTICLE  IV. 

SECTION  r.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  state  to  the  pub- 
lic acts,  records,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every  other  state.f  And  the 
Congress  may  by  general  laws  prescribe  the  manner  in  which  such  acts, 
records  and  proceedings  shall  be  proved,  and  the  eflect  thereof.^ 

SECTION  2.  The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges 
and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states. 

A  person  charged  in  any  state  with  treason,  felony,  or  other  crime,  who 
shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another  state,  shall  on  demand  of 
the  executive  authority  of  the  state  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to 
be  removed  to  the  state  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state,  under  the  laws  thereof 
escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation 
therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered 
up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due. 

SECTION  3.  New  states  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this 
Union  ;  but  no  new  state  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  any  other  state  ;  nor  any  state  be  formed  by  the  junction  of  two  or  more 
states,  or  parts  of  states,  without  the  consent  of  the  legislatures  of  the  states 
conceded  as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all  needful  rules 
and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other  property  belonging  to  the 
United  States  ;  and  nothing  in  this  constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to 
prejudice  any  claims  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  state. 

SECTION  4.  The  United  States  shall  guaranty  to  every  state  in  this 
Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them 
against  invasion  ;  and  on  application  of  the  legislature,  or  of  the  executive 
(when  the  legislature  can  not  be  convened)  against  domestic  violence. 

ARTICLE  V. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of  both  houses  shall  deem  it  neces- 
sary, shall  propose  amendments  to  this  constitution,  or,  on  the  application 
of  the  legislatures  of  two  thirds  of  the  several  states,  shall  call  a  conven- 
tion for  proposing  amendments,  which,  in  either  case,  shall  be  valid  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  as  part  of  this  constitution,  when  ratified  by  the  legis- 
latures of  three  fourths  of  the  several  states,  or  by  conventions  in  three 
fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of  ratification  may  be  pro- 
posed by  the  Congress  ;  provided  that  no  amendment  which  may  be  made 

•  See  laws  of  the  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  36. 

t  A  judgment  of  a  state  court  has  the  same  credit,  validity,  and  effect,  in  every  other  court 
within  the  United  States,  which  it  had  in  the  court  where  it  was  rendered  ;  and  whatever 
pleas  would  be  good  to  a  suit  thereon  in  such  state,  and  none  others  can  be  pleaded  in  any 
other  court  within  the  United  States. — Hampton  vs.  McConnell,  3  WTuaton,  234. 

The  record  of  a  judgment  in  one  state  is  conclusive  evidence  in  another,  although  it  ap- 
pears that  the  suit  in  which  it  was  rendered,  was  commenced  by  an  attachment  of  property, 
the  defendant  having  afterward  appeared  and  taken  defence. — Mayhew  vs.  Thacher,  6  Wh.ea- 
ton,  129. 

J  See  laws  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  38 ;  and  vol.  Hi.,  chap.  409. 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  21 

prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight  shall  in  any  man- 
ner affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  section  of  the  first  arti- 
cle ;  and  that  no  state,  without  its  consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal 
suffrage  in  the  senate.* 

ARTICLE  VI. 

All  debts  contracted  and  engagements  entered  into,  before  the  adoption 
of  this  constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United  States  under  this 
constitution,  as  under  the  confederation. 

This  constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall  be  made 
in  pursuance  thereof  ;  and  all  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  un- 
der the  authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  ;f 
and  the  judges  in  every  state  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  con 
stitution  or  laws  of  any  state  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.^ 

The  senators  and  representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the  members 
of  the  several  state  legislatures,  and  all  executive  and  judicial  officers,  both 
of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  states,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or 
affirmation,  to  support  this  constitution  ;§  but  no  religious  test  shall  ever 
be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United 
States. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

The  ratification  of  the  conventions  of  nine  states,  shall  be  sufficient  for  the 

establishment  of  this  constitution  between  the  states  so  ratifying  the  same. 

Done  in  convention  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  states  present,  the 

seventeenth  day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 

seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven  and  of  the  independence  of  the  United 

States  of  America  the  twelfth.     In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto 

subscribed  our  names. 

Go.  WASHINGTON, 
President,  and  deputy  from  Virginia. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.  PENNSYLVANIA.  VIRGINIA. 

JOHN  LANGDON,  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN,  JOHN  BLAIR, 

NICHOLAS  OILMAN.  THOMAS  MIFFLIN,  JAMES  MADISON,  JR. 

MASSACHUSETTS.  SKOUG  J  GutSi.  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

NATHANIEL  GOKHAM.  THOMAS  FITZSIMOXS,  WILLIAM  BLOUNT, 

RUFUS  KING.  JARF.D  I.VGERSOLL,  RICHARD  Bonus  SPAIGHT, 

pftvvirrTTriTT  JAMES  WILSON,  HUGH  WILLIAMSOS. 

•UT-  GOUVERNKUR  MORRIS. 

WILLIAM  SAMUEL  JOHNSON,  DELAWARE  SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

ROGER  SHERMAN.  GEORGE  RKED,  JOHN  RUTLEDGE, 

NEW  YORK.  G^NN.NG  BEnKORD,  JR.,  gj£JJ  ^™' 

ALEXANDER  HAMILTON.  P«««  B.TLER. 


NEW  JERSEY.  JACOB  BROOM.  GEORGIA. 

WILLIAM  LIVINGSTON,  MARYLAND.  WILLIAM  FE\V 

DAVID  BREARLEY,  JAMES  M  HENRY,  AURAHAM  BALDWIN. 

W  ILLIAM  PATERSOS,  DANIEL  OF  ST.  THO.  JENIFER 

JONATHAN  DATTON.  DANIEL  CARROLL. 

Attest  :  WILLIAM  JACKSON,  Secretary. 

•  See  ante  art.  i.,  sect.  3,  clause  1. 

t  An  act  of  Congress  repugnant  to  the  constitution  can  not  become  a  law.—  Marbury  vs. 
Afotifo*,  I  Cranch,  176. 

t  The  courts  of  the  United  States  are  bound  to  take  notice  of  the  constitution.—  Marbury 
vs.  Maduoi»,  1  Cranch,  178. 

A  contemporary  exposition  of  the  constitution,  practised  and  acquiesced  under  for  a  period 
ol  years,  nxcs  its  construction.—  SVunr/  vs.  I.aird,  \  Crunch,  299. 

I  he  government  or  the  Union,  though  limited  in  its  powers,  is  supreme  within  its  sphere 

0  action,  and  its  aws,  when  mad.;  in  pursuance  of  the  con>iiiution.  form  the  supreme  law 

01  the  land—  McLtUlotli  vs.  Kiate  of  Maryland,  4  Wfaatun.  4(>:>. 
«„•  See  laws  of  the  fulled  States,  vol.  ii.,  thnp    I. 


22  CONSTITUTION    OF    THK    UNITED    STATES. 


AMENDMENTS* 

TO  THE  CONSTITUTION  OK  THE  UMTKD  STATES,  RATIFIED  ACCORDING  TO 
THF.  PROVISIONS  OF  THE  FIFTH  ARTICLE  OF  THE  FOREGOING  CONSTI- 
TUTION. 

ARTICLE  THE  FIRST.  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  estab- 
lishment of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridging 
the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press  ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peacea- 
bly to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  government  lor  a  redress  of  grievances. 

ARTICLE  THE  SECOND.  A  well-regulated  militia,  being  necessary  to  the 
security  of  a  free  state,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms,  shall 
not  be  infringed. 

ARTICLE  THE  THIRD.  No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace  be  quartered  in 
any  house,  without  the  consent  of  the  owner,  nor  in  a  time  of  war,  but  in 
a  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

ARTICLE  THE  FOURTH.  The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their 
persons,  houses,  papers,  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and 
seizures,  shall  not  be  violated,  and  no  warrants  shall  issue,  but  upon  prob- 
able cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly  describing 
the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the  persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 

ARTICLE  THE  FIFTH.  No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital, 
or  otherwise  infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a 
grand  jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the 
militia,  when  in  actual  service  in  time  of  war  or  public  danger;  nor  shall 
any  person  be  subject  for  the  same  offence  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of 
life  or  limb ;  nor  shall  be  compelled  in  any  criminal  case  to  be  a  witness 
against  himself,  nor  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  duo 
process  of  law ;  nor  shall  private  property  be  taken  for  public  use,  with- 
out just  compensation. 

ARTICLE  THE  SIXTH.  In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  en- 
joy the  right  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  state 
and  district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which  district 
shall  have  been  previously  ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the 
nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses 
against  him  ;  to  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  fa- 
vor, and  to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defence. 

ARTICLE  THE  SEVENTH.  In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in 
controversy  shall  exceed  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be 
preserved,  and  no  fact  tried  by  a  jury,  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in 
any  court  of  the  United  States,  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common 
law.f 

ARTICLE  THE  EIGHTH.  Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  exces- 
sive fines  imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

*  Congress,  at  its  first  session,  begun  and  held  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  Wednesday, 
the  4ih  of  March,  17S9,  propos-ed  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several  states  twelve  amend- 
ments to  the  constitution,  ten  of  which,  only,  were  adopted. 

t  The  act  of  assembly  of  Maryland,  of  1793,  chap.  30,  incorporating  the  bank  of  Colum- 
bia, and  giving  to  the  corporation  a  summary  process  by  execution  in  the  nature  of  an  at- 
tachment against  its  debtors  who  have,  by  an  express  consent  in  writing,  made  the  bonds, 
bills,  or  notes,  by  them  drawn  or  endorsed,  negotiable  at  the  bank,  is  not  repugnant  to  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  or  of  Maryland. — Bank  of  Columbia  vs.  Okay,  4  Wheat  on. 
236,  249. 

But  the  last  provision  in  the  act  of  incorporation,  which  gives  this  summary  process  to 
the  bank,  is  no  part  of  its  corporate  franchise  and  may  be  repealed  or  altered  at  pleasure 
by  the  legislative  will.— Jd.,  245. 


CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    TJMTED  STATES.  23 

ARTICLE  THE  NINTH.  The  enumeration  in  the  constitutioo.,  of  certain 
rights,  shall  not  be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the 
people. 

ARTICLE  THE  TENTH.  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States, 
by  the  constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  states,  are  reserved  to  the 
states  respectively,  or  to  the  people.* 

ARTICLE  THE  ELEVENTH. t  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall 
not  be  construed  to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or 
prosecuted  against  one  of  the  United  States  by  citizens  of  another  state, 
or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  state. 

ARTICLE  THE  TWELFTH 4  The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective 
states,  and  vote  by  ballot  for  president  and  vice-president,  one  of  whom, 
at  least,  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with  themselves  ;  they 
shall  name  in  their  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  president,  and  in  distinct 
ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  vice-president,  and  they  shall  make  distinct 
lists  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  president,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as 
vice-president,  and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  lists  they  shall 
sign  and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  directed  to  the  president  of  the  senate  ;§ — the  president  of 
the  senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  senate  and  house  of  representa- 
tives, open  all  the  certificates  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted ; — the 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  for  president,  shall  be  the  pres- 
ident, if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  ap- 
pointed;  and  if  no  person  have  such  majority,  then 'from  the  persons  hav- 
ing the  highest  numbers  not  exceeding  three  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for 
as  president,  the  house  of  representatives  shall  choose  immediately,  by 
ballot,  the  president.  But  in  choosing  the  president,  the  votes  shall  be 
taken  by  states,  the  representation  from  each  state  having  one  vote  ;  a 
quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from  two 

•  The  powers  granted  to  Congress  are  not  exclusive  of  similar  powers  existing  in  the 
states,  unless  where  the  constitution  has  expressly  in  terms  given  an  exclusive  power  to 
Congress,  or  the  exercise  of  a  like  power  is  prohibited  to  the  states,  or  there  is  a  direct  re- 
pugnancy or  incompatibility  in  the  exercise  of  it  by  the  states. — Houston  vs.  Moore,  5  Whea- 
ton,  1,  12. 

The  example  of  the  first  class  is  to  be  found  in  the  exclusive  legislation  delegated  to  Con- 
gress over  places  purchased  by  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  state  in  which  the  same 
shall  be  for  forts,  arsenals,  dockyards,  &c.  Of  the  second  class,  the  prohibition  of  a  state 
to  coin  money  or  emit  bills  of  credit.  Of  the  third  class,  the  power  to  establish  a  uniform 
rule  of  naturalization,  and  the  delegation  of  admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction. — /</.,  49. 

In  all  other  classes  of  cases,  the  states  retain  concurrent  authority  with  Congress. — Id.  49. 

But  in  cases  of  concurrent  authority,  where  the  laws  of  the  states  and  the  1,'nion  are  in 
direct  and  manifest  collision  on  the  same  subject,  those  of  the  Union  boing  the  supreme  law 
of  the  land  are  of  paramount  authority,  and  the  state  laws  so  far,  and  so  far  only  as  Mich 
incompatibility  exists,  must  necessarily  yield. — Id.,  49. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  similar  to  the  articles  of  confed- 
eration, which  excludes  incidental  or  implied  powers. — McCulloch  vs.  State  of  Maryland,  4 
Wheaton,  406. 

If  the  end  be  legitimate,  and  within  the  scope  of  the  constitution,  all  the  means  which  are 
appropriate,  which  are  plainly  adapted  to  that  end,  and  which  are  not  prohibited,  may  con- 
st! :utk>naliy  be  employed  lo  carry  it  into  effect. — /</.,  421. 

The  act  of  Congress  of  4th  May,  KS12,  entitled,  "  An  act  further  to  amend  the  charter  of 
the  city  of  Washington,''  which  provides  (sect.  6)  that  the  corporation  of  the  city  shall  be 
empowered  for  certain  purposes  and  under  certain  restrictions,  to  authorize  the  drawing  of 
lotteries,  does  not  extend  to  authorize  the  corporation  to  force  the  sale  of  the  tickets  in  such 
lottery  in  states  where  such  sale  may  be  prohibited  by  the  state  laws. — Cohens  vs.  Virginia. 
6  H'heaton,  264,  375. 

f  This  amendment  was  proposed  at  the  first  session  of  the  third  Congress.  See  ante  art. 
iii..  sect.  2,  clause  1. 

I  Proposed  at  the  first  session  of  the  eighth  Congress.  See  ante  art.  ii.,  sect.  1,  clause  3 
Annulled  by  this  amendment. 

$  See  laws  of  the  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  109.  sect.  5. 


24  CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

thirds  of  the  states,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  states  shall  be  necessary  to 
a  choice.  And  if  the  house  of  representatives  shall  not  choose  a  presi- 
dent whenever  the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the 
fourth  day  of  March  next  following,  then  the  vice-president  shall  act  as 
president,  as  in  the  case  of  the  death  or  other  constitutional  disability  of 
the  president.  The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  vice- 
president,  shall  be  the  vice-president,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the 
whole  number  of  electors  appointed,  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then 
from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the  senate  shall  choose  the  vice- 
president  ;  a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two  thirds  of  the  whole 
number  of  senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  shall  be  necessary 
to  a  choice.  But  no  person  constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of  pres- 
ident shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  vice-president  of  the  United  States. 

NOTE. — Another  amendment  was  proposed  as  article  xiii.,  at  the  second  session  of  the 
eleventh  Congress,  but  not  having  been  ratified  by  a  sufficient  number  of  slates,  has  not  yet 
become  valid  as  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  Stales.  It  is  erroneously  given  as 
a  part  of  the  constitution,  in  page  74,  vol  i.,  laws  of  the  United  States. 


I  have  examined  and  compared  the  foregoing  print  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  amendments  thereto,  with  the  rolls  in  this  office,  and  find  it  a  faithful  and  literal 
copy  of  the  said  constitution  and  amendments,  in  the  text  and  punctuation  thereof.  It  ap- 
pears that  the  first  ten  amendments,  which  were  proposed  at  the  first  session  of  the  first 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  were  finally  ratified  by  the  constitutional  number  of  states, 
on  the  15th  day  of  December,  1791  ;  that  the  eleventh  amendment,  which  was  proposed  at 
the  first  session  of  the  third  Congress,  was  declared,  in  a  message  from  the  president  of  the 
United  States  to  both  houses  of  Congress,  dated  8th  January,  1798,  to  have  been  adopted  by 
three  fourths,  the  constitutional  number  of  states  ;  and  that  the  twelfth  amendment,  which 
was  proposed  at  the  first  session  of  the  eighth  Congress,  was  adopted  by  three  fourths,  the 
constitutional  number  of  states,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  four,  according 
to  a  public  notice  thereof,  by  the  secretary  of  state,  under  date  the  25th  of  September,  of  the 
same  year. 

DANIEL  BRENT,  Chief  Clerk. 

Department  of  Stale,  Washington,  25th  Feb.,  1828. 

•»•  For  history  of  the  formation  of  the  constitution,  the  declaration  of  independence,  and 
the  articles  of  confederation,  see  voi  ii.,  end  of  the  messages. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH 


OF 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON 


THE  family  of  Washington,  in  Virginia,  is  descended  from  English  an- 
cestors, who  were  anciently  established  at  Turtfield  and  Warton,  in  Lan- 
cashire, from  a  branch  of  whom  came  Sir  William  Washington,  of  Leices- 
tershire, eldest  son  and  heir  of  Lawrence  Washington,  Esq.,  of  Sulgrave, 
in  North  smptonshire.  Sir  William  had,  besides  other  younger  brothers,  two, 
named  John  and  Lawrence,  who  emigrated  to  Virginia  in  1657,  and  settled 
at  Bridge's  creek,  on  the  Potomac  river,  in  the  county  of  Westmoreland. 
John,  the  father  of  Lawrence  Washington,  died  in  1697,  leaving  two  sons, 
John  and  Augustine.  Augustine  died  in  1743,  at  the  age  of  forty-nine,  leav- 
ing seveial  sons  by  his  two  marriages.  George,  the  president,  was  the 
eldest  by  his  second  wife,  Mary  Ball,  and  was  born  at  Bridge's  creek,  on 
the  22d  of  February  (or  llth,  old  style),  1732. 

Having  lost  his  father  at  the  age  of  ten  years,  George  Washington  re- 
ceived what  was  called  an  English  education,  a  term  which  excludes  the 
acquisition  of  other  languages  than  our  own.  His  disposition  for  a  mili- 
tary life  disclosed  itself  at  an  early  age,  being  only  fifteen  when  he  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  enter  the  British  navy,  and  the  place  of  a  midshipman 
was  obtained  for  him.  The  interference  of  an  affectionate  mother  sus- 
pended for  a  time  the  commencement  of  his  military  course. 

As  his  patrimonial  estate  was  by  no  means  considerable,  his  youth  was 
employed  in  youthful  industry,  and  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  as  a 
surveyor  he  had  an  opportunity  of  acquiring  information  respecting  va- 
cant lands,  and  of  forming  those  opinions  concerning  their  future  value, 
which  afterward  greatly  contributed  to  increase  his  private  fortune. 

When  about  nineteen  years  of  age,  such  was  the  opinion  entertained  of 
]\\n  capacity,  that,  at  a  time  when  the  militia  were  to  be  trained  for  actual 
service,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  adjutants-general  of  Virginia,  with 
the  rank  of  major,  the  duties  of  which  office,  however,  he  performed  but 
for  a  short  time. 


/\   '-VA/0 


26  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    WASHINGTON. 

The  plan  formed  by  France  fur  connecting  her  extensive  dominions  in 
America  by  uniting  Canada  with  Louisiana,  now  began  to  develop  itself. 
Possession  was  taken  by  the  French  of  a  tract  of  country  then  deemed  to 
be  within  the  province  of  Virginia,  and  a  line  of  posts  was  commenced 
from  Canada  to  the  Ohio  river.  The  attention  of  Lieutenant-Govenior 
Dinwiddie,  of  Virginia,  was  attracted  by  these  movements,  and  he  deemed 
it  his  duty  to  send  a  messenger  to  the  French  officers  and  demand,  in  the 
name  of  the  king  of  Great  Britain,  that  they  should  desist  from  the  prose- 
cution of  designs  which  violated,  as  he  thought,  the  treaties  between  the 
two  crowns.  Washington,  at  his  own  desire,  was  selected  for  this  haz- 
ardous enterprise,  and  he  engaged  in  it  with  alacrity,  commencing  his 
journey  the  day  on  which  he  was  commissioned,  in  October,  1753.  His 
course  was  through  a  dreary  wilderness,  inhabited  for  the  most  part  only 
by  Indians,  many  of  whom  were  hostile  to  the  English.  Conducted  by 
guides  over  the  Allegany  mountains,  he  suffered  many  hardships,  and 
experienced  many  narrow  escapes,  but  succeeded  in  reaching  the  French 
forts  on  the  Allegany  branches  of  the  Ohio.  After  delivering  the  lieu- 
tenant-governor's letter  to  St.  Pierre,  the  French  commanding  officer,  and 
receiving  an  answer,  he  returned,  with  infinite  fatigue  and  much  danger, 
from  the  hostile  Indians,  to  Williamsburg.  The  manner  in  which  he  per- 
formed his  duty  on  this  occasion  raised  him  much  in  public  opinion,  as 
well  as  in  that  of  the  lieutenant-governor.  His  journal,  which  extended  to 
sixty  days,  was  published  by  authority,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  Wash- 
ington's fame,  as  it  gave  strong  evidence  of  his  sagacity,  fortitude,  and 
sound  judgment. 

As  the  French  commandant  on  the  Ohio  showed  no  disposition,  in  his 
answer  sent  by  Washington,  to  withdraw  his  forces  from  that  country,  the 
assembly  of  Virginia  determined  to  authorize  the  governor  and  council  to 
raise  a  regiment  of  three  hundred  men,  to  be  sent  to  the  frontier,  for  the 
purpose  of  maintaining  the  rights  of  Great  Britain  to  the  territory  invaded 
by  the  French.  The  command  of  this  regiment  was  given  to  Colonel 
Fry.  Major  Washington  was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel,  and  obtained 
permission  to  march  with  two  companies  in  advance  of  the  other  troops  to 
the  Great  Meadows.  In  a  dark  rainy  night,  May  28, 1754,  Colonel  Wash- 
ington surrounded  and  surprised  a  detachment  of  the  French  troops,  a  few 
miles  west  of  the  Great  Meadows.  The.  Americans  fired  about  daybreak 
upon  the  French,  who  immediately  surrendered.  One  man  only  escaped, 
and  the  commanding  officer  of  the  party,  M.  de  Jumonville,  and  ten  of  his 
men  were  killed.  Being  soon  after  joined  by  the  residue  of  the  regiment,  also 
by  two  companies  of  regulars,  and  Colonel  Fry  having  died,  the  command 
devolved  on  Colonel  Washington.  This  body  of  men,  numbering  less 
than  four  hundred,  were,  in  the  following  month  of  July,  attacked  by  about 
1,500  French  and  Indians,  at  Fort  Necessity,  situated  at  the  Great  Mead- 
ows and  after  a  contest  which  lasted  a  whole  day  the  French  offered 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    WASHINGTON.  27 

terms  of  capitulation,  and  articles  were  signed,  by  which  the  fort  was  sur- 
rendered, and  the  garrison  allowed  the  honors  of  war,  and  permitted  to  re- 
turn unmolested  into  the  inhabited  parts  of  Virginia.  Great  credit  was 
given  to  Colonel  Washington  by  his  countrymen,  for  the  courage  dis- 
played on  this  occasion,  and  the  legislature  were  so  satisfied  with  the 
conduct  of  the  party  as  to  vote  their  thanks  to  him  and  the  officers  undei 
his  command.  They  also  ordered  three  hundred  pistoles  to  be  distribu- 
ted among  the  soldiers,  as  a  reward  for  their  bravery. 

Soon  after  this  campaign,  Washington  retired  from  the  militia  sendee, 
in  consequence  of  an  order  from  the  war  department  in  England,  which 
put  those  of  the  same  military  rank  in  the  royal  army  over  the  heads  of 
those  in  the  provincial  forces.  This  order  created  great  dissatisfaction 
in  the  colonies,  and  Washington,  while  refusing  to  submit  to  the  degrada- 
tion required,  declared  that  he  would  serve  with  pleasure  when  he  should 
be  enabled  to  do  so  without  dishonor. 

The  unfortunate  expedition  of  General  Braddock  followed  in  1755. 
The  general,  being  informed  of  the  merit  of  Washington,  invited  him  to 
enter  into  his  family  as  a  volunteer  and  aid-de-camp.  This  invitation 
Colonel  Washington  accepted,  as  he  was  desirous  to  make  one  campaign 
under  an  officer  supposed  to  possess  some  knowledge  in  the  art  of  war.  The 
disastrous  result  of  Braddock's  expedition  is  well  known.  In  the  battle 
of  the  Monongahela,  in  which  General  Braddock  was  killed,  Washington 
had  two  horses  shot  under  him,  and  four  balls  passed  through  hi^  coat,  as 
his  duty  and  situation  exposed  him  to  every  danger.  Such  was  the  gen- 
eral confidence  in  his  talents,  that  he  may  be  said  to  have  conducted  the 
retreat. 

On  his  return  home,  Colonel  Washington  was  appointed,  by  the  legis- 
lature of  the  colony,  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  forces  raised  and  to  be 
raised  in  Virginia,  which  appointment  he  accepted,  and  for  about  three 
years  devoted  his  time  to  recruiting  and  organizing  troops  for  the  defence 
of  the  colony.  In  1758  he  commanded  an  expedition  to  Fort  Du  Quesne, 
which  terminated  successfully,  and  the  French  retired  from  the  western 
frontier.  At  the  close  of  this  campaign  Washington  left  the  army,  and 
was  soon  after  married  to  Mrs.  Martha  Custis,  a  widow  lady  of  Virginia, 
of  amiable  character  and  highly  respectable  connexions.  From  the  date 
of  his  marriage  until  the  year  1774,  a  period  of  about  sixteen  years, 
Washington  passed  his  time  in  the  enjoyment  of  domestic  life,  and  in  the 
cultivation  of  his  estate  at  his  beautiful  family-seat  of  Mount  Vernon.  He 
was  occasionally  called  upon,  however,  to  discharge  duties  as  a  magis- 
trate of  the  county,  or  a  member  of  the  legislature.  When  the  difficulties 
between  Great  Britain  and  her  American  colonies  assumed  a  threatening 
aspect,  in  1774,  he  was  sent  to  the  continental  congress  as  one  of  the 
delegates  from  Virginia.  The  following  year,  when  an  army  of  provin- 
cials had  concentrated  in  Massachusetts,  prepared  for  a  contest  with  the 


25  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    WASHINGTON. 

troops  of  the  mother-country,  Washington  was  unanimously  chosen  by 
the  continental  congress  as  the  commander-in-chief,  and  took  the  com- 
mand of  the  army  in  July,  1775. 

To  detail  his  operations  in  the  years  which  followed  would  be  to  re- 
peal the  history  of  the  war  of  the  American  revolution.  Within  a  very 
short  period  after  the  declaration  of  independence,  the  affairs  of  America 
were  in  a  condition  so  desperate  that  perhaps  nothing  but  the  peculiar 
character  of  Washington's  genius  could  have  retrieved  them.  His  mag- 
nanimity during  the  ravages  and  distress  of  a  civil  war,  in  which  he  acted 
so  conspicuous  a  part,  has  been  much  and  justly  celebrated.  When 
peace  came,  he  hastened  to  resign  his  commission  to  congress,  and  be- 
came a  private  citizen. 

The  conclusion  of  the  revolutionary  war  permitted  Washington  to  re- 
turn to  those  domestic  scenes  in  which  he  delighted,  and  from  which  no 
views  of  ambition  seem  to  have  had  the  power  to  draw  his  affections. 
One  of  the  greatest  proofs  of  his  patriotism  was  his  refusal  to  receive  any 
pecuniary  compensation  for  his  services  as  commander-in-chief  during  the 
eight  years  in  which  he  had  served  his  country  in  that  capacity.  When 
he  accepted  the  appointment  he  announced  to  congress  his  determination 
to  decline  payment  for  his  services.  He  simply  asked  the  reimbursement 
of  his  expenses,  an  exact  account  of  which  he  kept  and  presented  to  the 
government,  drawn  up  by  his  own  hand  at  the  close  of  the  war.* 

Washington  was  not  long  allowed  to  remain  in  retirement.  To  remedy 
the  distress  into  which  the  country  had  been  thrown  by  the  war,  and  to 
organize  a  permanent  plan  of  national  government,  a  national  convention 
of  delegates  from  the  several  states  was  called,  and  met  at  Philadelphia 
in  1787.  Having  been  chosen  one  of  the  delegates  from  Virginia,  Wash- 
ington was  appointed  to  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  the  convention, 
and  used  his  influence  to  cause  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

By  the  unanimous  voice  of  his  fellow-citizens  and  of  the  electoral  col- 
leges, he  was  called,  in  1789,  to  act  as  president  of  the  United  States, 
and  cheerfully  lent  his  aid  in  organizing  the  new  government.  Amid  all 
the  difficulties  which  occurred  at  that  period  from  differences  of  opinion 
among  the  people,  many  of  whom  were  opposed  to  the  measures  proposed 
and  adopted,  the  national  government  would  probably  have  perished  in  its 
infancy,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  wisdom  and  firmness  of  Washington. 
During  his  first  term  the  French  revolution  commenced,  which  convulsed 
the  whole  political  world,  and  which  tried  most  severely  his  moderation 
and  prudence.  His  conduct  was  a  model  of  firm  and  dignified  modera- 
tion. Insults  were  offered  to  his  authority  by  the  minister  of  the  French 
republic  (Mr.  Genet)  and  his  adherents,  in  official  papers,  in  anonymous 

*  A  fac-simile  of  this  account  of  Washington's  public  expenditures  has  been  published  in  a 
handsome  volume,  by  Mr.  Franklin  Knight,  of  Washington  city. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    WASHIXGTON.  29 

libels,  and  by  tumultuous  meetings.  The  law  of  nations  was  trampled 
under  foot.  No  vexation  could  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  his  mind,  or 
make  him  deviate  from  the  policy  which  his  situation  prescribed.  During 
the  whole  course  of  that  arduous  struggle,  his  personal  character  gave 
that  strength  to  a  new  magistracy  which  in  other  countries  arises  from 
ancient  habits  of  obedience  and  respect.  The  authority  of  his  virtue  was 
more  efficacious  for  the  preservation  of  America  than  the  legal  powers  of 
his  office.  During  this  turbulent  period  he  was  unanimously  re-elected 
to  the  presidency,  in  1793,  for  another  term,  although  he  had  expressed  a 
wish  to  retire.  The  nation  was  then  nearly  equally  divided  into  two 
great  political  parties,  who  united  only  on  the  name  of  Washington. 
Throughout  the  whole  course  of  his  second  presidency  the  danger  of  the 
United  States  was  great  and  imminent.  The  spirit  of  change,  indeed, 
shook  all  nations.  But  in  other  countries  it  had  to  encounter  ancient  and 
strong  established  power ;  in  America  the  government  was  new  and 
weak  ;  the  people  had  scarcely  time  to  recover  from  the  effects  of  a  recent 
civil  war.  Washington  employed  the  horror  excited  by  the  atrocities  of 
the  French  revolution  for  the  best  purposes  ;  to  preserve  the  internal  quiet 
of  his  country ;  to  assert  the  dignity  and  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the 
commonwealth  which  he  governed,  against  foreign  enemies.  He  avoided 
war,  without  incurring  the  imputation  of  pusillanimity.  He  cherished  the 
detestation  of  the  best  portion  of  his  countrymen  for  anarchy,  without 
weakening  the  spirit  of  liberty ;  and  he  maintained  the  authority  of  the 
government  without  infringing  on  the  rights  of  the  states,  or  abridging  the 
privileges  of  the  people.  He  raised  no  hopes  that  he  did  not  gratify ; 
he  made  no  promises  that  he  did  not  fulfil ;  he  exacted  proper  respect  due 
to  the  high  office  he  held,  and  rendered  to  others  every  courtesy  belong- 
ing to  his  high  station. 

Having  determined  to  retire  from  the  presidency  at  the  expiration  of 
his  second  term,  in  March,  1797,  he  issued  in  September,  1796,  a  fare- 
well address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  which  will  be  found  in 
this  volume,  and  which  will  remain  as  a  permanent  legacy  to  his  coun- 
trymen through  future  generations,  for  its  sentiments  of  patriotism  and 
sound  maxims  of  political  sagacity.  He  remained  at  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment until  the  inauguration  of  his  successor,  Mr.  Adams,  which  occasion 
he  honored  with  his  presence,  and  immediately  retired  to  Mount  Vernon, 
to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  quiet  retirement ;  but  when,  in  1798 
the  United  States  armed  by  sea  and  land,  in  consequence  of  their  difficul- 
ties with  France,  he  consented  to  act  as  lieutenant-general  of  the  army ; 
but  was  never  afterward  called  upon  to  take  the  field,  although  he  bore 
the  commission  until  his  death.  On  Thursday,  the  12th  of  December, 
1799,  he  was  seized  with  an  inflammation  in  his  throat,  which  became 
considerably  worse  the  next  day,  and  which  terminated  his  life  on  Satur- 
day, the  14th  ot  .he  same  month,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age. 


30  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    WASHINGTON. 

"  No  man,"  says  Colonel  Knapp,  in  his  biographical  sketch,  "  was  ever 
mourned  so  widely  and  sincerely  as  Washington.  Throughout  the 
United  States,  eulogies  were  pronounced  upon  his  character,  sermons 
were  preached,  or  some  mark  of  respect  paid  to  his  memory.  It  was  not 
speaking  extravagantly  to  say  that  a  nation  was  in  tears  at  his  death. 
There  have  been  popular  men,  who  were  great  in  their  day  and  genera- 
tion, but  whose  fame  soon  passed  away.  It  is  not  so  with  the  fame  of 
Washington,  it  grows  brighter  by  years.  The  writings  of  Washington  (a 
portion  only  of  which  comprise  eleven  octavo  volumes)  show  that  he 
had  a  clear,  lucid  mind,  and  will  be  read  with  pleasure  for  ages  to  come." 

"  General  Washington,"  says  Judge  Marshall,  "  was  rather  above  the 
common  size  ;  his  frame  was  robust,  and  his  constitution  vigorous — capa- 
ble of  endurirtg  great  fatigue,  and  requiring  a  considerable  degree  of 
exercise  for  the  preservation  of  his  health.  His  exterior  created  in  the 
beholder  the  idea  of  strength  united  with  manly  gracefulness. 

"  His  manners  were  rather  reserved  than  free,  though  they  partook 
nothing  of  that  dryness  and  sternness  which  accompany  reserve  when 
carried  to  an  extreme  ;  and  on  all  proper  occasions  he  could  relax  suffi- 
ciently to  show  how  highly  he  was  gratified  by  the  charms  of  conversa- 
tion, and  the  pleasures  of  society.  His  person  and  whole  deportment 
exhibited  an  unaffected  and  indescribable  dignity,  unmingled  with  haugh 
tiness,  of  which  all  who  approached  him  were  sensible  ;  and  the  attach- 
ment of  those  who  possessed  his  friendship,  and  enjoyed  his  intimacy, 
was  ardent,  but  always  respectful. 

"  His  temper  was  humane,  benevolent,  and  conciliatory ;  but  there  was 
a  quickness  in  his  sensibility  to  anything  apparently  offensive,  which  ex- 
perience had  taught  him  to  watch  and  to  correct. 

"In  the  management  of  his  private  affairs  he  exhibited  an  exact  yet 
liberal  economy.  His  funds  were  not  prodigally  wasted  on  capricious 
and  ill-examined  schemes,  nor  refused  to  beneficial  though  costly  im- 
provements. They  remained,  therefore,  competent  to  that  extensive 
establishment  which  his  reputation,  added  to  an  hospitable  temper,  had  in 
some  measure  imposed  upon  him,  and  to  those  donations  which  real  dis- 
tress has  a  right  to  claim  from  opulence. 

"In  his  civil  administration,  as  in  his  military  career,  were  exhibited 
ample  and  repeated  proofs  of  that  practical  good  sense,  of  that  sound  judg- 
ment which  is  perhaps  the  most  rare,  and  is  certainly  the  most  valuable 
quality  of  the  human  mind. 

"  In  speculation  he  was  a  real  republican,  devoted  to  the  constitution  of 
his  country,  and  to  that  system  of  equal  political  rights  on  which  it  is 
founded.^  But  between  a  balanced  republic  and  a  democracy  the  differ- 
ence is  like  that  between  order  and  chaos.  Real  liberty,  he  thought,  was 
10  be  preserved  only  by  preserving  the  authority  of  the  laws,  and  main- 
taining the  energy  of  government." 


WASHINGTON'S 

ADDRESSED   AND   MESSAGES, 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 
APRIL  30, 1789. 

Fellow-  Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

AMONG  the  vicissitudes  incident  to  life,  no  event  could  have  fille4  me 
with  greater  anxieties  than  that  of  which  the  notification  was  transmitted 
by  your  order,  and  received  on  the  14th  day  of  the  present  month.  On 
the  one  hand,  I  was  summoned  by  my  country,  whose  voice  I  can  never 
hear  but  with  veneration  and  love,  from  a  retreat  which  I  had  chosen  with 
the  fondest  predilection,  and,  in  my  flattering  hopes,  with  an  immutable  de- 
cision, as  the  asylum  of  my  declining  years — a  retreat  which  was  ren- 
dered every  day  more  necessary  as  well  as  more  dear  to  me  by  the  addi- 
tion of  habit  to  inclination,  and  of  frequent  interruptions  in  my  health  to 
the  gradual  waste  committed  on  it  by  time.  On  the  other  hand,  the  mag- 
nitude and  difficulty  of  the  trust  to  which  the  voice  of  my  country  called 
me,  being  sufficient  to  awaken  in  the  wisest  and  most  experienced  of  her 
citizens  a  distrustful  scrutiny  into  his  qualifications,  could  not  but  over- 
whelm with  despondence  one  who,  inheriting  inferior  endowments  from 
nature,  and  unpractised  in  the  duties  of  civil  administration,  ought  to  be 
peculiarly  conscious  of  his  own  deficiencies.  In  this  conflict  of  emotions, 
all  I  dare  aver  is,  that  it  has  been  my  faithful  study  to  collect  my  duty 
from  a  just  appreciation  of  every  circumstance  by  which  it  might  be  af- 
fected. All  I  dare  hope  is,  that  if,  in  accepting  this  task,  I  have  been  too 
much  swayed  by  a  grateful  remembrance  of  former  instances,  or  by  an 
affectionate  sensibility  to  this  transcendant  proof  of  the  confidence  of  my 
fellow- citizens,  and  have  thence  too  little  consulted  my  incapacity  as  well 
as  disinclination  for  the  weighty  and  untried  cares  before  me,  my  error 
will  be  palliated  by  the  motives  which  misled  me,  and  its  consequences  be 
judged  by  my  country  with  some  share  of  the  partiality  with  which  they 
originated. 

Such  being  the  impressions  under  which  I  have,  in  obedience  to  the 
public  summons,  repaired  to  the  present  station,  it  would  be  peculiarly 
improper  to  omit,  in  this  first  official  act,  my  fervent  supplications  to  that 
Almighty  Being  who  rules  over  the  universe,  who  presides  in  the  councils 
of  nations,  and  whose  providential  aids  can  supply  every  humnn  defect, 
that  his  benediction  may  consecrate  to  the  liberties  and  happiness  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  a  government  instituted  by  themselves  for 


32  WASHINGTON'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

these  essential  purposes,  and  may  enable  every  instrument  employed  in  its 
administration  to  execute  with  success  the  functions  allotted  to  his  charge. 
In  tendering  this  homage  to  the  great  Author  of  every  public  and  private 
good,  I  assure  myself  that  it  expresses  your  sentiments  not  less  than  my 
own,  nor  those  of  my  fellow-citizens  at  large  less  than  either.  No  people 
can  be  bound  to  acknowledge  and  adore  the  invisible  Hand  which  con- 
ducts the  affairs  of  men,  more  than  the  people  of  the  United  States.  Every 
step  by  which  they  have  advanced  to  the  character  of  an  independent 
nation  seems  to  have  been  distinguished  by  some  token  of  providential 
agency  ;  and  in  the  important  revolution  just  accomplished  in  the  system 
of  their  united  government,  the  tranquil  deliberations  and  voluntary  con- 
sent of  so  many  distinct  communities  from  which  the  event  has  resulted, 
can  not  be  compared  with  the  means  by  which  most  governments  have 
been  established,  without  some  return  of  pious  gratitude,  along  with  an 
humble  anticipation  of  the  future  blessings  which  the  past  seem  to  pre- 
sage. These  reflections,  arising  out  of  the  present  crisis,  have  forced 
themselves  too  strongly  on  my  mind  to  be  suppressed.  You  will  join 
with  me,  I  trust,  in  thinking  that  there  are  none  under  the  influence  of 
which  the  proceedings  of  a  new  and  free  government  can  more  auspi- 
ciously commence. 

By  the  article  establishing  the  executive  department,  it  is  made  the  duty 
of  the  president  "  to  recommend  to  your  consideration  such  measures  as 
he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient."  The  circumstances  under 
which  I  now  meet  you  will  acquit  me  from  entering  into  that  subject  far- 
ther than  to  refer  to  the  great  constitutional  charter  under  which  you  are 
assembled,  and  which,  in  defining  your  powers,  designates  the  objects  to 
which  your  attention  is  to  be  given.  It  will  be  more  consistent  with 
those  circumstances,  and  far  more  congenial  with  the  feelings  which  ac- 
tuate me,  to  substitute,  in  place  of  a  recommendation  of  particular  meas- 
ures, the  tribute  that  is  due  to  the  talents,  the  rectitude,  and  the  patriotism 
which  adorn  the  characters  selected  to  devise  and  adopt  them.  In  these 
honorable  qualifications  I  behold  the  surest  pledges  that,  as  on  one  side, 
no  local  prejudices  or  attachments,  no  separate  views,  no  party  animosi- 
ties, will  misdirect  the  comprehensive  and  equal  eye  which  ought  to 
watch  over  this  great  assemblage  of  communities  and  interests,  so,  on  an- 
other, that  the  foundations  of  our  national  policy  will  be  laid  in  the  pure 
and  immutable  principles  of  private  morality,  and  the  pre-eminence  of 
free  government  be  exemplified  by  all  the  attributes  which  can  win  the 
affections  of  its  citizens  and  command  the  respect  of  the  world.  I  dwell 
on  this  prospect  with  every  satisfaction  which  an  ardent  love  for  my  coun- 
try can  inspire,  since  there  is  no  truth  more  thoroughly  established  than 
that  there  exists  in  the  economy  and  course  of  nature  an  indissoluble  union 
between  virtue  and  happiness,  between  duty  and  advantage,  between  the 
genuine  maxims  of  an  honest  and  magnanimous  policy  and  the  solid  re- 
wards of  public  prosperity  and  felicity ;  since  we  ought  to  be  no  less  per- 
suaded that  the  propitious  smiles  of  Heaven  can  never  be  expected  on  a 
nation  that  disregards  the  etenial  rules  of  order  and  right  which  Heaven 
itself  has  ordained,  and  since  the  preservation  of  the  sacred  fire  of  liberty 
and  the  destiny  of  the  republican  model  of  government  are  justly  consid- 
ered as  deeply,  perhaps  as  finally,  staked  on  the  experiment  intrusted  to 
the  hands  of  the  American  people. 

Besides  the  ordinary  objects  submitted  to  your  care,  it  will  remain  with 
your  judgment  to  decide  how  far  an  exercise  of  the  occasional  power  del- 


WASHINGTON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  33 

egated  by  the  fifth  article  of  the  constitution  is  rendered  expedient  at  the 
present  juncture  by  the  nature  of  the  objections  which  have  been  urged 
against  the  system,  or  by  the  degree  of  inquietude  which  has  given  birth 
to  them.  Instead  of  undertaking  particular  recommendations  on  this  sub- 
ject, in  which  I  could  be  guided  by  no  lights  derived  from  official  oppor- 
tunities, I  shall  again  give  way  to  my  entire  confidence  in  your  discern 
ment  and  pursuit  of  the  public  good ;  for  I  assure  myself  that  while  you 
carefully  avoid  every  alteration  which  might  endanger  the  benefits  of  a 
united  and  effective  government,  or  which  ought  to  await  the  future  les 
sons  of  experience,  a  reverence  for  the  characteristic  rights  of  freemen 
and  a  regard  for  the  public  harmony  will  sufficiently  influence  your  delib- 
erations on  the  question  how  far  the  former  can  be  more  impregnably  for- 
tified, or  the  latter  be  safely  and  advantageously  promoted. 

To  the  preceding  observations  I  have  one  to  add  which  will  be  most 
properly  addressed  to  the  house  of  representatives.  It  concerns  myself,  and 
will  therefore  be  as  brief  as  possible.  When  I  was  first  honored  with  a 
call  into  the  service  of  my  country,  then  on  the  eve  of  an  arduous  strug- 
gle for  its  liberties,  the  light  in  which  I  contemplated  my  duty  required 
that  I  should  renounce  every  pecuniary  compensation.  From  this  resolu- 
tion I  have  in  no  instance  departed ;  and  being  still  under  the  impressions 
which  produced  it,  I  must  decline  as  inapplicable  to  myself  any  share  in 
the  personal  emoluments  which  may  be  indispensably  included  in  a  per- 
manent provision  for  the  executive  department,  and  must  accordingly  pray 
that  the  pecuniary  estimates  for  the  station  in  which  I  am  placed  may,, 
during  my  continuance  in  it,  be  limited  to  such  actual  expenditures  as  the 
public  good  may  be  thought  to  require. 

Having  thus  imparted  to  you  my  sentiments  as  they  have  been  awa- 
kened by  the  occasion  which  brings  us  together,  I  shall  take  my  present 
leave  ;  but  not  without  resorting  once  more  to  the  benign  Parent  of  the 
human  race  in  humble  supplication  that,  since  he  has  been  pleased,  to  fa- 
vor the  American  people  with  opportunities  for  deliberating  in  perfect 
tranquillity,  and  dispositions  for  deciding  with  unparalleled  unanimity  on 
a  form  of  government  for  the  security  of  their  union  and  the  advancement 
of  their  happiness,  so  his  divine  blessing  may  be  equally  conspicuous  in 
the  enlarged  views,  the  temperate  consultations,  and  the  wise  measures,  on 
which  the  success  of  this  government  must  depend. 


FIRST    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
JANUARY  8,  1790. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives  :— 

I  EMBRACE  with  great  satisfaction  the  opportunity  which  now  presents 
itself  of  congratulating  you  on  the  present  favorable  prospects  of  our  public 
affairs.  The  recent  accession  of  the  important  state  of  North  Carolina  to 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States  (of  which  official  information  has  been 
received),  the  rising  credit  and  respectability  of  our  country,  the  general 
and  increasing  good-will  toward  the  government  of  the  Union,  and  the 
concord,  peace,  and  plenty,  with  which  we  are  blessed,  are  circumstances 
auspicious,  in  an  eminent  degree,  to  our  national  prosperity. 

Vol.  I.— 3 


34  WASHINGTON'S  FIRST  A.YNUAL  ADDRESS. 

In  resuming  your  consultations  for  the  general  good,  you  can  not  but  di- 
rive  encouragement  from  the  reflection  that  the  measures  of  the  last  sVs- 
sion  have  been  as  satisfactory  to  yotir  constituents  as  the  novelty  and  dif- 
ficulty of  the  work  allowed  you  to  hope.  Still  further  to  realize  their  ex- 
pectations and  to  secure  the  blessings  which  a  gracious  Providence  has 
placed  within  our  reach,  will,  in  the  course  of  the  present  important 
session,  call  for  the  cool  and  deliberate  exertion  of  your  patriotism,  firm- 
ness, and  wisdom. 

Among  the  many  interesting  objects  which  will  engage  your  attention, 
that  of  providing  for  the  common  defence  will  merit  particular  regard. 
To  be  prepared  for  war  is  one  of  the  most  effectual  means  of  preserving 
peace. 

A  free  people  ought  not  only  to  be  armed,  but  disciplined,  to  which  end 
a  uniform  and  well-digested  plan  is  requisite;  and  their  safety  and  inter- 
est require  that  they  should  promote  such  manufactories  as  tend  to  render 
them  independent  on  others  for  essential,  particularly  military,  supplies. 

The  proper  establishment  of  the  troops  which  may  be  deemed  indis- 
pensable will  be  entitled  to  mature  consideration.  In  the  arrangements 
which  may  be  made  respecting  it,  it  will  be  of  importance  to  conciliate 
ihe  comfortable  support  of  the  officers  and'soldiers,  with  a  due  regard  to 
,  economy. 

There  was  reason  to  hope  that  the  pacific  measures  adopted  with  re- 
gard to  certain  hostile  tribes  of  Indians  would  have  relieved  the  inhabi- 
tants of  our  southern  and  western  frontiers  from  their  depredations ;  but 
you  will  perceive,  from  the  information  contained  in  the  papers  which  I 
shall  direct  to  be  laid  before  you  (comprehending  a  communication  from 
the  commonwealth  of  Virginia),  that  we  ought  to  be  prepared  to  afford 
protection  to  those  parts  of  the  Union,  and,  if  necessary,  to  punish  ag- 
gressors. 

The  interests  of  the  United  States  require  that  our  intercourse  with 
other  nations  should  be  facilitated  by  such  provisions  as  will  enable  me 
to  fulfil  my  duty  in  that  respect  in  the  manner  which  circumstances  may 
render  most  conducive  to  the  public  good ;  and  to  this  end,  that  the  com- 
pensations to  be  made  to  the  persons  who  may  be  employed  should,  ac- 
cording to  the  nature  of  their  appointments,  be  defined  bylaw,  and  a  com- 
petent fund  designated  for  defraying  the  expenses  incident  to  the  conduct 
of  our  foreign  affairs. 

Various  considerations  also  render  it  expedient  that  the  terms  on  which 
foreigners  may  be  admitted  to  the  rights  of  citizens  should  be  speedily 
ascertained  by  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization. 

Uniformity  in  the  currency,  weights,  and  measures  of  the  United  States, 
is  an  object  of  great  importance,  and  -will,  I  am  persuaded,  be  duly  attend- 
ed to. 

The  advancement  of  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures,  by  all 
proper  means,  will  not,  I  trust,  need  recommendation ;  but  I  can  not  for- 
bear intimating  to  you  the  expediency  of  giving  effectual  encouragement, 
as  well  to  the  introduction  of  new  and  useful  inventions  from  abroad,  as 
to  the  exertions  of  skill  and  genius  in  producing  them  at  home,  and  of 
facilitating  the  intercourse  between  the  distant  parts  of  our  country  by  a 
due  attention  to  the  postolfice  and  post-roads. 

Nor  am  I  less  persuaded  that  you  will  agree  with  me  in  opinion  that 
•there  is  nothing  which  can  better  deserve  your  patronage  than  the  promo- 
iion  of  science  and  literature.  Knowledge  is  in  every  country  the  surest 


WASHINGTON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  ADDRKSS.  35 

basis  of  public  happiness.  In  one  in  which  the  measures  of  government 
receive  their  impressions  so  immediately  from  the  sense  of  the  community 
as  in  ours,  it  is  proportionably  essential.  To  the  security  of  a  free  con- 
stitution it  contributes  in  various  ways :  by  convincing  those  who  are  in- 
trusted with  the  public  administration  that  every  valuable  end  of  govern- 
ment is  best  answered  by  the  enlightened  confidence  of  the  people,  and 
by  teaching  the  people  themselves  to  know  and  to  value  their  own  rights, 
to  discern  and  provide  against  invasions  of  them,  to  distinguish  between 
oppression  and  the  necessary  exercise  of  lawful  authority,  between  bur- 
dens proceeding  from  a  disregard  to  their  convenience,  and  those  result- 
ing from  the  inevitable  exigencies  of  society,  to  discriminate  the  spirit  of 
liberty  from  that  of  licentiousness,  cherishing  the  first,  avoiding  the  last, 
and  uniting  a  speedy  but  temperate  vigilance  against  encroachments  with 
an  inviolable  respect  to  the  laws. 

Whether  this  desirable  object  will  be  best  promoted  by  affording  aids 
to  seminaries  of  learning  already  established,  by  the  institution  of  a  na- 
tional university,  or  by  any  other  expedients,  will  be  well  worthy  of  a 
place  in  the  deliberations  of  the  legislature. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  saw  with  peculiar  pleasure,  at  the  close  of  the  last  session,  the  reso- 
lution entered  into  by  you  expressive  of  your  opinion  that  an  adequate 
provision  for  the  support  of  the  public  credit  is  a  matter  of  high  impor- 
tance to  the  national  honor  and  prosperity.  In  this  sentiment  I  entirely 
concur.  And,  to  a  perfect  confidence  in  your  best  endeavors  to  devise 
such  a  provision  as  will  be  truly  consistent  with  the  end,  I  add  an  equal 
reliance  on  the  cheerful  co-operation  of  the  other  branch  of  the  legislature. 
It  would  be  superfluous  to  specify  inducements  to  a  measure  in  which  the 
character  and  permanent  interests  of  the  United  States  are  so  obviously 
and  so  deeply  concerned,  and  which  has  received  so  explicit  a  sanction 
from  your  declaration. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  have  directed  the  proper  officers  to  lay  before  you,  respectively,  such 
papers  and  estimates  as  regard  the  affairs  particularly  recommended  to 
your  consideration,  and  necessary  to  convey  to  you  that  information  of  the 
state  of  the  Union  which  it  is  my  duty  to  afford. 

The  welfare  of  our  country  is  the  great  object  to  which  our  cares  and 
efforts  ought  to  be  directed.  And  I  shall  derive  great  satisfaction  from  a 
co-operation  with  you  in  the  pleasing  though  arduous  task  of  insuring  to 
our  fellow-citizens  the  blessings  which  they  have  a  right  to  expect  from  a 
free,  efficient,  and  equal  government. 


36  WASHINGTON'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

SECOND    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
DECEMBER  8,  1790. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

IN  meeting  you  again,  I  feel  much  satisfaction  in  being  able  to  repeat 
my  congratulations  on  the  favorable  prospects  which  continue  to  distinguish 
our  public  affairs.  The  abundant  fruits  of  another  year  have  blessed  our 
country  with  plenty  and  with  the  means  of  a  flourishing  commerce.  The 
progress  of  public  credit  is  witnessed  by  a  considerable  rise  of  American 
stock  abroad  as  well  as  at  home  ;  and  the  revenues  allotted  for  this  and 
other  national  purposes  have  been  productive  beyond  the  calculations  by 
which  they  were  regulated.  The  latter  circumstance  is  the  more  pleas- 
ing, as  it  is  not  only  a  proof  of  the  fertility  of  our  resources,  but  as  it  as- 
sures us  of  a  further  increase  of  the  national  respectability  and  credit ; 
and,  let  me  add,  as  it  bears  an  honorable  testimony  to  the  patriotism  and 
integrity  of  the  mercantile  and  marine  part  of  our  citizens.  The  punctu- 
ality of  the  former  in  discharging  their  engagements  has  been  exemplary. 
In  conforming  to  the  powers  vested  in  me  by  acts  of  the  last  session,  a 
loan  of  three  millions  of  florins,  toward  which  some  provisional  measures 
had  previously  taken  place,  has  been  completed  in  Holland.  As  well  the 
celerity  with  which  it  has  been  filled,  as  the  nature  of  the  terms  (consid- 
ering the  more  than  ordinary  demands  for  borrowing,  created  by  the  situ- 
ation of  Europe),  give  a  reasonable  hope  that  the  further  execution  oi 
those  powers  may  proceed  with  advantage  and  success.  The  secretary 
of  the  treasury  has  my  direction  to  communicate  such  further  particulars 
as  may  be  requisite  for  more  precise  information. 

Since  your  last  session,  I  have  received  communications  by  which  it 
appears  that  the  district  of  Kentucky,  at  present  a  part  of  Virginia,  has 
concurred  in  certain  propositions  contained  in  a  law  of  that  state  ;  in  con- 
sequence of  which,  the  district  is  to  become  a  distinct  member  of  the 
Union,  in(  case  the  requisite  sanction  of  Congress  be  added.  For  this 
sanction,  application  is  now  made.  I  shall  cause  the  papers  on  this  very 
important  transaction  to  be  laid  before  you.  The  liberality  and  harmony 
with  which  it  has  been  conducted  will  be  found  to  do  great  honor  to  both 
the  parties ;  and  the  sentiments  of  warm  attachment  to  the  Union  and  its 
present  government,  expressed  by  our  fellow-citizens  of  Kentucky,  can  not 
fail  to  add  an  affectionate  concern  for  their  particular  welfare  to  the  great 
national  impressions'under  which  you  will  decide  on  the  case  submitted 
to  you. 

It  has  been  heretofore  known  to  Congress  that  frequent  incursions  have 
been  made  on  our  frontier  settlements  by  certain  banditti  of  Indians  from 
the  northwest  side  of  Ohio.  These,  with  some  of  the  tribes  dwelling  on 
and  near  the  Wabash,  have  of  late  been  particularly  active  in  their  depre- 
dations ;  and  being  emboldened  by  the  impunity  of  their  crimes,  and  aided 
by  such  parts  of  the  neighboring  tribes  as  could  be  seduced  to  join  in 
their  hostilities  or  aflbrd  them  a  retreat  for  their  prisoners  and  plunder, 
have,  instead  of  listening  to  the  humane  invitations  and  overtures  made  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States,  renewed  their  violences  with  fresh  alacrity 
and  greater  effect.  The  lives  of  a  number  of  valuable  citizens  have  thus 
been  sacrificed,  and  some  of  them  under  circumstances  peculiarly  shock- 
ing ;  while  others  have  been  carried  into  a  deplorable  captivity. 


WASHINGTON'S-  SECOND  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  37 

These  aggravated  provocations  rendered  it  essential  to  the  safety  of  the 
western  settlements  that  the  aggressors  should  be  made  sensible  that  the 
government  of  the  Union  is  not  less  capable  of  puni  jhing  their  crimes  than 
it  is  disposed  to  respect  their  rights  and  reward  their  attachments.  As 
this  object  could  not  be  effected  by  defensive  measures,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  put  in  force  the  act  which  empowers  the  president  to  call  out  the 
militia  for  the  protection  of  the  frontier.  I  have  accordingly  authorized 
an  expedition  in  which  the  regular  troops  in  that  quarter  are  combined 
with  such  draughts  of  militia  as  were  deemed  sufficient.  The  event  of 
the  measure  is  yet  unknown  to  me.  The  secretary  of  war  is  directed  to 
lay  before  you  a  statement  of  the  information  on  which  it  is  founded,  as 
well  as  an  estimate  of  the  expense  with  which  it  will  be  attended. 

The  disturbed  situation  of  Europe,  and  particularly  the  critical  posture 
of  the  great  maritime  powers,  while  it  ought  to  make  us  the  more  thank- 
ful for  the  general  peace  and  security  enjoyed  by  the  United  States,  re- 
minds us  at  the  same  time  of  the  circumspection  with  which  it  becomes 
us  to  preserve  these  blessings.  It  requires,  also,  that  we  should  not  overlook 
the  tendency  of  a  war,  and  even  of  preparations  for  a  war,  among  the  na- 
tions most  concerned  in  active  commerce  with  this  country,  to  abridge 
the  means,  and  thereby  at  least  enhance  the  price,  of  transporting  its  val- 
uable productions  to  their  proper  market.  I  recommend  it  to  your  serious 
reflections  how  far,  and  ia  what  mode,  it  may  be  expedient  to  guard 
against  embarrassments  from  these  contingencies,  by  such  encouragement 
to  our  own  navigation  as  will  render  our  commerce  and  agriculture  less 
dependent  on  foreign  bottoms,  which  may  fail  us  in  the  very  moments 
most  interesting  to  both  of  these  great  objects.  Our  fisheries  and  the  trans- 
portation of  our  own  produce  offer  us  abundant  means  for  guarding  our- 
selves against  this  evil. 

Your  attention  seems  to  be  not  less  due  to  that  particular  branch  of  our 
trade  which  belongs  to  the  Mediterranean.  So  many  circumstances  unite 
in  rendering  the  present  state  of  it  distressful  to  us,  that  you  will  not  think 
any  deliberations  misemployed  which  may  lead  to  its  relief  and  protection. 

The  laws  you  have  already  passed  for  the  establishment  of  a  judiciary 
system,  have  opened  the  doors  of  justice  to  all  descriptions  of  persons. 
You  will  consider  in  your  wisdom  whether  improvements  in  that  system 
may  yet  be  made  ;  and  particularly  whether  a  uniform  process  of  execu- 
tion on  sentences  issuing  from  the  federal  courts  be  not  desirable  through 
all  the  states. 

The  patronage  of  our  commerce,  of  our  merchants,  and  seamen,  has 
called  for  the  appointment  of  consuls  in  foreign  countries.  It  seems  ex- 
pedient to  regulate  bylaw  the  exercise  of  that  jurisdiction  and  those  func- 
tions which  are  permitted  them,  cither  by  express  convention  or  by  a 
friendly  indulgence,  in  the  places  of  their  residence .  The  consular  con- 
vention, too,  with  his  most  Christian  majesty,  lias  stipulated,  in  certain 
cases,  the  aid  of  the  national  authority  to  his  consuls  established  here. 
Some  legislative  provision  is  requisite  to  carry  these  stipulations  into  full 
effect. 

The  establishment  of  the  militia,  of  a  mint,  of  standards  of  weights  and 
measures,  of  the  postoffice  and  post-roads,  are  subjects  which  1  presume 
you  will  resume  of.course,  and  which  are  abundantly  urged  by  their  own 
importance. 


38  WASHfNu TON'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

The  sufficiency  of  the  revenues  you  have  established  for  the  objects  to 
which  they  are  appropriated,  leaves  no  doubt  but  the  residuary  provisions 
will  be  commensurate  to  the  other  objects  for  which  the  public  faith  stands 
now  pledged.  Allow  me,  moreover,  to  hope  that  it  will  be  a  favorite 
policy  with  you,  not  merely  to  secure  a  payment  of  the  interest  of  the  debt 
funded,  but  as  far  and  as  fast  as  the  growing  resources  of  the  country  will 
permit,  to  exonerate  it  of  the  principal  itself.  The  appropriations  you 
have  made  of  the  western  lands  explain  your  disposition  on  this  subject, 
and  I  am  persuaded  that  the  sooner  that  valuable  fund  can  be  made  to 
contribute,  along  with  other  means,  to  the  actual  reduction  of  the  public 
debt,  the  more  salutary  will  the  measure  be  to  every  public  interest,  as 
well  as  the  more  satisfactory  to  our  constituents. 

• 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : — 

In  pursuing  the  various  and  weighty  business  of  the  present  session,  I 
indulge  the  fullest  persuasion  that  your  consultations  will  be  equally  mark- 
ed with  wisdom  and  animated  by  the  love  of  your  country.  In  whatever 
belongs  to  my  duty,  you  shall  have  all  the  co-operation  which  an  undi- 
minished  zeal  for  its  welfare  can  inspire.  It  will  be  happy  for  us  both, 
and  our  best  reward,  if,  by  a  successful  administration  of  our  respective 
trusts,  we  can  make  the  established  government  more  and  more  instru- 
mental up  promoting  the  good  of  our  fellow-citizens,  and  more  and  more 
the  object  of  their  attachment  and  confidence 


THIRD    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
OCTOBER  25,  1791. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  MEET  you  upon  the  present  occasion  with  the  feelings  which  are  nat- 
urally inspired  by  a  strong  impression  of  the  prosperous  situation  of  our 
common  country,  and  by  a  persuasion  equally  strong  that  the  labors  of  the 
session  which  has  just  commenced,  will,  under  the  guidance  of  a  spirit  no 
less  prudent  than  patriotic,  issue  in  measures  conducive  to  the  stability  and 
increase  of  national  prosperity. 

Numerous  as  are  the  providential  blessing  which  demand  our  grateful 
acknowledgments,  the  abundance  with  which  another  year  has  again 
rewarded  the  industry  of  the  husbandman  is  too  important  to  escape 
recollection. 

Your  own  observations  in  your  respective  situations  will  have  satisfied 
you  of  the  progressive  state  of  agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce,  and 
navigation.  In  tracing  their  causes,  you  will  have  remarked  with  partic- 
ular pleasure  the  happy  effects  of  that  revival  of  confidence,  public  as  well 
as  private,  to  which  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  have 
so  eminently  contributed  ;  and  you  will  have  observed,  with  no  less  inter- 
est, new  and  decisive  proofs  of  the  increasing  reputation  and  credit  of  thn 
nation.  But  you,  nevertheless,  can  not  fail  to  derive  satisfaction  from  the 
confirmation  of  these  circumstances  which  will  be  disclosed  in  the  sever.il 


WASHINGTON  S    THIRD    ANNUAL    ADDRESS.  30 

\ 

official  communications   that  will  be  made  to  you  in  the  course  of  your 
deliberations. 

The  rapid  subscriptions  to  the  bank  of  the  .United  States  which  com- 
pleted the  sum  allowed  to  be  subscribed  in  a  single  day,  is  among  the 
striking  and  pleasing  evidences  which  present  themselves,  not  only  of  con- 
fidence in  the  government,  but  of  resources  in  the  community. 

In  the  interval  of  your  recess,  due  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  exe- 
cution of  the  different  objects  which  were  specially  provided  for  by  the 
Laws  and  resolutions  of  the  last  session. 

Among  the  most  important  of  these  is  the  defence  and  security  of  the 
western  frontiers.  To  accomplish  it  on  the  most  humane  principles  was 
a  primary  wish. 

Accordingly,  at  the  same  time  that  treaties  have  been  provisionally  con- 
cluded, and  other  proper  means  used  to  attach  the  wavering  and  to  confirm 
in  their  friendship,  the  well-disposed  tribes  of  Indians,  effectual  measures 
have  been  adopted  to  make  those  of  a  hostile  description  sensible  that  a 
pacification  was  desired  upon  terms  of  moderation  and  justice. 

These  measures  having  proved  unsuccessful,  it  became  necessary,  to 
convince  the  refractory  of  the  power  of  the  United  States,  to  punish  their 
depredations.  Offensive  operations  have  therefore  been  directed,  to  be 
conducted,  however,  as  consistently  as  possible  with  the  dictates  of  human- 
ity. Some  of  these  have  been  crowned  with  full  success,  and  others  are 
yet  depending.  The  expeditions  which  have  been  completed  were  carri- 
ed on  under  the  authority  and  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States  by  the 
militia  of  Kentucky,  whose  enterprise,  intrepidity,  and  good  conduct,  are 
entitled  to  peculiar  commendation. 

Overtures  of  peace  are  still  continued  to  the  deluded  tribes,  and  consid- 
erable numbers  of  individuals  belonging  to  them  have  lately  renounced  all 
further  opposition,  removed  from  their  former  situations,  and  placed  them- 
selves under  the  immediate  protection  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  sincerely  to  be  desired  that  all  need  of  coercion  in  future  may 
cease,  and  that  an  intimate  intercourse  may  succeed,  calculated  to  ad- 
vance the  happiness  of  the  Indians  and  to  attach  them  firmly  to  the  United 
States. 

In  order  to  this,  it  seems  necessary — 

That  they  should  experience  the  benefits  of  an  impartial  dispensation 
of  justice. 

That  the  mode  of  alienating  the  lands,  the  main  source  of  discontent 
and  war,  should  be  so  defined  and  regulated  as  to  obviate  impositions,  and, 
as  far  as  may  be  practicable,  controversy  concerning  the  reality  and  extent 
of  the  alienations  which  are  made. 

That  commerce  with  them  should  be  promoted  under  regulations  tend- 
ing to  secure  an  equitable  deportment  toward  them,  and  that  such  rational 
experiments  should  be  made  for  imparting  to  them  the  blessings  of  civili- 
zation as  may  from  time  to  time  suit  their  condition. 

That  the  executive  of  the  United  States  should  be  enabled  to  employ 
the  means  to  which  the  Indians  have  been  long  accustomed  for  uniting 
their  immediate  interests  with  the  preservation  of  peace. 

And  that  efficacious  provision  should  be  made  for  inflicting  adequate 
penalties  upon  all  those  who,  by  violating  their  rights,  shall  infringe  the 
treaties  and  endanger  the  peace  of  the  Union. 

A  system  corresponding  with  the  mild  principles  of  religion  and  phi- 
lanthropy toward  an  unenlightened  race  of  men,  whose  happiness  matcri- 


40  WASHINGTON'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

ally  depends  un  the  conduct  of  the  United  States,  would  be  as  honorahle 
to  the  national  character  as  conformable  to  the  dictates  of  sound  policy. 

The  powers  specially  vested  in  me  by  the  act  laying  certain  duties  on 
distilled  spirits,  which  respect  the  subdivisions  of  the  districts  into  'sur- 
veys, the  appointment  of  officers,  and  the  assignment  of  compensation, 
have  likewise  been  carried  into  effect.  In  a  matter  in  which  both  mate- 
rials and  experience  were  wanting  to  guide  the  calculation,  it  will  be 
readily  conceived  that  there  must  have  been  difficulty  in  such  an  adjustment 
of  the  rates  of  compensation  as  would  conciliate  a  reasonable  competency, 
with  a  proper  regard  to  the  limits  prescribed  by  law.  It  is  hoped  that  the 
circumspection  which  has  been  used  will  be  found,  in  the  result,  to  have 
secured  the  last  of  the  two  objects ;  but  it  is  probable  that,  with  a  view 
to  the  first,  in  some  instances  a  revision  of  the  provision  will  be  found 
advisable. 

The  impressions  with  which  this  law  has  been  received  by  the  com- 
munity have  been,  upon  the  whole,  such  as  were  to  be  expected  among 
enlightened  and  well-disposed  citizens,  from  the  propriety  and  necessity 
of  the  measure.  The  novelty,  however,  of  the  tax,  in  a  considerable  part 
of  the  United  States,  and  a  misconception  of  some  of  its  provisions,  have 
given  occasion  in  particular  places  to  some  degree  of  discontent.  But  it 
is  satisfactory  to  know  that  this  disposition  yields  to  proper  explanations 
and  more  just  apprehensions  of  the  true  nature  of  the  law.  And  I  enter- 
tain a  full  confidence  that  it  will,  in  all,  give  way  to  motives  which  arise 
out  of  a  just  sense  of  duty  and  a  virtuous  regard  to  the  public  welfare. 

If  there  are  any  circumstances  in  the  law  which,  consistently  with  its 
main  df  sign,  may  be  so  varied  as  to  remove  any  well-intentioned  objec- 
tions that  may  happen  to  exist,  it  will  consist  with  a  wise  moderation  to 
make  the  proper  variations.  It  is  desirable,  on  all  occasions,  to  unite, 
with  a  steady  and  firm  adherence  to  constitutional  and  necessary  acts  of 
government,  the  fullest  evidence  of  disposition,  as  far  as  may  be  practica- 
ble, to  consult  the  wishes  of  every  part  of  the  community,  and  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  the  public  administration  in  the  affections  of  the  people. 

Pursuant  to  the  authority  contained  in  the  several  acts  on  that  subject, 
a  district  of  ten  miles  square,  for  the  permanent  seat  of  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  has  been  fixed  and  announced  by  proclamation ;  which 
district  will  comprehend  lands  on  both  sides  of  the  river  Potomac,  and 
the  towns  of  Alexandria  and  Georgetown.  A  city  has  also  been  laid  out 
agreeably  to  a  plan  which  will  be  laid  before  congress.  And  as  there  is 
a  prospect,  favored  by  the  rate  of  sales  which  have  already  taken  place, 
of  ample  funds  for  carrying  on  the  necessary  public  buildings,  there  is 
every  expectation  of  their  due  progress. 

The  completion  of  the  census  of  the  inhabitants,  for  which  provision 
was  made  by  law,  has  been  duly  notified  (excepting  one  instance,  in  which 
ihe  return  has  been  informal — and  another  in  which  it  has  been  omitted 
or  miscarried),  and  the  returns  of  the  officers  who  were  charged  with  this 
duty,  which  will  be  laid  before  you,  will  give  you  the  pleasing  assurance 
that  the  present  population  of  the  United  States  borders  on  four  millions 
of  persons. 

It  is  proper,  also,  to  inform  you  that  a  further  loan  of  two  millions  and 
a  half  of  florins  has  been  completed  in  Holland,  the  terms  of  which  are 
similar  to  those  of  the  one  last  announced,  except  as  to  a  small  reduction 
of  charges.  Another,  on  like  terms,  for  six  millions  of  florins,  had  been 
set  011  foot  under  circumstances  that  assured  an  immediate  completion. 


WASHINGTON'S    THIRD    ANNUAL    ADDRESS  41 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  : — 

Two  treaties  which  have  been  provisionally  concluded  with  the  Chero- 
kees  and  Six  Nations  of  Indians  will  be  laid  before  you  for  your  con- 
sideration and  ratification. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

In  entering  upon  the  discharge  of  your  legislative  trust,  you  must  anti- 
cipate with  pleasure  that  many  of  the  difficulties  necessarily  incident  to 
the  first  arrangements  of  a  new  government  for  an  extensive  country  have 
been  happily  surmounted  by  the  zealous  and  judicious  exertions  of  your 
predecessors,  in  co-operation  with  the  other  branch  of  the  legislature. 
The  important  objects  which  remain  to  be  accomplished  will,  I  am  per- 
suaded, be  conducted  upon  principles  equally  comprehensive  and  equally 
well  calculated  for  the  advancement  of  the  general  weal. 

The  time  limited  for  receiving  subscriptions  to  the  loans  proposed  by 
the  act  for  making  provisions  for  the  debt  of  the  United  States  having  ex- 
pired, statements  from  the  proper  department  will,  as  soon  as  possible, 
apprize  you  of  the  exact  result.  Enough,  however,  is  already  known  to 
afford  an  assurance  that  the  views  of  that  act  have  been  substantially  ful- 
filled. The  subscription,  in  the  domestic  debt  of  the  United  States,  has 
embraced  by  far  the  greatest  proportion  of  that  debt ;  affording,  at  the  same 
time,  proof  of  the  general  satisfaction  of  the  public  creditors  with  the  sys- 
tem which  has  been  proposed  to  their  acceptance,  and  of  the  spirit  of  ac- 
commodation to  the  convenience  of  the  government  with  which  they  are 
actuated.  The  subscriptions  in  the  debts  of  the  respective  states,  as  far 
as  the  provisions  of  the  law  have  permitted,  may  be  said  to  be  yet  more 
general.  The  part  of  the  debt  of  the  United  States  which  remains  un- 
subscribed will  naturally  engage  your  further  deliberations. 

It  is  particularly  pleasing  to  me  to  be  able  to  announce  to  you  that  the 
revenues  which  have  been  established  promise  to  be  adequate  to  their 
objects,  and  may  be  permitted,  if  no  unforeseen  exigency  occur,  to  super- 
sede for  the  present  the  necessity  of  any  new  burdens  upon  our  con- 
stituents. 

An  object  which  will  claim  your  early  attention  is  a  provision  for  the 
current  service  of  the  ensuing  year,  together  with  such  ascertained  de- 
mands upon  the  treasury  as  require  to  be  immediately  discharged,  and 
such  casualties  as  may  have  ariseji  in  the  execution  of  the  public  busi- 
ness, for  which  no  specific  appropriation  may  have  yet  been  made  ;  of  all 
which  a  proper  estimate  will  be  laid  before  you. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  shall  content  myself  with  a  general  reference  to  former  communica- 
tions for  several  objects  upon  which  the  urgency  of  other  affairs  has  hith- 
erto postponed  any  definite  resolution.  Their  importance  will  recall  them 
to  your  attention  ;  and  I  trust  that  the  progress  already  made  in  the  most 
arduous  arrangements  of  the  government  will  afford  you  leisure  to  resume 
them  with  advantage. 

There  are,  however,  some  of  them  of  which  I  can  not  forbear  a  more 
particular  mention.  Those  are  the  militia;  the  postoffice  and  postroads ; 
the  mint;  weights  and  measures;  a  provision  for  the  sale  of  the  vacant 
lands  of  the  United  Sta.os. 

The  first  is  certainly  an  object  of  primary  importance,  whether  viewed 
in  reference  to  the  national  security,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  community. 


42  WASHINGTON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

or  to  the  preservation  of  order.  In  connexion  with  this,  the  establishment 
of  competent  magazines  and  arsenals,  and  the  fortification  of  such  places 
as  are  peculiarly  important  and  vulnerable,  naturally  present  themselves 
to  consideration.  The  safety  of  the  United  States,  under  divine  protec- 
tion, ought  to  rest  on  the  basis  of  systematic  and  solid  arrangements,  ex- 
posed as  little  as  possible  to  the  hazards  of  fortuitous  circumstances. 

The  importance  of  the  postoffice  and  postroads,  on  a  plan  sufficiently 
liberal  and  comprehensive,  as  they  respect  the  expedition,  safety,  and  fa- 
cility of  communication,  is  increased  by  their  instrumentality  in  diffusing 
a  knowledge  of  the  laws  and  proceedings  of  the  government,  which,  while 
it  contributes  -to  the  security  of  the  people,  serves  also  to  guard  them 
against  the  effects  of  misrepresentation  and  misconception.  The  estab- 
lishment of  additional  Cross-posts,  especially  to  some  of  the  important 
points  in  the  western  and  northern  parts  of  the  Union,  can  not  fail  to  be 
of  material  utility. 

The  disorders  in  the  existing  currency,  and  especially  the  scarcity  of 
small  change,  a  scarcity  so  peculiarly  distressing  to  the  poorer  classes, 
strongly  recommend  the  carrying  into  immediate  effect  the  resolution  al- 
ready entered  into  concerning  the  establishment  of  a  mint.  Measures 
have  been  taken  pursuant  to  that  resolution  for  procuring  some  of  the  most 
necessary  artists,  together  with  the  requisite  apparatus. 

A  uniformity  in  the  weights  and  measures  of  the  country  is  among  the 
important  objects  submitted  to  you  by  the  constitution,  and  if  it  can  be 
derived  from  a  standard  at  once  invariable  and  universal,  must  be  no  less 
honorable  to  the  public  councils  than  conducive  to  the  public  convenience. 

A  provision  for  the  sale  of  the  vacant  lands  of  the  United  States  is  par- 
ticularly urged,  among  other  reasons,  by  the  important  considerations  that 
they  are  pledged  as  a  fund  for  reimbursing  the  public  debt ;  that,  if  timely 
and  judiciously  applied,  they  may  save  the  necessity  for  burdening  our 
citizens  with  new  taxes  for  the  extinguishment  of  the  principal ;  and  that, 
being  free  to  discharge  the  principal  but  in  a  limited  proportion,  no  oppor- 
tunity ought  to  be  lost  for  availing  the  public  of  its  right. 


FOURTH    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
NOVEMBER  6, 1792. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

IT  is  some  abatement  of  the  satisfaction  with  which  I  meet  you  on  the 
present  occasion,  that,  in  felicitating  you  on  a  continuance  of  the  national 
prosperity  generally,  I  am  not  able  to  add  to  it  information  that  the  Indian 
hostilities,  which  have  for  some  time  past  distressed  our  northwestern  fron- 
tier, have  terminated. 

You  will,  I  am  persuaded,  learn  with  no  less  concern  than  I  communi- 
cate it,  that  reiterated  endeavors  toward  effecting  a  pacification  have  hith- 
erto issued  only  in  new  and  outrageous  proofs  of  persevering  hostility  on 
the  part  of  the  tribes  with  whom  we  are  in  contest.  An  earnest  desire  to 
procure  tranquillity  to  the  frontier,  to  stop  the  further  effusion  of  blood,  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  expense,  to  forward  the  prevalent  wish  of  the  nation 
for  peace,  has  led  to  strenuous  efforts  through  various  channels,  to  ac- 


WASHINGTON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  43 

complish  these  desirable  purposes  ;  in  making  which  efforts,  I  consulted 
less  my  own  anticipations  of  the  event,  or  the  scruples  which  some  con- 
siderations were  calculated  to  inspire,  than  the  wish  to  find  the  object 
attainable,  or,  if  not  attainable,  to  ascertain  unequivocally  that  such  was 
the  case. 

A  detail  of  the  measures  that  have  been  pursued,  and  of  their  conse- 
quences, which  will  be  laid  before  you,  while  it  will  confirm  to  you  the 
want  of  success  thus  far,  will,  I  trust,  evince  that  means  as  proper  and  as 
efficacious  as  could  have  been  devised  have  been  employed.  The  issue 
of  some  of  them,  indeed,  is  still  depending  ;  but  a  favorable  one,  though 
not  to  be  despaired  of,  is  not  promised  by  anything  which  has  yet  hap- 
pened. 

In  the  course  of  the  attempts  which  have  been  made,  some  valuable 
citizens  have  fallen  victims  to  their  zeal  for  the  public  service.  A  sanc- 
tion commonly  respected  even  among  savages  has  been  found,  in  this  in- 
stance, insufficient  to  protect  from  massacre  the  emissaries  of  peace.  It 
will,  I  presume,  be  duly  considered  whether  the  occasion  does  not  call  for 
an  exercise  of  liberality  toward  the  families  of  the  deceased. 

It  must  add  to  your  concern  to  be  informed  that,  besides  the  continua- 
tion of  hostile  appearances  among  the  tribes  north  of  the  Ohio,  some  threat- 
ening symptoms  have  of  late  been  revived  among  some  of  those  south  of  it. 

A  part  of  the  Cherokees,  known  by  the  name  of  Chickamagas,  inhabit- 
ing five  villages  on  the  Tennessee  river,  have  long  been  in  the  ^practice  of 
committing  depredations  on  the  neighboring  settlements. 

It  was  hoped  that  the  treaty  of  Holston,  made  with  the  Cherokee  nation 
in  July,  1791,  would  have  prevented  a  repetition  of  such  depredations. 
But  the  event  has  not  answered  this  hope.  The  Chickamagas,  aided  by 
some  banditti  of  another  tribe  in  their  vicinity,  have  recently  perpetrated 
wanton  and  unprovoked  hostilities  upon  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
in  that  quarter.  The  information  which  has  been  received  on  this  sub- 
ject will  be  laid  before  you.  Hitherto,  defensive  precautions  only  have 
been  strictly  enjoined  and  observed. 

It  is  not  understood  that  any  breach  of  treaty  or  any  aggression  what- 
soever on  the  part  of  the  United  States  or  their  citizens,  is  even  alleged 
as  a  pretext  for  the  spirit  of  hostility  in  this  quarter. 

I  have  reason  to  believe  that  every  practical  exertion  has  been  made, 
pursuant  to  the  provision  by  law  for  that  purpose,  to  be  prepared  for  the 
alternative  of  a  prosecution  of  the  war  in  the  event  of  a  failure  of  pacific 
overtures.  A  large  proportion  of  the  troops  authorized  to  be  raised  have 
been  recruited,  though  the  number  is  still  incomplete,  and  pains  have  been 
taken  to  discipline  and  put  them  in  condition  for  the  particular  kind  of 
service  to  be  performed.  A  delay  of  operations,  besides  being  dictated  by 
the  measures  which  were  pursuing  toward  a  pacific  termination  of  the 
war,  has  been  in  itself  deemed  preferable  to  immature  efforts.  A  state- 
ment from  the  proper  department  with  regard  to  the  number  of  troops 
raised,  and  some  other  points  which  have  been  suggested,  will  afford  more 
precise  information  as  a  guide  to  the  legislative  consultations,  and  among 
other  things,  will  enable  Congress  to  judge  whether  some  additional  stim- 
ulus to  the  recruiting  service  may  not  be  advisable. 

In  looking  forward  to  the  future  expense  of  the  operations  which  may 
be  found  inevitable,  I  derive  consolation  from  the  information  I  receive 
that  the  product  of  the  revenues  for  the  present  year  is  likely  to  supersede 
the  necessity  of  additional  burdens  on  the  community  for  the  service  of 


44  WASHINGTON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

the  ensuing  year.  This,  however,  will  be  better  ascertained  in  the  course 
of  the  session  ;  ami  it  is  proper  to  add,  that  the  information  alluded  to  pro- 
ceeds upon  the  supposition  of  no  material  extension  of  the  spirit  of  hos- 
tility. 

I  can  not  dismiss  the  subject  of  Indian  affairs  without  again  recommend- 
ing to  your  consideration  the  expediency  of  more  adequate  provision  for 
giving  energy  to  the  laws  throughout  our  interior  frontier,  and  for  restrain- 
ing the  commission  of  outrages  upon  the  Indians,  without  which  all  pacific 
plans  must  prove  nugatory.  To  enable,  by  competent  rewards,  the  em- 
ployment of  qualified  and  trusty  persons  to  reside  among  them  as  agents, 
would  also  contribute  to  the  preservation  of  peace  and  good  neighborhood. 
If,  in  addition  to  these  expedients,  an  eligible  plan  could  be  devised  for 
promoting  civilization  among  the  friendly  tribes,  and  for  carrying  on  trade 
with  them  upon  a  scale  equal  to  their  wants  and  under  regulations  calcu- 
lated to  protect  them  from  imposition  and  extortion,  its  influence  in 
cementing  their  interests  with  ours  could  not  but  be  considerable. 

The  prosperous  state  of  our  revenue  has  been  intimated.  This  would 
be  still  more  the  case  were  it  not  for  the  impediments  which  in  some 
places  continue  to  embarrass  the  collection  of  the  duties  on  spirits  distill- 
ed within  the  United  States.  These  impediments  have  lessened,  and  are 
lessening  in  local  extent ;  and,  as  applied  to  the  community  at  large,  the 
contentment  with  the  law  appears  to  be  progressive. 

But  symptoms  of  increased  opposition  having  lately  manifested  them- 
selves in  certain  quarters,  I  judged  a  special  interposition  on  my  part 
proper  and  advisable  ;  and  under  this  impression,  have  issued  a  proclama- 
tion warning  against  all  unlawful  combinations  and  proceedings  having  for 
their  object  or  tending  to  obstruct  the  operation  of  the  law  in  question, 
and  announcing  that  all  lawful  ways  and  means  would  be  strictly  put  in 
execution  for  bringing  to  justice  the  infractors  thereof  and  for  securing 
obedience  thereto. 

Measures  have  also  been  taken  for  the  prosecution  of  offenders  ;  and 
Congress  may  be  assured  that  nothing  within  constitutional  and  legal  limits, 
which  may  depend  upon  me,  shall  be  wanting  to  assert  and  maintain  the 
just  authority  of  the  laws.  In  fulfilling  this  trust,  I  shall  count  entirely 
upon  the  full  co-operation  of  the  other  departments  of  the  government,  and 
upon  the  zealous  support  of  all  good  citizens. 

I  can  not  forbear  to  bring  again  into  the  view  of  the  legislature  the  sub- 
ject of  a  revision  of  the  judiciary  system.  A  representation  from  the 
judges  of  the  supreme  court,  which  will  be  laid  before  you,  points  out 
some  of  the  inconveniences  that  are  experienced.  In  the  course  of  the 
execution  of  the  laws,  considerations  arise  out  of  the  structure  of  that  sys- 
tem which  in  some  cases  tend  to  relax  their  efficacy.  As  connected  with 
this  subject,  provisions  to  facilitate  the  taking  of  bail  upon  processes  out 
of  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  and  a  supplementary  definition  of 
offences  against  the  constitution  and"  laws  of  the  Union  and  of  the  pun- 
ishment for  such  offences,  will,  it  is  presumed,  be  found  worthy  of  particular 
attention. 

Observations  on  the  value  of  peace  with  other  nations  are  unnecessary. 
It  would  be  wise,  however,  by  timely  provisions  to  guard  against  those 
acts  of  our  own  citizens  which  might  tend  to  disturb  it,  and  to  put  our- 
selves in  a  condition  to  give  that  satisfaction  to  foreign  nations  which  we 
may  sometimes  have  occasion  to  require  from  them.  I  particularly  recom- 
mend to  your  consideration  the  means  of  preventing  those  aggressions  by 


WASHINGTON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  45 

our  citizens  on  the  territory  of  other  nations,  and  other  infractions  of  the 
law  of  nations,  which,  furnishing  just  subject  of  complaint,  might  endan- 
ger our  peace  with  them.  And,  in  general,  the  maintenance  of  a  friendly 
intercourse  with  foreign  powers  will  be  presented  to  your  attention  by  the 
expiration  of  the  law  for  that  purpose,  which  takes  place,  if  not  renewed, 
at  the  close  of-the  present  session. 

In  execution  of  the  authority  given  by  the  legislature,  measures  have 
been  taken  for  engaging  some  artists  from  abroad  to  aid  in  the  establish- 
ment of  our  mint.  Others  have  been  employed  at  home.  Provisions  have 
been  made  of  the  requisite  buildings,  and  these  are  now  putting  into  prop- 
er condition  for  the  purposes  of  the  establishment.  There  has  also  been 
a  small  beginning  in  the  coinage  of  half-dimes,  the  want  of  small  coins  in 
circulation  calling  the  first  attention  to  them. 

The  regulation  of  foreign  coins,  in  correspondence  with  the  principles 
of  our  national  coinage,  as  being  essential  to  their  due  operation  and  to 
order  in  our  money  concerns,  will,  I  doubt  not,  be  resumed  and  completed. 

It  is  represented  that  some  provisions  of  the  law  which  establishes  the 
postoffice  operate,  in  experiment,  against  the  transmission  of  newspapers 
to  distant  parts  of  the  coiintry.  Should  this,  upon  due  inquiry,  be  found 
to  be  the  fact,  a  full  conviction  of  the  importance  of  facilitating  the  circu- 
lation of  political  intelligence  and  information  will,  I  doubt  not,  lead  to  the 
application  of  a  remedy. 

The  adoption  of  a  constitution  for  the  state  of  Kentucky  has  been  noti- 
fied* to  me.  The  legislature  will  share  with  me  in  the  satisfaction  which 
arises  from  an  event  interesting  to  the  happiness  of  the  part  of  the  nation 
to  which  it  relates,  and  conducive  to  the  general  order. 

It  is  proper  likewise  to  inform  you  that,  since  my  last  communication 
on  the  subject,  and  in  further  execution  of  the  acts  severally  making  pro- 
vision for  the  public  debt  and  for  the  reduction  thereof,  three  new  loans 
have  been  effected,  each  for  three  millions  of  florins — one  at  Antwerp,  at 
the  annual  interest  of  four  and  one  half  per  cent,  with  an  allowance  of  four 
per  cent,  in  lieu  of  all  charges  ;  and  the  other  two  at  Amsterdam,  at  the 
annual  interest  of  four  per  cent,  with  an  allowance  of  five  and  one  half  per 
cent,  in  one  case,  and  of  five  per  cent,  in  the  other,  in  lieu  of  all  charges. 
The  rates  of  these  loans,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  they  have 
been  made,  are  confirmations  of  the  high  state  of  our  credit  abroad. 

Among  the  objects  to  which  these  funds  have  been  directed  to  be  appli- 
ed, the  payment  of  the  debts  due  to  certain  foreign  officers,  according  to 
the  provision  made  during  the  last  session,  has  been  embraced. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  entertain  a  strong  hope  that  the  state  of  the  national  finances  is  now 
sufficiently  matured  to  enable  you  to  enter  upon  a  systematic  and  effectual 
arrangement  for  the  regular  redemption  and  discharge  of  the  public  debt, 
according  to  the  right  which  has  been  reserved  to  the  government.  No 
measure  can  be  more  desirable,  whether  viewed  with  an  eye  to  its  intrin- 
sic importance,  or  to  the  general  sentiment  and  wish  of  the  nation. 

Provision  is  likewise  requisite  for  the  reimbursement  of  the  loan  which 
has  been  made  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  pursuant  to  the  eleventh 
section  of  the  act  by  which  it  is  incorporated.  In  fulfilling  the  public 
stipulations  in  this  particular,  it  is  expected  a  valuable  saving  will  be 
made. 

Appropriations  for  the  current  service  of  the  ensuing  year,  and  for  such 


46  WASHINGTON'S  PROCLAMATION. 

extraordinaries  as  may  require  provision,  will  demand,  and  I  doubt  not 
will  engage,  your  early  attention. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

I  content  myself  without  recalling  your  attention  generally  to  such  ob- 
jects, not  particularized  in  my  present,  as  have  been  suggested  in  my  for- 
mer communications  to  you. 

Various  temporary  laws  will  expire  during  the  present  session.  Among 
these,  that  which  regulates  trade  and  intercourse  with  the  Indian  tribes 
will  merit  particular  notice. 

The  results  of  your  common  deliberations  hitherto  will,  I  trust,  be  pro- 
ductive of  solid  and  durable  advantages  to  our  constituents  ;  such  as,  by 
conciliating  more  and  more  their  ultimate  suffrage,  will  tend  to  strengthen 
and  confirm  their  attachment  to  that  constitution  of  government  upon 
which,  under  divine  Providence,  materially  depend  their  union,  their 
safety,  and  their  happiness. 

Still  farther  to  promote  and  secure  these  inestimable  ends,  there  is 
nothing  which  can  have  a  more  powerful  tendency  than  the  careful  culti- 
vation of  harmony,  combined  with  a  due  regard  to  stability,  in  the  public 
councils. 


PROCLAMATION. 
APRIL  22,  1793. 

WHEREAS,  it  appears  that  a  state  of  war  exists  between  Austria,  Prus- 
sia, Sardinia,  Great  Britain,  and  the  United  Netherlands,  on  the  one  part, 
and  France  on  the  other,  and  the  duty  and  interests  of  the  United  States 
require  that  they  should  with  sincerity  and  good  faith  adopt  and  pursue  a 
conduct  friendly  and  impartial  toward  the  belligerent  powers  : 

I  have  therefore  thought  fit,  by  these  presents,  to  declare  the  disposition 
of  the  United  States  to  observe  the  conduct  aforesaid  toward  those  powers 
respectively,  and  to  exhort  and  to  warn  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
carefully  to  avoid  all  acts  and  proceedings  whatsoever  which  may  in  any 
manner  tend  to  contravene  such  disposition. 

And  I  do  hereby  also  make  known  that  whosoever  of  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  shall  render  himself  liable  to  punishment  or  forfeiture 
under  the  law  of  nations,  by  committing,  aiding,  or  abetting  hostilities 
against  any  of  the  said  powers,  or  by  carrying  to  any  of  them  those  arti- 
cles which  are  deemed  contraband  by  the  modern  usage  of  nations,  will 
not  receive  the  protection  of  the  United  States  against  such  punishment 
or  forfeiture ;  and  further,  that  I  have  given  instructions  to  those  officers 
to  whom  it  belongs  to  cause  prosecutions  to  be  instituted  against  all  per- 
sons who  shall,  within  the  cognizance  of  the  courts  of  the  United  States, 
violate  the  laws  of  nations  with  respect  to  the  powers  at  war  or  any  of  them. 

In  testimony  whereof  I  have  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  of 
America  to  be  affixed  to  these  presents,  and  signed  the  same  with  my 
hand.  Done  at  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  2'^d  day  of  April,  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  ninety-three,  and  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  of  America  the  seventeenth. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


WASHINGTON'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  47 

FIFTH    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
DECEMBER  3,  1793. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

SINCE  the  commencement  of  the  term  for  which  I  have  been  again 
called  into  office,  no  fit  occasion  has  arisen  for  expressing  to  my  fellow 
citizens  at  large  the  deep  and  respectful  sense  which  I  feel  of  the  re- 
newed testimony  of  public  approbation.  While,  on  the  one  hand,  it  awa- 
kened my  gratitude  for  all  those  instances  of  affectionate  partiality  with 
which  I  have  been  honored  by  my  country,  on  the  other,  it  could  not  pre- 
vent an  earnest  wish  for  that  retirement  from  which  which  no  private  con- 
sideration should  ever  have  torn  me.  But,  influenced  by  the  belief  that 
my  conduct  would  be  estimated  according  to  its  real  motives,  and  that  the 
people,  and  the  authorities  derived  from  them,  would  support  exertions 
having  nothing  personal  for  their  object,  I  have  obeyed  the  suffrage  which 
commanded  me  to  resume  the  executive  power ;  and  I  humbly  implore 
that  Being  on  whose  will  the  fate  of  nations  depends,  to  crown  with  suc- 
cess our  mutual  endeavors  for  the  general  happiness. 

As  soon  as  the  war  in  Europe  had  embraced  those  powers  with  whom 
the  United  States  have  the  most  extensive  relations,  there  was  reason  to 
apprehend  that  our  intercourse  with  them  might  be  interrupted,  and  our 
disposition  for  peace  drawn  into  question  by  the  suspicions  too  often  en- 
tertained by  belligerent  nations.  It  seemed,  therefore,  to  be  my  duty  to 
admonish  our  citizens  of  the  consequences  of  a  contraband  trade  and  of 
hostile  acts  to  any  of  the  parties,  and  to  obtain,  by  a  declaration  of  the  ex- 
isting legal  state  of  things,  an  easier  admission  of  our  right  to  the  immuni- 
ties belonging  to  our  situation.  Under  these  impressions,  the  proclama- 
tion which  will  be  laid  before  you  was  issued. 

In  this  posture  of  affairs,  both  new  and  delicate,  I  resolved  to  adopt 
general  rules  which  should  conform  to  the  treaties  and  assert  the  privi- 
leges of  the  United  States.  These  were  reduced  into  a  system,  which 
will  be  communicated  to  you.  Although  I  have  not  thought  myself  at  lib- 
erty to  forbid  the  sale  of  the  prizes  permitted  by  our  treaty  of  commerce  with 
France  to  be  brought  into  our  ports,  I  have  not  refused  to  cause  them  to 
be  restored  when  they  were  taken  within  the  protection  of  our  territory, 
or  by  vessels  commissioned  or  equipped  in  a  warlike  form  within  the  lim- 
its of  the  United  States. 

It  rests  with  the  wisdom  of  Congress  to  correct,  improve,  or  enforce  this 
plan  of  procedure ;  and  it  will  probably  be  found  expedient  to  extend  the 
legal  code  and  the  jurisdiction  of  the  courts  of  the  United  States  to  many 
cases  which,  though  dependent  on  principles  already  recognised,  demand 
some  further  provisions. 

Where  individuals  shall,  within  the  United  States,  array  themselves  in 
hostility  against  any  of  the  powers  at  war,  or  enter  upon  military  expedi- 
tions or  enterprises  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  or  usurp 
and  exercise  judicial  authority  within  the  United  States,  or  where  the 
penalties  on  violations  of  the  law  of  nations  may  have  been  indistinctly 
marked,  or  are  inadequate,  these  offences  can  not  receive  too  early  and 
close  an  attention,  and  require  prompt  and  decisive  remedies. 

Whatsoever  those  remedies  will  be,  they  will  be  well  administered  by 


48  WASHINGTON'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

the  judiciary,  who  possess  a  long-established  course  of  investigation,  ef- 
fectual process,  and  officers  in  the  habit  of  executing  it. 

In  like  manner,  as  several  of  the  courts  have  doubted,  under  particular 
circumstances,  their  power  to  liberate  the  vessels  of  a  nation  at  peace,  and 
even  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  although  seized  under  a  false  color 
being  hostile  property,  and  have  "denied  their  powers  to  liberate  certain 
captures  within  the  protection  of  our  territory,  it  would  seem  proper  to 
regulate  their  jurisdiction  in  these  points.  But  if  the  executive  is  to  be 
the  resort  in  either  of  the  two  last-mentioned  cases,  it  is  hoped  that  he 
will  be  authorized  by  law  to  have  facts  ascertained  by  the  courts,  when 
for  his  own  information  he  shall  require  it. 

I  can  not  recommend  to  your  notice  measures  for  the  fulfilment  of  our 
duties  to  the  rest  of  the  world  without  again  pressing  upon  you  the  neces- 
sity of  placing  ourselves  in  a  condition  of  complete  defence,  and  of  exact- 
ing from  them  the  fulfilment  of  their  duties  toward  us.  The  United 
States  ought  not  to  indulge  a  persuasion  that,  contrary  to  the  order  of  hu- 
man events,  they  will  for  ever  keep  at  a  distance  those  painful  appeals  to 
arms  with  which  the  history  of  every  other  nation  abounds.  There  is  a 
rank  due  to  the  United  States  among  nations  which  will  be  withheld,  if 
not  absolutely  lost,  by  the  reputation  of  weakness.  If  we  desire  to  avoid 
insult,  we  must  be  able  to  repel  it.  If,  we  desire  to  secure  peace, 
one  of  the  most  powerful  instruments  of  our  rising  prosperity,  it  must  be 
known  that  we  are  at  all  times  ready  for  war.  The  documents  which 
will  be  presented  to  you  will  show  the  amount  and  kinds  of  arms  and  mil- 
itary stores  now  in  our  magazines  and  arsenals  ;  and  yet  an  addition  even 
to  these  supplies  can  not,  with  prudence,  be  neglected,  as  it  would  leav.- 
nothing  to  the  uncertainty  of  procuring  a  warlike  apparatus  in  the  momerv 
of  public  danger. 

Nor  can  such  arrangements,  with  such  objects,  be  exposed  to  the  cen 
sure  or  jealousy  of  the  warmest  friends  of  republican  government.  They 
are  incapable  of  abuse  in  the  hands  of  the  militia,  who  ought  to  possess 
a  pride  in  being  the  depository  of  the  force  of  the  republic,  and  may  be 
trained  to  a  degree  of  energy  equal  to  every  military  exigency  of  the  Uni- 
ted States.  But  it  is  an  inquiry  which  can  not  be  too  solemnly  pursued, 
whether  the  act  "  more  effectually  to  provide  for  the  national  defence  b) 
establishing  a  uniform  militia  throughout  the  United  States,"  has  organ- 
ized them  so  as  to  produce  their  full  effect ;  whether  your  own  experi- 
ence in  the  several  states  has  not  detected  some  imperfections  in  the 
scheme ;  and  whether  a  material  feature  in  an  improvement  of  it  ought 
not  to  be  to  afford  an  opportunity  for  the  study  of  those  branches  of  the 
military  art  which  can  scarcely  ever  be  attained  by  practice  alone. 

The  connexion  of  the  United  States  with  Europe  has  become  extremely 
interesting.  The  occurrences  which  rebate  to  it  and  have  passed  under 
the  knowledge  of  the  Executive,  will  be  exhibited  to  Congress  in  a  subse- 
quent communication. 

When  we  contemplate  the  war  on  our  frontiers,  it  may  be  truly  affirmed 
that  every  reasonable  effort  has  been  made  to  adjust  the  causes  of  dissen- 
sion with  the  Indians  north  of  the  Ohio.  The  instructions  given  to  the 
commissioners  evince  a  moderation  and  equity  proceeding  from  a  sincere 
love  of  peace,  and  a  liberality  having  no  restriction  but  the  essential  in- 
terests and  dignity  of  the  United  States.  The  attempt,  however,  of  an 
amicable  negotiation  having  been  frustrated,  the  troops  have  marched  to 
act  offensively.  Although  the  proposed  treaty  did  not  arrest  the  progress 


WASHINGTON'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  49 

of  military  preparation,  it  i«  doubtful  how  far  the  advance  of  the  season, 
before  good  faith  justified  active  movements,  may  retard  them  during  the 
remainder  of  the  year.  From  the  papers  and  intelligence  which  relate 
to  this  important  subject,  you  will  determine  whether  the  deficiency  in  the 
number  of  troops  granted  by  law  shall  be  compensated  by  succors  of  mili- 
tia, or  whether  additional  encouragements  shall  be  proposed  to  recruits. 

An  anxiety  has  been  also  demonstrated  by  the  executive  for  peace  with 
the  Creeks  and  the  Cherokees.  The  former  have  been  relieved  wjth  corn 
and  with  clothing,  and  offensive  measures  against  them  prohibited  during 
the  recess  of  Congress.  To  satisfy  the  complaints  of  the  latter,  prosecu- 
tions have  been  instituted  for  the  violences  committed  upon  them.  But 
the  papers  which  will  be  delivered  to  you  disclose  the  critical  footing  on 
which  we  stand  in  regard  to  both  those  tribes  ;  and  it  is  with  Congress  to 
pronounce  what  shall  be  done. 

After  they  shall  have  provided  for  the  present  emergency,  it  will  merit 
their  most  serious  labors  to  render  tranquillity  with  the  savages  permanent 
by  creating  ties  of  interest.  Next  to  a  rigorous  execution  of  justice  on 
the  violators  of  peace,  the  establishment  of  commerce  with  the  Indian  na- 
tions, on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  is  most  likely  to  conciliate  their  at 
tachment.  But  it  ought  to  be  conducted  without  fraud,  without  extor 
tion,  with  constant  and  plentiful  supplies  ;  with  a  ready  market  for  the 
commodities  of  the  Indians,  and  a  stated  price  for  what  they  give  in  pay 
men',  and  receive  in  exchange.  Individuals  will  not  pursue  such  a  traffic. 
unless  they  be  allured  by  the  hope  of  profit ;  but  it  will  be  enough  for  the 
United  States  to  be  reimbursed  only.  Should  this  recommendation  ac- 
cord with  the  opinion  of  Congress,  they  will  recollect  that  it  can  not  be 
accomplished  by  any  means  yet  in  the  hands  of  the  Executive. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

The  commissioners  charged  with  the  settlement  of  accounts  between 
the  United  States  and  individual  states,  concluded  their  important  func- 
tions within  the  time  limited  by  law ;  and  the  balances  struck  in  their  re- 
port, which  will  be  laid  before  Congress,  have  been  placed  on  the  books 
of  the  treasury. 

On  the  first  day  of  June  last,  an  instalment  of  one  million  of  florins  be- 
came payable  on  the  loans  of  the  United  States  in  Holland.  This  was 
adjusted  by  a  prolongation  of  the  period  of  reimbursement,  in  the  nature  of 
a  new  loan,  at  an  interest  of  five  per  cent.,  for  the  term  of  ten  years  ;  and 
the  expenses  of  this  operation  were  a  commission  of  three  per  cent. 

The  first  instalment  of  the  loan  of  two  millions  of  dollars  from  the  bank 
of  the  United  States  has  been  paid,  as  was  directed  by  law.  For  the 
second,  it  is  necessary  that  provision  should  be  made. 

No  pecuniary  consideration  is  more  urgent  than  the  regular  redemption 
and  discharge  of  the  public  debt.  On  none  can  delay  be  more  injurious, 
or  an  economy  of  time  more  valuable. 

The  productiveness  of  the  public  revenues  hitherto,  has  continued  to 
equal  the  anticipations  which  were  formed  of  it ;  but  it  is  not  expected  to 
prove  commensurate  with  all  the  objects  which  have  been  suggested. 
Some  auxiliary  provisions  will,  therefore,  it  is  presumed,  be  requisite  ; 
and  it  is  hoped  that  these  may  be  made  consistently  with  a  due  regard  to 
the  convenience  of  our  citizens,  who  can  not  but  be  sensible  of  the  true 
wisdom  of  encountering  a  small  present  addition  to  their  contributions,  to 
obviate  a  future  accumulation  of  burdens. 

VOL.  I.— 4 


50  WASHINGTON'S  SI-ECIAL  MESSAGE. 

But  here  I  can  not  forbear  to  recommend  a  repeal  of  the  tax  on  the  trans- 
portation of  public  prints.  There  is  no  resource  so  firm  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  as  the  affections  of  the  people,  guided  by  an 
enlightened  policy ;  and  to  this  primary  good,  nothing  can  conduce  more 
than  a  faithful  representation  of  public  proceedings,  diffused  without  re- 
straint throughout  the  United  States. 

An  estimate  of  the  appropriations  necessary  for  the  current  service  of 
the  ensuing  year,  and  a  statement  of  a  purchase  of  arms  and  military  stores 
made  during  the  recess,  will  be  presented  to  Congress. 

Gentlfmfn  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

The  several  subjects  to  which  I  have  now  referred,  open  a  wide  range 
to  your  deliberations  and  involve  some  of  the  choicest  interests  of  our 
common  country.  Permit  me  to  bring  to  your  remembrance  the  magni- 
tude of  your  task.  Without  an  unprejudiced  coolness,  the  welfare  of  the 
government  may  be  hazarded ;  without  harmony,  as  far  as  consists  with 
freedom  of  sentiment,  its  dignity  may  be  lost.  But,  as  the  legislative  pro- 
ceedings of  the  United  States  will  never,  I  trust,  be  reproached  for  the 
want  of  temper  or  of  candor,  so  shall  not  the  public  happiness  languish 
for  the  want  of  my  strenuous  and  warmest  co-operation. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  5,  1793. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

As  the  present  situation  of  the  several  nations  of  Europe,  and  espe- 
cially of  those  with  which  the  United  States  have  important  relations, 
can  not  but  render  the  state  of  things  between  them  and  us  matter  of  in- 
teresting inquiry  to  the  legislature,  and  may  indeed  give  rise  to  delibera- 
tions to  which  they  alone  are  competent,  I  have  thought  it  my  duty  to 
communicate  to  them  certain  correspondences  which  have  taken  place. 

The  representative  and  executive  bodies  of  France  have  manifested 
generally  a  friendly  attachment  to  this  country,  have  given  advantages  to 
our  commerce  and  navigation,  and  have  made  overtures  for  placing  these 
advantages  on  permanent  ground.  A  decree,  however,  of  the  national 
assembly,  subjecting  vessels  laden  with  provisions  to  be  carried  into  their 
ports,  and  making  enemy  goods  lawful  prize  in  the  vessels  of  a  friend,  con- 
trary to  our  treaty,  though  revoked  at  one  time  as  to  the  United  States, 
has  been  since  extended  to  their  vessels  also,  as  has  been  recently  stated 
to  u>  Representations  on  this  subject  will  be  immediately  given  in 
charge  to  our  minister  there,  and  the  result  shall  be  communicated  to  the 
legislature. 

It  is  with  extreme  concern  I  have  to  inform  you  that  the  proceedings 
of  the  person  whom  they  have  unfortunately  appointed  their  minister  pleni- 
potentiary here  have  breathed  nothing  of  the  friendly  spirit  of  the  nation 
which  sent  him.  Their  tendency,  on  the  contrary,  has  been  to  involve  us 
in  war  abroad,  and  discord  and  anarchy  at  home.  So  far  as  his  acts  or 
those  of  his  agents  have  threatened  our  immediate  commitment  in  the  war, 
or  flagrant  insult  to  the  authority  of  the  laws,  their  effect  has  been  coun- 


WASHINGTON'S  PROCLAMATION.  51 

teracted  by  the  ordinary  cognizance  of  the  laws,  and  by  an  exertion  of 
the  powers  confided  to  me.  Where  their  danger  was  not  imminent,  they 
have  been  borne  with  from  sentiments  of  regard  to  his  nation,  from  a  sense 
of  their  friendship  toward  us,  from  a  conviction  that  they  would  not  suffer 
us  to  remain  long  exposed  to  the  action  of  a  person  who  has  so  little  re- 
spected our  mutual  dispositions,  and  from  a  reliance  on  the  firmness  of 
my  fellow-citizens  in  their  principles  of  peace  and  order.  In  the  mean- 
time, I  have  respected  and  pursued  the  stipulations  of  our  treaties,  accord- 
ing to  what  I  judged  their  true  sense,  and  have  withheld  no  act  of  friend- 
ship which  their  affairs  have  called  for  from  us,  and  which  justice  to  oth- 
ers left  us  free  to  perform.  I  have  gone  further.  Rather  than  employ 
force  for  the  restitution  of  certain  vessels  which  I  deemed  the  United 
States  bound  to  restore,  I  thought  it  more  advisable  to  satisfy  the  par- 
ties by  avowing  it  to  be  my  opinion  that,  if  restitution  were  not  made, 
it  would  be  incumbent  on  the  United  States  to  make  compensation.  The 
papers  now  communicated  will  more  particularly  apprize  you  of  these 
transactions. 

The  vexations  and  spoliations  understood  to  have  been  committed  on 
our  vessels  and  commerce  by  the  cruisers  and  officers  of  some  of  the  bel- 
.igerent  powers,  appeared  to  require  attention.  The  proofs  of  these,  how- 
ever, not  having  been  brought  forward,  the  description  of  citizens  supposed 
to  have  suffered  were  notified  that,  on  furnishing  them  to  the  executive, 
due  measures  would  be  taken  to  obtain  redress  of  the  past  and  more  ef- 
fectual provisions  against  the  future.  Should  such  documents  be  fur- 
nished, proper  representations  will  be  made  thereon,  with  a  just  reliance 
on  a  redress  proportioned  to  the  exigency  of  the  case. 

The  British  government  having  undertaken,  by  orders  to  the  command- 
ers of  their  armed  vessels,  to  restrain  generally  our  commerce  in  corn  and 
other  provisions  to  their  own  ports  and  those  of  their  friends,  the  instruc- 
tions now  communicated  were  immediately  forwarded  to  our  minister  at 
that  court.  In  the  meantime,  some  discussions  on  the  subject  took  place 
between  him  and  them.  These  are  also  laid  before  you,  and  I  may  ex- 
pect to  learn  the  result  of  his  special  instructions  in  time  to  make  it 
known  to  the  legislature  during  their  present  session. 

Very  early  after  ti  e  arrival  of  a  British  minister  here,  mutual  explana- 
tions on  the  inexecution  of  the  treaty  of  peace  were  entered  into  with  that 
minister.  These  are  now  laid  before  you  for  your  information. 

On  the  subject  of  mutual  interest  between  this  country  and  Spain,  ne- 
gotiations and  conferences  are  now  depending.  The  public  good  requiring 
that  the  present  state  of  these  should  be  made  known  to  the  legislature  in 
confidence  only,  they  shall  be  the  subject  of  a  separate  and  subsequent 
communication. 


PROCLAMATION. 

AUGUST  7, 1794. 

WHKREAS,  combinations  to  defeat  the  execution  of  the  laws  laying  du- 
ties upon  spirits  distilled  within  the  United  States  and  upon  stills  have, 
from  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  those  laws,  existed  in  some  of  the 
western  parts  of  Pennsylvania  :  and  whereas,  the  said  combinations,  pro- 


52  WASHINGTON'S  PROCLAMATION. 

ceedmg  in  a  mannci  subversive  equally  of  the  just  authority  of  govern- 
ment and  of  the  rights  of  individuals,  have  hitherto  effected  their  danger- 
ous and  criminal  purjx)se  by  the  influence  of  certain  irregular  meetings 
whose  proceedings  have  tended  to  encourage  and  uphold  the  spirit  of  op- 
position by  misrepresentations  of  the  laws  calculated  to  render  them  odi- 
ous ;  by  endeavors  to  deter  those  who  might  be  so  disposed  from  accept- 
ing offices  under  them  through  fear  of  public  resentments  and  of  injury  to 
person  and  property,  and  to  compel  those  who  had  accepted  such  offices 
by  actual  violence  to  surrender  or  forbear  the  execution  of  them  ;  by 
circulating  vindictive  measures  against  all  who  should  otherwise,  directly 
or  indirectly,  aid  in  the  execution  of  the  said  laws,  or  who,  yielding  to  the 
dictates  of  conscience  and  to  a  sense  of  obligation,  should  themselves 
comply  therewith  ;  by  actually  injuring  and  destroying  the  property  of 
persons  who  were  understood  to  have  so  complied ;  by  inflicting  cruel, 
humiliating  punishments  upon  private  citizens  for  no  other  cause  than  that 
of  appearing  to  be  the  friends  of  the  laws  ;  by  interrupting  the  public  offi- 
cers on  the  highways,  abusing,  assaulting,  and  otherwise  ill  treating  them  ; 
by  going  to  their  houses  in  the  night,  gaining  admittance  by  force,  taking 
away  their  papers,  and  committing  other  outrages ;  employing  for  these 
unwarrantable  purposes  the  agency  of  armed  banditti,  disguised  in  such  a 
manner  as  for  the  most  part  to  escape  discovery :  and  whereas,  the  en- 
deavors of  the  legislature  to  obviate  objections  to  the  said  laws,  by  low- 
ering the  duties  and  by  other  alterations  conducive  to  the  convenience  of 
those  whom  they  immediately  affected  (though  they  have  given  satisfac- 
tion in  other  quarters),  and  the  endeavors  of  the  executive  officers  to  con- 
ciliate a  compliance  with  the  laws,  by  expostulation,  by  forbearance,  and 
even  by  recommendations  founded  on  the  suggestion  of  local  considera- 
tions, have  been  disappointed  of  their  effect  by  the  machinations  of  per- 
sons whose  industry  to  excite  resistance  has  increased  with  the  appear- 
ance of  a  disposition  among  the  people  to  relax  in  their  opposition  and  to 
acquiesce  in  the  laws ;  insomuch  that  many  persons  in  the  said  western 
parts  of  Pennsylvania  have  at  length  been  hardy  enough  to  perpetrate  acts 
which  1  am  advised  amount  to  treason,  being  overt  acts  of  levying  war 
against  the  United  States ;  the  said  persons  having,  on  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  of  July  last,  proceeded  in  arms  (on  the  second  day  amounting 
to  several  hundred)  to  the  house  of  John  Neville,  inspector  of  the  reve- 
nues for  the  fourth  survey  of  the  districts  of  Pennsylvania — having  repeat- 
edly attacked  the  said  house  with  the  persons  therein,  wounding  some  of 
them — having  seized  David  Lennox,  marshal  of  the  district  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, who  previously  thereto  had  been  fired  upon  while  in  the  execution  of 
his  duty,  by  a  party  of  men,  detaining  him  for  some  time  prisoner,  till  for 
the  preservation  of  his  life  and  obtaining  of  his  liberty  he  found  it  neces 
sary  to  enter  into  stipulations  to  forbear  the  execution  of  certain  official 
duties  touching  processes  issuing  out  of  the  court  of  the  United  States — 
and  having  finally  obliged  the  said  inspector  of  the  revenue  arid  the  mar- 
shal, from  considerations  of  personal  safety,  to  fly  from  this  part  of  the 
country,  in  order,  by  a  circuitous  route,  to  proceed  to  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, avowing  as  the  motives  of  these  outrageous  proceedings  an  intention 
to  prevent  by  force  of  arms  the  execution  of  the  said  laws,  to  oblige  the 
»aid  inspector  of  the  revenues  to  renounce  his  office,  to  withstand  by  open 
violence  the  lawful  authority  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and 
to  compel  thereby  an  alteration  in  the  measures  of  the  legislature,  and  a 
repeal  of  the  laws  aforesaid :  and  whereas,  by  a  law  of  the  United  States, 


WASHINGTON'S  PROCLAMATION.  53 

entitled,  "  An  act  to  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws 
of  the  Union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions,"  it  is  enacted,, 
"  that  whenever  the  laws  of  the  United  States  shall  be  opposed,  or  the  ex- 
ecution thereof  obstructed,  in  any  state  by  combinations  too  powerful  to  be 
suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  or  by  the  power 
vested  in  the  marshals  by  that  act,  the  same  being  notified  by  an  associate 
justice  or  the  district  judges,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  president  of  the 
United  States  to  call  forth  the  militia  of  said  state  to  suppress  such  com- 
binations, and  to  cause  the  laws  to  be  duly  executed.  And  if  the  militia 
of  a  state  where  such  combinations  may  happen,  shall  refuse  or  shall  be 
insufficient  to  suppress  the  same,  it, shall  be  lawful  for  the  president,  if  the 
legislature  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  in  session,  to  call  forth  and 
employ  such  numbers  of  the  militia  of  any  other  state  or  states  most  con- 
venient thereto  as  may  be  necessary ;  and  the  use  of  the  militia  so  to  be 
called  forth  may  be  continued,  if  necessary,  until  the  expiration  of  thirty 
days  after  the  commencement  of  the  ensuing  session ;  Provided  always, 
that  whenever  it  may  be  necessary  in  the  judgment  of  the  president  to  use 
the  military  force  hereby  directed  to  be  called  forth,  the  president  shall 
forthwith,  and  previous  thereto,  by  proclamation,  command  such  insur- 
gents to  disperse,  and  retire  peaceably  to  their  respective  abodes  within  a 
limited  time :"  and  whereas,  James  Wilson,  an  associate  justice,  on  the 
fourth  instant,  by  writing  under  his  hand,  did,  from  evidence  which  had 
been  laid  before  him,  notify  to  me  that  "  in  the  counties  of  Washington 
and  Allegany,  in  Pennsylvania,  the  laws  of  the  United  States  are  opposed, 
and  the  execution  thereof  obstructed,  by  combinations  too  powerful  to  be 
suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  or  by  the  pow- 
ers vested  in  the  marshal  of  that  district :" 

And  whereas,  it  is  in  my  judgment  necessary,  under  the  circumstances 
of  the  case,  to  take  measures  for  calling  forth  the  militia  in  order  to  sup- 
press the  combination  aforesaid,  and  to  cause  the  laws  to  be  duly  execu- 
ted ;  and  I  have  accordingly  determined  so  to  do,  feeling  the  deepest 
regret  for  the  occasion,  but  withal  the  most  solemn  conviction  that  the 
essential  interests  of  the  Union  demand  it,  that  the  very  existence  of  gov- 
ernment and  the  fundamental  principles  of  social  order  are  materially  in- 
volved in  the  issue,  and  that  the  patriotism  and  firmness  of  all  good  citi- 
zens are  seriously  called  upon  as  occasion  may  require,  to  aid  in  the 
effectual  suppression  of  so  fatal  a  spirit : 

Wherefore,  and  in  pursuance  of  the  provision  above  recited,  I,  George 
Washington,  president  of  the  United  Stales,  do  hereby  command  all  per- 
sons, being  insurgents  as  aforesaid,  and  all  others  whom  it  may  concern, 
on  or  before  the  first  day  of  September  next,  to  disperse  and  return  peace- 
ably to  their  respective  abodes.  And  I  do  moreover  warn  all  persons 
whomsoever  against  aiding,  abetting,  or  comforting,  the  perpetrators  of  the 
aforesaid  treasonable  acts  ;  and  do  require  all  officers,  and  rther  citizens, 
according  to  their  respective  duties  and  the  law  of  the  land,  to  exert  their 
utmost  endeavors  to  prevent  and  suppress  such  dangerous  proceedings. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  of 
America  to  be  affixed  to  these  presents,  and  signed  the  same  with  my 
hand.  Done  at  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  seventh  day  of  August,  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-fcftir,  and  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  of  America  the  nineteenth. 

GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 


54  WASHINGTON'S  PKOCLAMATION. 

PROCLAMATION. 
SEPTEMBER  25,  1794. 

WHEREAS,  from  a  hope  that  the  combination  against  the  constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States  in  certain  of  the  western  counties  of  Penn- 
sylvania, would  yield  to  time  and  reflection,  I  thought  it  sufficient  in  the 
first  instance  rather  to  take  measures  for  calling  forth  the  militia  than  im- 
mediately to  embody  them  ;  but  the  moment  is  now  come  when  the  over- 
tures of  forgiveness,  with  no  other  condition  than  a  submission  to  law, 
have  been  only  partially  accepted  ;  when  every  form  of  conciliation-  not 
inconsistent  with  the  being  of  government  has  been  adopted  without 
effect ;  when  the  well-disposed  in  those  counties  are  unable  by  their  in- 
fluence and  example  to  reclaim  the  wicked  from  their  fury,  and  are  com- 
pelled to  associate  in  their  own  defence  ;  when  the  proffered  lenity  has 
been  perversely  misinterpreted  into  an  apprehension  that  the  citizens  will 
inarch  with  reluctance  ;  when  the  opportunity  of  examining  the  serious 
consequences  of  a  treasonable  opposition  has  been  employed  in  propaga- 
ting principles  of  anarchy,  endeavoring  through  emissaries  to  alienate  the 
friends  of  order  from  its  support,  and  inviting  its  enemies  to  perpetrate 
similar  acts  of  insurrection  ;  when  it  is  manifest  that  violence  would  con- 
tinue to  be  exercised  upon  every  attempt  to  enforce  the  laws  ;  when,  there- 
fore, government  is  set  at  defiance,  the  contest  being  whether  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  United  States  shall  dictate  to  the  whole  Union,  and,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  those  who  desire  peace,  indulge  a  desperate  ambition  : 

Now,  therefore,  I,  George  Washington,  president  of  the  United  States, 
in  obedience  to  that  high  and  irresistible  duty  consigned  to  me  by  the  con- 
stitution "  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,"  deploring  that 
the  American  name  should  be  sullied  by  the  outrages  of  citizens  on  their 
own  government,  commiserating  such  as  remain  obstinate  from  delusion, 
but  resolved,  in  perfect  reliance  on  that  gracious  Providence  which  so  sig- 
nally displays  its  goodness  toward  this  country,  to  reduce  the  refractory 
to  a  due  subordination  to  the  laws,  do  hereby  declare  and  make  known, 
with  a  satisfaction  which  can  be  equalled  only  by  the  merits  of  the  militia 
summoned  into  service  from  the  states  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Ma- 
ryland, and  Virginia,  that  I  have  received  intelligence  of  their  patriotic 
alacrity  in  obeying  the  call  of  the  present,  though  painful,  yet  commanding 
necessity  ;  that  a  force  which,  according  to  every  reasonable  expectation, 
is  adequate  to  the  exigency,  is  already  in  motion  to  the  scene  of  disaffec- 
tion ;  that  those  who  shall  have  confided  or  shall  confide  in  the  protection 
of  government  shall  meet  full  succor  under  the  standard  and  from  the  arms 
of  the  United  States ;  that  those  who,  having  offended  against  the  laws, 
have  since  entitled  themselves  to  indemnity,  will  be  treated  with  the  most 
liberal  good  faith,  if  they  shall  not  have  forfeited  their  claim  by  any  subse- 
quent conduct,  and  that  instructions  are  given  accordingly. 

And  I  do  moreover  exhort  all  individuals,  officers  and  bodies  of  men  to 
contemplate  with  abhorrence  the  measures  leading  directly  or  indirectly  to 
those  crimes  which  produce  this  ivsnrt  to  military  coercion ;  to  check,  in 
their  respective  spheres,  the  efforts  of  misguided  or  designing  men  to  sub- 
stitute their  misrepresentation  in  the  place  of  truth,  and  their  discontents 
in  the  place  of  stable  government ;  and  to  call  to  mind  that,  as  the  people 
of  the  United  States  have  been  permitted,  under  the  Divine  favor,  in  per- 


WASHINGTON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  55 

feet  freedom,  after  solemn  deliberation,  and  in  an  enlightened  age,  to  elect 
their  own  government,  so  will  their  gratitude  for  this  inestimable  blessing 
be  best  distinguished  by  firm  exertion  to  maintain  the  constitution  and  the 
laws. 

And  lastly,  I  again  warn  all  persons  whomsoever  and  wheresoever,  not 
to  abet,  aid,  or  comfort,  the  insurgents  aforesaid,  as  they  will  answer  the 
contrary  at  their  peril  ;  and  I  do  also  require  all  officers  and  other  citizens, 
as  far  as  may  be  in  their  power,  to  bring  under  the  cognizance  of  the  laws 
all  offenders  in  the  premises. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  of 
America  to  be  affixed  to  these  presents,  and  signed  the  same  with  my 
hand.  Done  at  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  Septem- 
ber, one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-four,  and  of  the  independence 
of  the  United  States  of  America  the  nineteenth. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


SIXTH    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
NOVEMBER  19,  1794. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

WHEN  we  call  to  mind  the  gracious  indulgence  of  Heaven,  by  which 
the  American  people  became  a  nation  ;  when  we  survey  the  general  pros- 
perity of  our  country,  and  look  forward  to  the  riches,  power,  and  happi- 
ness, to  which  it  seems  destined  ;  with  the  deepest  regret  do  I  announce 
to  you  that,  during  your  recess,  some  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
have  been  found  capable  of  an  insurrection.  It  is  due,  however,  to  the 
character  of  our  government,  and  to  its  stability,  which  can  not  be  shaken 
by  the  enemies  of  order,  freely  to  unfold  the  course  of  this  event. 

During  the  session  of  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety, 
it  was  expedient  to  exercise  the  legislative  power,  granted  by  the  consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  "  to  lay  and  collect  excises."  In  a  majority 
of  the  states,  scarcely  an  objection  was  made  to  this  mode  of  taxation. 
In  some,  indeed,  alarms  were  at  first  conceived,  until  they  were  banished 
by  reason  and  patriotism.  In  the  four  western  counties  of  Pennsylvania, 
a  prejudice,  fostered  and  embittered  by  the  artifice  of  men  who  labored 
for  an  ascendency  over  the  will  of  others  by  the  guidance  of  their  pas- 
sions, produced  symptoms  of  riot  and  violence.  It  is  well  known  thai 
Congress  did  not  hesitate  to  examine  the  complaints  which  were  pre- 
sented, and  to  relieve  them  as  far  as  justice  dictated  or  general  con- 
venience would  permit.  But  the  impression  which  this  moderation  made 
on  the  discontented  did  not  correspond  with  what  it  deserved.  The  arts 
of  delusion  were  no  longer  confined  to  the  efforts  of  designing  individuals. 
The  very  forbearance  to  press  prosecution  was  misinterpreted  into  a  fear 
of  urging  the  execution  of  the  laws,  and  associations  of  men  began  to 
denounce  threats  against  the  officers  employed.  From  a  belief  that  by  a 
more  formal  concert  their  operation  might  be  defeated,  certain  self-created 
societies  assumed  the  tone  of  condemnation.  Hence,  while  the  greater 
part  of  Pennsylvania  itself  were  conforming  themselves  to  the  acts  of  ex- 
cise, a  few  counties  were  resolved  to  frustrate  them.  It  was  now  per- 


56  WASHINGTON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

ceived  that  every  expectation  from  the  tenderness  which  had  been  hitherto 
pursued  was  unavailing,  and  that  further  delay  could  only  create  an  opinion 
of  iinpotency  or  irresolution  in  the  government.  Legal  process  was 
therefore  delivered  to  the  marshal  against  the  rioters  and  delinquent  dis- 
tillers. 

No  sooner  was  he  understood  to  be  engaged  in  this  duty,  than  the  ven- 
geance of  armed  men  was  aimed  at  his  person  and  the  person  and  property 
of  the  inspector  of  the  revenue.  They  fired  upon  the  marshal,  arrested 
him,  and  detained  him  for  some  time  as  a  prisoner.  He  was  obliged,  by 
the  jeopardy  of  his  life,  to  renounce  the  service  of  other  process  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Allegany  mountains  ;  and  a  deputation  was  afterward 
sent  to  him  to  demand  a  surrender  of  that  which  he  had  served.  A  nu- 
merous body  repeatedly  attacked  the  house  of  the  inspector,  seized  his 
papers  of  office,  and  finally  destroyed  by  fire  his  buildings  and  whatsoever 
they  contained.  Both  of  these  officers,  from  a  just  regard  to  their  safety, 
fled  to  the  seat  of  government,  it  being  avowed  that  the  motives  to  such 
outrages  were  to  compel  the  resignation  of  the  inspector,  to  withstand  by 
force  of  arms  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  and  thereby  extort  a  re- 
peal of  the  laws  of  excise  and  an  alteration  in  the  conduct  of  government. 

Upon  the  testimony  of  these  facts,  an  associate  justice  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States  notified  to  me  that,  "  in  the  counties  of  Wash- 
ington and  Allegany,  in  Pennsylvania,  laws  of  the  United  States  were 
opposed,  and  the  execution  thereof  obstructed,  by  combinations  too  power- 
ful to  be  suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  or  by 
the  powers  vested  in  the  marshal  of  that  district."  On  this  call,  moment- 
ous in  the  extreme,  I  sought  and  weighed  what  might  best  subdue  the 
crisis.  On  the  one  hand,  the  judiciary  was  pronounced  to  be  stripped  of 
its  capacity  to  enforce  the  laws  ;  crimes  which  reached  the  very  existence 
of  social  order  were  perpetrated  without  control ;  the  friends  of  govern- 
ment were  insulted,  abused,  and  overawed  into  silence,  or  an  apparent 
acquiescence  ;  and,  to  yield  to  the  treasonable  fury  of  so  small  a  portion 
of  the  United  States  would  be  to  violate  the  fundamental  principle  of  our 
constitution,  which  enjoins  that  the  will  of  the  majority  shall  prevail.  On 
the  other,  to  array  citizen  against  citizen,  to  publish  the  dishonor  of  such 
excesses,  to  encounter  the  expense  and  other  embarrassments  of  so  distant 
an  expedition,  were  steps  too  delicate,  too  closely  interwoven  with  many 
affecting  considerations,  to  be  lightly  adopted.  I  postponed,  therefore,  the 
summoning  of  the  militia  immediately  into  the  field  ;  but  I  required  them 
to  be  held  in  readiness,  that  if  my  anxious  endeavors  to  reclaim  the  de- 
luded and  to  convince  the  malignant  of  their  danger  should  be  fruitless, 
military  force  might  be  prepared  to  act,  before  the  season  should  be  too 
far  advanced. 

My  proclamation  of  the  7th  of  August  last,  was  accordingly  issued,  and 
accompanied  by  the  appointment  of  commissioners,  who  were  charged  to 
repair  to  the  scene  of  insurrection.  They  were  authorized  to  confer  with 
any  bodies  of  men  or  individuals.  They  were  instructed  to  be  candid  and 
explicit  in  stating  the  sensations  which  had  been  excited  in  the  executive, 
and  his  earnest  wish  to  avoid  a  resort  to  coercion ;  to  represent,  however, 
that,  without  submission,  coercion  must  be  the  resort  ;  but  to  invite  them, 
at  the  same  time,  to  return  to  the  demeanor  of  faithful  citizens,  by  such 
accommodations  as  lay  within  the  sphere  of  executive  power.  Pardon, 
too,  was  tendered  to  them  by  the  government  of  the  United  States  and 
that  of  Pennsylvania,  upon  no  other  condition  than  a  satisfactory  assurance 
of  obedience  to  the  laws. 


WASHINGTON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  57 

Although  the  report  of  the  commissioners  marks  their  firmness  and 
abilities,  and  must  unite  all  virtuous  men,  by  showing  that  the  means  of 
conciliation  have  been  exhausted,  all  of  those  who  had  committed  or 
abetted  the  tumults  did  not  subscribe  the  mild  form  which  was  proposed 
as  the  atonement,  the  indications  of  a  peaceable  temper  were  neither  suf- 
ficiently general  nor  conclusive  to  recommend  or  warrant  the  farther  sus- 
pension of  the  march  of  the  militia. 

Thus  the  painful  alternative  could  not  be  discarded.  I  ordered  the 
militia  to  march,  after  once  more  admonishing  the  insurgents,  in  my  pro- 
clamation on  the  25th  of  September  last. 

It  was  a  task  too  difficult  to  ascertain  with  precision,  the  lowest  degree 
of  force  competent  to  the  quelling  of  the  insurrection.  From  a  respect, 
indeed,  to  economy,  and  the  ease  of  my  fellow-citizens  belonging  to  the 
militia,  it  would  have  gratified  me  to  accomplish  such  an  estimate.  My 
very  reluctance  to  ascribe  too  much  importance  to  the  opposition,  had  its 
extent  been  accurately  seen,  would  have  been  a  decided  inducement  to  the 
smallest  efficient  numbers.  In  this  uncertainty,  therefore,  I  put  into  mo- 
tion fifteen  thousand  men,  as  being  an  army  which,  according  to  all  human 
calculation,  would  be  prompt  and  adequate  in  every  view,  and  might,  per- 
haps, by  rendering  resistance  desperate,  prevent  the  effusion  of  blood. 
Quotas  had  been  assigned  to  the  states  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  and  Virginia  ;  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania  having  declared,  on 
this  occasion,  an  opinion  which  justified  a  requisition  to  the  other  states. 

As  commander-in-chief  of  the  militia  when  called  into  the  actual  ser- 
vice of  the  United  States,  I  have  visited  the  places  of  general  rendezvous 
to  obtain  more  exact  information,  and  to  direct  a  plan  for  ulterior  move- 
ments. Had  there  been  room  for  a  persuasion  that  the  laws  were  secure 
from  obstruction  ;  that  the  civil  magistrate  was  able  to  bring  to  justice 
such  of  the  most  culpable  as  have  not  embraced  the  proffered  terms  of 
amnesty,  and  may  be  deemed  fit  objects  of  example  ;  that  the  friends  to 
peace  and  good  government  were  not  in  need  of  that  aid  and  countenance 
which  they  ought  always  to  receive,  and,  I  trust,  ever  will  receive,  against 
the  vicious  and  turbulent ;  I  should  have  caught  with  avidity  the  oppor- 
tunity of  restoring  the  militia  to  their  families  and  homes.  But  succeed- 
ing intelligence  has  tended  to  manifest  the  necessity  of  what  has  been 
done,  it  being  now  confessed  by  those  who  were  not  inclined  to  exag- 
gerate the  ill  conduct  of  the  insurgents,  that  their  malevolence  was  not 
pointed  merely  to  a  particular  law,  but  that  a  spirit  inimical  to  all  order 
has  actuated  many  of  the  offenders.  If  the  state  of  things  had  afforded 
reason  for  the  continuance  of  my  presence  with  the  army,  it  would  not 
have  been  withholden.  But  every  appearance  assuring  such  an  issue  as 
will  redound  to  the  reputation  and  strength  of  the  United,  States,  I  have 
judged  it  most  proper  to  resume  my  duties  at  the  seat  of  government, 
leaving  the  chief  command  with  the  governor  of  Virginia. 

Still,  however,  as  it  is  probable  that,  in  a  commotion  like  the  present, 
whatsoever  may  be  the  pretence,  the  purposes  of  mischief  and  revenge 
may  not  be  laid  aside,  the  stationing  of  a  small  force,  for  a  certain  period, 
in  the  four  western  counties  of  Pennsylvania  will  be  indispensable, 
whether  we  contemplate  the  situation  of  those  who  are  connected  with 
the  execution  of  the  laws,  or  of  others  who  may  have  exposed  themselves 
by  an  honorable  attachment  to  them.  Thirty  days  from  the  commence- 
ment of  this  session  being  the  legal  limitation  of  the  employment  of  the 
militia,  Congress  can  not  be  too  early  occupied  with  this  subject. 


58  WASHINGTON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

Among  the  discussions  which  may  arise  from  this  aspect  of  our  affairs, 
and  from  the  documents  which  will  be  submitted  to  Congress,  it  will  not 
escape  their  observation  that  not  only  the  inspector  of  the  revenue,  but 
other  officers  of  the  United  States  in  Pennsylvania,  have,  from  their  fidel- 
ity in  the  discharge  of  their  functions,  sustained  material  injuries  to  their 
property.  The  obligation  and  policy  of  indemnifying  them  are  strong  and 
obvious.  It  may  also  merit  attention,  whether  policy  will  not  enlarge  this 
provision  to  the  retribution  of  other  citizens,  who,  though  not  under  the  ties 
of  office,  may  have  suffered  damage  by  their  generous  exertions  for  up- 
holding the  constitution  and  the  laws.  The  amount,  even  if  all  the  in- 
jured were  included,  would  not  be  great ;  and  on  future  emergencies, 
the  government  would  be  amply  repaid  by  the  influence  of  an  example 
that  he  who  incurs  a  loss  in  its  defence,  shall  find  a  recompense  in  its 
liberality. 

While  there  is  cause  to  lament  that  occurrences  of  this  nature  should 
have  disgraced  the  name  or  interrupted  the  tranquillity  of  any  part  of  our 
community,  or  should  have  diverted  to  a  new  application  any  portion  of 
the  public  resources,  there  are  not  wanting  real  and  substantial  consola- 
tions for  the  misfortune.  It  has  demonstrated  that  our  prosperity  rests 
on  solid  foundations,  by  furnishing  an  additional  proof  that  my  fellow- 
citizens  understand  the  tnie  principles  of  government  and  liberty ;  that 
they  feel  their  inseparable  union  ;  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  devices 
which  have  been  used  to  sway  them  from  their  interest  and  duty,  they  are 
now  as  ready  to  maintain  the  authority  of  the  laws  against  licentious  inva- 
sions, as  they  were  to  defend  their  rights  against  usurpation.  It  has  been 
a  spectacle  displaying  to  the  highest  advantage  the  value  of  republican 
government,  to  behold  the  most  and  the  least  wealthy  of  our  citizens 
standing  in  the  same  ranks  as  private  soldiers,  pre-eminently  distinguish- 
ed by  being  the  army  of  the  constitution — undeterred  by  a  march  of  three 
hundred  miles  over  rugged  mountains,  by  the  approach  of  an  inclement 
season,  or  by  any  other  discouragement.  Nor  ought  I  to  omit  to  acknowl- 
edge the  efficacious  and  patriotic  co-operations  which  I  have  experienced 
from  the  chief  magistrates  of  the  states  to  which  my  requisitions  have 
been  addressed. 

To  every  description  of  citizens,  indeed,  let  praise  be  given,  gut  let 
them  persevere  in  their  affectionate  vigilance  over  that  precious  depository 
of  American  happiness,  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  Let  them 
cherish  it,  too,  for  the  sake  of  those  who,  from  every  clime,  are  daily  seek- 
ing a  dwelling  in  our  land.  And  when,  in  the  calm  moments  of  reflection, 
they  shall  have  traced  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  insurrection,  let  them 
determine  whether  it  has  not  been  fomented  by  combinations  of  men,  who, 
careless  of  consequences,  and  disregarding  the  unerring  truth  that  those 
who  rouse  can  not  always  appease  a  civil  convulsion,  have  disseminated, 
from  an  ignorance  or  perversion  of  facts,  suspicions,  jealousies,  and  accu- 
sations of  the  whole  government. 

Having  thus  fulfilled  the  engagement  which  I  took,  when  I  entered  into 
office,  "  to  the  best  of  my  ability  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,"  on  you,  gentlemen,  and  the  people  by 
whom  you  are  deputed,  I  rely  for  support. 

In  the  arrangements  to  which  the  possibility  of  a  similar  contingency 
will  naturally  draw  your  attention,  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that  the 
mil  it  in  laws  have  exhibited  such  striking  defects  as  could  not  have  been 
supplied  but  by  the  zeal  of  our  citizens.  Besides  the  extraordinary  ex- 


WASHINGTON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS  59 

pense  and  waste,  which  are  not  the  least  of  the  defects,  every  appeal  to 
those  laws  is  attended  with  a  doubt  on  its  success. 

The  devising  and  establishing  of  a  well-regulated  militia,  would  be  a 
genuine  source  of  legislative  honor,  and  a  perfect  title  to  public  gratitude. 
I  therefore  entertain  a  hope  that  the  present  session  will  not  pass  with- 
out carrying  to  its  full  energy  the  power  of  organizing,  arming,  and  disci- 
plining the  militia  ;  and  thus  providing,  in  the  language  of  the  constitu- 
tion, for  calling  them  forth  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  Union,  suppress  in- 
surrections, and  repel  invasions. 

As  auxiliary  to  the  state  of  our  defence,  to  which  Congress  can  never 
too  frequently  recur,  they  will  not  omit  to  inquire  whether  the  fortifica- 
tions which  have  been  already  licensed  by  law  be  commensurate  with  our 
existence. 

The  intelligence  from  the  army  under  the  command  of  General  Wayne 
is  a  happy  presage  to  our  military  operations  against  the  hostile  Indians 
north  of  the  Ohio.  From  the  advices  which  have  been  forwarded,  the 
advance  which  he  has  made  must  nave  damped  the  ardor  of  the  savages, 
and  weakened  their  obstinacy  in  waging  war  against  the  United  States. 
And  yet,  even  at  this  late  hour,  when  our  power  to  punish  them  can  not  be 
questioned,  we  shall  not  be  unwilling  to  cement  a  lasting  peace  upon 
terms  of  candor,  equity,  and  good  neighborhood. 

Toward  none  of  the  Indian  tribes  have  overtures  of  friendship  been 
spared.  The  Creeks,  in  particular,  are  covered  from  encroachment  by 
the  interposition  of  the  general  government  and  that  of  Georgia.  From  a 
desire,  also,  to  remove  the  discontent  of  the  Six  Nations,  a  settlement 
meditated  at  Presqu'  isle,  on  Lake  Erie,  has  been  suspended,  and  an  agent 
is  now  endeavoring  to  rectify  any  misconception  into  which  they  may  have 
fallen.  But  I  can  not  refrain  from  again  pressing  upon  your  deliberations 
the  plan  which  I  recommended  at  the  last  session  for  the  improvement  of 
harmony  with  all  the  Indians  within  our  limits,  by  the  fixing  and  conduct- 
ing of  the  trading  houses  upon  the  principles  then  expressed. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

The  time  which  has  elapsed  since  the  commencement  of  our  fiscal 
measures,  has  developed  our  pecuniary  resources  so  as  to  open  the  way 
for  a  definitive  plan  for  the  redemption  of  the  public  debt.  It  is  believed 
that  the  result  is  such  as  to  encourage  Congress  to  consummate  this  work 
without  delay.  Nothing  can  more  promote  the  permanent  welfare  of  the 
nation,  and  nothing  would  be  more  grateful  to  our  constituents.  Indeed, 
whatever  is  unfinished  of  our  system  of  public  credit,  can  not  be  benefited 
by  procrastination ;  and,  as  far  as  may  be  practicable,  we  ought  to  place 
that  credit  on  grounds  which  can  not  be  disturbed,  and  to  prevent  that  pro- 
gressive accumulation  of  debt  which  must  ultimately  endanger  all  gov- 
ernments. 

An  estimate  of  the  necessary  appropriations,  including  the  expenditures 
into  which  we  have  been  driven  by  the  insurrection,  will  be  submitted  to 
Congress. 

Gentlemen  of  tfte  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

The  mint  of  the  United  States  has  entered  upon  the  coinage  of  the  pre- 
cious metals,  and  considerable  sums  of  defective  coins  and  bullion  have 
been  lodged  with  the  director  by  individuals.  Tlu-rr  i$  a  pleasing  pros- 
pect that  the  institution  will,  at  no  remote  day,  realize  the  expectation 
which  was  originally  formed  of  its  utility. 


00  WASHINGTON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

In  subsequent  communications,  certain  circumstances  of  our  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations  will  he  transmitted  to  Congress.  However,  it  may 
not  he  unseasonable  to  announce  that  my  policy  in  our  foreign  transac- 
tions has  been  to  cultivate  peace  with  all  the  world ;  to  observe  the  trea- 
ties with  pure  and  absolute  faith  ;  to  check  every  deviation  from  the  line  of 
impartiality ;  to  explain  what  may  have  been  misapprehended,  and  correct 
what  mav'have  been  injurious  to  any  nation  ;  and  having  thus  acquired  the 
ri"ht,  to  lose  no  time  in  acquiring  the  ability,  to  insist  upon  justice  being 
done  to  ourselves. 

Let  us  unite,  therefore,  in  imploring  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  nations  to 
spread  his  holy  protection  over  these  United  States ;  to  turn  the  machina- 
tions of  the  wicked  to  the  confirming  of  our  constitution ;  to  enable  us  at 
all  times  to  root  out  internal  sedition  and  put  invasion  to  flight ;  to  per- 
petuate to  our  country  that  prosperity  which  his  goodness  has  already 
conferred,  and  to  verify  the  anticipations  of  this  government  being  a  safe- 
guard to  human  rights. 


SEVENTH    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
DECEMBER  8,  1795. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  TRUST  I  do  not  deceive  myself  while  I  indulge  the  persuasion  that  I 
have  never  met  you  at  any  period  when,  more  than  at  the  present,  the 
situation  of  our  public  affairs  has  afforded  just  cause  for  mutual  congratu- 
lation, and  for  inviting  you  to  join  with  me  in  profound  gratitude  to  the 
Author  of  all  good  for  the  numerous  and  extraordinary  blessings  we 
enjoy. 

The  termination  of  the  long,  expensive,  and  distressing  war  in  which 
tve  have  been  engaged  with  certain  Indians  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  is  placed 
in  the  option  of  the  United  States  by  a  treaty  which  the  commander  of  our 
army  has  concluded  provisionally  with  the  hostile  tribes  in  that  region. 

In  the  adjustment  of  the  terms,  the  satisfaction  of  the  Indians  was 
deemed  an  object  worthy  no  less  of  the  policy  than  of  the  liberality  of  the 
United  States  as  the  necessary  basis  of  durable  tranquillity.  The  object, 
it  is  believed,  has  been  fully  attained.  The  articles  agreed  upon  will  im- 
mediately be  laid  before  the  senate  for  their  consideration. 

The  Creek  and  Cherokee  Indians,  who  alone  of  the  southern  tribes 
had  annoyed  our  frontiers,  have  lately  confirmed  their  pre-existing  treaties 
with  us,  and  were  giving  evidence  of  a  sincere  disposition  to  carry  them 
into  effect  by  the  surrender  of  the  prisoners  and  property  they  had  taken. 
But  we  have  to  lament  that  the  aid  and  prospect  in  this  quarter  has  been 
once  more  clouded  by  wanton  murders,  which  some  citizens  of  Georgia 
are  represented  to  have  recently  perpetrated  on  hunting  parties  of  the 
Creeks,  which  have  again  subjected  that  frontier  to  disquietude  and  dan- 
ger, which  will  be  productive  of  further  expense,  and  may  occasion  more 
effusion  of  blood.  Measures  are  pursuing  to  prevent  or  mitigate  the  usual 
consequences  of  such  outrages,  and  with  the  hope  of  their  succeeding,  at 
least,  to  avert  general  hostility. 

A  letter  from  the  emperor  of  Morocco  announces  to  me  his  recognition 


WASHINGTON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  61 

of  our  treaty  made  with  his  father  the  late  emperor,  and  consequently  the 
continuance  of  peace  with  that  power.  With  peculiar  satisfaction,  I  add, 
that  information  has  been  received  from  an  agent  deputed  on  our  part  to 
Algiers,  importing  that  the  terms  of  a  treaty  with  the  dey  and  regency  of 
that  country  had  been  adjusted  in  such  a  manner  as  to  authorize  the  ex- 
pectation of  a  speedy  peace  and  the  restoration  of  our  unfortunate  fellow- 
citizens  from  a  grievous  captivity. 

The  latest  advices  from  our  envoy  at  the  court  of  Madrid  give,  more- 
over, the  pleasing  information  that  he  had  received  assurances  of  a  speedy 
and  satisfactory  conclusion  of  his  negotiation.  While  the  event  depend- 
ing upon  unadjusted  particulars,  can  not  be  regarded  as  ascertained,  it  is 
agreeable  to  cherish  the  expectation  of  an  issue  which,  securing  amicably 
very  essential  interests  of  the  United  States,  will  at  the  same  time  lay  the 
foundation  of  lasting  harmony  with  a  power  whose  friendship  we  have 
uniformly  and  sincerely  desired  to  cultivate. 

Though  not  before  officially  disclosed  to  the  house  of  representatives, 
you,  gentlemen,  are  all  apprized  that  a  treaty  of  amity,  commerce,  and  nav- 
igation, has  been  negotiated  with  Great  Britain,  and  that  the  senate  have 
advised  and  consented  to  its  ratification  upon  a  condition  which  excepts 
part  of  one  article.  Agreeably  thereto,  and  to  the  best  judgment  I  was 
able  to  form  of  the  public  interest,  after  full  and  mature  deliberation,  I  have 
added  my  sanction.  The  result  on  the  part  of  his  Britannic  majesty  is  un- 
known. When  received,  the  subject  will  without  delay  be  placed  before 
Congress. 

This  interesting  summary  of  our  affairs  with  regard  to  foreign  powers, 

between  whom  and  the  United  States  controversies  have  subsisted,  and 

with  regard  also  to  those  of  our  Indian  neighbors  with  whom  we  have 

been  in  a  state  of  enmity  or  misunderstanding,  opens  a  wide  field  for  con- 

roling  and  gratifying  reflections.     If,  by  prudence  and  moderation  on  every 

•jide,  the  extinguishment  of  all  the  causes  of  external  discord  which  have 

seretofore  menaced  our  tranquillity,  on  terms  compatible  with  our  national 

ights  and  honor,  shall  be  the  happy  result,  how  firm  and  how  precious  a 

oundation  will  have  been  laid  for  accelerating,  maturing,  and  establishing, 

ihe  prosperity  of  our  country. 

Contemplating  the  internal  situation  as  well  as  the  external  relations  of 
the  United  States,  we  discover  equal  cause  for  contentment  and  satisfac-, 
tion.  While  many  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  with  their  American  depen- 
dencies, have  been  involved  in  a  contest  unusually  bloody,  exhausting, 
and  calamitous,  in  which  the  evils  of  foreign  war  have  been  aggravated  by 
domestic  convulsion  and  insurrection  ;  in  which  many  of  the  arts  most 
useful  to  society  have  been  exposed  to  discouragement  and  decay ;  in 
which  scarcity  of  subsistence  has  imbittered  other  sufferings ;  while  even 
the  anticipations  of  a  return  of  the  blessings  of  peace  and  repose  are  al- 
loyed by  the  sense  of  heavy  and  accumulating  burdens,  which  press  upon 
all  the  departments  of  industry,  and  threaten  to  clog  the  future  springs  of 
government,  our  favored  country,  happy  in  a  striking  contrast,  has  enjoy- 
ed general  tranquillity — a  tranquillity  the  more  satisfactory  because  main- 
tained at  the  expense  of  no  duty.  Faithful  to  ourselves,  we  have  violated 
no  obligation  to  others.  Our  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures, 
prosper  beyond  example,  the  molestations  of  our  trade  (to  prevent  a  con- 
tinuance of  which,  however,  very  pointed  remonstrances  have  been  made) 
being  overbalanced  by  the  aggregate  benefits  which  derives  from  a  neutral 
position.  Our  population  advances  with  a  celerity  which,  exceeding  the 


(W  WASHINGTON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

most  sanguine  calculations,  proportionally  augments  our  strength  and  re- 
sources, and  guaranties  our  future  security.  Every  part  of  the  Union  dis- 
plays indications  of  rapid  and  various  improvement ;  and  with  burdens  so 
light  as  scarcely  to  be  perceived,  with  resources  fully  adequate  to  our  pres- 
eut  exigencies,  with  governments  founded  on  the  genuine  principles  of 
rational  liberty,  and  with  mild  and  wholesome  laws,  is  it  too  much  to  say 
that  our  country  exhibits  a  spectacle  of  national  happiness  never  surpassed, 
if  ever  before  equalled  ? 

IMaced  in  a  situation  every  way  so  auspicious,  motives  of  commanding 
force  impel  us,  with  sincere  acknowledgment  to  Heaven  and  pure  love  to 
our  country,  to  unite  our  eflbrts  to  preserve,  prolong,  and  improve,  our  im- 
mense advantages.  To  co-operate  with  you  in  this  desirable  work  is  a 
fervent  and  favorite  wish  of  my  heart. 

It  is  a  valuable  ingredient  in  the  general  estimate  of  our  welfare,  that 
the  part  of  our  country  which  was  lately  the  scene  of  disorder  and  insur- 
rection now  enjoys  the  blessings  of  quiet  and  order.  The  misled  have 
abandoned  their  errors,  and  pay  the  respect  to  our  constitution  and  laws 
which  is  due  from  good  citizens  to  the  public  authorities  of  society. 
These  circumstances  have  induced  me  to  pardon  generally  the  offenders 
here  referred  to,  and  to  extend  forgiveness  to  those  who  had  been  adjudged 
to  capital  punishment.  For  though  I  shall  always  think  it  a  sacred  duty 
to  exercise  with  firmness  and  energy  the  constitutional  powers  with  which 
1  am  vested,  yet  it  appears  to  me  no  less  consistent  with  the  public  good 
than  it  is  with  my  personal  feelings,  to  mingle,  in  the  operations  of  gov- 
ernment, every  degree  of  moderation  and  tenderness  which  the  national 
justice,  dignity,  and  safety,  may  pennit. 

Gentlemen  : — 

Among  the  objects  which  will  claim  your  attention  in  the  course  of  the 
session,  a  review  of  our  military  establishment  is  not  the  least  important. 
It  is  called  for  by  the  events  which  have  changed,  and  may  be  expected 
still  farther  to  change,  the  relative  situation  of  our  frontiers.  In  this  re- 
view, you  will  doubtless  allow  due  weight  to  the  considerations  that  the 
questions  between  us  and  certain  foreign  powers  are  not  yet  finally  ad- 
justed, that  the  war  in  Europe  is  not  yet  terminated,  and  that  our  western 
posts,  when  recovered,  will  demand  provision  for  garrisoning  and  securing 
them.  A  statement  of  our  present  militia  force  will  be  laid  before  you  by 
the  department  of  war. 

With  the  review  of  our  army  establishment  is  naturally  connected  that 
of  the  militia.  It  will  merit  inquiry,  what  imperfections  in  the  existing 
plan  further  experience  may  have  unfolded.  The  subject  is  of  so  much 
moment  in  my  estimation  as  to  excite  a  constant  solicitude  that  the  con- 
sideration of  it  may  be  renewed,  until  the  greatest  attainable  perfection 
shall  be  accomplished.  Time  is  wearing  away  some  advantages  for  for- 
warding the  object,  while  none  better  deserves  the  persevering  attention 
of  the  public  councils. 

While  we  indulge  the  satisfaction  which  the  actual  condition  of  our 
western  borders  so  well  authorizes,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  not  lose 
sight  of  an  important  truth  which  continually  receives  new  confirmations, 
namely,  that  the  provisions  heretofore  made  with  a  view  to  the  protection 
of  the  Indians  from  the  violence  of  the  lawless  part  of  our  frontier  in- 
habitants, are  insufficient.  It  is  demonstrated  that  these  violences  can 
now  be  perpetrated  with  impunity  ;  and  it  can  need  no  argument  to  prove 


WASHINGTON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  G3 

that,  unless  the  murdering  of  Indians  can  be  restrained  by  bringing  the 
murderers  to  condign  punishment,  all  the  exertions  of  the  government  to 
prevent  destructive  retaliations  by  the  Indians  will  prove  fruitless,  and  all 
our  present  agreeable  prospects  illusory.  The  frequent  destruction  of  in- 
nocent women  and  children,  who  are  chiefly  the  victims  of  retaliation, 
must  continue  to  shock  humanity,  and  to  be  an  enormous  expense  to  drain 
the  treasury  of  the  Union. 

To  enforce  upon  the  Indians  the  observance  of  justice,  it  is  indispensa- 
ble that  there  shall  be  competent  means  of  rendering  justice  to  them.  If 
these  means  can  be  devised  by  the  wisdom  of  Congress,  and  especially 
if  there  can  be  added  an  adequate  provision  for  supplying  the  necessities 
of  the  Indians  on  reasonable  terms  (a  measure  the  mention  of  which  1 
the  more  readily  repeat,  as  in  all  the  conferences  with  them  they  urge  it 
with  solicitude),  I  should  not  hesitate  to  entertain  a  strong  hope  of  ren- 
dering our  tranquillity  permanent.  I  add,  with  pleasure,  that  the  proba- 
bility even  of  their  civilization  is  not  diminished  by  the  experiments 
which  have  been  thus  far  made  under  the  auspices  of  government.  The 
accomplishment  of  this  work,  if  practicable,  will  reflect  undecaying  lustre 
on  our  national  character,  and  administer  the  most  grateful  consolations 
that  virtuous  minds  can  know. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

The  state  of  our  revenue,  with  the  sums  which  have  been  borrowed 
and  reimbursed  pursuant  to  different  acts  of  Congress,  will  be  submitted 
from  the  proper  department,  together  with  an  estimate  of  the  appropria- 
tions necessary  to  be  made  for  the  service  of  the  coming  year. 

Whether  measures  may  not  be  advisable  to  reinforce  the  provision  for 
the  redemption  of  the  public  debt,  will  naturally  engage  your  examination. 
Congress  have  demonstrated  their  sense  to  be,  and  it  were  superfluous  to 
repeat  mine,  that  whatsoever  will  tend  to  accelerate  the  honorable  extinc- 
tion of  our  public  debt  accords  as  much  with  the  true  interests  of  our 
country  as  with  the  general  sense  of  our  constituents. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

The  statements  which  will  be  laid  before  you  relative  to  the  mint,  will 
show  the  situation  of  that  institution,  and  the  necessity  of  some  further 
legislative  provisions  for  carrying  the  business  of  it  more  completely  into 
effect,  and  for  checking  abuses  which  appear  to  be  arising  in  particular 
quarters. 

The  progress  in  providing  materials  for  the  frigates,  and  in  building 
them  ;  the  state  of  the  fortifications  of  our  harbors  ;  the  measures  which 
have  been  pursued  for  obtaining  proper  sites  for  arsenals,  and  for  replen- 
ishing our  magazines  with  military  stores ;  and  the  steps  which  have  been 
taken  toward  the  execution  of  the  law  for  opening  a  trade  with  the  In- 
dians, will  likewise  be  presented  for  the  information  of  Congress. 

Temperate  discussion  of  the  important  subjects  which  may  arise  in  the 
course  of  the  session,  and  mutual  forbearance  where  there  is  a  difference 
of  opinion,  are  too  obvious  and  too  necessary  for  the  peace,  happiness, 
and  welfare  of  our  country,  to  need  any  recommendation  of  mine 


64  WASHINGTON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

EIGHTH    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
DECEMBER  7,  1796. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

IN  recurring  to  the  internal  situation  of  our  country  since  I  had  last  the 
pleasure  to  address  you,  I  find  ample  reason  for  a  renewed  expression  of 
that  gratitude  to  the  Ruler  of  the  universe  which  a  continued  series  of 
prosperity  has  so  often  and  so  justly  called  forth. 

The  acts  of  the  last  session  which  required  special  arrangement,  have 
been,  as  far  as  circumstances  would  admit,  carried  into  operation. 

Measures  calculated  to  ensure  a  continuance  of  the  friendship  of  the 
Indians  and  to  preserve  peace  along  the  extent  of  our  interior  frontier, 
have  heen  digested  and  adopted.  In  the  framing  of  these  care  has  been 
taken  to  guard  on  the  one  hand,  our  advanced  settlements  from  the  preda- 
tory incursions  of  those  unruly  individuals  who  can  not  be  restrained  by 
their  tribes,  and  on  the  other  hand,  to  protect  the  rights  secured  to  the 
Indians  by  treaty;  to  draw  them  nearer  to  the  civilized  state,  and  inspire 
them  with  correct  conceptions  of  the  power,  as  well  as  justice,  of  the 
government. 

The.  meeting  of  the  deputies  from  the  Creek  nation  at  Colerain,  in  the 
state  of  Georgia,  which  had  for  a  principal  object  the  purchase  of  a  parcel 
of  their  land  by  that  state,  broke  up  without  its  being  accomplished,  the 
nation  having,  previous  to  their  departure,  instructed  them  against  making 
any  sale.  The  occasion,  however,  has  been  improved  to  confirm,  by  a  new 
treaty  with  the  Creeks,  their  pre-existing  engagements  with  the  United 
States,  and  to  obtain  their  consent  to  the  establishment  of  trading-houses 
and  military  posts  within  their  boundary,  by  means  of  which  their  friend- 
ship and  the  general  peace  may  be  more  effectually  secured. 

The  period  during  the  late  session  at  which  the  appropriation  was 
passed  for  carrying  into  effect  the  treaty  of  amity,  commerce  and  naviga- 
tion between  the  United  States  and  his  Britannic  majesty,  necessarily 
procrastinated  the  reception  of  the  posts  stipulated  to  be  delivered  beyond 
the  date  assigned  for  that  event.  As  soon,  however,  as  the  governor- 
general  of  Canada  could  be  addressed  with  propriety  on  the  subject,  ar- 
rangements were  cordially  and  promptly  concluded  for  their  evacuation  ; 
and  the  United  States  took  possession  of  the  principal  of  them,  compre- 
hending Oswego,  Niagara,  Detroit,  Michilimackinac,  and  Fort  Miami, 
where  such  repairs  and  additions  have  been  ordered  to  be  made  as  ap- 
peared indispensable. 

The  commissioners  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  and  of 
Great  Britain  to  determine  which  is  the  river  St.  Croix  mentioned  in  the 
treaty  of  peace  of  1783,  agreed  in  the  choice  of  Egbert  Benson,  Esq.,  of 
New  York,  for  the  third  commissioner.  The  whole  met  at  St.  Andrews, 
in  Passamaquoddy  bay,  in  the  beginning  of  October,  and  directed  surveys 
to  be  made  of  the  rivers  in  dispute  ;  but  deeming  it  impracticable  to  have 
these  surveys  completed  before  the  next  year,  they  adjourned  to  meet  at 
Boston,  in  August,  1797,  for  the  final  decision  of  the  question. 

Other  commiss'ioners,  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
agreeably  to  the  seventh  article  of  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  relative 
to  captures  and  condemnation  of  vessels  and  other  property,  met  the  com- 


WASHINGTON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  65 

missioners  of  his  Britannic  majesty  in  London,  in  August  last,  when 
John  TrumbulL,  Esq.,  was  chosen  by  lot  for  the  fifth  commissioner.  In 
October  following,  the  board  were  to  proceed  to  business.  As  yet,  there 
has  been  no  communication  of  commissioners  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain 
to  unite  with  those  who  had  been  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  for  carrying  into  effect  the  sixth  article  of  the  treaty. 

The  treaty  with  Spain  required  that  the  commissioners  for  running  the 
boundary  line  between  the  territory  of  the  United  States  and  his  catholic 
majesty's  provinces  of  East  and  West  Florida  should  meet  at  the  Natchez 
before  the  expiration  of  six  months  after  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications, 
which  was  effected  at  Aranjuez,  on  the  25th  day  of  April ;  and  the  troops 
of  his  catholic  majesty  occupying  any  posts  within  the  limits  of  the 
United  States  were,  within  the  same  period,  to  be  withdrawn.  The  com- 
missioner of  the  United  States,  therefore,  commenced  his  journey  for  the 
Natchez  in  September,  and  troops  were  ordered  to  occupy  the  posts  from 
which  the  Spanish  garrisons  should  be  withdrawn.  Information  has  been 
recently  received  of  the  appointment  of  a  commissioner  on  the  part  of  his 
catholic  majesty  for  running  the  boundary  line ;  but  none  of  any  appoint- 
ment for  the  adjustment  of  the  claims  of  our  citizens  whose  vessels  were 
captured  by  the  armed  vessels  of  Spain. 

In  pursuance  of  the  act  of  Congress,  passed  in  the  last  session,  for  the 
protection  and  relief  of  American  seamen,  agents  were  appointed,  one  to 
reside  in  Great  Britain  and  the  other  in  the  West  Indies.  The  effects 
of  the  agency  in  the  West  Indies  are  not  yet  fully  ascertained ;  but  those 
which  have  been  communicated  afford  grounds  to  believe  the  measure  will 
be  beneficial.  The  agent  destined  to  re'side  in  Great  Britain  declining  to 
accept  the  appointment,  the  business  has  consequently  devolved  on  the 
minister  of  the  United  States  in  London,  and  will  command  his  attention 
until  a  new  agent  shall  be  appointed. 

After  many  delays  and  disappointments  arising  out  of  the  European 
war,  the  final  arrangements  for  fulfilling  the  engagements  made  to  the 
dey  and  regency  of  Algiers  will,  in  all  present  appearance,  be  crowned 
with  success,  but  under  great  though  inevitable  disadvantages  in  the  pe- 
cuniary transactions  occasioned  by  that  war,  which  will  render  further 
provision  necessary.  The  actual  liberation  of  all  our  citizens  who  were 
prisoners  in  Algiers,  while  it  gratifies  every  feeling  heart,  is  itself  an 
earnest  of  a  satisfactory  termination  of  the  whole  negotiation.  Measures 
are  in  operation  for  effecting  treaties  with  the  regencies  of  Tunis  and 
Tripoli. 

To  an  active  external  commerce,  the  protection  of  a  naval  force  is  in- 
dispensable. This  is  manifest  with  regard  to  wars  in  which  a  state  itself 
is  a  party.  But  besides  this,  it  is  in  our  own  experience  that  the  most 
sincere  neutrality  is  not  a  sufficient  guard  against  the  depredations  of  na- 
tions at  war.  To  secure  respect  to  a  neutral  flag  requires  a  naval  force, 
organized  and  ready  to  vindicate  it  from  insult  or  aggression.  This  may 
prevent  even  the  necessity  of  going  to  war,  by  discouraging  belligerent 
powers  from  committing  such  violations  of  the  rights  of  the  neutral  party 
as  may,  first  or  last,  leave  no  other  option.  From  the  best  information  I 
have  been  able  to  obtain,  it  would  seem  as  if  our  trade  to  the  Mediterra- 
nean, without  a  protecting  force,  will  always  be  insecure,  and  our  citizens 
exposed  to  the  calamities  from  which  numbers  of  them  have  but  just  beea 
relieved. 

These  considerations  invite  the  United  States  to  look  to  the  means,  and 

VOL.  I.-5 


66  WASHINGTON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

to  set  about  the  gradual  creation  of  a  navy.  The  increasing  progress  of 
their  navigation  promises  them,  at  no  distant  period,  the  requisite  supply 
of  seamen  ;  and  their  means,  in  other  respects,  favor  the  undertaking.  It 
is  an  encouragement,  likewise,  that  their  particular  situation  will  give 
weight  and  influence  to  a  moderate  naval  force  in  their  hands.  Will  it 
not  then  be  advisable  to  begin  without  delay  to  provide  and  lay  up  the 
materials  for  the  building  and  equipping  of  ships-of-war,  and  to  proceed 
in  the  work  by  degrees,  in  proportion  as  our  resources  shall  render  it 
practicable  without  inconvenience,  so  that  a  future  war  of  Europe  may  not 
lind  our  commerce  in  the  same  unprotected  state  in  which  it  was  found  by 
the  present  ? 

Congress  have  repeatedly,  and  not  without  success,  directed  their 
attention  to  the  encouragement  of  manufactures.  The  object  is  of  too 
much  consequence  not  to  insure  a  continuance  of  their  efforts  in  every 
way  which  shall  appear  eligible.  As  a  general  rule,  manufactures  on 
the  public  account  are  inexpedient ;  but  where  the  state  of  things  in  a 
country  leaves  little  hope  that  certain  branches  of  manufacture  will,  for  a 
great  length  of  time,  obtain,  when  these  are  of  a  nature  essential  to  the 
furnishing  and  equipping  of  the  public  force  in  time  of  war,  are  not  es- 
tablishments for  procuring  them  on  public  account,  to  the  extent  of  the 
ordinary  demand  for  the  public  service,  recommended  by  strong  considera- 
tions of  national  policy  as  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  ?  Ought  our 
country  to  remain,  in  such  cases,  dependent  on  foreign  supply,  precarious 
because  liable  to  be  interrupted  ?  If  the  necessary  article  should,  in  this 
mode,  cost  more  in  time  of  peace,  will  not  the  security  and  independence 
thence  arising  form  an  ample  compensation  ?  Establishments  of  this  sort, 
commensurate  only  with  the  calls  of  the  public  service  in  time  of  peace, 
will,  in  time  of  war,  easily  be  extended  in  proportion  to  the  exigiencies 
of  the  government,  and  may  even  perhaps  be  made  to  yield  a  surplus  for 
the  supply  of  our  citizens  at  large,  so  as  to  mitigate  the  privations  from 
the  interruption  of  their  trade.  If  adopted,  the  plan  ought  to  exclude  all 
those  branches  which  are  already,  or  likely  soon  to  be,  established  in  the 
country,  in  order  that  there  may  be  no  danger  of  interference  with  pursuits 
of  individual  industry. 

It  will  not  be  doubted  that,  with  reference  either  to  individual  or  national 
welfare,  agriculture  is  of  primary  importance.  In  proportion  as  nations 
advance  in  population  and  other  circumstances  of  maturity,  this  truth  be- 
comes more  apparent,  and  renders  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  more  and 
more  an  object  of  public  patronage.  Institutions  for  promoting  it  grow 
up,  supported  by  the  public  purse ;  and  to  what  object  can  it  be  dedicated 
with  greater  propriety  ?  Among  the  means  which  have  been  employed 
to  this  end  none  have  been  attended  with  greater  success  than  the  estab- 
lishments of  boards,  composed  of  proper  characters,  charged  with  col- 
lecting and  diffusing  information,  and  enabled  by  premiums  and  small 
pecuniary  aids  to  encourage  and  assist  a  spirit  of  discovery  and  improve- 
ment. This  species  of  establishment  contributes  doubly  to  the  increase 
of  improvement,  by  stimulating  to  enterprise  and  experiment,  and  by 
drawing  to  a  common  centre  the  results,  everywhere,  of  individual  skill 
and  observation,  and  spreading  them  thence  over  the  whole  nation.  Ex- 
perience accordingly  hath  shown  that  they  are  very  cheap  instruments  of 
immense  national  benefit. 

I  have  therefore  proposed  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  the  expedi- 
ency of  establishing  a  national  university,  and  also  a  military  academy 


WASHINGTON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  67 

The-  desirableness  of  both  these  institutions  has  so  constantly  increased 
with  every  new  view  I  have  taken  on  the  subject,  that  I  can  not  omit  the 
opportunity  of  once  for  all  recalling  your  attention  to  them. 

The  assembly  to  which  I  address  myself  is  too  enlightened  not  to  be 
fully  sensible  how  much  a  flourishing  state  of  the  arts  and  sciences  con- 
tributes to  national  prosperity  and  reputation. 

True  it  is  that  our  country,  much  to  its  honor,  contains  many  seminaries 
of  learning  highly  respectable  and  useful ;  but  the  funds  upon  which  they 
rest  are  too  narrow  to  command  the  ablest  professors  in  the  different  de- 
partments of  liberal  knowledge  for  the  institution  contemplated,  though 
they  would  be  excellent  auxiliaries. 

Among  the  motives  to  such  an  institution,  the  assimilation  of  the  prin- 
ciples, opinions,  and  manners  of  our  countrymen,  by  the  common  educa- 
tion of  a  portion  of  our  youth  from  every  quarter,  well  deserves  attention. 
The  more  homogenous  our  citizens  can  be  made  in  these  particulars,  the 
greater  will  be  our  prospect  of  permanent  union  ;  and  a  primary  object  of 
such  a  national  institution  should  be  the  education  of  our  youth  in  the 
science  of  government.  In  a  republic,  what  species  of  knowledge  can  be 
equally  important  ?  and  what  duty  more  pressing  on  its  legislature  than  to 
patronise  a  plan  for  communicating  it  to  those  who  are  to  be  the  future 
guardians  of  the  liberties  of  the  country  ? 

The  institution  of  a  military  academy  is  also  recommended  by  cogent 
reasons.  However  pacific  the  general  policy  of  a  nation  may  be,  it  ought 
never  to  be  without  an  adequate  stock  of  military  knowledge  for  emergen- 
cies. The  first  would  impair  the  energy  of  its  character,  and  both  would 
hazard  its  safety  or  expose  it  to  greater  evils  when  war  could  not  be 
avoided — besides,  that  war  might  often  not  depend  upon  its  own  choice 
In  proportion  as  the  observance  of  pacific  maxims  might  exempt  a  nation 
from  the  necessity  of  practising  the  rules  of  the  military  art,  ought  to  be 
its  care  in  preserving  and  transmitting,  by  proper  establishments,  the 
knowledge  of  that  art.  Whatever  argument  may  be  drawn  from  particu- 
lar examples,  superficially  viewed,  a  thorough  examination  of  the  subject 
will  evince  that  the  art  of  war  is  at  once  comprehensive  and  complicated, 
that  it  demands  much  previous  study,  and  that  the  possession  of  it  in  its 
most  improved  and  perfect  state  is  always  of  great  moment  to  the  security 
of  a  nation.  This,  therefore,  ought  to  be  a  serious  care  of  every  govern- 
ment ;  and  for  this  purpose,  an  academy,  where  a  regular  course  of  in- 
struction is  given,  is  an  obvious  expedient  which  different  nations  have 
successfully  employed. 

The  compensation  to  the  officers  of  the  United  States,  in  various  in- 
stances, and  in  none  more  than  in  respect  to  the  most  important  stations, 
appear  to  call  for  legislative  revision.  The  consequences  of  a  defective 
provision  are  of  serious  import  to  the  government.  If  private  wealth  is 
to  supply  the  defect  of  public  retribution,  it  will  greatly  contract  the 
sphere  within  which  the  selection  of  character  for  office  is  to  be  made, 
and  will  proportionally  diminish  the  probability  of  a  choice  of  men  able 
as  well  as  upright.  Besides,  that  it  would  be  repugnant  to  the  vital  prin- 
ciples of  our  government  virtually  to  exclude  from  public  trusts  talents 
and  virtue  unless  accompanied  by 'wealth. 

VV  bile,  in  our  external  relations,  some  serious  inconveniences  and  em- 
barassments  have  been  overcome  and  others  lessoned,  it  is  with  much 
pain  and  deep  rogret  I  mention  that  circumstances  of  a  very  unwelcome 
nature  have  lately  occurred.  Our  trade  has  suffered  and  is  suffering  ex- 


68  WASHINGTON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

tensive  injuries  in  the  West  Indies  from  the  cruisers  and  agents  of  the 
French  republic  ;  and  communications  have  been  received  from  its  min- 
ister hero  which  indicate  the  danger  of  a  farther  disturbance  of  our  com- 
merce by  its  authority,  and  which  are,  in  other  respects,  far  from  agree- 
able. 

It  has  been  my  constant,  sincere,  and  earnest  wish,  in  conformity  with 
that  of  our  nation,  to  maintain  cordial  harmony  and  a  perfectly  friendly 
understanding  with  that  republic.  This  wish  remains  unabated;  and  I 
shall  persevere  in  the  endeavor  to  fulfil  it  to  the  utmost  extent  of  what 
shall  be  consistent  with  a  just  and  indispensable  regard  to  the  rights  and 
honor  of  our  country ;  nor  will  I  easily  cease  to  cherish  the  expectation 
that  a  spirit  of  justice,  candor,  and  friendship,  on  the  part  of  the  republic, 
will  eventually  ensure  success. 

In  pursuing  this  course,  however,  I  can  not  forget  what  is  due  to  the 
character  of  our  own  government  and  nation,  or  to  a  full  and  entire  confi- 
dence in  the  good  sense,  patriotism,  self-respect,  and  fortitude  of  my 
countrymen. 

I  reserve  for  a  special  message  a  more  particular  communication  on  this 
interesting  subject. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

I  have  directed  an  estimate  of  the  appropriations  necessary  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  ensuing  year  to  be  submitted  from  the  proper  department,  with 
a  view  of  the  public  receipts  and  expenditures  to  the  latest  period  to 
which  an  account  can  be  prepared. 

It  is  with  satisfaction  I  am  able  to  inform  you  that  the,  revenues  of  the 
United  States  continue  in  a  state  of  progressive  improvement. 

A  reinforcement  of  the  existing  provisions  for  discharging  our  public 
debt  was  mentioned  in  my  address  at  the  opening  of  the  last  session. 
Some  preliminary  steps  were  taken  toward  it,  the  maturing  of  which  will, 
no  doubt,  engage  your  zealous  attention  during  the  present  session.  1  will 
only  add,  that  it  will  afford  me  a  heartfelt  satisfaction  to  concur  in  such 
further  measures  as  will  ascertain  to  our  country  the  prospect  of  a  speedy 
extinguishment  of  the  debt.  Posterity  may  have  cause  to  regret  if  from 
any  motive  intervals  of  tranquillity  are  left  unimproved  for  accelerating  this 
valuable  end. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

My  solicitude  to  see  the  militia  of  the  United  States  placed  on  an  effi- 
cient establishment,  has  been  so  often  and  so  ardently  expressed  that  I 
shall  but  barely  recall  the  subject  to  your  view  on  the  present  occasion  ;  at 
the  same  time  that  I  shall  submit  to  your  inquiry,  whether  our  harbors  are 
yet  sufficiently  secured. 

The  situation  in  which  I  now  stand,  for  the  last  time,  in  the  midst  of 
the  representatives  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  naturally  recalls 
the  period  when  the  administration  of  the  present  form  of  government  com- 
menced ;  and  I  can  not  omit  the  occasion  to  congratulate  you  and  my 
country  on  the  success  of  the  experiment,  nor  to  repeat  my  fervent  sup- 
plications to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe  and  Sovereign  Arbiter  of 
nations  that  his  providential  care  may  still  be  extended  to  the  United 
States,  that  the  virtue  and  happiness  of  the  people  may  be  preserved,  and 
that  the  government  which  they  have  instituted  for  the  protection  of  their 
liberties  may  be  perpetual. 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS.  69 

FAREWELL    ADDRESS. 

SEPTEMBER  17,  1796. 

Friends  and  Fellow- Citizens  : — 

THE  period  for  a  new  election  of  a  citizen  to  administer  the  executive 
government  of  the  United  States  being  not  far  distant,  and  the  time  actu- 
ally arrived  when  your  thoughts  must  be  employed  in  designating  the  per- 
son who  is  to  be  clothed  with  that  important  trust,  it  appears  to  me  proper, 
especially  as  it  may  conduce  to  a  more  distinct  expression  of  the  public 
voice,  that  I  should  now  apprize  you  of  the  resolution  I  have  formed,  to 
decline  being  considered  among  the  number  of  those  out  of  whom  the 
choice  is  to  be  made. 

I  beg  you,  at  the  same  time,  to  do  me  the  justice  to  be  assured  that  this 
resolution  has  not  been  taken  without  a  strict  regard  to  all  the  considera- 
tions appertaining  to  the  relation  which  binds  a  dutiful  citizen  to  his  coun- 
try ;  and  that,  in  withdrawing  the  tender  of  service,  which  silence  in  my 
situation  might  imply,  I  am  influenced  by  no  diminution  of  zeal  for  your 
future  interest,  no  deficiency  of  respect  for  your  past  kindness,  but  am 
supported  by  a  full  conviction  that  the  step  is  compatible  with  both. 

The  acceptance  of,  and  continuance  hitherto  in,  the  office  to  which 
your  suffrages  have  twice  called  me,  have  been  a  uniform  sacrifice  of  in- 
clination to  the  opinion  of  duty  and  to  a  deference  for  what  appeared  to  be 
your  desire.  I  constantly  hoped  that  it  would  have  been  much  earlier  in 
my  power,  consistently  with  motives  which  I  was  not  at  liberty  to  disre- 
gard, to  return  to  that  retirement  from  which  I  had  been  reluctantly  drawn. 
The  strength  of  my  inclination  to  do  this,  previous  to  the  last  election,  had 
even  led  to  the  preparation  of  an  address  to  declare  it  to  you ;  but  mature 
reflection  on  the  then  perplexed  and  critical  posture  of  affairs  with  foreign 
nations,  and  the  unanimous  advice  of  persons  entitled  to  my  confidence, 
impelled  me  to  abandon  the  idea.  I  rejoice  that  the  state  of  your  con- 
cerns, external  as  well*  as  internal,  no  longer  renders  the  pursuit  of  incli- 
nation incompatible  with  the  sentiment  of  duty  or  propriety ;  and  am  per- 
suaded, whatever  partiality  may  be  retained  for  my  services,  that  in  the 
present  circumstances  of  our  country,  you  will  not  disapprove  of  my  de- 
termination to  retire. 

The  impressions  with  which  I  first  undertook  the  arduous  trust  were 
explained  on  the  proper  occasion.  In  the  discharge  of  this  trust,  I  will 
only  say  that  I  have,  with  good  intentions,  contributed  toward  the  organi- 
zation and  administration  of  the  government  the  best  exertions  of  which  a 
very  fallible  judgment  was  capable.  Not  unconscious,  in  the  outset,  of 
the  inferiority  of  my  qualifications,  experience  in  my  own  eyes,  perhaps 
still  more  in  the  eyes  of  others,  has  strengthened  the  motives  to  diffidence 
of  myself;  and  every  day  the  increasing  weight  of  years  admonishes  mo 
more  and  more  that  the  shade  of  retirement  is  as  necessary  to  me  as  it 
will  be  welcome.  Satisfied  that,  if  any  circumstances  have  given  pecu- 
liar value  to  my  services,  they  were  temporary,  I  have  the  consolation  to 
believe  that,  while  choice  and  prudence  invite  me  to  quit  the  political 
scene,  patriotism  does  not  forbid  it. 

In  looking  forward  to  the  moment  which  is  to  terminate  the  career  of 
my  political  life,  my  fcfilings  do  not  permit  me  to  suspend  the  deep  ac- 
knowledgment of  that  debt  of  gratitude  which  I  owe  to  my  beloved  coun- 


70  WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS 

try  for  the  many  honors  it  has  conferred  upon  me  ;  still  more  for  the  stead 
fast  confidence  with  which  it  has  supported  me,  and  for  the  opportunities  I 
have  thence  enjoyed  of  manifesting  my  inviolable  attachment  by  sen-ices 
faithful  and  persevering,  though  in  usefulness  unequal  to  my  zeal.  If 
benefits  have  resulted  to  our  country  from  these  services,  let  it  always  be 
remembered  to  vour  praise,  and  as  an  instructive  example  in  our  annals, 
that  under  circumstances  in  which  the  passions,  agitated  in  every  direc- 
tion, won-  liable  to  mislead — amid  appearances  sometimes  dubious — vicis- 
situdes of  fortune  often  discouraging — in  situations  in  which  not  unfre- 
quently  want  of  success  has  countenanced  the  spirit  of  criticism — the 
constancy  of  your  support  was  the  essential  prop  of  the  efforts  and  a  guar- 
anty of  the  plans  by  which  they  were  effected.  Profoundly  penetrated 
with  this  idea,  I  shall  carry  it  with  me  to  my  grave  as  a  strong  incitement 
to  unceasing  wishes  that  Heaven  may  continue  to  you  the  choicest  tokens 
of  its  beneficence — that  your  union  and  brotherly  affection  may  be  perpetual 
— that  the  free  constitution  which  is  the  work  of  your  hands  may  be  sa- 
credly maintained — that  its  administration  in  every  department  may  be 
stamped  with  wisdom  and  virtue — that,  in  fine,  the  happiness  of  the  peo- 
ple of  these  states,  under  the  auspices  of  liberty,  may  be  made  complete 
by  so  careful  a  preservation  and  so  prudent  a  use  of  this  blessing  as  will 
acquire  to  them  the  glory  of  recommending  it  to  the  applause,  the  affec- 
tion, and  adoption,  of  every  nation  which  is  yet  a  stranger  to  it. 

Here,  perhaps,  1  ought  to  stop.  But  a  solicitude  for  your  welfare  which 
can  not  end  but  with  my  life,  and  the  apprehension  of  danger  natural  to 
that  solicitude,  urge  me,  on  an  occasion  like  the  present,  to  offer  to  your 
solemn  contemplation,  and  to  recommend  to  your  frequent  review,  some 
sentiments  which  are  the  result  of  much  reflection,  of  no  inconsiderable 
observation,  and  which  appear  to  me  all-important  to  the  permanency  of 
your  felicity  as  a  people.  These  will  be  offered  to  you  with  the  more 
freedom,  as  you  can  only  see  in  them  the  disinterested  warnings  of  a 
parting  friend,  who  can  possibly  have  no  personal  motive  to  bias  his  coun- 
sel. Nor  can  I  forget,  as  an  encouragement  to  it,  your  indulgent  recep- 
tion of  my  sentiments  on  a  former  and  not  dissimilar  occasion. 

Interwoven  as  is  the  love  of  liberty  with  every  ligament  of  our  hearts, 
no  recommendation  of  mine  is  necessary  to  fortify  or  confirm  the  attach- 
ment. 

The  unity  of  government  which  constitutes  you  one  people,  is  also  now 
dear  to  you.  It  is  justly  so ;  for  it  is  a  main  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your 
real  independence,  the  support  of  your  tranquillity  at  home,  your  peace 
abroad,  of  your  safety,  of  your  prosperity,  of  that  very  liberty  which  you 
so  highly  prize.  But  as  it  is  easy  to  foresee  that  from  different  causes, 
and  from  different  quarters,  much  pains  will  be  taken,  many  artifices  em- 
ployed, to  weaken  in  your  minds  the  conviction  of  this  truth — as  this  is 
the  point  in  your  political  fortress  against  which  the  batteries  of  internal 
and  external  enemies  will  be  most  constantly  and  actively  (though  often 
covertly  and  insidiously)  directed — it  is  of  infinite  moment  that  you  should 
properly  estimate  the  immense  value  of  your  national  union  to  your  col- 
lective and  individual  happiness  ;  that  you  should  cherish  a  cordial,  habit- 
ual, and  immovable  attachment  to  it ;  accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and  to 
speak  of  it  as  a  palladium  of  your  political  safety  and  prosperity ;  watch- 
ing for  its  preservation  with  jealous  anxiety ;  discountenancing  whatever 
may  suggest  even  a  suspicion  that  it  can  in  any  event  be  abandoned  ;  and 
indignantly  frowning  upon  the  first  dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS.  71 

any  portion  of  our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties 
which  now  link  together  the  various  parts. 

For  this  you  have  every  inducement  of  sympathy  and  interest.  Citi- 
zens by  birth  or  choice  of  a  common  country,  that  country  has  a  right  to 
concentrate  your  affections.  The  name  of  AMERICAN,  which  belongs  to 
you  in  your  national  capacity,  must  always  exalt  the  just  pride  of  patriot- 
ism more  than  any  appellation  derived  from  local  discriminations.  With 
slight  shades  of  difference,  you  have  the  same  religion,  manners,  habits, 
and  political  principles.  You  have,  in  a  common  cause,  fought  and  tri- 
umphed together.  The  independence  and  liberty  you  possess  are  the 
work  of  joint  councils  and  joint  efforts,  of  common  dangers,  sufferings, 
and  success. 

But  these  considerations,  however  powerfully  they  address  themselves 
to  your  sensibility,  are  greatly  outweighed  by  those  which  apply  more 
immediately  to  your  interest.  Here,  every  portion  of  our  country  finds 
the  most  commanding  motives  for  carefully  guarding  and  preserving  the 
union  of  the  whole. 

The  north,  in  an  unrestrained  intercourse  with  the  south,  protected  by 
the  equal  laws  of  a  common  government,  finds  in  the  productions  of  the 
latter  great  additional  resources  of  maritime  and  commercial  enterprise, 
and  precious  materials  of  manufacturing  industry.  The  south,  in  the  same 
intercourse,  benefiting  by  the  same  agency  of  the  north,  sees  its  agricul- 
ture grow  and  its  commerce  expand.  Turning  partly  into  its  own  chan- 
nels the  seamen  of  the  north,  it  finds  its  particular  navigation  invigorated  ; 
and  while  it  contributes  in  different  ways  to  nourish  and  increase  the  gen- 
eral mass  of  the  national  navigation,  it  looks  forward  to  the  protection  of  a 
maritime  strength  to  which  itself  is  unequally  adapted.  The  cast,  in  like 
intercourse  with  the  west,  in  the  progressive  improvement  of  interior  com- 
munications by  land  and  water,  will  more  and  more  find  a  valuable  vent 
for  the  commodities  which  it  brings  from  abroad  or  manufactures  at  home. 
The  west  derives  from  the  east  supplies  requisite  to  its  growth  and  com- 
fort ;  and  what  is  perhaps  of  still  greater  consequence,  it  must  of  neces- 
sity owe  the  secure  enjoyment  of  the  indispensable  outlets  for  its  own 
productions  to  the  weight,  influence,  and  future  maritime  strength  of  the 
Atlantic  side  of  the  Union,  directed  by  an  indissoluble  community  of  in- 
terest, as  one  nation.  Any  other  tenure  by  which  the  west  can  hold  this 
essential  advantage,  whether  derived  from  its  own  separate  strength,  or 
from  an  apostate  and  unnatural  connexion  with  any  foreign  power,  must 
be  intrinsically  precarious. 

While,  then,  every  part  of  our  country  thus  feels  an  immediate  and  par- 
ticular interest  in  union,  all  the  parts  combined  can  not  fail  to  find  in  the 
united  mass  of  means  and  efforts  greater  strength,  greater  resource,  pro- 
portionably  greater  security  from  external  danger,  a  less  frequent  interrup- 
tion of  their  peace  by  foreign  nations,  and,  what  is  of  inestimable  value, 
they  must  derive  from  union  an  exemption  from  those  broils  and  wars  be- 
tween themselves  which  so  frequently  afflict  neighboring  countries  not 
tied  together  by  the  same  government,  which  their  own  rivalships  alone 
would  be  sufficient  to  produce,  but  which  opposite  foreign  alliances,  at- 
tachments, and  intrigues,  would  stimulate  and  embitter.  Hence,  likewise, 
they  will  avoid  the  necessity  of  those  overgrown  military  establishments 
which,  under  any  form  of  government,  are  inauspicious  to  liberty,  and 
which  are  to  be  regarded  as  particularly  hostile  to  republican  liberty,  lu 
this  sense  it  is  that  your  union  ought  to  be  considered  as  a  main  prop  ol 


72  WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  AD 

your  liberty,  and  that  the  love  of  the  one  ought  to  endear  to  you  the  pres- 
ervation  of  the  other. 

These  consideration*  speak  a  persuasive  language  to  every  reflecting 
and  virtuous  mind,  and  exhibit  the  continuance  of  the  union  as  a  primary 
object  of  patriotic  desire.  Is  there  a  doubt  whether  a  common  govern- 
ment can  embrace  so  large  a  sphere  ?  Let  experience  solve  it.  To  lis- 
ten to  mere  speculation  in  such  a  case  were  criminal.  We  are  authorized 
to  hope  that  a  proper  organization  of  the  whole,  with  the  auxiliary  agency 
of  governments  for  the  respective  subdivisions,  will  afford  a  happy  issue 
of  the  experiment.  It  is  well  worth  a  fair  and  full  experiment.  With 
such  powerful  and  obvious  motives  to  union,  affecting  all  parts  of  our 
country,  while  experience  shall  not  have  demonstrated  its  impracticability, 
there  will  always  be  reason  to  distrust  the  patriotism  of  those  who  in  any 
quarter  may  endeavor  to  weaken  its  bands. 

In  contemplating  the  causes  which  may  disturb  our  union,  it  occurs  as 
matter  of  serious  concern  that  any  ground  should  have  been  furnished  for 
characterizing  parties  by  geographical  discriminations — northern  and 
southern,  Atlantic  and  western  ;  whence  designing  men  may  endeavor  to 
«xcite  a  belief  that  there  is  a  real  difference  of  local  interests  and  views. 
One  of  the  'expedients  of  party  to  acquire  influence  within  particular  dis- 
tricts is,  to  misrepresent  the  opinions  and  aims  of  other  districts.  You 
can  not  shield  yourselves  too  much  against  the  jealousies  and  heart-burn- 
ings which  spring  from  these  misrepresentations.  They  tend  to  render 
alien  to  each  other  those  who  ought  to  be  bound  together  by  fraternal  af- 
fection. The  inhabitants  of  our  western  country  have  lately  had  a  useful 
lesson  on  this  head.  They  have  seen  in  the  negotiation  by  the  executive, 
and  in  the  unanimous  ratification  by  the  senate,  of  the  treaty  with  Spain, 
and  in  the  universal  satisfaction  at  that  event  throughout  the  United  States, 
a  decisive  proof  how  unfounded  were  the  suspicions  propagated  among 
them  of  a  policy  in  the  general  government  and  in  the  Atlantic  states  un- 
friendly to  their  interests  in  regard  to  the  Mississippi.  They  have  been 
witnesses  to  the  formation  of  two  treaties — that  with  Great  Britain  and 
that  with  Spain — which  secure  to  them  everything  they  could  desire,  in 
respect  to  our  foreign  relations,  toward  confirming  their  prosperity.  Will 
it  not  be  their  wisdom  to  rely  for  the  preservation  of  these  advantages  on 
the  union  by  which  they  were  procured?  Will  they  not  henceforth  be 
deaf  to  those  advisers,  if  such  there  are,  who  would  sever  them  from 
their  brethren  and  connect  them  with  aliens  ? 

To  the  eflicacy  and  permanency  of  your  union,  a  government  for  the 
whole  is  indispensable.  No  alliances,  however  strict,  between  the  parts 
can  be  an  adequate  substitute.  They  must  inevitably  experience  the  in- 
fractions and  interruptions  which  alliances  in  all  times  have  experienced. 
Sensible  of  this  momentous  truth,  you  have  improved  upon  your  first  essay 
by  the  adoption  of  a  constitution  of  government  better  calculated  than 
your  former  for  an  intimate  union  and  for  the  efficacious  management  of 
your  common  concerns.  This  government,  the  offspring  of  your  own 
choice,  uninfluenced  and  unawed,  adopted  upon  full  investigation  and  ma- 
ture deliberation,  completely  free  in  its  principles,  in  the  distribution  of  its 
powers,  uniting  security  with  energy,  and  containing  within  itself  provis- 
ion for  its  owri  amendment,  has  a  just  claim  to  your  confidence  and  your 
support.  Respect  for  its  authority,  compliance  with  its  laws,  acquiescence 
in  its  measures,  are  duties  enjoined  by  the  fundamental  maxims  of  true 
liberty.  The  basis  of  our  political  system  is,  the  right  of  the  people  to 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL' ADDRESS.  73 

make  and  to  alter  their  constitutions  of  government.  But  the  constitution 
whIclTaT~anyliine  exists,  until  changed  by  an  explicit  and  authentic  act 
of  the  whole  people,  is  sacredly  obligatory  upon  all.  The  very  idea  of 
the  power  and  the  right  of  the  people  to  establish  government,  presupposes 
the  duty  of  every  individual  to  obey  the  established  government. 

All  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws,  all  combinations  and  asso- 
ciations, under  whatever  plausible  character,  with  the  real  design  to  direct, 
control,  counteract,  or  awe  the  regular  deliberations  and  action  of  the  con- 
stituted authorities,  are  destructive  of  this  fundamental  principle,  and  of 
fatal  tendency.  They  serve  to  organize  faction  ;  to  give  it  an  artificial 
and  extraordinary  force  ;  to  put  in  the  place  of  the  delegated  will  of  the 
nation  the  will  of  party,  often  a  small  but  artful  and  enterprising  minority 
of  the  community ;  and  according  to  the  alternate  triumphs  of  different 
parties,  to  make  the  public  administration  the  mirror  of  the  ill-concerted 
and  incongruous  projects  of  faction,  rather  than  the  organ  of  consistent 
and  wholesome  plans,  .digested  by  common  councils,  and  modified  by 
mutual  interests. 

However  combinations  or  associations  of  the  above  description  may  now 
and  then  answer  popular  ends,  they  are  likely,  in  the  course  of  time  and 
things,  to  become  potent  engines  by  which  cunning,  ambitious,  and  unprin 
cipled  men  will  be  enabled  to  subvert  the  power  of  the  people,  and  to 
usurp  for  themselves  the  reins  of  government,  destroying  afterward  the 
very  engines  which  have  lifted  them  to  unjust  dominion. 

Toward  the  preservation  of  your  government  and  the  permanency  of 
your  present  happy  state,  it  is  requisite  not  only  that  you  steadily  discoun- 
tenance  irregular  opposition  to  its  acknowledged  authority,  but  also  that 
you  resist  with  care  the  spirit  of  innovation  upon  its  principles,  however 
specious  the  pretext.  One  method  of  assault  may  be  to  effect  in  the  forms 
of  the  constitution  alterations  which  will  impair  the  energy  of  the  system, 
and  thus  to  undermine  what  can  not  be  directly  overthrown.  In  all  the 
changes  to  which  you  may  be  invited,  remember  that  time  and  habit  are 
at  least  as  necessary  to  fix  the  true  character  of  governments  as  of  other 
human  institutions  ;  that  experience  is  the  surest  standard  by  which  to 
test  the  real  tendency  of  the  existing  constitutions  of  a  country  ;  that  fa- 
cility in  changes  upon  the  credit  of  mere  hypothesis  and  opinion  exposes 
to  perpetual  change,  from  the  endless  variety  of  hypothesis  and  opinion ; 
and  remember  especially,  that  from  the  efficient  management  of  your 
common  interests,  in  a  country  so  extensive  as  ours,  a  government  of  as 
much  vigor  as  is  consistent  with  the  perfect  security  of  liberty  is  indis- 
pensable. Liberty  itself  will  find  in  such  a  government,  with  powers 
properly  distributed  and  adjusted,  its  surest  guardian.  It  is,  indeed;  little 
else  than  a  name,  where  the  government  is  too  feeble  to  withstand  the 
enterprises  of  faction,  to  confine  each  member  of  society  within  the  limits 
prescribed  by  the  laws,  and  to  maintain  all  in  the  secure  and  tranquil 
enjoyment  of  the  rights  of  person  and  property. 

I  have  already  intimated  to  you  the  danger  of  parties  in  the  state,  with 
particular  reference  to  the  founding  of  them  upon  geographical  discrimina- 
tions. Let  me  now  take  a  more  comprehensive  view,  and  warn  you  in 
the  most  solemn  manner  against  the  baneful  effects  of  the  spirit  of  party 
generally. 

This  spirit,  unfortunately,  is  inseparable  from  our  nature,  having  its  root 
in  the  strongest  passions  of  the  human  mind.  It  exists  under  different 
shapes  in  all  governments,  more  or  less  stilled,  controlled,  or  repressed  ; 


74  WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 

but  in  those  of  the  popular  form,  it  is  seen  in  its  greatest  rankness,  and  is 
truly  their  worst  enemy. 

The  alternate  domination  of  one  faction  over  another,  sharpened  by  the 
spirit  of  revenge  natural  to  party  dissension,  which  in  different  ages  and 
countries  has  perpetrated  the  most  horrid  enormities,  is  itself  a  frightful 
de»|K)tism.  But  this  leads  at  length  to  a  more  formal  and  permanent  des- 
potism. The  disorders  and  miseries  which  result,  gradually  incline  the 
minds  of  men  to  seek  security  and  repose  in  the  absolute  power  of  an  in- 
dividual ;  and  sooner  or  later,  the  chief  of  some  prevailing  faction,  more 
able  or  more  fortunate  than  his  competitors,  turns  this  disposition  to  the 
purposes  of  his  own  elevation  on  the  ruins  of  the  public  liberty. 

Without  looking  forward  to  an  extremity  of  this  kind,  which  neverthe- 
less ought  not  to  be  entirely  out  of  sight,  the  common  and  continual  mis- 
chiefs of  the  spirit  of  party  are  sufficient  to  make  it  the  interest  and  duty 
of  a  wise  people  to  discourage  and  restrain  it. 

It  serves  always  to  distract  the  public  councils  and  enfeeble  the  public 
administration.  It  agitates  the  community  with  ill-founded  jealousies  and 
false  alarms ;  kindles  the  animosity  of  one  part  against  another  ;  foments 
occasional  riot  and  insurrection.  It  opens  the  door  to  foreign  influence 
and  corruption,  which  finds  a  facilitated  access  to  the  government  itself 
through  the  channels  of  party  passion.  Thus  the  policy  and  will  of  one 
country  are  subjected  to  the  policy  and  will  of  another. 

There  is  an  opinion  that  parties  in  free  countries  are  useful  checks  upon 
the  administration  of  the  government,  and  serve  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of 
liberty.,  This,  within  certain  limits,  is  probably  true  ;  and  in  governments 
},  of  a  monarchical  cast,  patriotism  may  look  with  indulgence,  if  not  with 
favor,  upon  the  spirit  of  party.  But  in  those  of  popular  character,  in  gov- 
ernments purely  elective,  it  is  a  spirit  not  to  be  encouraged.  From  the 
natural  tendency,  it  is  certain  there  will  always  be  enough  of  that  spirit 
for  every  salutary  purpose  ;  and  there  being  constant  danger  of  excess, 
the  effort  ought  to  be  by  force  of  public  opinion  to  mitigate  and  assuage  it. 
A  fire  not  to  be  quenched,  it  demands  a  uniform  vigilance  to  prevent  its 
bursting  into  a  flame,  lest,  instead  of  wanning,  it  should  consume. 

It  is  important,  likewise,  that  the  habits  of  thinking  in  a  free  country 
should  inspire  caution  in  those  intrusted  with  its  administration  to  con- 
fine themselves  within  their  respective  constitutional  spheres,  avoiding,  in 
the  exercise  of  the  powers  of  one  department,  to  encroach  upon  another. 
The  spirit  of  encroachment  tends  to  consolidate  the  powers  of  all  the  de- 
partments in  one,  and  thus  to  create,  whatever  the  form  of  government,  a 
real  despotism.  A  just  estimate  of  that  love  of  power  and  proneness  to 
]  abuse  it  which  predominate  in  the  human  heart,  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  us 
of  the  truth  of  this  position.  The  necessity  of  reciprocal  checks  in  the 
exercise  of  political  power,  by  dividing  and  distributing  it  into  different 
depositories,  and  constituting  each  the  guardian  of  the  public  weal  against 
invasions  of  the  other,  has  been  evinced  by  experiments  ancient  and 
modern — some  of  them  in  our  country,  and  under  our  own  eyes.  To 
preserve  them  must  be  as  necessary  as  to  institute  them.  If,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  people,  the  distribution  or  modification  of  the  constitutional  pow- 
ers be  in  any  particular  wrong,  let  it  be  corrected  by  an  amendment  in  the 
way  in  which  the  constitution  designates.  But  let  there  be  no  change  by 
usurpation  ;  for  though  this  in  one  instance  may  be  the  instrument  of  good, 
it  is  the  customary  weapon  by  which  free  governments  are  destroyed 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS.  75 

The  precedent  must  always  greatly  overbalance  in  permanent  evil  any 
partial  or  transient  benefit  which  the  use  can  at  any  time  yield. 

Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political  prosperity,  re- 
ligion and  morality  are  indispensable  supports.  In  vain  would  that  man 
claim  the  tribute  of  patriotism  who  should  labor  to  subvert  these  great  pil- 
lars of  human  happiness — these  firmest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and 
citizens.  The  mere  politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  re- 
spect and  to  cherish  them.  A  volume  could  not  trace  all  their  connexion 
with  private  and  public  felicity.  Let  it  be  simply  asked,  where  is  the 
security  for  property,  for  reputation,  for  life,  if  the  sense  of  religious  obli- 
gation desert  the  oaths  which  are  the  instruments  of  investigation  in  courts 
of  justice  ?  And  let  us  with  caution  indulge  the  supposition  that  morality 
can  be  maintained  without  religion.  Whatever  may  be  conceded  to  the 
influence  of  refined  education  on  minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and 
experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can  prevail  in 
exclusion  of  religious  principles. 

It  is  substantially  true  that  virtue  or  morality  is  a  necessary  spring  of 
popular  government.  The  rule  indeed  extends  with  more  or  less  force  to 
every  species  of  free  government.  Who  that  is  a  sincere  friend  to  it  can 
look  with  indifference  upon  attempts  to  shake  the  foundation  of  the  fabric  ? 
Promote,  then,  as  an  object  *f  primary  importance,  institutions  for  the 
general  diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  proportion  as  the  structure  of  a  gov- 
ernment gives  force  to  public  opinion,  it  is  essential  that  public  opinion 
should  be  enlightened. 

As  a  very  important  source  of  strength  and  security,  cherish  public 
credit.  One  method  of  preserving  it  is  to  use  it  as  sparingly  as  possible, 
avoiding  occasions  of  expense  by  cultivating  peace,  but  remembering,  also, 
that  timely  disbursements  to  prepare  forjdangerjrecnjejijly  prevent  much 
greater  disbursements  to  repel  it ;  avoiding  likewise  the  accumulation  of 
debt,  not  only  by  shunning  occasions  of  expense,  but  by  vigorous  exer- 
tions in  time  of  peace  to  discharge  the  debts  which  unavoidable  wars  have 
occasioned,  not_ungenerously  throwing  upon  posterity  the  Jjurden  which 
we  ourselves  ought  to  bear.  The  execution  of  these  maxims  belongs  to 
your  representatives ;  but  it  is  necessary  that  public  opinion  should  co- 
operate. To  facilitate  to  them  the  performance  of  their  duty,  it  is  essen- 
tial you  should  practically  bear  in  mind  that  toward  the  payment  of  debts 
there  must  be  revenue  ;  that  to  have  revenue  there  must  be  taxes ;  that 
no  taxes  can  be  devised  which  are  not  more  or  less  inconvenient  and 
unpleasant ;  that  the  intrinsic  embarrassment  inseparable  from  the  selec- 
tion of  the  proper  objects,  which  is  always  a  choice  of  difficulties,  ought 
to  be  a  decisive  motive  for  a  candid  construction  of  the  conduct  of  the 
government  in  making  it,  and  for  a  spirit  of  acquiescence  in  the  measures 
for  obtaining  revenue  which  the  public  exigencies  may  at  anytime  dictate. 

Observe  good  faith  and  justice  toward  all  nations.  Cultivate  peace 
and  harmony  with  all.  Religion  and  morality  enjoin  this  conduct ;  and 
can  it  be  that  good  policy  does  not  equally  enjoin  it?  It  will  be  worthy 
of  a  free,  enlightened,  and,  at  no  distant  period,  a  great  nation,  to  give  to 
mankind  the  magnanimous  and  too  novel  example  of  a  people  always 
guided  by  an  exalted  justice  and  benevolence.  Who  can  doubt  that  in 
the  course  of  time  and  things  the  fruits  of  such  a  plan  wouM  richly  re- 
pay any  temporary  advantages  that  might  be  lost  by  a  steady  adherence 
to  it?  Can  it  be  that  Providence  has  connected  the  permanent  felicity  of 
a  nation  with  its  virtue?  The  experiment,  at  least,  is  recommended  by 


76  WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 

every  sentiment  which  ennobles  human  nature.  Alas  !  it  is  rendered  im- 
possible by  its  vices. 

In  the  execution  of  such  a  plan,  nothing  is  more  essential  than  that  per- 
manent, inveterate  antipathies  against  particular  nations,  and  passionate  at- 
tachments for  others,  should  be  excluded  ;  and  that  in  the  place  of  them, 
just  and  amicable  feelings  toward  all  should  be  cultivate^!.  The  nation 
which  indulges  toward  another  an  habitual  hatred  or  an  habitual  fondness, 
is  in  some  degree  a  slave.  It  is  a  slave  to  its  animosity  or  to  its  affection, 
cither  of  which  is  sufficient  to  lead  it  astray  from  its  duty  and  its  interest. 
Antipathy  in  one  nation  against  another  disposes  each  more  readily  to  offer 
insult  and  injury,  to  lay  hold  of  slight  causes  of  umbrage,  and  to  be  haughty 
and  intractable  when  accidental  or  trilling  occasions  of  dispute  occur. 

Hence,  frequent  collisions  and  obstinate,  envenomed,  and  bloody  con- 
test*. The  nation,  prompted  by  ill-will  and  resentment,  sometimes  impels 
to  war  the  government  contrary  to  the  best  calculations  of  policy.  The 
government  sometimes  participates  in  the  national  propensity,  and  adopts 
through  passion  what  reason  would  reject.  At  other  times,  it  makes  the 
animosity  of  the  nation  subservient  to  the  projects  of  hostility,  instigated  by 
pride,  ambition,  and  other  sinister  and  pernicious  motives.  The  peace 
often,  sometimes  perhaps  the  liberty,  of  nations  has  been  the  victim. 

So,  likewise,  a  passionate  attachment  of  qfie  nation  for  another  produces 
a  variety  of  evils.  Sympathy  for  the  favorite  nation,  facilitating  the  illusion 
of  an  imaginary  common  interest  in  cases  where  no  real  common  interest 
exists,  and  infusing  into  one  the  enmities  of  the  other,  betrays  the  former 
into  a  participation  in  the  quarrels  and  the  wars  of  the  latter  without  ade- 
quate inducements  or  justification.  It  leads,  also,  to  concessions  to  the 
favorite  nation  of  privileges  denied  to  others,  which  are  apt  doubly  to  injure 
the  nation  making  the  concessions,  by  unnecessarily  parting  with  what 
ought  to  have  been  retained,  and  by  exciting  jealousy,  ill-will,  and  a  dis- 
position to  retaliate,  in  the  parties  from  whom  equal  privileges  are  with- 
held ;  and  it  gives  to  ambitious,  corrupt,  or  deluded  citizens,  who  devote 
themselves  to  the  favorite  nation,  facility  to  betray  or  sacrifice  the  interests 
of  their  own  country  without  odium,  sometimes  even  with  popularity,  gild- 
ing with  the  appearances  of  a  virtuous  sense  of  obligation  to  a  commend- 
able deference  for  public  opinion,  or  a  laudable  zeal  for  public  good,  the 
base  or  foolish  compliances  of  ambition,  corruption,  or  infatuation. 

As  avenues  to  foreign  influence  in  innumerable  ways,  such  attachments 
are  particularly  alarming  to  the  truly  enlightened  and  independent  patriot. 
How  many  opportunities  do  they  afford  to  tamper  with  domestic  factions, 
to  practise  the  arts  of  seduction,  to  mislead  public  opinion,  to  influence  or 
awe  the  public  councils  !  Such  an  attachment  of  a  small  or  weak  nation 
toward  a  great  and  powerful  one,  dooms  the  former  to  be  the  satellite  of 
the  latter.  Against  the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence,  I  conjure  you 
to  believe  me,  fellow-citizens,  the  jealousy  of  a  free  people  ought  to  be 
constantly  awake,  since  history  arid  experience  prove  that  foreign  influence 
is  one  of  the  most  baneful  foes  of  republican  government.  But  that  jeal- 
ousy, to  be  useful,  must  be  impartial,  else  it  becomes  the  instrument  of  the 
very  influence  to  be  avoided,  instead  of  a  defence  against  it.  Excessive 
partiality  for  one  foreign  nation,  and  excessive  dislike  for  another,  cause 
those  whom  they  actuate  to  see  danger  only  on  one  side,  and  serve  to  veil 
and  even  second  the  arts  of  influence  on  the  other.  Real  patriots,  who 
may  resist  the  intrigues  of  the  favorite,  are  liable  to  become  suspected  and 
odious,  while  its  tools  and  dupes  usurp  the  applause  and  confidence  of  the 
people  to  surrender  their  interest*. 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS.  '77 

The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us  in  regard  to  foreign  nations  is,  in  ex- 
tending our  commercial  relations,  to  have  with  them  as  little  political  con- 
nexion as  possible.  So  far  as  we  have  already  formed  engagements,  let 
them  be  fulfilled  with  perfect  good  faith.  Here  let  us  stop. 

Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests  which  to  us  have  none  or  a  very 
remote  relation.  Hence,  she  must  be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies, 
the  causes  of  which  are  essentially  foreign  to  our  concerns.  Hence, 
therefore,  it  must  be  unwise  in  us  to  implicate  ourselves  by  artificial  ties  in 
the  ordinary  vicissitudes  of  her  politics,  or  the  ordinary  combinations  and 
collisions  of  her  friendships  or  enmities. 

Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites  and  enables  us  to  pursue  a 
different  course.  If  we  remain  one  people,  under  an  efficient  government, 
the  period  is  not  far  off  when  we  may  defy  material  injury  from  external 
annoyance  ;  when  we  may  take  such  an  attitude  as  will  cause  the  neutral- 
ity we  may  at  any  time  resolve  upon  to  be  scrupulously  respected  ;  when 
belligerent  nations,  under  the  impossibility  of  making  acquisitions  upon  us, 
will  not  lightly  hazard  the  giving  us  provocation ;  when  we  may  choose 
peace  or  war  as  our  interests,  guided  by  justice,  shall  counsel. 

Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situation  ?  Why  quit  our 
own  to  stand  on  foreign  ground  ?  Why,  by  interweaving  (our  destiny  with 
that  of  any  part  of  Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and  prosperity  in  the  toils 
of  European  ambition,  rivalship,  interest,  humor,  or  caprice  ? 

It  is  our  true  policy  to  steer  clear  of  permanent  alliances  with  any  por- 
tion of  the  foreign  world,  so  far,  I  mean,  as  we  are  now  at  liberty  to  do  it ; 
for  let  me  not  be  understood  as  capable  Of  patronising  infidelity  to  existing 
engagements.  I  hold  the  maxim  no  less  applicable  to  public  than  to  pri- 
vate affairs,  that  honesty  is  always  the  best  policy.  I  repeat,  therefore, 
let  those  engagements  be  observed  in  their  genuine  sense.  But  in  my 
opinion,  it  is  unnecessary  and  would  be  unwise  to  extend  them. 

Taking  care  always  to  keep  ourselves  by  suitable  establishments  on  a 
respectable  defensive  posture,  we  may  safely  trust  to  temporary  alliances 
for  extraordinary  emergencies. 

Harmony  and  a  liberal  intercourse  with  all  nations  are  recommended  by 
policy,  humanity,  and  interest.  But  even  our  commercial  policy  should 
hold  an  equal  and  impartial  hand ;  neither  seeking  nor  granting  exclusive 
favors  or  preferences  ;  consulting  the  natural  course  of  things ;  diffusing 
and  diversifying  by  gentle  means  the  stream  of  commerce,  but  forcing 
nothing ;  establishing  with  powers  so  disposed  (in  order  to  give  trade  a 
stable  course,  to  define  the  rights  of  our  merchants,  to  enable  the  govern- 
ment to  support  them)  conventional  rules  of  intercourse,  the  best  that 
present  circumstances  and  natural  opinion  will  permit,  but  temporary  and 
liable  to  be  from  time  to  time  abandoned  or  varied  as  experience  and  cir- 
cumstances shall  dictate  ;  constantly  keeping  in  view  that  it  is  folly  in  one 
nation  to  look  for  disinterested  favors  from  another — that  it  must  pay  with 
a  portion  of  its  independence  for  whatever  it  may  accept  under  that  char- 
acter— that  by  such  acceptance  it  may  place  itself  in  the  condition  of  hav- 
ing given  equivalents  for  nominal  favors,  and  yet  of  being  reproached  with 
ingratitude  for  not  having  given  more.  There  can  be  no  greater  error  than 
to  expect  or  calculate  upon  real  favors  from  nation  to  nation.  It  is  an  illu- 
sion which  experience  must  cure,  which  a  just  pride  ought  to  discard. 

In  offering  to  you,  my  countrymen,  these  counsels  of  an  old  affectionate 
friend,  I  dare  not  hope  they  will  make  the  strong  and  lasting  impression  I 
could  wish — that  they  will  control  the  usual  current  of  the  passions,  or 


78  WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 

prevent  our  nation  from  running  the  course  which  has  hitherto  marked  the 
destiny  of  nations.  But  if  I  may  even  flatter  myself  that  they  may  be 
productive  of  some  partial  benefit,  some  occasional  good — that  they  may 
now  and  then  recur  to  moderate  the  fury  of  party  spirit,  to  warn  against 
the  mischiefs  of  foreign  intrigue,  to  guard  against  the  impostures  of  pre- 
tended patriotism — this  hope  will  be  a  full  recompense  for^the  solicitude 
for  your  welfare  by  which  they  have  been  dictated. 

How  far  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties  I  have  been  guided  by 
the  principles  which  have  been  delineated,  the  public  records  and  the 
other  evidences  of  my  conduct  must  witness  to  you  and  to  the  world.  To 
myself,  the  assurance  of  my  own  conscience  is,  that  I  have  at  least 
believed  myself  to  be  guided  by  them. 

In  relation  to  the  still  subsisting  war  in  Europe,  my  proclamation  of  the 
22d  of  April,  1793,  is  the  index  to  my  plan.  Sanctioned  by  your  ap- 
proving voice,  and  by  that  of  your  representatives  in  both  houses  of  Con- 
gress, the  spirit  of  that  measure  has  continually  governed  me,  uninfluenced 
by  any  attempts  to  deter  or  divert  me  from  it. 

After  deliberate  examination,  with  the  aid  of  the  best  lights  I  could 
obtain,  I  was  well  satisfied  that  our  country,  under  all  the  circumstances 
of  the  case,  had  a  right  to  take,  and  was  bound  in  duty  and  interest  to 
take,  a  neutral  position.  Having  taken  it,  I  determined,  as  far  as  should  de- 
pend upon  me,  to  maintain  it  with  moderation,  perseverance,  and  firmness. 

The  considerations  which  respect  the  right  to  hold  this  conduct,  it  is 
not  necessary  on  this  occasion  to  detail.  I  will  only  observe,  that  ac- 
cording to  my  understanding  of  the  matter,  that  right,  so  far  from  being  de- 
nied by  any  of  the  belligerent  powers,  has  been  virtually  admitted  by  all. 

The  duty  of  holding  a  neutral  conduct  may  be  inferred,  without  any- 
thing more,  from  the  obligation  which  justice  and  humanity  impose  on 
every  nation,  in  cases  in  which  it  is  free  to  act,  to  maintain  inviolate  the 
relations  of  peace  and  amity  toward  other  nations. 

The  inducements  of  interest  for  observing  that  conduct  will  best  be  re- 
ferred to  your  own  reflections  and  experience.  With  me,  a  predominant 
motive  has  been  to  endeavor  to  gain  time  to  our  country  to  settle  and 
mature  its  yet  recent  institutions,  and  to  progress  without  interruption  to 
that  degree  of  strength  and  constancy  which  it  is  necessary  to  give  it, 
humanly  speaking,  the  command  of  its  own  fortune. 

Though  in  reviewing  the  incidents  of  my  administration  I  am  uncon- 
scious of  intentional  error,  I  am  nevertheless  too  sensible  of  my  defects 
not  to  think  it  probable  that  I  may  have  committed  many  errors.  What- 
ever they  may  be,  I  fervently  beseech  the  Almighty  to  avert  or  mitigate 
the  evils  to  which  they  may  tend.  I  shall  also  carry  with  me  the  hope 
that  my  country  will  never  cease  to  view  them  with  indulgence,  and  that, 
after  forty-five  years  of  my  life  dedicated  to«its  service  with  an  upright 
zeal,  the  faults  of  incompetent  abilities  will  be  consigned  to  oblivion,  as 
myself  must  soon  be  to  the  mansions  of  rest. 

Relying  on  its  kindness  in  this  as  in  other  things,  and  actuated  by  that 
fervent  love  toward  it  which  is  so  natural  to  a  man  who  views  in  it  the 
native  soil  of  himself  and  his  progenitors  for  several  generations,  I  an- 
ticipate with  pleasing  expectations  that  retreat  in  which  I  promise  myself 
to  realize  without  alloy  the  sweet  enjoyment  of  partaking  in  the  midst  of 
my  fellow-citizens  the  benign  influence  of  good  laws  under  a  free  gov- 
ernment— the  ever  favorite  object  of  my  heart,  and  the  happy  reward,  as 
I  trust,  of  our  mutual  cares,  labors,  and  dangers. 


ADMINISTRATION   OF   WASHINGTON, 


THE  unanimous  choice  of  General  Washington  as  president  of  die 
United  States  by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  as  expressed  through  the 
electoral  colleges  of  the  several  states  at  the  organization  of  the  govern- 
ment under  the  constitution,  after  its  adoption,  was  officially  announced  to 
*he  president  elect,  at  his  seat  at  Mount  Vernon,  on  the  14th  of  April, 
1789.  This  commission  was  executed  by  Mr.  Charles  Thompson,  secre- 
tary of  the  late  continental  Congress,  who  presented  to  him  the  certificate 
of  the  secretary  of  the  senate,  stating  that  he  was  unanimously  elected ; 
the  votes  of  the  electors  for  president  and  vice-president  having  been 
counted  by  both  houses  of  the  first  Congress  under  the  constitution,  then 
in  session  at  the  city  of  New  York,  on  the  6th  of  April. 

The  urgency  of  the  public  business  requiring  the  immediate  attendance 
of  the  president  at  the  seat  of  government,  he  hastened  his  departure,  and 
on  the  second  day  after  receiving  notice  of  his  appointment,  he  took  leave 
of  Mount  Vernon  and  his  family,  and  set  out  for  New  York,  in  company 
with  Mr.  Thompson  and  Colonel  Humphreys.  On  his  way  to  that  city  he 
was  everywhere  greeted  by  the  people  of  the  different  places  through 
which  he  passed,  with  the  most  enthusiastic  and  decisive  evidences  of 
attachment  and  respect.  Although  the  president  hastened  his  journey, 
and  wished  to  render  it  private,  the  public  feelings  were  too  strong  to  be 
suppressed.  Crowds  flocked  around  him  wherever  he  stopped ;  and 
corps  of  militia,  with  companies  of  the  most  respectable  citizens  escorted 
him  through  their  respective  states. 

In  New  Jersey,  after  a  most  interesting  scene  at  Trenton,  having  been 
received  by  the  governor  of  that  state,  who  accompanied  him  to  Eliza- 
bethtown  point,  he  was  met  by  a  committee  of  Congress,  who  conducted 
him  thence  to  New  York.  The  president,  committee,  arid  other  gentle- 
men, embarked  for  the  city,  in  an  elegant  barge  of  thirteen  oars,  manned 
by  thirteen  branch  pilots  prepared  for  the  purpose  by  the  citizens  of  New 
York. 

"  The  display  of  boats,"  says  Washington,  in  his  private  journal,  "  which 
attended  and  joined  on  this  occasion,  some  with  vocal,  and  others  with 
instrumental  music  on  board,  the  decorations  of  the  ships,  the  roar  of  can- 


SO  WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION 

non,  and  the  loud  acclamations  of  the  people,  which  rent  the  sky  as  1 
passed  along  the  wharves,  filled  my  mind  with  sensations  as  painful  (con- 
templating the  reverse  of  this  scene,  which  may  be  the  case  after  all  my 
labors  to  do  pood)  as  they  were  pleasing." 

In  this  manner,  on  the  23d  of  April,  the  man  possessed  of  a  nation's 
love  landed  at  the  stairs  on  Murray's  wharf,  which  had  been  prepared  and 
ornamented  for  the  purpose.  There  he  was  received  by  the  governor  of 
New  York,  and  conducted,  with  military  honors,  through  an  immense  con- 
course of  people,  to  the  apartments  provided  for  him.  These  were  attended 
by  foreign  ministers,  by  public  bodies,  by  political  characters,  and  by  private 
citizens  of  distinction,  who  pressed  around  him  to  offer  their  congratula- 
tions, and  to  express  the  joy  which  glowed  in  their  bosoms  at  seeing  the 
man  in  whom  all  confided  at  the  head  of  the  American  empire.  This  day 
of  extravagant  joy  was  succeeded  by  a  splendid  illumination.* 

The  ceremonies  of  the  inauguration  having  been  adjusted  by  Con- 
gress, on  the  30th  of  April,  1789,  the  president  attended  in  the  senate- 
chamber  in  order  to  take,  in  the  presence  of  both  houses,  the  oath  pre- 
scribed by  the  constitution. 

The  session  of  Congress  was  then  held  in  the  city-hall,  then  called 
Federal  hall,  situated  in  Wall  street,  opposite  the  head  of  Broad  street 
To  gratify  the  public  curiosity,  an  open  gallery  adjoining  the  senate- 
chamber  had  been  selected  by  Congress  as  the  place  in  which  the  cere- 
mony should  take  place.  The  oath  was  administered  by  Chancellor  Liv- 
ingston, of  New  York.  Having  taken  it  in  the  view  of  an  immense  con- 
course of  people,  who  attested  their  joy  by  loud  and  repeated  acclama- 
tions after  the  chancellor  had  pronounced,  in  a  very  feeling  manner, 
"  Long  live  George  Washington,  president  of  the  United  States,"  he  returned 
to  the  senate-chamber  and  delivered  his  inaugural  address. 

The  inaugural  address  of  the  president  was  replied  to,  on  the  part  of 
the  senate,  by  their  presiding  officer,  John  Adams,  who  had  been  elected 
vice-president  of  the  United  States.  This  reply  of  the  senate  was  full 
of  confidence  in  the  president,  and  the  sentiments  expressed  breathed  the 
purest  patriotism,  and  were  every  way  worthy  of  that  dignified  body. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  reply  of  the  house  of  representatives,  deliv- 
ered through  their  speaker,  Frederick  A.  Muhlenberg,  of  Pennsylvania. 
To  both  of  these  addresses  the  president  rejoined  in  a  few  brief  and  ap- 
propriate remarks. 

Eleven  only  of  the  original  thirteen  states  b.ad  adopted  the  federal  con- 
stitution, previous  to  the  oiganization  of  the  government  by  the  election 
of  president,  vice-president,  and  members  of  Congress.  North  Carolina 
and  Rhode  Island  had  rejected  the  constitution ;  but  finally  came  into  the 
Union,  the  former  in  November,  1789,  the  latter*in  May,  1790.  The 

•  Marshall's)  Life  of  Washington. 


WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  81 

electors  of  president  and  vice-president  were  appointed  in  ten  of  the  states 
on  the  first  Wednesday  of  January,  1789.  and  met  to  give  their  votes  in 
the  several  states,  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  February,  and  the  constitu- 
tion went  into  operation  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  March,  the  same  year 
It  was  not,  however,  until  the  30th  of  April,  that  the  government  was  fully 
organized,  by  the  induction  of  the  president  into  office.  The  legislature 
of  New  York  having  omitted  to  pass  a  law  directing  the  mode  of  choosing 
electors,  owing  to  a  disagreement  between  the  two  branches  of  the  legis- 
lature, New  York  did  not  participate  in  the  first  election  of  president. 
The  whole  number  of  electoral  votes  given  by  the  ten  states  was  69,  all 
of  which  General  Washington  received,  and  34  were  received  by  Mr. 
Adams,  the  remaining  35  having  been  scattered  among  various  candidates. 
By  the  constitution,  as  it  originally  stood,  the  presidential  electors  voted 
for  two  persons  ;  the  one  receiving  the  highest  number  of  votes  was  elect- 
ed president,  and  the  next  highest,  or  second  choice  of  the  electors,  be- 
came vice-president.  A  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electoral  votes 
was  required  for  the  choice  of  president,  but  not  for  vice-president.  Mr 
Adams,  it  will  be  observed,  although  he  received  the  greatest  number  of 
votes  next  to  Washington,  was  elected  vice-president  by  a  minority. 

The  national  government,  though  one  of  deliberate  consent,  encoun- 
tered, from  its  formation,  a  powerful  opposition.  The  friends  of  the  con- 
stitution, with  Washington  and  Adams  at  their  head,  were  denominated 
Federalists,  while  those  who  had  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  constitution 
were  called  Anti-Federalists.  From  various  causes,  some  of  those  who 
had  supported  the  constitution  in  the  national  and  state  conventions,  and 
otherwise,  joined  the  opposition  to  the  administration  of  Washington,  among 
whom  may  be  mentioned  Mr.  Madison,  of  Virginia,  Mr.  Langdon,  of  New 
Hampshire,  Doctor  Williamson,  of  North  Carolina,  Mr.  Baldwin,  of  Geor- 
gia, and  others.  In  the  first  Congress,  in  1789  and  1790,  there  was  but 
a  small  majority  in  favor  of  the  measures  recommended  by  Washington, 
and  Hamilton,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury.  The  anti-federalists  elected 
John  Langdon,  of  New  Hampshire,  president  pro  tern,  of  the  senate,  and 
Frederick  A.  Muhlenberg,  speaker  of  the  house  of  representatives,  but 
they  were  chosen  in  the  early  part  of  the  session,  when  party  lines  were 
not  strictly  drawn. 

The  first  session  of  the  first  Congress,  which  was  held  at  New  York, 
occupied  a  period  of  nearly  six  months,  the  adjournment  taking  place  on 
the  29th  of  September,  1789.  They  were  employed  principally  in  fra- 
ming laws  necessary  to  the  organization  of  the  government.  In  this  space 
of  time  the  construction  of  the  powers  intended  to  be  given  was  very  ably 
discussed.  The  subjects  of  commerce  and  of  finance  received  the  early 
and  prompt  attention  of  Congress,  as  well  as  the  organization  of  the  dif- 
ferent departments,  and  of  a  federal  judiciary  system.  Among  the  sub- 
jects strenuously  debated  was  the  president's  power  of  appointment  and 

VOL.  I.— 6 


82  WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

removal  of  officers  at  die  head  of  each  executive  department  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  other  officers  under  the  president.  The  appointment  was 
constitutionally  subject  to  the  assent  of  the  senate.  The  removal,  on 
which  point  the  constitution  was  silent,  was  then  settled  to  be  in  the 
power  of  the  president  alone.  A  system  was  adopted  for  raising  a  rev 
enue  from  duties  on  imports,  and  the  principle  was  recognised  of  discrim- 
inating duties  for  the  protection  of  American  manufactures.  The  subject 
of  a  tonnage  duty  was  also  considered,  and  an  act  passed  discriminating 
in  favor  of  American  vessels,  owners,  and  navigators.  Sixteen  articles  of 
amendment  to  the  constitution  were  approved  by  Congress,  in  September, 
1789,  and  recommended  to  the  states  for  their  adoption.  Ten  of  these 
articles  were  approved  by  the  requisite  number  of  states,  and  thus  became 
parts  of  the  constitution.  Two  other  articles,  since  adopted  by  the  states, 
were  proposed  at  subsequent  sessions  of  Congress. 

Soon  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress  the  president  made  a  tour 
tftough  the  eastern  states.  Before  he  commenced  his  journey,  he  se- 
lected his  cabinet,  namely  :  in  September,  1789,  Thomas  Jefferson  was 
appointed  secretary  of  state  ;  Alexander  Hamilton,  secretary  of  the  treas- 
•ury ;  Henry  Knox,  secretary  of  war ;  and  Edmund  Randolph,  attorney- 
general.  The  office  of  secretary  of  the  navy  did  not  exist  until  the 
presidency  of  Mr.  Adams.  Mr.  Jefferson  returned  from  a  mission  to 
France  in  November,  1789,  and  assumed  the  duties  of  secretary  of  state 
m  March,  1790. 

John  Jay,  of  New  York,  was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the  supreme 
court.;  and  John  Rutledge,  of  South  Carolina,  James  Wilson,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, William  Gushing  of  Massachusetts,  Robert  H  Harrison,  of  Mary- 
land, and  John  Blair,  of  Virginia,  associate  justices. 

At  the  second  session  of  the  first  Congress,  which  was  held  at  New  York, 
commencing  in  January,  1790,  some  of  the  able  reports  of  Hamilton,  as 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  were  presented,  which  established  the  course 
of  national  policy  pursued  by  that  and  various  succeeding  administrations. 
The  funding  of  the  public  debt  incurred  by  the  war  of  the  revolution,  the 
assumption  of  state  debts  by  the  general  government,  the  providing  of  a 
system  of  revenue  from  duties  on  imports,  and  an  internal  excise,  were 
among  the  measures  proposed  by  Hamilton,  and  adopted  by  Congress.  At 
this  session  an  act  was  passed  providing  for  the  permanent  seat  of  the 
national  government  at  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  for  the  removal  of 
the  temporary  seat  of  government  to  Philadelphia. 

The  third  session  of  the  same  Congress  was  held  at  Philadelphia,  from 
the  first  Monday  of  December,  1790,  to  March  3,  1791.  To  complete 
the  financial  system  recommended  by  Hamilton,  a  national  bank  was 
incorporated.  On  this  subject  the  cabinet  and  members  of  Congress  were 
divided,  but  the  act  of  incorporation  was  passed  by  considerable  majori- 
ties, and  approved  by  President  Washington.  A  mint  was  also  estab- 


WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  83 

lished  for  the  purpose  of  national  coinage,  and  at  the  same  session 
the  states  of  Vermont  and  Kentucky  were  admitted  into  the  Union.  The 
measures  adopted  by  this  Congress  were  of  a  highly  beneficial  character 
to  the  country,  and  had  the  effect  to  establish  the  national  credit,  and  ad- 
vance the  public  prosperity. 

The  second  Congress  met  at  Philadelphia,  in  October,  1791.  There 
was  a  majority  in  each  branch  favorable  to  the  administration.  Among 
the  measures  of  the  session,  an  excise  act,  imposing  a  duty  on  domestic 
distilled  spirits,  similar  to  one  passed  in  1790,  was  adopted,  and  became 
very  unpopular  with  the  opposition  to  the  administration.  A  law  provi- 
ding for  a  uniform  militia  system  was  also  passed,  and  measures  taken  for 
a  defence  of  the  western  frontiers  against  the  Indians,  who,  in  November, 
1791,  defeated  a  body  of  United  States  troops,  under  General  St.  Clair, 
near  the  Ohio  river.  A  bounty  was  granted  by  law  at  this  session,  on 
vessels  employed  in  the  fisheries,  for  the  encouragement  of  that  branch 
of  business ;  and  an  apportionment  of  representation  in  Congress  was 
made  in  conformity  to  the  census  taken  in  1790 — the  ratio  fixed  was 
33,000  inhabitants  for  each  representative. 

The  violent  opposition  to  the  excise  law  by  a  portion  of  the  people, 
particularly  in  the  interior  of  Pennsylvania,  where  meetings  were  held, 
and  the  revenue  officers  threatened  with  personal  injury,  induced  Con- 
gress, in  May,  1792,  to  pass  an  act  authorizing  the  president  to  call 
out  the  militia  to  assist  in  executing  the  laws,  if  he  should  deem  proper. 
The  president  being  reluctant  to  employ  military  force,  issued  a  proclama- 
tion, exhorting  the  people  to  desist  from  all  illegal  acts  and  meetings  ;  but 
his  council  and  warning  did  not  produce  the  effect  expected.  The  discon- 
tents continued  until  August,  1794,  when  this  whiskey  insurrection  had 
assumed  so  serious  a  character  in  western  Pennsylvania,  that  an  army  of 
volunteers  and  militia  was  formed,  consisting  of  about  15,000  men,  to 
suppress  it.  The  insurgents  did  not  venture  to  meet  this  force,  and  the 
rebellion  ceased  without  conflict.  No  further  opposition  was  then  made 
to  the  excise  law. 

The  second  session  of  the  second  Congress,  from  November,  1792,  to 
March,  1793,  presents  but  little  of  interest  to  the  reader.  Much  of  the 
time  was  occupied  in  discussing  the  domestic  and  foreign  relations  of  the 
country,  without  the  adoption  of  any  particular  measures  of  importance. 
Party  spirit  ran  high,  both  in  Congress  and  among  the  people.  The  cab- 
inet of  Washington  was  divided,  Hamilton  and  Knox  advising  federal  meas- 
ures, while  Jefferson  and  Randolph  generally  acted  in  opposition  to  their  col- 
leagues, and  in  unison  with  the  opposition  in  Congress,  whom  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son denominated  Republicans.  The  schism  in  his  cabinet  was  a  subject 
of  extreme  mortification  to  the  president.  Entertaining  respect  and  es- 
teem for  both  Jefferson  and  Hamilton,  he  was  unwilling  u  nart  with  either, 
and  exerted  all  his  influence  to  effect  a  reconciliation  between  them,  but 


84  WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

without  success.  The  hostility  of  these  distinguished  men  to  each  other 
sustained  no  diminution,  and  its  consequences  became  every  day  more 
diffusive. 

The  French  revolution  had  an  important  influence  on  the  politics  of  the 
United  States,  at  this  time.  Mr.  Jefl'erson  and  his  republican  friends  sym- 
pathized with  the  French  nation  in  their  struggles  for  liberty  and  their 
contests  with  other  nations,  while  Hamilton,  and  his  friends  of  the  federal 
party,  with  whom  Washington  coincided  in  this  respect,  considered  it  im 
portant  to  the  interests  of  the  United  States  to  maintain  friendly  relations  with 
Great  Britain,  which  power  was  then  at  war  with  France,  and  they  were 
unwilling  to  sacrifice  either  the  peace  or  the  interests  of  the  nation  to  any 
sympathies  they  might  have  in  favor  of  the  revolutionists  of  France. 

In  this  state  of  public  opinion,  the  presidential  election  of  1792  took 
place.  General  Washington  had  expressed  a  desire  to  decline  a  re-elec- 
tion, but  finally  yielded  to  the  earnest  wishes  of  his  friends,  to  serve  an- 
other term.  Notwithstanding  the  high  party  feeling  among  the  people. 
Washington  again  received  the  unanimous  votes  of  the  electoral  colleges, 
132  in  number.  Mr.  Adams  was  re-elected  vice-president,  receiving  77 
votes,  and  George  Clinton  50,  while  5  were  given  to  other  persons.  Gov- 
ernor Clinton  was  the  candidate  of  the  republican  party. 

General  Washington  appeared  in  the  senate-chamber  at  Philadelphia 
on  the  fourth  of  March,  1793,  to  take  the  oath  of  office  on  his  re-election 
to  the  presidency.  The  oath  was  administered  by  Judge  Gushing,  of 
the  supreme  court,  in  the  presence  of  John  Langdon,  president  pro  tern. 
of  the  senate,  and  many  members  of  Congress. 

On  this  occasion,  the  president  made  the  following  remarks : — 

"  I  am  again  called  upon,  by  the  voice  of  my  country,  to  execute  the 
functions  of  its  chief  magistrate.  When  the  occasion  proper  for  it  shall 
arrive,  I  shall  endeavor  to  express  the  high  sense  I  entertain  of  this  dis- 
tinguished honor,  and  of  the  confidence  which  has  been  reposed  in  me  by 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  Previous  to  the  execution  of  any  official 
act  of  the  president,  the  constitution  requires  an  oath  of  office.  This  oath 
I  am  now  about  to  take,  and  in  your  presence,  that  if  it  shall  be  found, 
during  my  administration  of  the  government,  I  have  in  any  instance  vio- 
lated, willingly  or  knowingly,  the  injunctions  thereof,  I  may,  besides  in- 
curring constitutional  punishment,  be  subjected  to  the  upbraidings  of  all 
who  are  now  witnesses  of  the  present  solemn  ceremony." 

In  April,  1793,  Citizen  Genet  arrived  in  this  country  as  minister  from 
the  French  republic.  He  sought  to  involve  the  United  States  in  a  war 
with  Great  Britain,  and  issued  commissions  to  vessels-of-war,  to  sail  from 
American  ports  and  cruise  against -the  enemies  of  France.  It  appears  to 
have  been  expected  in  France  that  the  United  States  would  engage  on  its 
side  from  treaty  stipulations,  or  inclination  against  England.  The  presi- 
dent and  his  cabinet  were  unanimously  of  opinion  that  this  country  was 


WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  85 

not  bound  to  take  part  in  a  war  begun  by  France ;  and  on  the  1 8th  of 
April  the  celebrated  proclamation  of  neutrality,  by  the  president,  was  is- 
sued, which  has  been  the  guide  of  the  nation  ever  since,  in  affairs  with 
foreign  nations. 

Mr.  Genet,  after  this,  threatened  to  appeal  to  the  people,  but  finally,  after 
many  controversies  with  him,  the  president  demanded  his  recall  by  the 
French  government.  Soon  after  this  his  commission  was  withdrawn,  and 
Mr.  Fauchet  was  appointed  his  successor.  Mr.  Genet,  however,  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life  in  the  United  States,  and  married  a  daughter  of 
Governor  George  Clinton,  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Genet  was  said  to  have  introduced  into  the  United  States  the  idea  of 
"  democratic  societies,"  which  were  first  formed  in  this  country  about  this 
time,  in  imitation  of  the  Jacobin  clubs  in  Paris.  After  the  fall  of  Robes- 
pierre these  clubs,  or  secret  societies,  fell  into  disrepute,  both  in  France 
and  America. 

When  the  third  Congress  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  in  December, 
1793,  the  opposition  to  the  administration  succeeded  in  electing  the 
speaker  of  the  house  of  representatives,  which  body  was  afterward  nearly 
equally  divided  on  great  political  questions.  In  the  senate,  the  vice-pres- 
ident, Mr.  Adams,  repeatedly  settled  important  questions  by  his  casting  vote. 

On  the  16th  of  December,  the  secretary  of  state,  Mr.  Jefferson,  in 
compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  house  of  representatives  of  February 
23,  1791,  made  to  Congress  his  celebrated  report  on  the  commercial  rela- 
tions of  the  United  States  with  foreign  nations.  This  is  one  of  the  ablest 
documents  that  has  ever  emanated  from  Mr.  Jefferson.  He  made  an  ad- 
ditional report  on  the  30th  of  December,  communicating  certain  docu- 
ments of  foreign  governments,  which  was  his  last  official  act  as  secretary 
of  state.  Agreeably  to  a  notice  which  he  gave  the  president,  some  months 
previous,  he  resigned  his  office  and  seat  in  the  cabinet,  December  31 
1793,  and  retired  to  his  residence  in  Virginia. 

The  president  appointed  Edmund  Randolph  to  succeed  Mr.  Jefferson  as 
secretary  of  state,  and  William  Bradford,  of  Pennsylvania,  to  succeed  Mr. 
Randolph  as  attorney-general. 

On  the  4th  of  January,  1794,  Mr.  Madison  introduced  in  the  house  a 
series  of  resolutions  on  commercial  affairs,  in  conformity  with  the  report 
of  Mr  Jefferson.  They  gave  rise  to  a  long  and  acrimonious  debate,  but 
were  finally  postponed.  A  resolution,  however,  to  cut  off'  all  intercourse 
with  Great  Britain,  passed  the  house  by  a  small  majority,  but  was  defeated 
in  the  senate  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  vice-president.  The  important 
subjects  suggested  in  the  president's  message,  and  in  official  reports,  were 
under  consideration  in  the  two  branches  of  Congress,  from  the  beginning 
of  January  to  the  16th  of  April.  The  excitement  was  high  among  a  large 
portion  of  the  people,  in  favor  of  France.  They  insisted  that  the  friends 
of  France  should  declare  themselves  by  wearing  the  national  cockade 


86  WASHINGTON'S  AD.MIMS  PIIATION. 

They  insisted,  also,  on  war  with  England.  In  Congress,  the  war  of  words 
disclosed  a  state  of  feeling  which  the  decorum  of  the  place  hardly  re- 
strained from  full  expression. 

The  conduct  of  the  British  government  at  this  time  added  to  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  administration.  The  western  forts  on  Lake  Erie  and  its 
vicinity  were  still  occupied  by  the  British,  contrary  to  the  treaty  of  1783. 
American  vessels  were  seized  on  their  way  to  French  ports,  and  American 
seamen  were  impressed.  The  president,  after  many  remonstrances  with 
the  British  government,  was  sensible  that  a  crisis  w,as  approaching  which 
would  involve  the  United  States  in  a  war  with  England,  unless  the  ca- 
lamity could  be  averted  by  negotiation.  Washington,  therefore,  concluded 
to  send  a  special  envoy  to  England,  and  in  April,  1794,  selected  John  Jay, 
then  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court,  for  that  purpose.  Mr.  Jay  ar- 
rived in  England  in  June,  1794,  and  in  November  following  a  treaty  with 
Great  Britain  was  signed.  It  arrived  in  the  United  States  on  the  7th  of 
March,  1795,  and  was  ratified  by  the  senate  on  the  24th  of  June,  by  pre- 
cisely the  constitutional  majority  (two  thirds),  after  much  opposition,  and 
an  investigation  continued  from  the  9th  of  the  same  month.  As  this 
treaty  was  considered  favorable  to  Great  Britain,  although  it  was  the  best 
that  Mr.  Jay  could  obtain,  the  publication  of  it  in  this  country  tended  to 
heighten  the  asperity  of  political  parties,  and  to  increase  the  feelings  of 
hostility  toward  England  which  were  entertained  by  the  opposition  to  the 
administration.  The  clamor  against  the  treaty,  however,  gradually  sub- 
sided, and  addresses  from  all  quarters  poured  in  upon  the  president,  prin- 
cipally from  his  political  friends,  congratulating  him  upon  the  fortunate 
issue  of  the  mission. 

In  consequence  of  a  decision  of  the  supreme  court,  in  a  suit  instituted 
by  a  citizen  of  South  Carolina  against  the  state  of  Georgia,  and  the  action 
ol  the  state  of  Massachusetts,  on  a  suit  being  commenced  against  that  state, 
an  amendment  was  proposed,  and  carried  at  the  first  session  of  the  third 
Congress,  which  was  afterward  ratified  by  three  fourths  of  the  several 
states,  declaring  that,  "  the  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  should  not 
be  construed  to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or  pros- 
ecuted against  one  of  the  United  States,  by  citizens  of  another  state,  or  by 
citizens  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  state."  This  forms  the  llth  article  of 
the  amendments  to  the  constitution. 

During  the  summer  of  1794,  a  successful  campaign  was  carried  on 
against  the  Indians,  by  the  American  troops  under  General  Wayne,  who 
defeated  a  large  body  of  Indian  warriors  in  a  battle,  in  August  of  that 
year,  on  the  banks  of  the  Maumee,  in  Ohio.  General  Wayne  soon  after- 
ward negotiated  a  treaty  with  all  the  tribes  of  the  northwest ;  and,  in  con- 
formity to  Mr.  Jay's  treaty,  the  surrender  of  the  western  posts  which  had 
been  so  long  retained  by  the  British,  gave  assurance  of  continued  peace 
on  the  frontier. 


WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  87 

In  1794,  the  French  government  requested  the  recall  of  Gouverneur 
Morris,  the  minister  from  the  United  States  to  France,  which  request 
Washington  complied  with,  and  appointed  James  Monroe  his  successor. 
Mr/ Morris  had  expressed  his  disapprobation  of  the  revolutionary  proceed- 
ings in  France.  In  September,  ]  796,  the  president  recalled  Mr.  Monroe, 
and  appointed  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney  to  succeed  him; 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1794,  General  Knox  resigned  his  place  as 
secretary  of  war,  and  retired  to  Boston.  His  successor  was  Timothy 
Pickering,  who  was  appointed  on  the  2d  of  January,  1795 ;  he  was,  pre- 
vious to  that  time,  postmaster-general. 

Mr.  Hamilton  resigned,  as  secretary  of  the  treasury,  on  the  31st  of  Janu- 
ary, 1795,  and  was  succeeded  on  the  2d  of  February,  by  Oliver  Wolcott,  of 
Connecticut.  In  consequence  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Bradford,  attorney-gen- 
eral, in  August,  1795,  the  president  appointed  Charles  Lee,  of  Virginia, 
his  successor,  December  10,  1795.  At  the  same  time,  Timothy  Picker- 
ing was  appointed  secretary  of  state,  in  place  of  Edmund  Randolph,  who 
had  resigned  the  preceding  August.  James  M'Henry  was  appointed  sec- 
retary of  war,  January  27,  1796. 

When  the  third  Congress  assembled,  at  their  second  session,  in  No- 
vember, 1 794,  it  appeared  that,  while  the  party  in  favor  of  the  administra- 
tion had  been  strengthened  in  the  senate  by  recent  events,  in  the  house  of 
representatives  the  opposition  still  continued  to  be  the  most  powerful.  In 
replying  to  the  president's  speech,  the  address  of  the  house  omitted  to  notice 
those  parts  which  censured  self-created  societies,  by  which  term  the  demo- 
cratic clubs  were  supposed  to  be  intended  ;  also  the  victory  of  Gen.  Wayne 
and  the  policy  observed  by  the  executive  in  its  intercourse  with  foreign 
nations.  An  attempt  to  censure  the  "  self-created  societies,"  failed  by  the 
casting  vote  of  the  speaker.  A  bill,  however,  was  passed,  authorizing  the 
president  to  station  military  force  in  the  western  counties  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  an  appropriation,  exceeding  one  million  of  dollars,  was  made  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  insurrection. 

The  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  on  the  national  finances,  was 
the  last  official  act  of  Colonel  Hamilton ;  he  soon  after  retired  from  office, 
as  already  stated.  His  report  embraced  the  digest  of  a  plan  on  the  basis 
of  the  actual  revenues  for  the  further  support  of  the  public  credit.  In 
conformity  with  this  plan,  a  bill  was  carried,  notwithstanding  a  strenuous 
opposition,  through  both  houses,  establishing  a  sinking  fund,  composed  of 
the  surplus  revenue,  the  bank  dividends,  arid  the  proceeds  of  the  public 
lands,  for  the  redemption  of  the  national  debt.  On  the  third  of  March, 
1795,  the  constitutional  term  of  the  third  Congress  expired,  and  this  im- 
portant session  was  ended. 

The  senate  was  convened  by  the  president,  on  the  8th  of  June  follow- 
ing, for  the  purpose  of  considering  Mr.  Jay's  treaty  with  Great  Britain, 
which  was  ratified  by  that  body,  as  already  stated,  on  the  24th  of  th* 


88  WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

same  month.  The  president  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  from  Mount  Venion. 
on  the  llth  of  August,  and  on  the  next  day  the  question  of  the  immediate 
ratification  of  the  treaty  was  brought  before  the  cabinet.  The  resolution 
was  adopted  to  ratify  the  treaty  immediately,  the  secretary  of  state,' Mr. 
Randolph,  only,  dissenting  ;  and  this  opinion  of  the  cabinet  was  confirmed 
by  the  president. 

"  If  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,"  says  Judge  Marshall,  "increased  the 
number  of  its  open  advocates,  by  stimulating  the  friends  of  the  adminis- 
tration to  exert  themselves  in  its  defence,  it  seemed  also  to  give  in- 
creased acrimony  to  the  opposition.  Previous  to  the  mission  of  Mr.  Jay, 
charges  against  the  chief  magistrate,  though  frequently  insinuated,  had 
seldom  been  directly  made.  That  mission  visibly  affected  the  decorum 
which  had  been  usually  observed  toward  him,  and  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty  brought  into  view  sensations  which  had  long  been  ill  concealed. 
The  calumnies  with  which  he  was  assailed  were  not  confined  to  his  pub- 
lic conduct;  even  his  qualities  as  a  man  were  the  subjects  of  detraction. 
That  he  had  violated  the  constitution  in  negotiating  a  treaty  without  the 
previous  advice  of  the  senate,  and  that  he  had  drawn  from  the  treasury 
for  his  private  use  more  than  the  salary  annexed  to  his  ollice,  were 
unblushingly  asserted. 

"  Though  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  denied  that  the  appropriations 
made  by  the  legislature  had  ever  been  exceeded,  the  atrocious  charge  was 
still  confidently  repeated.  With  the  real  public  the  confidence  felt  in  the 
integrity  of  the  chief  magistrate  remained  unshaken. 

"  When  possessed  of  the  entire  fact,  the  public  viewed  with  just  indig- 
nation this  attempt  to  defame  a  character  which  was  the  nation's  pride. 
Americans  felt  themselves  affected  by  this  atrocious  calumny  on  their  most 
illustrious  citizen,  and  its  propagators  were  frowned  into  silence." 

Many  of  those  embarrassments  in  which  the  government,  from  its  in- 
stitution, had  been  involved,  were  now  ended,  or  approaching  their  termi- 
nation. 

The  opposition  to  the  laws,  which  had  so  long  been  made  in  western 
Pennsylvania,  existed  no  longer.  Peace  had  been  made  with  the  Indian 
tribes  at  the  west  and  the  south.  After  the  failure  of  several  attempts  to 
obtain  a  peace  with  the  regency  of  Algiers,  Colonel  Humphreys,  the  min- 
ister of  the  United  States  to  Portugal,  to  whom  full  powers  were  granted, 
appointed  Mr.  Donaldson  to  transact  this  business ;  and  a  treaty  with  Al- 
giers was  negotiated  on  terms  which,  though  disadvantageous,  were  the 
best  that  could  be  obtained.  The  difficulties  with  Spain,  which  had  been 
of  long  continuance,  were  adjusted  by  a  treaty  concluded  by  Mr.  Pinck- 
ney,  the  United  States  minister,  with  his  catholic  majesty,  in  October, 
1795,  in  which  the  claims  of  the  United  States  on  the  important  points 
of  boundary  and  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  were  fully  conceded. 

The  fourth  Congress  commenced  their  first  session  in  December,  1795 


WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  89 

While  the  majority  in  the  senate  in  favor  of  the  administration  had  in- 
creased, the  result  of  the  last  elections  had  again  placed  a  majority  in  the 
house  of  representatives  in  opposition.  This  was  manifest  from  the  an- 
swers returned  by  the  respective  houses  to  the  president's  speech.  That 
of  the  senate,  adopted  fourteen  to  eight,  expressed  an  entire  approbation 
of  the  conduct  of  the  executive.  The  answer  reported  by  a  committee 
of  the  house,  contained  expressions  of  undiminished  confidence  in  the 
president.  But  a  motion  was  made  to  strike  out  this  part ;  and  in  the  de- 
bate on  this  motion,  some  of  the  members  did  not  hesitate  to  say,  that 
their  confidence  in  the  chief  magistrate  had  diminished  ;  and  it  was 
evident  that  a  majority  were  in  favor  of  the  motion.  The  answer  was. 
therefore,  recommitted,  and  so  varied  as  to  meet  the  unanimous  assent  of 
the  house.* 

Although  in  the  minority  on  many  questions,  the  friends  of  the  admin- 
istration succeeded  in  electing  Jonathan  Dayton,  a  distinguished  federalist 
of  New  Jersey,  speaker  of  the  house  of  representatives. 

Mr.  Monroe,  the  United  States  minister  to  the  French  republic,  having 
presented  to  that  government  the  American  colors,  which  were  placed 
with  those  of  France,  in  the  hall  of  the  national  convention,  in  Paris,  Mr. 
Adet,  who  was  appointed  minister  to  the  United  States  to  succeed  Mr. 
Fauchet,  was  directed  to  present  to  the  United  States  government  the  flag 
of  the  French  republic.  He  arrived  in  the  United  States  in  June,  1795, 
but  did  not  present  the  flag  in  a  formal  manner  until  the  first  of  January, 
1796,  when  he  delivered  it  to  the  president,  together  with  a  letter  to  Con- 
gress from  the  committee  of  public  safety  in  France.  The  speech  of  Mr. 
Adet  on  this  occasion  drew  from  Washington  the  memorable  reply,  com- 
mencing as  follows  :  "  Born,  sir,  in  a  land  of  liberty  ;  having  early  learned 
its  value ;  having  engaged  in  a  perilous  conflict  to  defend  it ;  having,  in  a 
word,  devoted  the  best  years  of  my  life  to  secure  its  permanent  establish- 
ment in  my  country ;  my  anxious  recollections,  my  sympathetic  feelings, 
and  my  best  wishes,  are  irresistibly  attracted,  whensoever,  in  any  country, 
I  see  an  oppressed  nation  unfurl  the  banners  of  freedom. "f 

The  address  of  Mr.  Adet,  and  the  answer  of  the  president,  were  trans- 
mitted to  Congress,  with  the  letter  from  the  committee  of  safety,  by 
the  president,  on  the  4th  of  January.  The  colors  of  France  he  directed 
to  be  deposited  among  the  archives  of  the  United  States.  Both  houses 
of  Congress  adopted  resolutions  expressive  of  their  good  will  and  friend- 
ship for  the  French  republic. 

In  February,  1796,  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  was  returned,  in  the 
form  advised  by  the  senate,  ratified  by  his  Britannic  majesty.  The  presi- 
dent, in  pursuance  of  his  duty,  issued  his  proclamation  on  the  last  of  Feb- 
ruary, on  the  subject,  and  requiring  from  all  per.sons  its  observance  and 

•  Pitkin's  History  of  United  States  ,f  See  .Marshall's  Life  of  Washington. 


9C  WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION 

execution.  For  the  information  of  Congress,  a  copy  of  this  proclamation 
was  transmitted  to  each  house  on  the  first  of  March. 

The  republican  or  democratic  party  in  the  house  of  representatives,  who 
had  denied  the  right  of  the  president  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce, 
expressed  their  dissatisfaction  at  his  course  in  issuing  this  proclamation 
before  the  sense  of  the  house  had  been  declared  on  the  obligation  of  the 
instrument.  On  the  second  of  March,  therefore,  Mr.  Livingston,  of  New 
York,  laid  upon  the  table  a  resolution  requesting  of  the  president  a  copy 
of  the  instructions  to  Mr.  Jay,  together  with  the  correspondence  and  other 
documents  relative  to  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  negotiated  by  him. 
This  motion  was  vehemently  debated,  and,  after  some  days,  carried,  by  a 
majority  of  57  to  35.  The  president  answered,  with  his  accustomed 
coolness  and  dignity,  stating  his  reasons  why  the  house  of  representa- 
tives, which  has  no  part  in  the  treaty-making  power,  can  not  be  constitu- 
tionally entitled  to  the  papers  called  for ;  and  concluded  with  saying :  "  A 
just  regard  to  the  constitution  and  to  the  duty  of  my  office,  under  all  the 
circumstances  of  this  case,  forbid  a  compliance  with  your  request." 

This  refusal  of  the  president  was  received  with  an  indignation  which 
the  majority  were  at  no  pains  to  conceal.  The  same  spirit  was  widely 
disseminated  through  the  country ;  but  public  opinion  had  undergone  an 
important  change.  Popular  meetings  were  held  on  the  subject,  and, 
though  many  of  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  were  thought  to  be  objectionable, 
it  was  believed  that  a  majority,  composed  of  the  most  intelligent  citizens, 
were  in  favor  of  carrying  the  treaty  into  effect,  in  good  faith.  The  popu- 
lar sentiment  was  felt  in  the  house  of  representatives.  The  debate  in 
that  body  was  very  able  and  interesting.  Among  the  most  celebrated 
speeches  made  on  the  occasion,  was  that  of  Fisher  Ames,  in  support  of 
the  treaty.  Many  other  distinguished  members  took  part  in  the  debate, 
such  as  Roger  Griswold,  R.  G.  Harper,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  and  William 
Smith,  on  the  side  of  the  administration ;  and  Edward  Livingston,  James 
Madison,  Albert  Gallatin,  and  William  B.  Giles,  in  opposition.  The  final 
question  in  the  house,  in  favor  of  laws  for  carrying  the  treaty  into  effect, 
was  carried  by  a  majority  of  three  only,  51  to  48. 

The  fourth  Congress,  after  continuing  their  first  session  until  the  1st  of 
June,  1796,  adjourned  to  the  first  Monday  of  December  following.  Be- 
sides the  measures  referred  to,  many  other  important  acts  were  adopted  , 
among  others,  agencies  were  established  among  the  Indian  tribes  ;  provis- 
ion was  made  for  the  sale  of  the  public  lands ;  and  an  act  was  passed  for 
the  protection  and  relief  of  American  seamen.  The  state  of  Tennessee 
was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  last  day  of  the  session. 

In  the  spring  of  1796,  Rufus  King  was  appointed  minister  to  Great 
Britain,  in  the  place  of  Thomas  Pinckney,  who,  at  his  own  request  was 
permitted  to  return  home.  During  a  residence  of  several  years  in  Lon- 
don, Mr.  King  maintained  the  rights  of  the  country  with  great  ability  and 


WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  91 

firmness  and  sustained  a  high  character  among  the  diplomatic  corps  at 
the  British  court.* 

The  relations  of  the  United  States  with  France  continued  a  subject  of 
anxiety.  The  treaty  negotiated  with  England  by  Mr.  Jay,  and  the  presi- 
dent's proclamation  of  neutrality,  were  regarded  with  much  disfavor  by 
the  French  government,  and  they  issued  several  decrees  by  which  Ameri- 
can vessels  were  confiscated,  in  violation  of  the  treaty  of  commerce.  The 
president  being  dissatisfied  with  the  course  of  Mr.  Monroe,  the  American 
minister  to  France,  in  not  urging  the  rights  of  his  countrymen  with  suffi- 
cient vigor,  he  was  recalled,  as  already  stated,  and  Charles  Cotesworth 
Pinckney  appointed  in  his  place.  Mr.  Monroe  was  very  popular  in 
France,  and  on  taking  his  leave  of  the  government,  mutual  addresses  were 
delivered.  The  address  of  the  president  of  the  directory,  expressing  his; 
regret  at  parting  with  Mr.  Monroe,  was  calculated  to  flatter  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  while  it  severely  censured  their  government.  Mr 
Pinckney  was  permitted  to  reside  at  Paris  until  about  the  first  of  Febru 
ary,  1797,  when  the  French  directory  gave  him  written  orders  to  quit  tht> 
territories  of  the  republic,  and  he  retired  to  Holland. 

The  third  election  of  president  engaged  the  national  attention  after  the 
adjournment  of  Congress.  General  Washington  was  earnestly  solicited 
to  be  a  candidate  for  re-election,  but  positively  declined.  In  September, 
1796,  he  announced  his  intention  to  the  people  in  his  memorable  "  Fare- 
well  Address.'1'']  In  this  document  he  made  a  last  effort  to  impress  upon 
his  countrymen  those  great  political  truths  which  had  been  the  guides  of 
his  own  administration,  and  could  alone,  in  his  opinion,  form  a  sure  and 
solid  basis  for  the  happiness,  the  independence,  and  the  liberty  of  the 
United  States. 

The  sentiments  of  veneration  with  which  this  address  was  generally 
received,  were  manifested  in  almost  every  part  of  the  Union.  Some  of 
the  state  legislatures  directed  it  to  be  inserted  at  large  in  their  jour- 
nals;  and  nearly  all  of  them  passed 'resolutions  expressing  their  respect 
for  the  president,  their  high  sense  of  his  exalted  services,  and  the  emo- 
tions with  which  they  contemplated  his  retirement  from  office. | 

When  this  address  appeared,  announcing  the  resolution  of  Washington 
to  retire,  the  determination  of  his  fellow-citizens  had  been  unequivocally 
manifested  in  favor  of  his  continuance  in  office,  and  it  was  believed  to  be 
apparent,  that  his  election  would  again  be  unanimous,  if  he  had  consented 
to  serve  for  a  third  term. 

The  two  groat  parties  in  the  United  States  were  now  at  once  arrnyed 
against  each  other  on  the  question  of  the  presidential  election.  By  the 
federalists,  Mr.  John  Adams  and  Mr.  Thomas  Pinckney,  tlio  late  minister 
to  Great  Britain,  were  supported  as  president  and  vice-president ;  while 
the  whole  force  of  the  opposite  party  was  exerted  in  fnvor  of  Mr.  Jefi'erson 
•  Pitkin.  f  See  page  69.  %  Marshal]. 


92  WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

On  the  subject  of  vice-president,  the  republicans,  or  democrats,  were  not  urn 
ted.  The  result  of  the  election  was  as  follows  :  John  Adams,  71  ;  Thomas 
Jefferson,  C>8 ;  Thomas  Pinckney,  59 ;  Aaron  Burr,  30  ;  Samuel  Adams, 
15;  Oliver  Ellsworth,  11  ;  George  Clinton,  7;  John  Jay,  5;  James  Ire- 
dell,  3  ;  George  Washington,  2  ;  J.  Henry,  2  ;  S.  Johnson,  2  ;  Charles  C. 
Pinckney,  1.  Total  number  of  electoral  votes,  138 — each  elector  voting 
for  two  persons*.  .Mr.  Adams  was  therefore  elected  president,  and  Mr. 
Jefferson  vice-president,  for  four  years  from  the  fourth  of  March,  1797. 

In  November,  while  the  election  was  pending,  and  parties  were  so 
nearly  balanced  that  neither  scale  could  be  perceived  to  preponderate,  the 
French  minister  to  this  country,  Mr.  Adet,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  secre- 
tary of  state,  which  he  also  caused  to  be  immediately  published  in  the 
newspapers,  reproaching  the  federal  administration  with  violating  those 
treaties  with  France  which  had  secured  the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  with  ingratitude  to  France,  and  with  partiality  to  England.  Mr. 
Adel  also  announced  the  orders  of  his  government  to  suspend  his  minis- 
terial functions  with  that  of  the  United  States.  This  suspension  of  his 
functions,  however,  was  not  to  be  regarded  "  as  a  rupture  between  France 
and  the  United  States,  but  a.s  a  mark  of  just  discontent,  which  was  to  last 
until  the  government  of  the  United  States  returned  to  sentiments  and  to 
measures  more  conformable  to  the  interests  of  the  alliance,  and  to  the 
sworn  friendship  between  the  two  nations." 

Whatever  motives  might  have  impelled  Mr.  Adct  to  make  this  open  arid 
direct  appeal  to  the  American  people,  in  the  critical  moment  of  their  elec- 
tion of  a  chief  magistrate,  it  does  not  appear  in  any  material  degree  to 
have  influenced  that  election. 

On  the  7th  of  December,  1796,  Washington  met  Congress  for  the  last 
time.  His  address  was  comprehensive,  temperate,  and  dignified.  It 
presented  a  full  and  clear  view  of  the  situation  of  the  United  States,  and 
recommended  certain  great  national  measures  in  the  utility  of  which  he 
felt  a  confidence  ;  concluding  with  his  congratulations  on  the  success  of 
the  experiment  of  the  form  of  government  under  the  constitution,  and  his 
prayers  for  its  perpetuity. 

The  answers  of  both  houses  to  this  speech,  notwithstanding  the 
conflict  of  parties,  were  adopted  nearly  unanimously.  Both  expressed 
their  grateful  sense  of  the  eminent  services  he  had  rendered  his  country, 
their  extreme  regret  at  his  retiring  from  office,  and  their  ardent  wishes  for 
his  future  personal  happiness.  Perfect  unanimity,  however,  did  not  pre- 
vail in  the  house  of  representatives.  Mr.  Giles,  of  Virginia,  said :  ;'  If 
he  stood  alone  in  the  opinion,  he  would  declare  that  he  was  not  convinced 
that  the  administration  of  the  government  for  these  six  years,  had  been 
wise  and  firm.  He  did  not  regret  the  president's  retiring  from  office.  He 
hoped  he  would  retire,  and  enjoy  the  happiness  that  awaited  his  retire- 
ment. He  believed  it  would  more  conduce  to  that  happiness  that  he 


WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  93 

should  retire,  than  if  he  should  remain  in  office."     In  this  opinion  of  Mr. 
Giles,  only  eleven  concurred,  and  with  him  voted  against  the   answer.* 

On  the  19th  of  January,  1797,  the  president,  agreeably  to  the  intimation 
in  his  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  session,  communicated  to  Congress 
the  state  of  the  relations  of  the  country  with  the  French  republic.  It  con- 
tained not  only  an  able  review,  but  an  ample  refutation  of  the  various 
charges  made  by  France,  as  well  as  a  complete  justification  of  the  con- 
duct of  President  Washington  toward  that  nation.  This  exposition,  how- 
ever, created  no  change  in  the  conduct  of  France,  and  produced  little  effect 
on  the  parties  in  America.! 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1797,  the  administration  of  President  Washington 
closed — a  period  to  which  he  had  looked  forward  with  inexpressible 
pleasure.  After  witnessing  the  inauguration  of  his  successor,  he  with- 
drew from  Philadelphia  to  Mount  Vernon,  to  spend  the  remainder  of  his 
days  in  retirement. 

During  his  administration,  all  the  disputes  between  the  United  States 
and  foreign  nations  had  been  adjusted,  with  the  exception  of  those  of 
France  ;  at  home,  public  and  private  credit  was  restored — ample  provis- 
ion made  for  the  security  and  ultimate  payment  of  the  public  debt — com- 
merce had  experienced  unexampled  prosperity — American  tonnage  had 
nearly  doubled — the  products  of  agriculture  had  found  a  ready  market — 
the  exports  had  increased  from  nineteen  millions  to  more  than  fifty-six 
millions  of  dollars — the  imports  in  about  the  same  proportion — and  the 
amount  of  revenues  from  imports  had  exceeded  the  most  sanguine  calcu- 
lations. The  prosperity  of  the  country  had  been,  indeed,  without  exam 
pie,  notwithstanding  great  losses  from  belligerent  depredations. J 

At  this  day,  the  conduct  and  character  of  Washington  are  spoken  ol 
with  respect  and  veneration  by  most  men.  We  have  seen  several  sorts 
of  administration  of  public  affairs  since  his  time  ;  it  is  not  too  soon  to 
consider  calmly  and  dispassionately,  the  worth  of  that  conducted  by  him 

To  the  high  responsibility  of  giving  motion  and  effect  to  the  new  sys 
tem,  among  discordant  elements,  it  was  the  lot  of  Washington  to  be 
called. 

Was  it  right  or  wrong  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  the  public  debt, 
justly  called  "  the  price  of  liberty  ?"  Who  can  answer  in  the  negative  ? 
Not  to  have  done  what  was  done,  would  have  been  injustice,  for  which 
there  could  have  been  no  palliation. 

Was  Washington's  administration  right  or  wrong  toward  France  and 
England,  during  their  vindictive  and  exterminating  war  ?  Surely,  the  true 
policy  of  this  country  was  strict  neutrality.  To  preserve  this,  the  most 
forbearing  and  conciliatory  measures  were  adopted  toward  each ;  minis- 
ters were  sent,  and  instructions  given,  to  show  that  the  United  States 
were,  and  meant  to  be,  neutral.  To  the  last  hour  of  his  administration, 
•  Pitkin.  f  Ibid.  ;  Ibid. 


94  WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

Washington  persisted  in  his  neutrality,  and  was  able  to  countervail  the 
popular  clamor  in  favor  of  France. 

In  the  discretionary  exercise  of  executive  power,  the  Washington  ad- 
ministration was  wise  and  talented.  In  filling  offices,  the  president  pre- 
ferred, when  he  could,  the  revolutionary  chiefs,  of  whose  integrity  and 
ability  he  had  ample  proofs.  No  one  will  say  that  such  men  did  not  de- 
serve the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office,  which  their  own  perilous  efforts 
helped  to  establish.  He  displaced  no  man  for  the  expression  of  his  opin- 
ion, even  in  the  feverish  excitement  of  French  delusion. 

With  regard  to  all  other  foreign  governments ;  the  judiciary ;  the  na- 
tional hank;  the  Indian  tribes ;  the  mint;  in  his  deportment  to  his  own 
ministers ;  his  communications  to  Congress ;  his  construction  of  the  con- 
stitution ;  his  sacred  regard  for  it ;  his  devotion  to  the  whole  Union ;  his 
magnanimity  and  forbearance  ;  his  personal  dignity ;  in  all  these,  and  in 
relation  to  all  other  subjects,  how  great  and  honorable  was  his  example  !* 

•  Sullivan. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH 


JOHN    ADAMS 


JOHN  ADAMS,  the  second  president  of  the  United  States,  vvas  born  on  the 
19th  of  October  (old  style),  1735,  in  that  part  of  the  town  of  Braintree,  in  Mas- 
sachusetts (near  Boston)  which  has  since  been  incorporated  by  the  name 
of  Quincy.  He  was  the  fourth  in  descent  from  Henry  Adams,  who  fled 
from  persecution  in  Devonshire,  England,  and  settled  in  Massachusetts, 
about  the  year  1630.  Another  of  the  ancestors  of  Mr.  Adams  was  John 
Alden,  one  of  the  pilgrim  founders  of  the  Plymouth  colony  in  1620.  Re- 
ceiving his  early  education  in  his  native  town,  John  Adams,  in  1751,  was 
admitted  a  member  of  Harvard  college,  at  Cambridge,  Avhere  he  graduated 
in  regular  course,  four  years  afterward.  On  leaving  college  he  went  to 
Worcester,  for  the  purpose  of  studying  law,  and  at  the  same  time  to  sup- 
port himself,  according  to  the  usage  at  that  time  in  New  England,  by  teaching 
in  the  grammar-school  of  that  town.  He  studied  law  with  James  Putnam, 
a  barrister  of  eminence,  by  whom  he  was  afterward  introduced  to  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Jeremy  Gridley,  then  attorney-general  of  the  province,  who 
proposed  him  to  the  court  for  admission  to  the  bar  of  Suffolk  county,  in 
1758,  and  gave  him  access  to  his  library,  which  was  then  one  of  the  best 
in  America. 

Mr.  Adams  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  his  native  town, 
and,  by  travelling  the  circuits  with  the  court,  became  well  known  in  that 
part  of  the  country.  In  1766,  by  the  advice  of  Mr.  Gridley,  he  removed 
to  Boston,  where  he  soon  distinguished  himself  at  the  bar,  by  his  superior 
talents  as  counsel  and  advocate.  At  an  earlier  period  of  his  life,  his 
thoughts  had  begun  to  turn  on  general  politics,  and  the  prospects  of 
his  country  engaged  his  attention.  Soon  after  leaving  college,  he  wrote 
a  letter  to  a  friend,  dated  at  Worcester,  the  12th  of  October,  1755, 
which  evinces  so  remarkable  a  foresight  that  it  is  fortunate  it  has  been 
preserved.  We  make  the  following  extracts :  "  Soon  after  the  reforma- 
tion, a  few  people  came  over  into  this  new  world,  for  conscience'  sake 


96  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    ADAMS. 

Perhaps  this  apparently  trivial  incident  may  transfer  the  great  seat  of  em- 
pire into  America.  It  looks  likely  to  me,  if  we  can  remove  the  turbulent 
Gallics,  our  people,  according  to  the  exactest  computation,  will,  in  an- 
other century,  become  more  numerous  than  England  herself.  The  only 
way  to  keep  us  from  setting  up  for  ourselves,  is  to  disunite  us.  Divide  et 
imprra.  Keep  us  in  distinct  colonies,  and  then  some  great  men  in  each 
colony,  desiring  the  monarchy  of  the  whole,  will  destroy  each  others 
influence,  and  keep  the  country  in  equilibrio.  Be  not  surprised  that 
I  am  turned  politician  ;  the  whole  town  is  immersed  in  politics.  I  sit  and 
hear,  rind,  after  being  led  through  a  maze  of  sage  observations,  I  some- 
times retire  and,  by  laying  things  together,  form  some  reflections  pleasing 
to  myself.  The  produce  of  one  of  these  reveries  you  have  read  above." 
Mr.  Webster  observes  :  "  It  is  remarkable  that  the  author  of  this  prognos- 
tication should  live  to  see  fulfilled  to  the  letter  what  could  have  seemed  to 
others,  at  the  time,  but  the  extravagance  of  youthful  fancy.  His  earliest 
political  feelings  were  thus  strongly  American,  and  from  this  ardent  at- 
tachment to  his  native  soil  he  never  departed." 

In  1764,  he  married  Abigail  Smith,  daughter  of  Rev.  William  Smith,  of 
Weymouth,  and  grand-daughter  of  Colonel  Quincy,  a  lady  of  uncommon 
endowments  and  excellent  education.  He  had  previously  imbibed  a 
prejudice  against  the  prevailing  religious  opinions  of  New  England,  and 
became  attached  to  speculations  hostile  to  those  opinions.  Nor  were  his 
views  afterward  changed.  In  his  religious  sentiments  he  accorded  with 
Doctor  Bancroft,  a  Unitarian  minister  of  Worcester,  of  whose  printed  ser- 
mons he  expressed  his  high  approbation.  In  1765,  Mr.  Adams  published 
an  essay  on  canon  and  feudal  law,  the  object  of  which  was  to  show  the 
conspiracy  between  church  and  state  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  the 
people. 

In  1770,  he  was  chosen  a  representative,  from  the  town  of  Boston,  in 
the  legislature  of  Massachusetts.  The  same  year  he  was  one  of  the 
counsel  who  defended  Captain  Preston,  and  the  British  soldiers  who  fired  at 
his  order,  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Boston.  Captain  Preston  was  acquitted, 
and  Mr.  Adams  lost  no  favor  with  his  fellow-citizens  by  engaging  in  this 
trial.  As  a  member  of  the  legislature,  he  opposed  the  royal  governor, 
Hutchinson,  in  his  measures,  and  also  wrote  against  the  British  govern- 
ment in  the  newspapers.  In  1774,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts council,  and  negatived  by  Governor  Gage.  In  this  and  the 
next  year,  he  wrote  on  the  whig  side  the  numbers  called  "  Nov  Anglus," 
in  reply  to  essays,  signed  "  Massachusitensis,"  in  favor  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment, by  Sewall,  the  attorney-general.  The  same  year  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  member  of  the  continental  congress,  from  Massachusetts,  and  in 
that  body,  which  met  at  Philadelphia,  he  became  one  of  the  most  efficient 
and  able  advocates  of  liberty.  In  the  Congress  which  met  in  May,  1775, 
he  again  took  his  seat,  having  been  reappointed  as  a  delegate.  In  1775 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    ADAMS.  97 

he  seconded  the  nomination  of  Washington  as  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army,  and  in  July,  1776,  he  was  the  adviser  and  great  supporter  of  the 
declaration  of  independence.  It  was  reported  by  a  committee  composed 
of  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Adams,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Roger  Sherman, 
and  Robert  R.  Livingston.  During  the  same  year,  he,  with  Doctor  Frank- 
lin and  Edward  Rutledge,  was  deputed  to  treat  with  Lord  Howe  for  the 
pacification  of  the  colonies.  He  declined,  at  this  time,  the  offer  of  the 
office  of  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  Massachusetts. 

In  December,  1777,  Mr.  Adams  was  appointed  a  -commissioner  to  the 
court  of  France,  in  place  of  Silas  Deane,  who  was  recalled.  He  em- 
barked in  the  frigate  Boston,  in  February,  1778.  On  his  arrival  in  France 
he  found  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce,  also  a  treaty  of  alliance,  had 
been  already  signed,  and,  after  Doctor  Franklin  received  from  Congress 
the  appointment  of  minister  plenipotentiary,  Mr.  Adams  returned  to  the 
United  States,  in  the  summer  of  1779. 

Immediately  after  his  return  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Massachu 
setts  convention  for  framing  the  new  state  constitution.  He  accepted  a 
seat  in  that  body,  and  his  plan  for  a  constitution  being  reported  by  a  com 
mittee  of  which  he  was  a  member,  was»  in  most  of  its  important  features, 
adopted,  by  the  convention. 

During  the  time  when  he  was  attending  to  the  business  of  the  Massa 
chusetts  convention,  Congress  resolved  to  appoint  a  minister  plenipoten 
tiary  for  negotiating  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain.  On  the  29th  of 
September,  1779,  Mr.  Adams  received  this  appointment,  and  sailed  in  the 
French  frigate  La  Sensible,  in  November.  He  landed  at  Ferrol,  in  Spain, 
and  arrived  in  Paris  in  February,  1780.  In  August  he  repaired  to  Am- 
sterdam, having  previously  been  instructed  to  procure  loans  in  Holland, 
and  soon  afterward  receiving  power  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  amity  and 
commerce.  In  1782  he  effected  a  loan  for  eight  millions  of  guilders,  also 
negotiated  a  very  favorable  treaty  with  Holland,  which  nation  recognised 
the  United  States  as  free,  sovereign,  and  independent. 

In  1781  Mr.  Adams  was  associated  by  Congress  with  Franklin,  Jay, 
Laurens,  and  Jefferson,  in  a  commission  for  concluding  treaties  of  peace 
with  the  several  European  powers ;  and  in  1 783  he  was  associated  with 
Franklin  and  Jay  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  a  commercial  treaty  with 
Great  Britain.  The  definitive  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  was 
signed  on  the  3d  of  September,  1783,  by  Messrs.  Adams,  Franklin,  and 
Jay ;  the  provisional  treaty  had  been  signed  by  the  same  commissioners, 
with  Mr.  Laurens,  on  the  30th  of  November,  1782. 

During  part  of  the  year  1784,  Mr.  Adams  remained  in  Holland,  and 
returned  to  France,  where  he  joined  his  associates  appointed  by  Congress 
to  negotiate  commercial  treaties  with  foreign  nations.  An  extensive  plan 
of  operations  for  commercial  conventions  was  formed,  but  not  carried  out. 

In  January,  1785,  Congress  appointed  Mr.  Adams  minister  to  represen* 

VOL.  I.— 7 


98  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    ADAMS. 

the  United  States  at  the  court  of  Great  Britain,  an  office  at  that  time 
deemed  peculiarly  delicate  nnd  interesting.  Although  his  reception  by 
the  king  was  favorable  and  courteous,  Mr.  Adams  found  the  British  min- 
istry cold  and  unfriendly  toward  the  United  States,  and  he  was,  therefore, 
unable  to  negotiate  a  commercial  treaty  with  that  nation.  In  other  re- 
spects, however,  he  rendered  valuable  services  to  his  country,  and,  be- 
sides assisting  in  forming  treaties  with  Prussia  and  Morocco,  he  wrote, 
while  in  Europe,  an  elaborate  and  eloquent  defence  of  the  forms  of  gov- 
ernment established  in  the  United  States,  in  reply  to  strictures  advanced 
by  Mr.  Turgot,  the  Abbe  de  Mably,  Dr.  Price,  and  other  European  writers. 
Immediately  after  the  publication  of  this  work,  Mr.  Adams  asked  permis- 
sion to  resign  and  return,  and  in  June,  1788,  he  arrived  in  his  native 
land,  after  an  absence  of  between  eight  and  nine  years. 

The  services  of  Mr.  Adams  in  the  cause  of  his  country,  at  home  and 
abroad,  during  the  period  to  which  we  have  referred,  it  is  believed,  were 
not  excelled  by  those  of  any  other  of  the  patriots  of  the  revolution.  In  the 
language  of  one  of  his  eulogists  (Mr.  J.  E.  Sprague,  of  Massachusetts): 
•'  Not  a  hundred  men  in  the  country  could  have  been  acquainted  with  any 
part  of  the  labors  of  Mr.  Adams-*— they  appeared  anonymously,  or  under 
assumed  titles  ;  they  were  concealed  in  the  secret  conclaves  of  Congress, 
or  the  more  secret  cabinets  of  princes.  Such  services  are  never  known 
to  the  public  ;  or,  if  known,  only  in  history,  when  the  actors  of  the  day 
have  passed  from  the  stage,  and  the  motives  for  longer  concealment  cease 
to  exist.  As  we  ascend  the  mount  of  history,  and  rise  above  the  vapors 
of  party  prejudice,  we  shall  all  acknowledge  that  we  owe  our  independ- 
ence more  to  John  Adams  than  to  any  other  created  being,  and  that  he 
was  the  GREAT  LEADER  of  the  American  Revolution." 

When  permission  was  given  him  to  return  from  Europe,  the  continental 
Congress  adopted  the  following  resolution  :  "  Resolved,  that  Congress  en- 
-ertain  a  high  sense  of  the  services  which  Mr.  Adams  has  rendered  to  the 
United  States,  in  the  execution  of  the  various  important  trusts  which  they 
have  from  time  to  time  committed  to  him ;  and  that  the  thanks  of  Congress  be 
presented  to  him  for  the  patriotism,  perseverance,  integrity,  and  diligence, 
with  which  he  has  ably  and  faithfully  served  his  country."  Such  was  the 
testimonial  of  his  country,  expressed  through  the  national  councils,  at  the 
termination  of  his  revolutionary  and  diplomatic  career. 

During  the  absence  of  Mr.  Adams  in  Europe,  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  had  been  formed  and  adopted.  He  highly  approved  of  its 
provisions,  and  on  his  return,  when  it  was  about  to  go  into  operation,  he 
was  selected  by  the  friends  of  the  constitution  to  be  placed  on  the  ticket 
with  Washington  as  a  candidate  for  one  of  the  two  highest  offices  in  the 
gift  of  the  people.  He  was  consequently  elected  rice-president,  and  on 
the  assembling  of  the  senate,  he  took  his  seat  as  president  of  that  body,  at 
New  York,  in  April,  1789.  Having  been  re-elected  to  that  office  in  1792. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    ADAMS  99 

he  held  it,  and  presided  in  the  senate,  with  great  dignity,  during  the  en- 
tire period  of  Washington's  administration,  whose  confidence  he  enjoyed, 
and  by  whom  he  was  consulted  on  important  questions.  In  his  valedic- 
tory address  to  the  senate,  he  remarks :  "  It  is  a  recollection  of  which 
nothing  can  ever  deprive  me,  and  it  will  be  a  source  of  comfort  to  me 
through  the  remainder  of  my  life,  that  on  the  one  hand,  I  have  for  eight 
years  held  the  second  situation  under  our  constitution,  in  perfect  and  unin- 
terrupted harmony  with  the  first,  without  envy  in  the  one,  or  jealousy  in 
the  other,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  never  had  the  smallest  misunder- 
standing with  any  member  of  the  senate." 

In  1790,  Mr.  Adams  wrote  his  celebrated  "Discourses  on  Davila ;" 
they  were  anonymously  published,  at  first,  in  the  Gazette  of  the  United 
States,  of  Philadelphia,  in  a  series  of  numbers  ;  they  may  be  considered 
as  a  sequel  to  his  "  Defence  of  the  American  Constitutions."  He  was  a 
decided  friend  and  patron  of  literature  and  the  arts,  and  while  in  Europe, 
having  obtained  much  information  on  the  subject  of  public  institutions,  he 
contributed  largely  to  the  advancement  of  establishments  in  his  native 
state,  for  the  encouragement  of  arts,  sciences,  and  letters. 

On  the  retirement  of  General  Washington  from  the  presidency  of  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Adams  was  elected  his  successor,  after  a  close  and 
spirited  contest  with  two  rivals  for  that  high  office  ;  Mr.  Jefferson  being 
supported  by  the  democratic  or  republican  party,  while  a  portion  of  the 
federal  party  preferred  Mr.  Thomas  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  who 
was  placed  on  the  ticket  with  Mr.  Adams.  The  result,  as  we  have  sta- 
ted, in  our  notice  of  Washington's  administration,  was  the  election  of  Mr. 
Adams  as  president,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  as  vice-president,  and  in  March 
1797,  they  entered  upon  their  duties  in  those  offices. 

On  meeting  the  senate,  as  their  presiding  officer,  Mr.  Jefferson  re- 
marked, that  the  duties  of  the  chief  magistracy  had  been  "justly  con- 
fided to  the  eminent  character  who  preceded  him,  whose  talents  and  integ- 
rity," he  added,  "have  been  known  and  revered  by  me  through  a  long 
term  of  years ;  have  been  the  foundation  of  a  cordial  and  uninterrupted 
friendship  between  us  ;  and  I  devoutly  pray  that  he  may  be  long  preserved 
for  the  government,  the  happiness,  and  prosperity  of  our  country."  The 
senate  adopted  an  address  taking  leave  of  Mr.  Adams,  after  he  had  presi- 
ded over  them  for  eight  years',  with  the  strongest  expressions  of  respect 
und  attachment. 

The  administration  of  Mr.  Adams  we  shall  have  occasion  to  notice  in 
another  place.  He  came  to  the  presidency  in  a  stormy  time*  In  the  lan- 
guage of  Colonel  Knapp,  "  the  French  revolution  had  jusl  reached  its 
highest  point  of  settled  delirium,  after  some  of  the  paroxysms  of  its  fury 
had  passed  away.  The  people  of  the  United  States  took  sides,  some  ap- 
proving, others  deprecating,  the  course  pursued  by  France.  Mr.  Adams 
wished  to  preserve  a  neutrality,  but  found  this  quite  impossible.  A  navy 


100  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    ADAMS. 

was  raised,  with  surprising  promptitude,  to  prevent  insolence,  and  to  chas- 
tise aggression.  It  had  the  desired  effect,  and  France  was  taught  that 
the  Americans  were  friends  in  peace,  but  were  not  fearful  of  war  when  it 
could  not  be  averted.  When  the  historian  shall  come  to  this  page  of  our 
history,  he  will  do  justice  to  the  sagacity,  to  the  spirit,  and  to  the  integ- 
rity of  Mr.  Adams,  and  will  find  that  he  had  more  reasons,  and  good  ones, 
for  his  conduct,  than  his  friends  or  enemies  ever  gave  him." 

In  his  course  of  public  policy,  when  war  with  France  was  expected, 
he  was  encouraged  by  addresses  from  all  quarters,  and  by  the  approving 
voice  of  Washington.  He,  however,  gave  dissatisfaction  to  many  of  his 
own  political  party,  in  his  final  attempts  to  conciliate  France,  and  in  his 
removal  of  two  members  of  his  cabinet,  toward  the  close  of  his  adminis- 
tration. Under  these  circumstances,  notwithstanding  Mr.  Adams  was  the 
candidate  of  the  federal  party  for  re-election  as  president,  and  received 
their  faithful  support,  it  is  not  strange  that  his  opponents,  with  the  advan- 
tage in  their  favor  of  the  superior  popularity  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  succeeded 
in  defeating  him.  For  this  event,  the  correspondence  of  Mr.  Adams 
shows  that  he  was  prepared,  and  he  left  the  arduous  duties  of  chief  mag- 
istrate probably  with  less  of  disappointment  than  his  enemies  had  ex- 
pected. 

Immediately  after  Mr.  Jefferson  had  succeeded  to  the  presidency,  in 
1801,  Mr.  Adams  retired  to  his  estate  at  Quincy,  in  Massachusetts,  and 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  literary  and  scientific  leisure,  though 
occasionally  addressing  various  communications  to  the  public.  He  gave 
his  support  generally  to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  the 
friendship  between  these  distinguished  men  was  revived  by  a  corre- 
spondence, and  continued  for  several  years  previous  to  their  death.  When 
the  disputes  with  Great  Britain  eventuated  in  war,  Mr.  Adams  avowed  his 
approbation  of  that  measure,  and  in  1815  he  saw  the  second  treaty  of 
peace  concluded  with  that  nation,  by  a  commission  of  which  his  son  was 
at  the  head,  as  he  had  been  himself  in  that  commission  which  formed  the 
treaty  of  1783. 

In  1816,  the  republican  party  in  Massachusetts,  which  had  once  ve- 
hemently opposed  him  as  president  of  the  United  States,  paid  him  the 
compliment  of  placing  his  name  at  the  head  of  their  list  of  presidential 
electors.  In  1820,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  state  convention  to 
revise  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts,  which  body  unanimously  soli- 
cited him  to  act  as  their  president.  This  he  declined,  on  account  of  his 
age,  but  he  was  complimented  by  a  vote  of  the  convention  acknowledging 
his  great  services,  for  a  period  of  more  than  half  a  century,  in  the  cause 
of  his  country  and  of  mankind. 

In  1818,  he  had  lost,  by  her  death,  his  amiable  and  faithful  consort, 
who  had  for  so  many  years  shared  his  anxieties  and  fortunes.  His  only 
daughter,  Mrs  Smith,  died  in  1813.  These  ladies  were  distinguished 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    ADAMS.  101 

through  life  as  among  the  most  excellent  and  talented  of  American  fe- 
males. The  heroic  spirit  of  Mrs.  Adams  is  shown  in  a  striking  light  in 
a  letter  from  her  to  a  friend  in  London,  dated  in  1777 ;  we  give  the  fol- 
lowing extract :  "  Heaven  is  our  witness,  that  we  do  not  rejoice  in  the 
effusion  of  blood ;  but  having  forced  us  to  draw  the  sword,  we  are  deter- 
mined never  to  sheathe  it  slaves  of  Britain.  Our  cause  is,  I  trust,  the 
cause  of  truth  and  justice,  and  will  finally  prevail,  though  the  combined 
force  of  earth  ar.d  hell  shall  rise  against  them.  To  this  cause  I  have  sac- 
rificed much  of  my  own  personal  happiness,  by  giving  up  to  the  councils 
of  America  one  of  my  nearest  connexions,  and  living  for  more  than  three 
years  in  a  state  of  widowhood." 

The  last  years  of  the  long  life  of  Mr.  Adams  were  peaceful  and  tran- 
quil. His  mansion  was  always  the  abode  of  elegant  hospitality,  and  he 
was  occasionally  enlivened  by  visits  from  his  distinguished  son,  who,  in 

1825,  he  had  the  singular  felicity  of  seeing  elevated  to  the  office  of  pres- 
ident of  the  United  States.     At  length,  having  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  he 
expired,  surrounded  by  his  affectionate  relatives,  on  the  fourth  of  July, 

1826,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  that  independence  which  he  had  done  so 
much  to  achieve.     A  short  time  before  his  death,  being  asked  to  suggest  a 
toast  for  the  customary  celebration,  he  replied,  "  I  will  give  you — Inde- 
pendence for  ever."     It  is  known  that  Mr.  Jefferson  died  on  the  same 
day — a  most  remarkable  dispensation  of  Providence.     A  similar  coinci- 
dence occurred  five  years  afterward,  in  the  death  of  President  Monroe, 
July  4,  1831. 

•  Mr.  Adams  was  of  middle  stature,  and  full  person,  and  when  elected 
president,  he  was  bald  on  the  top  of  his  head.  His  countenance  beamed 
with  intelligence,  and  moral  as  well  as  physical  courage.  His  walk  was 
firm  and  dignified,  to  a  late  period  of  his  life.  His  manner  was  slow  and 
deliberate,  unless  he  was  excited,  and  when  this  happened,  he  expressed 
himself  with  great  energy.  He  was  ever  a  man  of  purest  morals,  and  is 
said  to  have  been  a  firm  believer  in  Christianity,  not  from  habit  and  ex- 
ample, but  from  diligent  investigation  of  its  proofs. 

To  use  the  words  of  a  political  friend  of  his  (Mr.  Sullivan)  :  "  He  had 
an  uncompromising  regard  for  his  own  opinion  ;  and  seemed  to  have  sup- 
posed that  his  opinions  could  not  be  corrected  by  those  of  other  men,  nor 
bettered  by  any  comparison.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Mr.  Adams  was 
impatient  in  finding  how  much  the  more  easily  understood  services  of 
military  men  were  appreciated,  than  were  the  secluded,  though  no  less 
important  ones,  of  diplomatic  agency  and  cabinet  council.  So  made  up, 
from  natural  propensities,  and  from  the  circumstances  of  his  life,  Mr. 
Adams  came  to  the  presidency  at- the  time  when  more  forbearance  and 
discretion  were  required  than  he  is  supposed  to  have  had.  He  seems 
to  have  been  deficient  in  the  rare  excellence  of  attempting  to  see  him- 
self as  others  saw  him  ;  and  he  ventured  to  act  as  though  everybody 


102  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OK    JOHN    ADAMS. 

saw  as  he  saw  himself.  He  considered  only  what  was  right  in  his 
own  view  ;  and  that  was  to  be  carried  by  main  force,  whatever  were  the 
obstacles." 

But  whatever  may  be  the  judgment  of  posterity  as  to  his  merits  as  a 
ruler,  there  can  be  no  question  on  the  subject  of  his  general  character — 
nor  of  his  penetrating  mind — his  patriotism,  and  his  devotion  to  what  he 
considered  the  true  interests  of  his  country. 


ADAMS'S 

ADDRESSES  AND  MESSAGES. 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

MARCH  4,   1797. 

WHEN  it  was  first  perceived,  in  early  times,  that  no  middle  course  for 
America  remained  between  unlimited  submission  to  a  foreign  legislature 
and  a  total  independence  of  its  claims,  men  of  reflection  were  less  appre- 
hensive of  danger  from  the  formidable  power  of  fleets  and  armies  thej 
must  determine  to  resist,  than  from  those  contests  and  dissensions  which 
would  certainly  arise  concerning  the  forms  of  government  to  be  instituted 
over  the  whole  and  over  parts  of  this  extensive  country.  Relying,  how- 
ever, on  the  purity  of  their  intentions,  the  justice  of  their  cause,  and  the 
integrity  and  intelligence  of  the  people,  under  an  overruling  Providence 
which  had  so  signally  protected  this  country  from  the  first,  the  representa- 
tives of  this  nation,  then  consisting  of  little  more  than  half  its  present 
number,  not  only  broke  to  pieces  the  chains  which  were  forging  and  the 
rod  of  iron  that  was  lifted  up,  but  frankly  cut  asunder  the  ties  which  had 
bound  them,  and  launched  into  an  ocean  of  uncertainty. 

The  zeal  and  ardor  of  the  people  during  the  revolutionary  war,  supply- 
ing the  place  of  government,  commanded  a  degree  of  order  sufficient  at 
least  for  the  temporary  preservation  of  society.  The  confederation  which 
was  early  felt  to  be  necessary  was  prepared  from  the  models  of  the  Bata- 
vian  arid  Helvetic  confederacies — the  only  examples  which  remain  with 
any  detail  and  precision  in  history,  and  certainly  the  only  ones  which  the 
people  at  large  had  ever  considered.  But  reflecting  on  the  striking  difler- 
ence,  in  so  many  particulars,  between  this  country  and  those  where  a 
courier  may  go  from  the  seat  of  government  to  the  frontier  in  a  single  day, 
it  was  then  certainly  foreseen  by  some  who  assisted  in  Congress  at  the 
formation  of  it  that  it  could  not  be  durable. 

Negligence  of  its  regulations,  inattention  to  its  recommendations,  if  not 
disobedience  to  its  authority,  not  only  in  individuals  but  in  states,  soon  ap- 
peared with  their  melancholy  consequences — universal  languor,  jealousies, 
and  rivalries  of  states,  decline  of  navigation  and  commerce,  discourage- 
ment of  necessary  manufactures,  universal  fall  in  the  value  of  lands  and 
their  produce,  contempt  of  public  and  private  faith,  loss  of  consideration 
and  credit  with  foreign  nations,  and  at  length  in  discontents,  animosities, 
combinations,  partial  conventions,  uud  insurrection,  threatening  some  gre«it 
national  calamity. 


104  ADAMS'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

In  this  dangerous  crisis,  the  people  of  America  were  not  abandoned  by 
iheir  usual  good  sense,  presence  of  mind,  resolution,  or  integrity.  Meas- 
ures were  pursued  to  concert  a  plan  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish 
justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence,  pro- 
mote the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty.  The  public 
disquisitions,  discussions,  and  deliberations,  issued  in  the  present  happy 
constitution  of  government. 

Employed  in  the  service  of  my  country  abroad  during  the  whole  course 
of  these  transactions,  I  first  saw  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  in  a 
foreign  country.  Irritated  by  no  literary  altercation,  animated  by  no  pub- 
lic debate,  heated  by  no  party  animosity,  I  read  it  with  great  satisfaction, 
as  a  result  of  good  heads,  prompted  by  good  hearts,  as  an  experiment  better 
adapted  to  the  genius,  character,  situation,  and  relations  of  this  nation  and 
country  than  any  which  had  ever  been  proposed  or  suggested.  In  its  gen- 
eral principles  and  great  outlines,  it  was  conformable  to  such  a  system  of 
government  as  I  had  ever  most  esteemed,  and  in  some  states,  my  own 
native  state  in  particular,  had  contributed  to  establish.  Claiming  a  right 
of  suffrage,  in  common  with  my  fellow-citizens,  in  the  adoption  or  rejec- 
tion of  a  constitution  which  was  to  rule  me  and  my  posterity  as  well  as 
them  and  theirs,  I  did  not  hesitate  to  express  my  approbation  of  it  on  all 
occasions,  in  public  and  in  private.  It  was  not  then,  nor  has  been  since, 
any  objection  to  it  in  my  mind  that  the  executive  and  senate  were  not  more 
permanent.  Nor  have  I  ever  entertained  a  thought  of  promoting  any  alter- 
ation in  it,  but  such  as  the  people  themselves,  in  the  course  of  their  ex- 
perience, should  see  and  feel  to  be  necessary,  or  expedient,  and  by  their 
representatives  in  Congress  and  the  state  legislature,  according  to  the  con- 
stitution itself,  adopt  and  ordain. 

Returning  to  the  bosom  of  my  country  after  a  painful  separation  from  it 
for  ten  years,  I  had  the  honor  to  be  elected  to  a  station  under  the  new  order 
of  things,  and  I  have  repeatedly  laid  myself  under  the  most  serious  obliga- 
tions to  support  the  constitution.  The  operation  of  it  has  equalled  the  most 
sanguine  expectations  of  its  friends,  and  from  an  habitual  attention  to  it, 
satisfaction  in  its  administration,  and  delight  in  its  effects  upon  the  peace, 
order,  prosperity,  and  happiness  of  the  nation,  I  have  acquired  an  habitual 
attachment  to  it  and  veneration  for  it. 

What  other  form  of  government,  indeed,  can  so  well  deserve  our  esteem 
and  love  ? 

There  maybe  little  solidity  in  an  ancient  idea  that  congregations  of  men 
into  cities  and  nations  are  the  most  pleasing  objects  in  the  sight  of  superior 
intelligences ;  but  this  is  very  certain,  that  to  a  benevolent  human  mind 
there  can  be  no  spectacle  presented  by  any  nation  more  pleasing,  more 
noble,  majestic,  or  august,  than  an  assembly  like  that  which  has  so  often 
been  seen  in  this  and  the  other  chamber  of  Congress,  of  a  government  in 
which  the  executive  authority,  as  well  as  that  of  all  other  branches  of  the 
legislature,  are  exercised  by  citizens  selected  at  regular  periods  by  their 
neighbors  to  make  and  execute  the  laws  for  the  general  good.  Can  any 
thing  essential,  any  more  than  mere  ornament  and  decoration,  be  added  to 
this  by  robes  and  diamonds  ?  Can  authority  be  more  amiable  and  respect- 
able when  it  descends  from  accidents,  or  institutions  established  in  remote 
antiquity,  than  when  it  springs  fresh  from  the  hearts  and  judgments  of  an 
honest  and  enlightened  people  ?  For  it  is  the  people  only  that  are  repre- 
sented. It  is  their  power  and  majesty  that  is  reflected,  and  only  their 
good  is  sought  in  every  legitimate  government,  under  whatever  form  it  may 


ADAMS'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  105 

appear.  The  existence  of  such  a  government  as  ours  for  any  length  of 
time  is  a  full  proof  of  a  general  dissemination  of  knowledge  and  virtue 
throughout  the  whole  body  of  the  people.  And  what  object  or  considera- 
tion more  pleasing  than  this  can  be  presented  to  the  human  mind  ?  If  na- 
tional pride  is  ever  justifiable  or  excusable,  it  is  when  it  springs,  not  from 
power  or  riches,  grandeur  or  glory,  but  from  conviction  of  national  inno- 
cence, information,  and  benevolence. 

In  the  midst  of  these  pleasing  ideas,  we  should  be  unfaithful  to  our- 
selves if  we  should  ever  lose  sight  of  the  danger  to  our  liberties,  if  any- 
thing partial  or  extraneous  should  infect  the  purity  of  our  free,  fair,  virtu- 
ous, and  independent  elections.  If  an  election  is  to  be  determined  by  a 
majority  of  a  single  vote,  and  that  can  be  procured  by  a  party  through  ar- 
tifice or  corruption,  the  government  may  be  the  choice  of  a  party  for  its 
own  ends,  not  of  the  nation  for  the  national  good.  If  that  solitary  suf- 
frage can  be  obtained  by  foreign  nations  by  flattery  or  menaces,  by  fraud 
or  violence,  by  terror,  intrigue,  or  venality,  the  government  may  not  be 
the  choice  of  the  American  people,  but  of  foreign  nations.  It  may  be 
foreign  nations  who  govern  us,  and  not  we,  the  people,  who  govern  our- 
selves. And  candid  men  will  acknowledge  that  in  such  cases  choice 
would  have  little  advantage  to  boast  of  over  lot  or  chance. 

Such  is  the  amiable  and  interesting  system  of  government,  and  such 
are  some  of  the  abuses  to  which  it  may  be  exposed,  which  the  people  of 
America  have  exhibited  to  the  admiration  and  anxiety  of  the  wise  and 
virtuous  of  all  nations  for  eight  years,  under  the  administration  of  a  citi- 
zen, who,  by  a  long  course  of  great  actions,  regulated  by  prudence,  jus- 
tice, temperance,  and  fortitude,  conducting  a  people^  inspired  with  the 
same  virtues  and  animated  with  the  same  ardent  patriotism  and  love  of 
liberty,  to  independence  and  peace,  to  increasing  wealth  and  unexampled 
prosperity,  has  merited  the  gratitude  of  his  fellow-citizens,  commanded 
the  highest  praises  of  foreign  nations,  and  secured  immortal  glory  with 
posterity. 

In  that  retirement  which  is  his  voluntary  choice,  may  he  long  live  to 
enjoy  the  delicious  recollection  of  his  services,  the  gratitude  of  mankind, 
the  happy  fruits  of  them  to  himself  and  the  world,  which  are  daily  in- 
creasing, and  that  splendid  prospect  of  the  future  fortunes  of  this  country 
which  is  opening  from  year  to  year  His  name  may  still  be  a  rampart, 
and  the  knowledge  that  he  lives,  a  bulwark  against  all  open  or  secret  en- 
emies of  his  country's  peace.  His  example  has  been  recommended  to 
the  imitation  of  his  successors  by  both  houses  of  Congress,  and  by  the 
voice  of  the  legislatures  and  the  people  throughout  the  nation. 

On  this  subject  it  might  become  me  better  to  be  silent,  or  to  speak  with 
diffidence  ;  but  as  something  may  be  expected,  the  occasion  I  hope  will 
be  admitted  as  an  apology,  if  I  venture  to  say  that  if  a  preference,  upon 
principle,  of  a  free  republican  government,  formed  upon  long  and  serious 
reflection,  after  a  diligent  and  impartial  inquiry  after  truth ;  if  an  attach- 
ment to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  a  conscientious  deter- 
mination to  support  it  until  it  shall  be  altered  by  the  judgments  and  wishes 
of  the  people,  expressed  in  the  mode  prescribed  in  it ;  if  a  respectful  at- 
tention to  the  constitutions  of  the  individual  states,  and  a  constant  caution 
and  delicacy  toward  the  state  governments  ;  if  an  equal  and  important  re- 
gard to  the  rights,  interest,  honor,  and  happiness,  of  all  the  states  in  the 
Union,  without  preference  or  regard  to  a  northern  or  southern,  an  eastern 
or  western  position,  their  various  political  opinions  on  essential  points,  or 


106  ADAMS'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

their  personal  attachments  ;  if  a  love  of  virtuous  men  of  all  parties  and 
denominations  ;  if  a  love  of  science  and  letters,  and  a  wish  to  patronise 
every  rational  effort  to  encourage  schools,  colleges,  universities,  acade- 
mies, and  every  institution  for  propagating  knowledge,  virtue,  and  religion, 
among  all  classes  of  the  people,  not  only  for  their  benign  influence  on  the 
happiness  of  life  in  all  its  stages  and  classes,  and  of  society  in  all  its 
forms,  but  as  the  only  means  of  preserving  our  constitution  from  its  natu- 
al  enemies,  the  spirit  of  sophistry,  the  spirit  of  party,  the  spirit  of  in- 
trigue, the  profligacy  of  corruption,  and  the  pestilence  of  foreign  influence, 
which  is  the  angel  of  destruction  to  elective  governments  ;  if  a  love  of 
equal  laws,  of  justice,  and  humanity  in  the  interior  administration  ;  if  an 
inclination  to  improve  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures,  for  ne- 
cessity, convenience,  and  defence ;   if  a  spirit  of  equity  and  humanity 
toward  the  aboriginal  nations  of  America,  and  a  disposition  to  meliorate 
their  condition  by  inclining  them  to  be  more  friendly  to  us  and  our  citi- 
zens to  be  more  friendly  to  them ;  if  an  inflexible  determination  to  main- 
tain peace  and  inviolable  faith  with  all  nations,  and  that  system  of  neu- 
trality and  impartiality  among  the  belligerent  powers  of  Europe  which  has 
been  adopted  by  this  government,  and  so  solemnly  sanctioned    by  both 
houses  of  Congress,  and  applauded  by  the  legislature  of  the  states  and 
the  public  opinion,  until  it  shall  be  otherwise  ordained  by  Congress  ;  if  a 
personal  esteem  for  the  French  nation,  formed  in  a  residence  of  seven 
years  chiefly  among  them,  and  a  sincere  desire  to  preserve  the  friendship 
which  has  been  so  much  for  the  honor  and  interest  of  both  nations ;  if, 
while  the  conscious  honor  and  integrity  of  the  people  of  America,  and 
the  internal  sentiment  of  their  own  power  and  energies  must  be  preserved, 
an  earnest  endeavor  to  investigate  every  just  cause,  and  remove  every 
colorable  pretence  of  complaint ;  if  an  intention  to  pursue  by  amicable 
negotiation  a  reparation  for  the  injuries  that  have  been  committed  on  the 
commerce  of  our  fellow-citizens  by  whatever  nation,  and  if  success  can 
not  be  obtained,  to  lay  the  facts  before  the  legislature  that  they  may  con- 
sider what  further  measures  the  honor  and  interest  of  the  government  and 
its  constituents  demand  ;  if  a  resolution  to  do  justice  as  far  as  may  de- 
pend upon  me,  at  all  times  and  to  all  nations,  and  maintain  peace,  friend- 
ship, and  benevolence,  with  all  the  world  ;  if  an  unshaken  confidence  in 
the  honor,  spirit,  and  resources  of  the  American  people,  on  which  I  have 
so  often  hazarded  my  all,  and  never  been  deceived ;  if  elevated  ideas  of 
the  high  destinies  of  this  country  and  of  my  own  duties  toward  it,  founded 
on  a  knowledge  of  the  moral  principles  and  intellectual  improvements  of 
the  people,  deeply  engraven  on  my  mind  in  early  life,  and  not  obscured 
but  exalted  by  experience  and  age,  and,  with  humble  reverence,  I  feel  it 
to  be  my  duty  to  add,  if  a  veneration  for  the  religion  of  a  people  who 
profess  and  call  themselves  Christians,  and  a  fixed  resolution  to  consider 
a  decent  respect  for  Christianity  among  the  best  recommendations  for  the 
public  service,  can  enable  me  in  any  degree  to  comply  with  your  wishes, 
it  shall  be  my  strenuous  endeavor  that  this  sagacious  injunction  of  the 
two  houses  shall  not  be  without  effect. 

With  this  great  example  before  me,  with,  the  sense  and  spirit,  the  faith 
mid  honor,  the  duty  and  interest,  of  the  same  American  people  pledged 
support  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  I  entertain  no  doubt  of 
I  continuance  in  all  its  energy,  and  my  mind  is  prepared,  without  hesi- 
||0u,  to  lay  myself  under  the  most  solemn  obligations  to  support  it  to  the 
utmost  of  my  power. 


ADAMS  S    ADDRESS SPECIAL    SESSION.  10"i 

And  may  that  Being  who  is  supreme  over  all,  the  Patron  of  order,  the 
Fountain  of  justice,  and  the  Protector,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  of  virtuous 
liberty,  continue  his  blessing  upon  this  nation  and  its  government,  and  give 
it  all  possible  success  and  duration  consistent  with  the  ends  of  his  provi- 
dence. 


SPECIAL    S  E  S  S  I  0  N.  — M  E  S  S  A  GE. 
MAY   16,  1797. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

THE  personal  inconvenience  to  members  of  the  senate  and  of  the 
house  of  representatives,  in  leaving  their  families  and  private  affairs  at 
this  season  of  the  year,  are  so  obvious,  that  I  the  more  regret  the  extra- 
ordinary occasion  which  has  rendered  the  convention  of  Congress  indis- 
pensable. 

It  would  have  afforded  me  the  highest  satisfaction  to  have  been  able  to 
congratulate  you  on  a  restoration  of  peace  to  the  nations  of  Europe  whose 
animosities  have  endangered  our  tranquillity.  But  we  have  still  abundant 
cause  of  gratitude  to  the  Supreme  Dispenser  of  national  blessings,  for  gen 
eral  health  and  promising  seasons — for  domestic  and  social  happiness — 
for  the  rapid  progress  and  ample  acquisitions  of  industry  through  our  ex- 
tensive territories — for  civil,  political,  and  religious  liberty.  While  other 
states  are  desolated  with  foreign  war,  or  convulsed  with  intestine  divis- 
ions, the  United  States  present  the  pleasing  prospect  of  a  nation  governed 
by  mild  and  equal  laws — generally  satisfied  with  the  possession  of  their 
rights — neither  envying  the  advantages  nor  fearing  the  power  of  other  na- 
tions— solicitous  only  for  the  maintenance  of  order  and  justice,  and  the 
preservation  of  liberty — increasing  daily  in  their  attachment  to  a  system 
of  government  in  proportion  to  their  experience  of  its  utility — yielding  a 
ready  and  general  obedience  to  laws  flowing  from  the  reason,  and  resting 
on  the  only  solid  foundation,  the  affections  of  the  people. 

It  is  with  extreme  regret  that  I  shall  be  obliged  to  turn  your  thoughts 
to  other  circumstances,  which  admonish  us  that  some  of  these  felicities 
may  not  be  lasting.  But  if  the  tide  of  our  prosperity  is  full  and  a  reflux 
commencing,  a  vigilant  circumspection  becomes  us,  that  we  may  meet  our 
reverses  with  fortitude,  and  extricate  ourselves  from  their  consequences 
with  all  the  skill  we  possess  and  all  the  efforts  in  our  power. 

In  giving  to  Congress  information  of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recom- 
mending to  their  consideration  such  measures  as  appear  to  me  to  be  ex- 
pedient or  necessary,  according  to  my  constitutional  duty,  the  causes  and 
the  object  of  the  present  extraordinary  session  will  be  explained. 

After  the  president  of  the  United  States  received  information  that  the 
French  government  had  expressed  serious  discontents  at  some  proceed- 
ings of  the  government  of  these  states  said  to  affect  the  interests  of  France, 
he  thought  it  expedient  to  send  to  that  country  a  new  minister,  fully  instruct- 
ed to  enter  on  such  amicable  discussions,  and  to  give  such  candid  explana- 
tions, as  might  happily  remove  the  discontents  and  suspicions  of  the 
French  government,  and  vindicate  the  government  of  the  United  States. 
For  this  purpose,  he  selected  from  among  his  fellow-citizens  a  character 


108  ADAMS  8    ADDRESS — SPECIAL  SESSION. 

whose  integrity,  talents,  experience,  and  services,  had  placed  him  in  the 
rank  of  the  most  esteemed  and  respected  in  the  nation.  The  direct  ob- 
ject of  his  mission  was  expressed  in  his  letter  of  credence  to  the  French 
republic,  being  "  to  maintain  that  good  understanding  which,  from  the 
commencement  of  the  alliances,  had  subsisted  between  the  two  Nations, 
and  to  efface  unfavorable  impressions,  banish  suspicions,  and  restore  that 
cordiality  which  was  at  once  the  evidence  and  pledge  of  a  friendly  union." 
And  his  instructions  were  to  the  same  effect,  "  faithfully  to  represent  th 
disposition  of  the  government  and  people  of  the  United  States,  their  dis 
position  being  one  to  remove  jealousies  and  obviate  complaints  by  show- 
ing that  they  were  groundless,  to  restore  that  mutual  confidence  which 
had  been  so  unfortunately  and  injuriously  impaired,  and  to  explain  the  rel- 
ative interests  of  both  countries,  and  the  real  sentiments  of  his  own." 

A  minister  thus  specially  commissioned  it  was  expected  would  prove 
the  instrument  of  restoring  mutual  confidence  between  the  republics.  The 
first  step  of  the  French  government  corresponded  with  that  expectation. 
A  few  days  before  his  arrival  at  Paris,  the  French  minister  of  foreign  re- 
lations informed  the  American  minister  then  resident  at  Paris  of  the  for- 
malities to  he  observed  by  himself  in  taking  leave,  and  by  his  successor 
preparatory  to  his  reception.  These  formalities  they  observed,  and  on  the 
9th  December  presented  officially  to  the  minister  of  foreign  relations,  the 
one  a  copy  of  his  letters  of  recall,  the  other  a  copy  of  his  letters  of  cred- 
ence. 

These  were  laid  before  the  executive  directory.  Two  days  afterward, 
the  minister  of  foreign  relations  informed  the  recalled  American  minister 
that  the  executive  directory  had  determined  not  to  receive  another  minis- 
ter plenipotentiary  from  the  United  States  until  after  the  redress  of  griev- 
ances demanded  of  the  American  government,  and  which  the  French 
republic  had  a  right  to  expect  from  it.  The  American  minister  immedi- 
ately endeavored  to  ascertain  whether,  by  refusing  to  receive  him,  it  was 
intended  that  he  should  retire  from  the  territories  of  the  French  republic  ; 
and  verbal  answers  were  given  that  such  was  the  intention  of  the  direc- 
tory. For  his  own  justification,  he  desired  a  written  answer  ;  but  obtain- 
ed none  until  toward  the  last  of  January,  when,  receiving  notice  in  writing 
to  quit  the  territories  of  the  republic,  he  proceeded  to  Amsterdam,  where 
he  proposed  to  wait  for  instructions  from  this  government.  During  his 
residence  at  Paris,  cards  of  hospitality  were  refused  him,  and  he  was 
threatened  with  being  subjected  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  minister  of  po- 
lice ;  but  with  becoming  firmness,  he  insisted  on  the  protection  of  the  law 
of  nations  due  to  him  as  the  known  minister  of  a  foreign  power.  You 
will  derive  further  information  from  his  despatches,  which  will  be  laid 
before  you. 

As  it  is  often  necessary  that  nations  should  treat  for  the  mutual  advan- 
tage of  their  affairs,  and  especially  to  accommodate  and  terminate  difficul- 
ties, and  as  they  can  treat  only  by  ministers,  the  right  of  embassy  is  well 
known  and  established  by  the  law  and  usage  of  nations.  The  refusal  on 
the  part  of  France  to  receive  our  minister,  is,  then,  the  denial  of  a  right ; 
but  the  refusal  to  receive  him  until  we  had  acceded  to  their  demands  with- 
out discussion  and  without  investigation,  is  to  treat  us  neither  as  allies, 
nor  as  friends,  nor  as  a  sovereign  state. 

With  this  conduct  of  the  French  government,  it  will  be  proper  to  take 
into  view  the  public  audience  given  to  the  late  minister  of  the  United 
States  on  his  taking  leave  of  the  executive  directory.  The  speech  of  the 


ADAMS'S  ADDRESS — SPECIAL  SESSION.  109 

president  discloses  sentiments  more  alarming  than  the  refusal  of  a  minis- 
ter, because  more  dangerous  to  our  independence  and  Union,  and  at  the 
same  time  studiously  marked  with  indignities  toward  the  government  of 
the  United  States.  It  evinces  a  disposition  to  separate  the  people  of  the 
United  States  from  the  government — to  persuade  them  that  they  have 
different  affections,  principles,  and  interests,  from  those  of  their  fellow-citi- 
zens whom  they  themselves  have  chosen  to  manage  their  common  con- 
cerns— and  thus  to  produce  divisions  fatal  to  our  peace.  Such  attempts 
ought  to  be  repelled  with  a  decision  that  shall  convince  France  and  the  world 
that  we  are  not  a  degraded  people,  humbled  under  a  colonial  spirit  of  fear 
and  sense  of  inferiority,  fitted  to  be  the  miserable  instruments  of  foreign 
influence,  and  regardless  of  national  honor,  character,  and  interest. 

I  should  have  been  happy  to  have  thrown  a  veil  over  these  transactions, 
if  it  had  been  possible  to  conceal  them  ;  but  they  have  passed  on  the  great 
theatre  of  the  world,  in  the  face  of  all  Europe  and  America,  and  with  such 
circumstances  of  publicity  and  solemnity  that  they  can  not  be  disguised, 
and  will  not  soon  be  forgotten.  They  have  inflicted  a  wound  on  the 
American  breast.  It  is  my  sincere  desire,  however,  that  it  may  be  healed. 

It  is  my  sincere  desire,  and  in  this  I  presume  I  concur  with  you  and 
with  our  constituents,  to  preserve  peace  and  friendship  with  all  nations ; 
and  believing  that  neither  the  honor  nor  the  interest  of  the  United  States 
absolutely  forbid  the  repetition  of  advances  for  securing  these  desirable 
objects  with  France,  I  shall  institute  a  fresh  attempt  at  negotiation,  and 
shall  not  fail  to  promote  and  accelerate  an  accommodation  on  terms  com- 
patible with  the  rights,  duties,  interests,  and  honor  of  the  nation.  If  we 
have  committed  errors,  and  these  can  be  demonstrated,  we  shall  be  wil- 
ling to  correct  them.  And  equal  measure  of  justice  we  have  a  right  to 
expect  from  France,  and  every  other  nation. 

The  diplomatic  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  France  be- 
ing at  present  suspended,  the  government  has  no  means  of  obtaining  offi- 
cial information  from  that  country.  Nevertheless,  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  the  executive  directory  passed  a  decree  on  the  second  of  March 
last,  contravening  in  part  the  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  of  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  seventy-eight,  injurious  to  our  lawful  commerce, 
and  endangering  the  lives  of  our  citizens.  A  copy  of  this  decree  will  be 
laid  before  you. 

While  we  are  endeavoring  to  adjust  all  our  differences  with  France  by 
amicable  negotiation,  the  progress  of  the  war  in  Europe,  the  depredations 
on  our  commerce,  the  personal  injuries  to  our*  citizens,  and  the  general 
complexion  of  our  affairs,  render  it  my  indispensable  duty  to  recommend 
to  your  consideration  effectual  measures  of  defence. 

The  commerce  of  the  United  States  has  become  an  interesting  object 
of  attention,  whether  we  consider  it  in  relation  to  the  wealth  and  finances, 
or  the  strength  and  resources,  of  the  nation.  With  a  seacoast  of  near  two 
thousand  miles  in  extent,  opening  a  wide  field  for  fisheries,  navigation,  and 
commerce,  a  great  portion  of  our  citizens  naturally  apply  their  industry 
and  enterprise  to  those  objects.  Any  serious  and  permanent  injury  to 
commerce  would  not  fail  to  produce  the  most  embarrassing  disorders.  To 
prevent  it  from  being  undermined  and  destroyed,  it  is  essential  that  it  re- 
ceive an  adequate  protection. 

The  naval  establishment  must  occur  to  every  man  who  considers  the 
injuries  committed  on  our  commerce,  and  the 'insults  offered  to  our  citi- 
zens, and  the  description  of  the  vessels  by  which  these  abuses  have  been 


110  ADAMS'S  ADDRESS — SPECIAL  SESSION. 

practised.  As  the  sufferings  of  our  mercantile  and  seafaring  citizens  can 
not  he  ascribed  to  the  omission  of  duties  demandable,  considering  the 
neutral  situation  of  our  country,  they  are  to  be  attributed  to  the  hope  of 
impunity,  arising  from  a  supposed  inability  on  our  part  to  afford  protection. 
To  resist  the  consequences  of  such  impressions  on  the  minds  of  foreign 
nations,  and  to  guard  against  the  degradation  and  servility  which  they 
must  finally  stamp  on  the  American  character,  is  an  important  duty  of 
government. 

A  naval  power,  next  to  the  militia,  is  the  natural  defence  of  the  United 
States.  The  experience  of  the  last  war  would  be  sufficient  to  show  that 
:i  moderate  naval  force,  such  as  would  be  easily  within  the  present  abili- 
ties of  the  Union,  would  have  been  sufficient  to  have  baffled  many  for- 
midable transportations  of  troops  from  one  state  to  another,  which  were 
then  practised.  Our  seacoasts,  from  their  great  extent,  are  more  easily 
.innoyed  and  more  easily  defended  by  a  naval  force  than  any  other.  With 
;il!  the  materials,  our  country  abounds  ;  in  skill,  our  naval  architects  and 
navigators  are  equal  to  any ;  and  commanders  and  seamen  will  not  be 
wanting. 

But  although  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  system  of  naval  defence 
appears  to  be  requisite,  I  am  sensible  it  can  not  be  formed  so  speedily  and 
extensively  as  the  present  crisis  demands.  Hitherto,  I  have  thought  proper 
lo  prevent  the  sailing  of  armed  vessels,  except  on  voyages  to  the  East 
Indies,  where  general  usage  and  the  danger  from  pirates  appeared  to  ren- 
der the  permission  proper.  Yet  the  restriction  has  originated  solely  from 
a  wish  to  prevent  collisions  with  the  powers  at  war,  contravening  the  act 
of  Congress  of  June,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-four,  and  not 
from  any  doubt  entertained  by  me  of  the  policy  and  propriety  of  permit- 
ting our  vessels  to  employ  means  of  defence  while  engaged  in  a  lawful 
foreign  commerce.  It  remains  for  Congress  to  prescribe  such  regulations 
as  will  enable  our  seafaring  citizens  to  defend  themselves  against  viola- 
tions of  the  law  of  nations,  and  at  the  same  time  restrain  them  from  com- 
mitting acts  of  hostility  against  the  powers  at  war.  In  addition  to  this 
voluntary  provision  for  defence  by  individual  citizens,  it  appears  to  me 
necessary  to  equip  the  frigates,  and  to  provide  other  vessels  of  inferior 
force,  to  take  under  convoy  such  merchant-vessels  as  shall  remain  unarmed. 

The  greater  part  of  the  cruisers,  whose  depredations  have  been  most 
injurious,  have  been  built,  and  some  of  them  partially  equipped,  in  the 
United  States.  Although  an  effectual  remedy  may  be  attended  with  diffi- 
culty, yet  I  have  thought  it  my  duty  to  present  the  subject  generally  to 
your  consideration.  If  a  mode  can  be  devised  by  the  wisdom  of  Con- 
gress to  prevent  the  resources  of  the  United  States  from  being  converted 
into  the  means  of  annoying  our  trade,  a  great  evil  will  be  prevented.  With 
the  same  view,  I  think  it  proper  to  mention  that  some  of  our  citizens,  resi- 
dents abroad,  have  fitted  out  privateers,  and  others  have  voluntarily  taken 
the  command,  or  entered  on  board  of  them,  and  committed  spoliations  on 
the  commerce  of  the  United  States.  Such  unnatural  and  iniquitous  prac- 
tices can  be  restrained  only  by  severe  punishments. 

But  besides  a  protection  of  our  commerce  on  the  seas,  I  think  it  highly 
necessary  to  protect  it  at  home,  where  it  is  collected  in  our  most  impor- 
tant ports.  The  distance  of  the  United  States  from  Europe,  and  the  well- 
known  promptitude,  ardor,  and  courage  of  the  people  in  defence  of  their 
country,  happily  diminisn*  the  probability  of  invasion.  Nevertheless,  to 
puard  against  sudden  and  predatory  incursions,  the  situation  of  some  of 


ADAMS'S  ADDRESS — SPECIAL  SESSION.  Ill 

our  principal  seaports  demands  your  consideration.  And  as  our  country  is 
vulnerable  in  other  interests  besides  those  of  commerce,  you  will  seri- 
ously deliberate  whether  the  means  of  general  defence  ought  not  to  be 
increased  by  an  addition  to  the  regular  artillery  and  cavalry,  and  by  ar- 
rangements for  forming  a  provisional  army. 

With  the  same  view,  and  as  a  measure  which,  even  in  time  of  univer- 
sal peace,  ought  not  to  be  neglected,  I  recommend  to  your  consideration  a 
revision  of  the  laws  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the  militia,  to 
render  that  natural  and  safe  defence  of  the  country  efficacious. 

Although  it  is  very  true  that  we  ought  not  to  involve  ourselves  in  the 
political  system  of  Europe,  but  to  keep  ourselves  always  distinct  and  sep- 
arate from  it  if  we  can,  yet  to  effect  this  separation,  early,  punctual,  and 
continual  information  of  the  current  chain  of  events,  and  of  the  political 
projects  in  contemplation,  is  no  less  necessary  than  if  we  were  directly 
concerned  in  them.  It  is  necessary,  in  order  to  the  discovery  of  the  efforts 
made  to  draw  us  in  the  vortex,  in  season  to  make  preparations  against 
them.  However  we  may  consider  ourselves,  the  maritime  and  commercial 
powers  of  the  world  will  consider  the  United  States  of  America  as  form- 
ing a  weight  in  that  balance  of  power  in  Europe  which  can  never  be  for- 
gotten or  neglected.  It  would  not  only  be  against  our  interest,  but  it 
would  be  doing  wrong  to  one  half  of  Europe  at  least,  if  we  should  volun- 
tarily throw  ourselves  into  either  scale.  It  is  a  natural  policy  for  a  nation 
that  studies  to  be  neutral  to  consult  with  other  nations  engaged  in  the  same 
studies  and  pursuits.  At  the  same  time  that  measures  might  be  pursued 
with  this  view,  our  treaties  with  Prussia  and  Sweden,  one  of  which  is  ex- 
pired and  the  other  near  expiring,  might  be  renewed. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

It  is  particularly  your  province  to  consider  the  state  of  the  public  finances, 
and  to  adopt  such  measures  respecting  them  as  exigencies  shall  be  found 
to  require.  The  preservation  of  public  credit,  the  regular  extinguishment 
of  the  public  debt,  and  a  provision  of  funds  to  defray  any  extraordinary  ex- 
penses, will  of  course  call  for  your  serious  attention.  Although  the  im- 
position of  new  burdens  can  not  be  in  itself  agreeable,  yet  there  is  no  ground 
to  doubt  that  the  American  people  will  expect  from  you  such  measures  as 
their  actual  engagements,  their  present  security,  and  future  interests  de- 
mand. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : — 

The  present  situation  of  our  country  imposes  an  obligation  on  all  the  de- 
partments of  government  to  adopt  an  explicit  and  decided  conduct.  In  my 
situation,  an  exposition  of  the  principles  by  which  my  administration  will 
be  governed  ought  not  to  be  omitted. 

It  is  impossible  to  conceal  from  ourselves  or  the  world,  what  has  been 
before  observed,  that  endeavors  have  been  employed  to  foster  and  establist 
a  division  between  the  government  and  the  people  of  the  United  States 
To  investigate  the  causes  which  have  encouraged  this  attempt  is  not  ne 
,  cessary ;  but  to  repel,  by  decided  and  united  councils,  insinuations  so  de 
rogatory  to  the  honor,  and  aggressions  so  dangerous  to  the  constitution, 
union,  and  even  independence  of  the  nation,  is  an  indispensable  duly. 

It. must  not  be  permitted  to  be  doubted  whether  the  people  of  the  United 
States  will  support  the  government  established  by  their  voluntary  consent 
and  appointed  by  their  free  choice,  or  whether,  surrendering  themselves  to 


112  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

the  direction  of  foreign  and  domestic  factions,  in  opposition  to  their  own 
government,  they  will  forfeit  the  honorable  station  they  have  hitherto 
maintained. 

For  myself,  having  never  been  indifferent  to  what  concerned  the  inter- 
ests of  my  country — -devoted  the  best  part  of  my  life  to  obtain  and  support 
its  independence — and  constantly  witnessed  the  patriotism,  fidelity,  and 
perseverance  of  my  fellow-citizens  on  the  most  trying  occasions — it  is  not 
for  me  to  hesitate  or  abandon  a  cause  in  which  my  heart  has  been  so  long 
engaged. 

Convinced  that  the  conduct  of  the  government  has  been  just  and  impar- 
tial to  foreign  nations — that  those  internal  regulations  which  have  been 
established  by  law  for  the  preservation  of  peace  are  in  their  nature,  prop- 
er, and  that  they  have  been  fairly  executed — nothing  will  ever  be  done 
by  me  to  impair  the  national  engagements,  to  innovate  upon  principles 
which  have  been  so  deliberately  and  uprightly  established,  or  to  surrender 
in  any  manner  the  rights  of  the  government.  To  enable  me  to  maintain 
this  declaration,  I  rely,  under  God,  with  entire  confidence  on  the  firm  and 
enlightened  support  of  the  national  legislature,  and  upon  the  virtue  and 
patriotism  of  my  fellow-citizens. 


FIRST    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
NOVEMBER  23,  1797. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 
I  WAS  for  some  time  apprehensive  that  it  would  be  necessary,  on  ac- 
count of  the  contagious  sickness  which  afflicted  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
to  convene  the  national  legislature  at  some  other  place.  This  measure  it 
was  desirable  to  avoid,  because  it  would  occasion  much  public  inconveni- 
ence and  a  considerable  public  expense,  and  add  to  the  calamities  of  the 
inhabitants  of  this  city,  whose  sufferings  must  have  excited  the  sympathy 
of  all  their  fellow-citizens.  Therefore,  after  taking  measures  to  ascertain 
the  state  and  decline  of  the  sickness,  I  postponed  my  determination,  hav- 
ing hopes  (now  happily  realized)  that,  without  hazard  to  the  lives  of  the 
members,  Congress  might  assemble  at  this  place,  where  it  was  by  law 
next  to  meet.  I  submit,  however,  to  your  consideration,  whether  a  power 
to  postpone  the  meeting  of  Congress,  without  passing  the  time  fixed  by  the 
constitution  upon  such  occasions,  would  not  be  a  useful  amendment  to  the 
law  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-four. 

Although  I  can  not  yet  congratulate  you  on  the  re-establishment  of  peace 
in  Europe,  and  the  restoration  of  security  to  the  persons  and  properties  of 
our  citizens  from  injustice  and  violence  at  sea,  we  have,  nevertheless, 
abundant  cause  of  gratitude  to  the  Source  of  benevolence  and  influence  for 
interior  tranquillity  and  personal  security,  for  propitious  seasons,  prosper- 
ous agriculture,  productive  fisheries,  and  general  improvements,  and,  above 
all,  for  a  rational  spirit  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  a  calm  but  steady 
determination  to  support  our  sovereignty,  as  well  as  our  moral  and  reli- 
gious principles,  against  all  open  and  secret  attacks. 

Our  envoys  extraordinary  to  the  French  republic  embarked,  one  in  July, 
the  other  early  in  August,  to  join  their  colleague  in  Holland.  I  have  re- 


ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANXUAL  ADDRESS.  113 

ceived  intelligence  of  the  arrival  of  both  of  them  in  Holland,  from  whence 
they  all  proceeded  on  their  journeys  to  Paris,  within  a  few  days  of  the  1 9th 
of  September.  Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  this  mission,  I  trust  that 
nothing  will  have  been  omitted  on  my  part  to  conduct  the  negotiation  to  a 
successful  conclusion,  on  such  equitable  terms  as  maybe  compatible  with 
the  safety,  honor,  and  interests  of  the  United  States.  Nothing,  in  the 
meantime,  will  contribute  so  much  to  the  preservation  of  peace  and  the 
attainment  of  justice,  as  a  manifestation  of  that  energy  and  unanimity  of 
which,  on  many  former  occasions,  the  people  of  the  United  States  have 
given  such  memorable  proofs,  and  the  exertion  of  those  resources  for  na- 
tional defence  which  a  beneficent  Providence  has  kindly  placed  within 
their  power. 

It  may  be  confidently  asserted,  that  nothing  has  occurred  since  the  ad- 
journment of  Congress  which  renders  inexpedient  those  precautionary  meas- 
ures recommended  by  me  to  the  consideration  of  the  two  houses  at  the 
opening  of  your  late  extraordinary  session.  If  that  system  was  then  pru- 
dent, it  is  more  so  now,  as  increasing  depredations  strengthen  the  reasons 
for  its  adoption. 

Indeed,  whatever  may  be  the  issue  of  the  negotiations  with  France,  and 
whether  the  war  in  Europe  is  or  is  not  to  continue,  I  hold  it  most  certain 
that  permanent  tranquillity  and  order  will  not  soon  be  obtained.  The 
state  of  society  has  so  long  been  disturbed,  the  sense  of  moral  and  reli- 
gious obligations  so  much  weakened,  public  faith  and  national  honor  have 
been  so  impaired,  respect  to  treaties  has  been  so  diminished,  and  the  law 
of  nations  has  lost  so  much  of  its  force,  while  pride,  ambition,  avarice,  and 
violence,  have  been  so  long  unrestrained,  there  remains  no  reasonable 
ground  on  which  to  raise  an  expectation  that  a  commerce  without  protec- 
tion or  defence  will  not  be  plundered. 

The  commerce  of  the  United  States  is  essential,  if  not  to  their  exist- 
ence, at  least  to  their  comfort,  their  growth,  prosperity,  and  happiness 
The  genius,  character,  and  habits  of  the  people,  are  highly  commercial. 
Their  cities  have  been  formed  and  exist  upon  commerce.  Our  agricul- 
ture, fisheries,  arts,  and  manufactures,  are  connected  with  and  depend  upon 
it.  In  short,  commerce  has  made  this  country  what  it  is,  and  it  can  not 
be  destroyed  or  neglected  without  involving  the  people  in  poverty  and  dis- 
tress. Great  numbers  are  directly  and  solely  supported  by  navigation. 
The  faith  of  society  is  pledged  for  the  preservation  of  the  rights  of  com- 
mercial and  seafaring,  no  less  than  of  the  other,  citizens.  Under  this  view 
of  our  affairs,  1  should  hold  myself  guilty  of  a  neglect  of  duty  if  I  forbore 
to  recommend  that  we  should  make  every  exertion  to  protect  our  com- 
merce, and  to  place  our  country  in  a  suitable  posture  of  defence,  as  the 
only  sure  means< of  preserving  both. 

I  have  entertained  an  expectaiion  that  it  would  have  been  in  my  power, 
at  the  opening  of  this  session,  to  have  communicated  to  you  the  agreeable 
information  of  the  due  execution  of  our  treaty  with  his  catholic  majesty 
respecting  the  withdrawing  of  his  troops  from  our  territory  and  the  de- 
marcation of  the  line  of  limits.  But  by  the  latest  authentic  intelligence, 
Spanish  garrisons  were  still  continued  within  our  country,  and  the  running 
of  the  boundary  line  had  not  been  commenced.  These  circumstances  are 
the  more  to  be  regretted,  as  they  can  not  fail  to  afloct  tho  Indians  in  a  man- 
ner ii^urious  to  the  United  States.  Still,  however,  indulging  the  hope  that 
the  answers  which  have  been  given  will  remove  the  objections  offered  by 
the  Spanish  officers  to  the  immediate  execution  of  the  treaty,  1  have  judged 

VOL.   I.— 8 


114  ADAMS  S    FIRST    ANNl'AL    ADDRESS 

it  proper  that  wo  should  continue  in  readiness  to  receive  the  posts  and  to 
run  the  line  of  limits.  Further  information  on  this  subject  will  he  com- 
municated in  the  course  of  the  session. 

In  connexion  with  this  unpleasant  state  of  things  on  our  western  fron- 
tier, it  is  proper  for  me  to  mention  the  attempts  of  foreign  agents  to  alien- 
ate the  affections  of  the  Indian  nations,  and  to  excite  them  to  actual  hos- 
tilities against  the  United  States.  Great  activity  has  been  exerted,  by  those 
persons  who  have  insinuated  themselves  among  the  Indian  tribes  residing 
within  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  to  influence  them  to  transfer  their 
affections  and  force  to  a  foreign  nation,  to  form  them  into  a  confederacy  and 
prepare  them  for  a  war  against  the  United  States.  Although  measures 
Lave  been  taken  to  counteract  these  infractions  of  our  rights,  to  prevent 
Indian  hostilities,  and  to  preserve  entire  their  attachment  to  the  United 
States,  it  is  my  duty  to  observe,  that  to  give  a  better  effect  to  these  meas- 
ures, and  to  obviate  the  consequences  of  a  repetition  of  such  practices,  a 
law  providing  adequate  punishment  for  such  ofi'ences  may  be  necessary. 

The  commissioners  appointed  under  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  am- 
ity, commerce,  and  navigation,  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
to  ascertain  the  river  which  was  truly  intended  under  the  name  of  thr 
river  St.  Croix  mentioned  in  the  treaty  of  peace,  met  at  Passamaquoddy 
bay,  in  October,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-six,  and  viewed 
the  mouths  of  the  rivers  in  question  and  adjacent  shores  on  the  islands ; 
and  being  of  opinion  that  actual  surveys  of  both  rivers  to  their  sources 
were  necessary,  gave  to  the  agents  of  the  two  nations  instructions  for  that 
purpose,  and  adjourned  to  meet  at  Boston  in  August.  They  met.  But 
the  surveys  requiring  more  time  than  had  been  supposed,  and  not  being 
then  completed,  the  commissioners  again  adjourned  to  meet  at  Providence, 
in  the  state  of  Rhode  Island,  in  June  next,  when  we  may  expect  a  final 
examination  and  decision. 

The  commissioners  appointed  in  pursuance  of  the  sixth  article  of  the 
treaty,  met  at  Philadelphia  in  May  last,  to  examine  the  claims  of  British 
subjects  for  debts  contracted  before  the  peace,  and  still  remaining  due  to 
them  from  citizens  or  inhabitants  of  the  United  States.  Various  causes 
have  hitherto  prevented  any  determinations,  but  the  business  is  now  re- 
sumed and  doubtless  will  be  prosecuted  without  interruption. 

Several  decisions  on  the  claims  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  for 
losses  and  damages  sustained  by  reason  of  irregular  and  illegal  captures 
or  condemnations  of  their  vessels  or  other  property,  have  been  made  by 
the  commissioners  in  London  conformably  to  the  seventh  article  of  the 
treaty.  The  sums  awarded  by  the  commissioners  have  been  paid  by  the 
British  government.  A  considerable  number  of  other  claims,  where  cost 
and  damages,  and  not  captured  property,  were  the  only  objects  in  question, 
have  been  decided  by  arbitration,  and  the  sums  awarded  to  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  have  also  been  paid. 

The  commissioners  appointed  agreeably  to  the  twenty-first  article  of 
our  treaty  with  Spain,  met  at  Philadelphia  in  the  summer  past,  to  exam- 
ine and  decide  on  the  claims  of  our  citizens  for  losses  they  have  sustain- 
ed in  consequence  of  their  vessels  and  cargoes  having  been  taken  by  the 
subjects  of  his  catholic  majesty  during  the  late  war  between  Spain  and 
France.  Their  sittings  have  been  internipted,  but  are  now  resumed. 

The  United  States  being  obligated  to  make  compensation  for  the  losses 
and  damages  sustained  by  British  subjects,  upon  the  award  of  the  com- 
missioners acting  under  the  sixth  article  of  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain, 


ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  115 

and  for  the  losses  and  damages  sustained  by  British  subjects  by  reason  of 
the  capture  of  their  vessels  and  merchandise  taken  within  the  limits  and 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  and  brought  into  their  ports,  or  taken  by 
vessels  originally  armed  in  ports  of  the  United  States,  upon  the  awards  of 
the  commissioners  acting  under  the  seventh  article  of  the  same  treaty, 
it  is  necessary  that  provision  be  made  for  fulfilling  these  obligations. 

The  numerous  captures  of  American  vessels  by  the  cruisers  of  the 
French  republic  and  by  some  of  those  of  Spain,  have  occasioned  consid- 
erable expenses  in  making  and  supporting  the  claims  of  our  citizens  be- 
fore their  tribunals.  The  sums  required  for  this  purpose  have  in  divers 
instances  been  disbursed  by  the  consuls  of  the  United  States.  By  means 
of  the  same  captures,  great  numbers  of  our  seamen  have  been  thrown 
ashore  in  foreign  countries,  destitute  of  all  means  of  subsistence,  and  the 
sick  in  particular  have  been,  exposed  to  grievous  sufferings.  The  consuls 
have  in  these  cases  also  advanced  money  for  their  relief.  For  these  ad- 
vances they  reasonably  expect  reimbursements  from  the  United  States. 

The  consular  act  relative  to  seamen  requires  revision  and  amendment. 
The  provisions  for  their  support  in  foreign  countries,  and  for  their  return, 
are  found  to  be  inadequate  and  ineffectual.  Another  provision  seems 
necessary  to  be  added  to  the  consular  act :  some  foreign  vessels  have 
been  discovered  sailing  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States  and  with 
forged  papers.  It  seldom  happens  that  the  consuls  can  detect  this  de- 
ception, because  they  have  no  authority  to  demand  an  inspection  of  the 
registers  and  sea  letters. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

It  is  my  duty  to  recommend  to  your  serious  consideration  those  objects 
which  by  the  constitution  are  placed  particularly  within  your  sphere — the 
national  debts  and  taxes. 

Since  the  decay  of  the  feudal  system,  by  which  the  public  defence  was 
provided  for  chiefly  at  the  expense  of  individuals,  the  system  of  loans  has 
been  introduced ;  and  as  no  nation  can  raise  within  the  year  by  taxes, 
sufficient  sums  for  defence  and  for  military  operations  in  time  of  war,  the 
sums  loaned  and  debts  contracted  have  necessarily  become  the  subjects 
of  what  have  been  called  funding  systems.  The  consequence's  arising 
from  the  continual  accumulation  of  public  debts  in  other  countries,  ought 
to  admonish  us  to  be  careful  to  prevent  their  groMfth  in  our  own.  The 
national  defence  must  be  provided  for  as  well  as  the  support  of  govern- 
ment, but  both  should  be  accomplished  as  much  as  possible  by  immediate 
taxes,  and  as  little  as  possible  by  loans. 

The  estimates  for  the  sen-ice  of  the  ensuing  year  will  by  my  direction 
be  laid  before  you. 

Gentlemen  of the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  oj  Representatives ; — 
We  are  met  together  at  a  most  interesting  period.  The  situations  of 
the  principal  powers  of  Europe  are  singular  and  portentous.  Connected 
with  some  by  treaties,  and  with  all  by  commerce,  no  important  event  there 
can  be  indifferent  to  us.  Such  circumstances  call  with  peculiar  importu- 
nity not  less  for  a  disposition  to  unite  in  all  those  measures  on  which  the 
honor,  safety,  and  prosperity  of  our  country  depend,  than  for  all  the  exer- 
tions of  wisdom  tind  firmness. 

In  all  such  measures  you  may  rely  on  my  zealous  and  hearty  concur- 
rence. 


110  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

SPECIAL    M  ESS  AGE. 
FEBRUARY  5,  1798. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  HAVE  received  a  letter  from  his  excellency,  Charles  Pinckney,  Esq. 
governor  of  the  state  of  South  Carolina,  dated  the  22d  of  October,  1797, 
enclosing  a  number  of  depositions  and  witnesses  to  several  captures  and 
outrages,  committed  within  and  near  the  limits  of  the  United  States  by  a 
French  privateer  belonging  to  Cape  Frar^ois  or  Monto  Christo,  called  the 
Veritude,  or  Fortitude,  and  commanded  by  a  person  of  the  name  of  Jordan 
or  Jourdain,  and  particularly  upon  an  English  merchant-ship  named  the 
Oracabissa,  which  he  first  plundered  and  then  burned,  with  the  rest  of 
her  cargo  of  great  value,  within  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
harbor  of  Charleston,  on  the  17th  of  October  last ;  copies  of  which  let- 
ter and  depositions,  and  also  of  several  other  depositions  relative  to  the 
same  subject,  received  from  the  collector  of  Charleston,  are  herewith 
communicated. 

Whenever  the  channel  of  diplomatic  communication  between  the  United 
States  and  France  shall  be  opeaed,  I  shall  demand  satisfaction  for  the  in- 
sult and  reparation  for  the  injury. 

1  have  transmitted  those  papers  to  Congress,  not  so  much  for  the  pur- 
pose of  communicating  an  account  of  so  daring  a  violation  of  the  territory 
of  the  United  States,  as  to  show  the  propriety  and  necessity  of  enabling 
the  executive  authority  of  government  to  take  measures  for  protecting  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  such  foreigners  as  may  have  a  right  to 
enjoy  their  peace  and  the  protection  of  their  laws  within  their  limits,  in 
that  as  well  as  some  other  harbors  which  are  equally  exposed. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

MARCH  19,  1798. 
• 
Gentlemen  of  the  Senate,  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

THE  despatches  from  the  envoys  extraordinary  of  the  United  States  to 
the  French  republic,  which  were  mentioned  in  my  message,  to  both 
houses  of  Congress,  of  the  fifth  instant,  have  been  examined  arid  maturely 
considered. 

While  I  feel  a  satisfaction  in  informing  you  that  their  exertions  for  the 
adjustment  of  the  differences  between  the  two  nations  have  been  sincere 
and  unremittcd,  it  is  incumbent  on  me  to  declare  that  1  perceive  no  ground 
of  expectation  that  the  objects  of  their  mission  can  be  accomplished  on 
terms  compatible  with  the  safety,  the  honor,  or  the  essential  interests  of 
the  nation. 

This  result  can  not  with  justice  be  attributed  to  any  want  of  moderation 
on  the  part  of  this  government,  or  to  any  indisposition  to  forego  secondary 
interests  for  the  preservation  of  peace.  Knowing  it  to  be  my  duly,  and 
believing  it  to  be  your  wish,  as  well  as  that  of  the  great  body  of  the  peo- 
ple, to  avoid  by  all  reasonable  concessions  any  participation  in  the  con- 


ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  J 17 

tentions  of  Europe,  the  powers  vested  in  our  envoys  were  commensurate 
with  a  liberal  and  pacific  policy  and  that  high  confidence  which  might 
justly  be  reposed  in  the  abilities,  patriotism,  and  integrity,  of  the  charac- 
ters to  whom  the  negotiation  was  committed.  After  a  careful  review  of 
the  whole  subject,  with  the  aid  of  all  the  information  I  have  received,  I 
can  discern  nothing  which  could  have  insured  or  contributed  to  success 
that  has  been  omitted  on  my,  part,  and  nothing  further  which  can  be 
attempted  consistently  with  maxims  for  which  our  country  has  con- 
tended at  every  hazard,  and  which  constitute  the  basis  of  our  national 
sovereignty. 

Under  these  circumstances,  I  can  not  forbear  to  reiterate  the  recom- 
mendations which  have  been  formerly  made,  and  to  exhort  you  to  adopt 
with  promptitude,  decision,  and  unanimity,  such  measures  as  the  ample 
resources  of  the  country  afford  for  the  protection  of  our  seafaring  and 
commercial  citizens  ;  for  the  defence  of  any  exposed  portions  of  our  ter- 
ritory ;  for  replenishing  our  arsenals  and  establishing  foundries  and  mili- 
tary manufactories  ;  and  to  provide  such  efficient  revenue  as  will  be  neces- 
sary to  defray  extraordinary  expenses,  and  supply  the  deficiencies  which 
may  be  occasioned  by  depredations  on  our  commerce. 

The  present  state  of  things  is  so  essentially  different  from  that  under 
which  instructions  were  given  to  the  collectors  to  restrain  vessels  of  the 
United  States  from  sailing  in  an  armed  condition,  that  the  principle  on  which 
those  orders  were  issued  has  ceased  to  exist.  I  therefore  deem  it  proper 
to  inform  Congress  that  1  no  longer  conceive  myself  justifiable  in  contin- 
uing them,  unless  in  particular  cases  where  there  may  be  reasonable 
ground  of  suspicion  that  such  vessels  are  intended  to  be  employed  con- 
trary to  law. 

In  all  your  proceedings  it  will  be  important  to  manifest  a  zeal,  vigor, 
and  concert,  in  defence  of  the  national  rights,  proportioned  to  the  danger 
with  which  they  are  threatened. 


SECOND    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
UECIMBER  8,  1798. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : — 

WHILE  with  reverence  and  resignation  we  contemplate  the  dispensa- 
tions of  Divine  Providence  in  the  alarming  and  destructive  pestilence  with 
which  several  of  our  cities  and  towns  have  been  visited,  there  is  cause 
for  gratitude  and  mutual  congratulations  that  the  malady  has  disappeared, 
and  that  we  are  again  permitted  to  assemble  in  safety  at  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment for  the  discharge  of  our  important  duties.  But  when  we  reflect 
that  this  fatal  disorder  has  within  a  few  years  made  repeated  ravages  in 
some  of  our  principal  seaports,  and  with  increased  malignancy — and  when 
we  consider  the  magnitude  of  the  evils  arising  from  the  interruption  of 
public  and  private  business,  whereby  the  national  interests  arc  deeply  af- 
fected, I  think  it  my  duty  to  invite  the  legislature  of  the  Tnion  to  examine 
the  expediency  of  establishing  suitable  regulations  in  aid  of  the  health 
laws  of  the  respective  states  ;  for  these  being  formed  on  the  idea  that  con- 
tagious sickness  may  be  communicated  through  the  channels  of  commerce, 


118  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

there  seems  to  be  a  necessity  that  Congress,  who  alone  can  regulate  trade, 
should  frame  a  system  which  while  it  may  tend  to  preserve  the  general 
hi-alth.  may  be  compatible  wi'h  the  interests  of  commerce  and  the  safety 
of  the  revenue. 

While  we  think  on  this  calamity,  and  sympathize  with  the  immediate 
sufferers,  we  have  abundant  reason  to  present  to  the  Supreme  Being  our 
annual  oblations  of  gratitude  for  a  liberal  participation  in  the  ordinary  bles- 
sings of  his  providence  To  the  usual  subjects  of  gratitude  I  can  not  omit 
to  add  one  of  the  first  importance  to  our  well-being  and  safety — I  mean 
that  spirit  which  has  arisen  in  our  country  against  the  menaces  and  ag- 
gression of  a  foreign  nation.  A  manly  sense  of  national  honor,  dignity, 
and  independence,  has  appeared,  which,  if  encouraged  and  invigorated  by 
every  branch  of  the  government,  will  enable  us  to  view  undismayed  the 
enterprises  of  any  foreign  power,  and  become  the  sure  foundation  of  na- 
tional prosperity  and  glory. 

The  course  of  the  transactions  in  relation  to  the  United  States  and 
France  which  have  come  to  my  knowledge  during  your  recess,  will  be 
made  the  subject  of  a  future  communication.  That  communication  will 
confirm  the  ultimate  failure  of  the  measures  which  have  been  taken  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  toward  an  amicable  adjustment  of  differ- 
ences with  that  power.  You  will  at  the  same  time  perceive  that  the 
French  government  appears  solicitous  to  impress  the  opinion  that  it  is 
averse  to  a  rupture  with  this  country,  and  that  it  has  in  a  qualified  manner 
declared  itself  willing  to  receive  a  minister  from  the  United  States  for  the 
purpose  of  restoring  a  good  understanding.  It  is  unfortunate  for  profes- 
sions of  this  kind  that  they  should  be  expressed  in  terms  which  may 
countenance  the  inadmissible  pretension  of  a  right  to  prescribe  the  quali- 
fications which  a  minister  from  the  United  States  should  possess,  and  that, 
while  France  is  asserting  the  existence  of  a  disposition  on  her  part  to 
conciliate  with  sincerity  the  differences  which  have  arisen,  the  sincerity 
of  a  like  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  of  which  so  many 
demonstrative  proofs  have  been  given,  should  even  be  indirectly  ques- 
tioned. It  is  also  worthy  of  observation,  that  the  decree  of  the  directory 
alleged  to  be  intended  to  restrain  the  depredations  of  French  cruisers  on 
our  commerce,  has  not  given,  and  can  not  give,  any  relief.  It  enjoins 
them  to  conform  to  all  the  laws  of  France  relative  to  cruising  and  prizes, 
while  these  laws  are  themselves  the  sources  of  the  depredation  of  which 
we  have  so  long,  so  justly,  and  so  fruitlessly  complained. 

The  law  of  France,  enacted  in  January  last,  which  subjects  to  capture 
and  condemnation  neutral  vessels  and  their  cargoes,  if  any  portion  of  the 
latter  are  of  British  fabric  or  produce,  although  the  entire  property  belong 
to  neutrals,  instead  of  being  rescinded,  has  lately  received  a  confirmation 
by  the  failure  of  a  proposition  for  its  repeal.  While  this  law,  which  is  an 
unequivocal  act  of  war  on  the  commerce  of  the  nations  it  attacks,  contin- 
ues in  force,  those  nations  can  see  in  the  French  government  only  a  powei 
regardless  of  their  essential  rights,  of  their  independence  and  sovereignty  ; 
and  if  they  possess  the  means,  they  can  reconcile  nothing  with  their  in- 
terest and  honor  but  a  firm  resistance. 

Hitherto,  therefore,  nothing  is  discoverable  in  the  conduct  of  France 
which  ought  to  change  or  relax  our  measures  of  defence.  On  the  con- 
trary, to  extend  and  invigorate  them  is  our  true  policy.  We  have  no  rea- 
son to  regret  that  these  measures  have  been  thus  far  adopted  and  pursued, 
and  in  proportion  as  we  enlarge  our  view  of  the  portentous  and  incalcula 


ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  119 

ble  situation  of  Europe,  we  shall  discover  new  and  cogent  motives  for  the 
full  development  of  our  energies  and  resources. 

But  in  demonstrating  by  our  conduct  that  we  do  not  fear  war  in  the 
necessary  protection  of  our  rights  and  honor,  we  shall  give  no  room  to 
infer  that  we  abandon  the  desire  of  peace.  An  efficient  preparation  for 
war  can  alone  ensure  peace.  It  is  peace  that  we  have  uniformly  and  per- 
severingly  cultivated,  and  harmony  between  us  and  France  may  be  re- 
stored at  her  option.  But  to  send  another  minister  without  more  deter- 
minate assurances  that  he  would  be  received,  would  be  an  act  of  humilia- 
tion to  which  the  United  States  ought  not  to  submit.  It  must  therefore 
be  left  with  France  (if  she  is  indeed  desirous  of  accommodation)  to  take 
the  requisite  steps.  The  United  States  will  steadily  observe  the  maxims 
by  which  they  have  hitherto  been  governed.  They  will  respect  the  sa- 
cred rights  of  embassy.  And  with  a  sincere  disposition  on  the  part  of 
France  to  desist  from  hostility,  to  make  reparation  for  the  injuries  hereto- 
fore inflicted  on  our  commerce,  and  to  do  justice  in  future,  there  will  be 
no  obstacle  to  the  restoration  of  a  friendly  intercourse.  In  making  to  you 
this  declaration,  I  give  a  pledge  to  France  and  the  world  that  the  execu- 
tive authority  of  this  country  still  adheres  to  the  humane  and  pacific  pol- 
iey  which  has  invariably  governed  its  proceedings,  in  conformity  with  the 
wishes  of  the  other  branches  of  the  government  and  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  But  considering  the  late  manifestations  of  her  policy  tow- 
ard foreign  nations,  I  deem  it  a  duty  deliberately  and  solemnly  to  declare 
my  opinion,  that  whether  we  negotiate  with  her  or  not,  vigorous  prepara- 
tions for  war  will  be  alike  indispensable.  These  alone  will  give  to  us  an 
equal  treaty,  and  insure  its  observance. 

Among  the  measures  of  preparation  which  appear  expedient,  I  take  the 
liberty  to  recall  your  attention  to  the  naval  establishment.  The  beneficial 
effects  of  the  small  naval  armament  provided  under  the  acts  of  the  last  ses- 
sion are  known  and  acknowledged.  Perhaps  no  country  ever  experienced 
more  sudden  and  remarkable  advantages  from  any  measure  of  policy  than 
we  have  derived  from  the  arming  for  our  maritime  protection  and  defence. 
We  ought  without  loss  of  time  to  lay  the  foundation  for  an  increase  of  our 
navy  to  a  size  sufficient  to  guard  our  coast  and  protect  our  trade.  Such 
n,  naval  force  as  it  is  doubtless  in  the  power  of  the  United  States  to  create 
and  maintain,  would  also  afford  to  them  the  best  means  of  general  defence 
by  facilitating  the  safe  transportation  of  troops  and  stores  to  every  part  of 
our  extensive  coast.  To  accomplish  this  important  object,  a  prudent  fore- 
sight requires  that  systematical  measures  be  adopted  for  procuring  at  all 
times  the  requisite  timber  and  other  supplies.  In  what  manner  this  shall 
be  done,  I  leave  to  your  consideration. 

I  will  now  advert,  gentlemen,  to  some  matters  of  less  moment,  but  prop- 
er to  be  communicated  to  the  national  legislature. 

After  the  Spanish  garrisons  had  evacuated  the  posts  they  occupied  at 
the  Natchez  and  Walnut,  hills,  the  commissioner  of  the  United  States  com- 
menced his  observations  to  ascertain  the  point  near  the  Mississippi  which 
terminated  the  northernmost  part  of  the  thirty-first  degree  of  north  latitude. 
From  thence  he  proceeded  to  run  the  boundary  line  between  the  United 
States  and  Spain.  He  was  afterward  joined  by  the  Spanish  commissioner, 
when  the  work  of  the  former  was  confirmed,  and  they  proceeded  together 
to  the  demarcation  of  the  line.  Recent  information  renders  it  probable 
that  southern  Indians,  either  instigated  to  oppose  the  demarcation  or  jealous 
of  the  consequences  of  suffering  white  people  to  run  a  line  over  lands  to 


ICO  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

which  the  Indian  title  had  not  been  extinguished,  have  ere  this  time  stop- 
ped the  progress  of  the  commissioners.  And  considering  the  mischiefs 
which  may  result  from  continuing  the  demarcation  in  opposition  to  the  will 
of  the  Indian  tribes,  the  great  expense  attending  it,  and  that  the  boundaries 
which  the  commissioners  have  actually  established  probably  extend  at 
least  as  far  as  the  Indian  title  had  been  extinguished,  it  will,  perhaps,  be- 
come expedient  and  necessary  to  suspend  further  proceedings  by  recalling 
our  commissioner. 

The  commissioners  appointed  in  'pursuance  of  the  fifth  article  of  the 
treaty  of  amity,  commerce,  and  navigation,  between  the  United  States  and 
his  Britannic  majesty,  to  determine  what  river  was  truly  intended  under 
the  name  or  the  river  St.  Croix  mentioned  in  the  treaty  of  peace,  and  form- 
ing a  part  of  the  boundary  therein  described,  have  finally  decided  that 
question.  On  the  25th  of  October,  they  made  their  declaration  that  a  river 
called  Scoodiac,  which  falls  into  Passamaquoddy  bay  at  its  northwestern 
quarter,  was  the  true  St.  Croix  intended  in  the  treaty  of  peace,  as  far  as 
its  great  fork,  where  one  of  its  streams  comes  from  the  westward  and  the 
other  from  the  northward,  and  that  the  latter  stream  is  the  continuation  of 
the  St.  Croix  to  its  source.  This  decision,  it  is  understood,  will  preclude 
all  contention  among  individual  claimants,  as  it  seems  that  the  Scoodiac 
and  its  northern  branch  bound  the  grants  of  lands  which  have  been  made 
by  the  respective  adjoining  governments.  A  subordinate  question,  how- 
ever, it  has  been  suggested,  still  remains  to  be  determined.  Between  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Croix  as  now  settled,  and  what  is  usually  called  the  bay 
of  Fundy,  lie  a  number  of  valuable  islands.  The  commissioners  have  not 
continued  the  boundary  line  through  any  channel  of  these  islands,  and  un- 
less the  bay  of  Passamaquoddy  be  a  part  of  the  bay  of  Fundy,  this  further 
adjustment  of  boundary  will  be  necessary.  But  it  is  apprehended  that  this 
will  not  be  a  matter  of  any  difficulty. 

Such  progress  has  been  made  in  the  examination  and  decision  of  cases 
of  captures  and  condemnations  of  American  vessels  which  were  the  subject 
of  the  seventh  article  of  the  treaty  of  amity,  commerce,  and  navigation, 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  that  it  is  supposed  the  com- 
missioners will  be  able  to  bring  their  business  to  a  conclusion  in  August  of 
the  ensuing  year. 

The  commissioners  acting  under  the  twenty-fifth  article  of  the  treaty 
between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  have  adjusted  most  of  the  claims  of 
our  citizens  for  losses  sustained  in  consequence  of  their  vessels  and  cargoes 
having  been  taken  by  the  subjects  of  his  catholic  majesty  during  the  late 
war  between  France  and  Spain. 

Various  circumstances  have  occurred  to  delay  the  execution  of  the  law 
for  augmenting  the  military  establishment ;  among  these,  the  desire  of  ob- 
taining the  fullest  information  to  direct  the  best  selection  of  officers.  As 
this  object  will  now  be  speedily  accomplished,  it  is  expected  that  the  rais- 
ing and  organizing  of  the  troops  will  proceed  without  obstacle  and  with 
effect . 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

I  have  directed  an  estimate  of  the  appropriations  which  will  be  neces- 
sary for  the  service  of  the  ensuing  year  to  be  laid  before  you,  accompanied 
with  a  view  of  the  public  receipts  and  expenditures  to  a  recent  period.  It 
will  alTord  you  satisfaction  to  infer  the  great  extent  and  solidity  of  the  pub- 
lic resources  from  the  prosperous  state  of  the  finances,  notwithstanding  the 


ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  121 

unexampled  embarrassments  which  have  attended  commerce.  When  you 
reflect  on  the  conspicuous  examples  of  patriotism  and  liberality  which  have 
been  exhibited  by  our  mercantile  fellow-citizens,  and  how  great  a  portion 
of  the  public  resources  depends  on  their  enterprise,  you  will  naturally  con- 
sider whether  their  convenience  can  not  be  promoted  and  reconciled  with 
the  security  of  the  revenue  by  a  revision  of  the  system  by  which  the  col- 
lection is  at  present  regulated. 

During  your  recess,  measures  have  been  steadily  pursued  for  effecting 
the  valuations  and  returns  directed  by  the  act  of  the  last  session,  prelimi- 
nary to  the  assessment  and  collection  of  a  direct  tax.  No  other  delays  or 
obstacles  have  been  experienced,  except  such  as  were  expected  to  arise 
from  the  great  extent  of  our  country  and  the  magnitude  and  novelty  of  the 
operation,  and  enough  has  been  accomplished  to  assure  a  fulfilment  of  the 
views  of  the  legislature. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 
I  can  not  close  this  address  without  once  more  adverting  to  our  political 
situation,  and  inculcating  the  essential  importance  of  uniting  in  the  main- 
tenance of  our  dearest  interests  ;  and  1  trust  that  by  the  temper  and  wis- 
dom of  your  proceedings,  and  by  a  harmony  of  measures,  we  shall  secure 
to  our  country  that  weight  and  respect  to  which  it  is  so  justly  entitled. 


THIRD    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
DECEMBER  3,  1799. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 
IT  is  with  peculiar  satisfaction  that  I  meet  the  sixth  Congress  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  Coming  from  all  parts  of  the  Union  at  this 
critical  and  interesting  period,  the  members  must  be  fully  possessed  of  the 
sentiments  and  wishes  of  our  constituents. 

The  flattering  prospects  of  abundance  from  the  labors  of  the  people  by 
land  and  sea ;  the  prosperity  of  our  extended  commerce,  notwithstanding 
interruptions  occasioned  by  the  belligerent  state  of  a  great  part  of  the 
world ;  the  return  of  health,  industry,  and  trade,  to  those  cities  which 
have  lately  been  afflicted  with  disease  ;  and  the  various  and  inestimable 
advantages,  civil  and  religious,,  which,  secured  under  our  happy  frame  of 
government,  are  continued  to  us  unimpaired,  demand  of  the  whole  Ameri- 
can people  sincere  thanks  to  a  benevolent  Deity  for  the  merciful  dispensa- 
tions of  his  providence. 

But  while  these  numerous  blessings  are  recollected,  it  is  a  painful  duty 
to  advert  to  the  ungrateful  return  which  has  been  made  for  them  by  some 
of  the  people  in  certain  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  where,  seduced  by  the 
arts  and  misrepresentations  of  designing  men,  they  have  openly  resisted 
the  law  directing  the  valuation  of  houses  and  lands.  Such  defiance  was 
givon  to  the  civil  authority  as  rendered  hopeless  all  further  attempts  by 
judicial  process  to  enforce  the  execution  of  the  law,  and  it  became  ne- 
cessary to  direct  a  military  force  to  be  employed,  consisting  of  some  com- 
panies of  regular  troops,  volunteers,  and  militia,  by  whose  zeal  and  ac- 
tivity, in  co-operation  with  the  judicial  power,  order  and  submission  were 


122  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

restored,  and  many  of  the  offenders  arrested.  Of  these  some  have  been 
convicted  of  misdemeanors,  and  others,  charged  with  various  crimes, 
remain  to  be  tried. 

To  give  due  effect  to  the  civil  administration  of  government,  and  to  in- 
sure a  just  execution  of  the  laws,  a  revision  and  amendment  of  the  ju- 
diciary system  is  indispensably  necessary.  In  this  extensive  country,  it 
can  not  but  happen  that  numerous  questions  respecting  the  interpretation 
of  the  laws,  and  the  rights  and  duties  of  officers  and  citizens,  rnus>t  arise. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  laws  should  be  executed  ;  fin  the  other,  individuals 
should  be  guarded  from  oppression.  Neither  of  these  objects  is  suffi- 
ciently assured  under  the  present  organization  of  the  judicial  department. 
I  therefore  earnestly  recommend  the  subject  to  your  serious  consideration. 

Persevering  in  the  pacific  and  humane  policy  which  has  been  invariably 
professed  and  sincerely  pursued  by  the  executive  authority  of  the  United 
States,  when  indications  were  made  on  the  part  of  the  French  republic 
of  a  disposition  to  accommodate  the  existing  differences  between  the  two 
countries,  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  prepare  for  meeting  their  advances  by 
a  nomination  of  ministers  upon  certain  conditions  which  the  honor  of  our 
country  dictated,  and  which  its  moderation  had  given  a  right  to  prescribe. 
The  assurances  which  were  required  of  the  French  government  previous 
to  the  departure  of  our  envoys,  have  been  given  through  their  minister  of 
foreign  relations,  and  I  have  directed  them  to  proceed  on  their  mission  to 
Paris.  They  have  full  power  to  conclude  a  treaty,  subject  to  the  consti- 
tutional advice  and  consent  of  the  senate.  The  characters  of  these  gen- 
tlemen are  sure  pledges  to  their  country  that  nothing  incompatible  with  its 
honor  or  interest,  nothing  inconsistent  with  our  obligations  of  good  faith 
or  friendship  to  any  other  nation,  will  be  stipulated. 

It  appearing  probable,  from  the  information  I  received,  that  our  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  some  ports  in  the  island  of  St.  Domingo  might 
safely  be  renewed,  I  took  such  steps  as  seemed  to  me  expedient  to  ascer- 
tain that  point.  The  result  being  satisfactory,  I  then,  in  conformity  with 
the  act  of  Congress  on  the  subject,  directed  the  restraints  and  prohibitions 
of  that  intercourse  to  be  discontinued  on  terms  which  were  made  known 
by  proclamation.  Since  the  renewal  of  this  intercourse,  our  citizens  tra- 
ding to  those  ports,  with  their  property,  have  been  duly  respected,  and 
privateering  from  those  ports  has  ceased. 

In  examining  the  claims  of  British  subjects  by  the  commissioners  at 
Philadelphia,  acting  under  the  sixth  article  of  the  treaty  of  amity,  com- 
merce, and  navigation,  with  Great  Britain,  a  difference  of  opinion,  on  points 
deemed  essential  in  the  interpretation  of  that  article,  has  arisen  between 
the  commissioners  appointed  by  the  United  States,  and  the  other  members 
of  that  board,  from  which  the  former  have  thought  it  their  duty  to  with- 
draw. It  is  sincerely  to  be  regretted  that  the  execution  of  an  article  pro- 
duced by  a  mutual  spirit  of  amity  and  justice,  should  have  been  thus  un- 
avoidably interrupted.  It  is,  however,  confidently  expected  that  the  same 
spirit  of  amity  and  the  same  sense  of  justice  in  which  it  originated  will 
lead  to  satisfactory  explanations.  In  consequence  of  the  obstacles  to  the 
progress  of  the  commission  in  Philadelphia,  his  Britannic  majesty  has 
directed  the  commissioners  appointed  by  him  under  the  seventh  article  of 
the  treaty  relating  to  British  captures  of  American  vessels,  to  withdraw 
from  the  hoard  sitting  in  London  ;  but  with  the  express  declaration  of 
his  determination  to  fulfil,  with  punctuality  and  good  faith,  the  engage 
ments  which  his  majesty  has  contracted  by  his  treaty  with  the  United 


ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUA_  ADDRESS.  123 

States,  and  that  they  will  be  instructed  to  resume  their  functions  when- 
ever the  obstacles  which  impede  the  progress  of  the  commission  at  Phil- 
adelphia shall  be  removed.  It  being  in  like  manner  my  sincere  deter- 
mination, so  far  as  the  same  depends  on  me,  that  with  equal  punctuality 
and  good  faith  the  engagements  contracted  by  the  United  States  in  their 
treaties  with  his  Britannic  majesty  shall  be  fulfilled,  I  shall  immediately 
instruct  our  minister  at  London  to  endeavor  to  obtain  the  explanations 
necessary  to  a  just  performance  of  those  engagements  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States.  With  such  dispositions  on  both  sides,  I  can  not  entertain 
a  doubt  that  all  difficulties  will  soon  be  removed,  and  that  the  two  boards 
will  then  proceed  and  bring  the  business  committed  to  them  respectively, 
to  a  satisfactory  conclusion. 

The  act  of  Congress  relative  to  the  seat  of  government  of  the  United 
States,  requiring  that  on  the  first  Monday  of  December  next  it  should  be 
transferred  from  Philadelphia  to  the  district  chosen  for  its  permanent  seat, 
it  is  proper  for  me  to  inform  you  that  the  commissioners  appointed  to  pro- 
vide suitable  buildings  for  the  accommodation  of  Congress  and  of  the 
president  and  for  the  public  offices  of  the  government,  have  made  a  report 
of  the  state  of  the  buildings  designed  for  those  purposes  in  the  city  of 
Washington,  from  which  they  conclude  that  the  removal  of  the  seat  of 
government  to  that  place  at  the  time  required  will  be  practicable  and  the 
accommodation  satisfactory.  Their  report  will  be  laid  before  you. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

I  shall  direct  the  estimates  of  the  appropriations  necessary  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  ensuing  year,  together  with  an  account  of  the  revenue  and  ex- 
penditure, to  be  laid  before  you.  During  a  period  in  which  a  great  por- 
tion of  the  civilized  world  has  been  involved  in  a  war  unusually  calami- 
tous and  destructive,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  United  States  could 
be  exempted  from  extraordinary  burdens.  Although  the  period  is  not  ar- 
rived when  the  measures  adopted  to  secure  our  country  against  foreign  at- 
tacks can  be  renounced,  yet  it  is  alike  necessary,  for  the  honor  of  the 
government  and  the  satisfaction  of  the  community,  that  an  exact  economy 
should  be  maintained.  I  invite  you,  gentlemen,  to  investigate  the  differ- 
ent branches  of  the  public  expenditure.  The  examination  will  lead  to 
beneficial  retrenchments,  or  produce  a  conviction  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
measures  to  which  the  expenditure  relates. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  :  — 

At  a  period  like  the  present,  when  momentous  changes  are  occurring 
and  every  hour  is  preparing  new  and  great  events  in  the  political  world — 
when  a  spirit  of  war  is  prevalent  in  almost  every  nation  with  whose  affairs 
the  interest  of  the  United  States  have  any  connexion — unsafe  and  precari- 
ous would  be  our  situation  were  we  to  neglect  the  means  of  maintaining 
our  just  rights.  The  result  of  the  mission  to  France  is  uncertain ;  but 
however  it  may  terminate,  a  steady  perseverance  in  a  system  of  national 
defence  commensurate  with  our  resources  and  the  situation  of  our  country 
is  an  obvious  dictate  of  wisdom.  For  remotely  as  we  are  placed  from  the 
belligerent  nations,  and  desirous  as  we  are,  by  doing  justice  to  all,  to  avoid 
offence  to  any,  nothing  short  of  the  power  of  repelling  aggressions  will 
secure  to  our  country  a  rational  prospect  of  escaping  the  calamities  of  war 
or  national  degradation.  As  to  myself,  it  is  my  anxious  desire  so  to  exe- 
cute the  trust  reposed  in  me,  as  to  render  the  people  of  the  United  States 


124  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

prosperous  and  happy.  I  rely  with  entire  confidence  on  your  co-operation 
in  objects  equally  your  care,  and  that  our  mutual  labors  will  serve  to  in- 
crease and  confirm  union  among  our  fellow-citizens  and  an  unshaken  at- 
tachment to  our  government. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  23,  1799. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  : — 

I  RECEIVE  with  the  most  respectful  and  affectionate  sentiments,  in  your 
impressive  address,  the  obliging  expressions  of  your  regard  for  the  loss 
our  country  has  sustained  in  the  death  of  her  most  esteemed,  beloved,  and 
admired  citizen. 

In  the  multitude  of  my  thoughts  and  recollections  on  this  melancholy 
event,  you  will  permit  me  only  to  say  that  I  have  seen  him  in  days  of  ad- 
versity, in  some  of  the  scenes  of  his  deepest  distress  and  most  trying  per- 
plexities ;  and  I  have  also  attended  him  in  his  highest  elevation  and  most 
prosperous  felicity,  with  uniform  admiration  of  his  wisdom,  moderation, 
and  constancy. 

Among  all  our  original  associates  in  that  memorable  league  of  the  con- 
tinent in  1774,  which  first  expressed  the  sovereign  will  of  a  free  nation  in 
America,  he  was  the  only  one  remaining  in  the  general  government.  Al- 
though with  a  constitution  more  enfeebled  than  his,  at  an  age,  when  he 
'thought  it  necessary  to  prepare  for  retirement,  I  feel  myself  alone,  bereaved 
of  my  last  brother.  Yet  1  derive  a  strong  consolation  from  the  unanimous 
disposition  which  appears  in  all  ages  and  classes  to  mingle  their  sorrows 
with  mine  on  this  common  calamity  to  the  world. 

The  life  of  our  Washington  can  not  suffer  by  a  comparison  with  those  of 
other  countries  who  have  been  most  celebrated  and  exalted  by  fame.  The 
attributes  and  decorations  of  loyalty  could  only  have  served  to  eclipse  the 
majesty  of  those  virtues  which  made  him,  from  being  a  modest  citizen,  a 
more  resplendent  luminary.  Misfortune,  had  he  lived,  could  hereafter 
have  sullied  his  glory  only  with  those  superficial  minds  who,  believing 
that  characters  and  actions  are  marked  by  success  alone,  rarely  deserve  to 
enjoy  it.  Malice  could  never  blast  his  honor,  and  envy  made  him  a  sin- 
gular exception  to  her  universal  rule.  For  himself,  he  had  lived  enough 
to  life  and  to  glory.  For  his  fellow-citizens,  if  their  prayers  could  have 
been  answered  he  would  have  been  immortal.  For  me,  his  departure  is 
at  a  most  unfortunate  moment.  Trusting,  however,  in  the  wise  and  righte- 
'ous  dominion  of  Providence  over  the  opinions  of  men  and  the  results  of 
their  councils  and  actions,  as  well  as  over  their  lives,  nothing  remains  for 
me  but  humble  resignation. 

His  example  is  now  complete,  and  it  will  teach  wisdom  and  virtue  to 
magistrates,  citizens,  and  men,  not  only  in  the  present  age  but  in  future 
generations,  as  long  as  our  history  shall  be  read.  If  a  Trajan  found  a 
Pliny,  a  Marcus  Aurelius  can  never  want  biographers,  eulogists,  or  his- 
torians. 


ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  125 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  8,  1800. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

IN  compliance  with  the  request  in  one  of  the  resolutions  of  Congress  of 
the  21st  of  December  last,  I  transmitted  a  copy  of  these  resolutions,  by  my 
secretary  Mr.  Shaw,  to  Mrs.  Washington,  assuring  her  of  the  profound 
respect  Congress  will  ever  bear  to  her  person  and  character ;  of  their  con- 
dolence in  the  late  afflicting  dispensation  of  Providence  ;  and  entreating 
her  assent  to  the  interment  of  the  remains  of  General  George  Washington 
in  the  manner  expressed  in  the  first  resolution.  As  the  sentiments  of  that 
virtuous  lady,  not  less  beloved  by  this  nation  than  she  is  at  present  greatly 
afflicted,  can  never  be  so  well  expressed  as  in  her  own  words,  I  transmit 
to  Congress  her  original  letter. 

It  would  be  an  attempt  of  too  much  delicacy  to  make  any  comments 
upon  it ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  nation  at  large,  as  well  as 
all  the  branches  of  the  government,  will  be  highly  gratified  by  any  ar- 
rangement which  may  diminish  the  sacrifices  she  makes  of  her  personal 
feelings. 

"  MOUNT  VERNON,  December  31,  1799. 

"  SIR  :  While  I  feel  with  keenest  anguish  the  late  dispensation  of  Divine 
Providence,  I  can  not  be  insensible  to  the  mournful  tributes  of  respect 
and  veneration,  which  are  paid  to  the  memory  of  my  dear  deceased  hus- 
band ;  and  as  his  best  services  and  most  anxious  wishes  were  always  de- 
voted to  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  his  country,  to  know  that  they  were 
truly  appreciated  and  gratefully  remembered  affords  no  inconsiderable  con- 
solation. 

"  Taught  by  the  great  example  which  I  have  so  long  had  before  me  never 
to  oppose  my  private  wishes  to  the  public  will,  I  must  consent  to  the  re- 
quest made  by  Congress,  which  you  have  had  the  goodness  to  transmit  to 
me  ;  and  in  doing  this  I  need  not,  I  can  not,  say  what  a  sacrifice  of  indi- 
vidual feeling  I  make  to  a  sense  of  public  duty. 

"  With  grateful  acknowledgments,  and  unfeigned  thanks  for  the  personal 
respect  and  evidences  of  condolence  expressed  by  Congress  and  yourself, 
"  I  remain,  very  respectfully,  sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient  and  humble  servant, 

"MARTHA  WASHINGTON." 


FOURTH    ANNUAL    ADDRESS. 
NOVEMBER  22,  1800. 

Gentleman  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 
IMMEDIATELY  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  at  their  last  session  in 
Philadelphia,  I  gave  directions,  in  compliance  with  the  laws,  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  public  offices,  records,  and  property.  These  directions  have 
been  executed,  and  the  public  officers  have  since  resided  and  conducted 
the  ordinary  business  of  the  government  in  this  place. 


126  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

I  congratulate  the  people  of  the  United  States  on  the  assembling  of 
Congress  at  the  permanent  seat  of  their  government,  and  I  congratulate 
you,  gentlemen,  on  the  prospect  of  a  residence  not  to  be  changed.  Al- 
though there  is  cause  to  apprehend  that  accommodations  are  not  now  so 
complete  as  might  be  wished,  yet  there  is  great  reason  to  believe  that  this 
in'convenience  will  cease  with  the  present  session. 

It  would  be  unbecoming  the  representatives  of  this  nation  to  assemble 
for  the  first  time  in  this  solemn  temple,  without  looking  up  to  the  Supreme 
Ruler  of  the  universe  and  imploring  his  blessing. 

May  this  territory  be  the  residence  of  virtue  and  happiness  !  In  this 
city  may  that  piety  and  virtue,  that  wisdom  and  magnanimity,  that  con- 
stancy and  self-government,  which  adorned  the  great  character  whose 
name  it  bears,  be  for  ever  held  in  veneration !  Here,  and  throughout  our 
country,  may  simple  manners,  pure  morals,  and  true  religion,  flourish  for 
ever ! 

It  is  with  you,  gentlemen,  to  consider  whether  the  local  powers  over 
the  District  of  Columbia  vested  by  the  constitution  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  shall  be  immediately  exercised.  If  in  your  opinion  this 
important  trust  ought  now  to  be  executed,  you  can  not  fail,  while  perform- 
ing it,  to  take  into  view  the  future  probable  situation  of  the  territory  for 
the  happiness  of  which  you  are  about  to  provide.  You  will  consider  it  as 
the  capital  of  a  great  nation  advancing  with  unexampled  rapidity  in  arts, 
in  commerce,  in  wealth,  and  in  population  ;  and  possessing  within  itself 
those  energies  and  resources  which,  if  not  thrown  away  or  lamentably 
misdirected,  will  secure  to  it  a  long  course  of  prosperity  and  self-govern- 
ment. 

In  compliance  with  a  law  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  the  officers 
and  soldiers  of  the  temporary  army  have  been  discharged.  It  affords  real 
pleasure  to  recollect  the  honorable  testimony  they  gave  to  the  patriotic 
motives  which  brought  them  into  the  service  of  their  country,  by  the  read- 
iness and  regularity  with  which  they  returned  to  the  station  of  private 
citizens. 

It  is  in  every  point  of  view  of  such  primary  importance  to  carry  the 
laws  into  prompt  and  faithful  execution,  and  to  render  that  part  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice  which  the  constitution  and  laws  devolve  on  the 
federal  courts  as  convenient  to  the  people  as  may  consist  with  their  pres- 
ent circumstances,  that  I  can  not  omit  once  more  to  recommend  to  your 
serious  consideration  the  judiciary  system  of  the  United  States.  No  sub- 
ject is  more  interesting  than  this  to  the  public  happiness,  and  to  none  can 
those  improvements  which  may  have  been  suggested  by  experience  be 
more  beneficially  applied. 

A  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with  the  king  of  Prussia  has  been  con- 
cluded and  ratified.  The  ratifications  have  been  exchanged,  and  I  have 
directed  the  treaty  to  be  promulgated  by  proclamation. 

The  difficulties  which  suspend  the  execution  of  the  sixth  article  of  our 
treaty  of  amity,  commerce,  and  navigation,  with  Great  Britain,  have  not 
yet  been  removed.  The  negotiation  on  this  subject  is  still  depending. 
As  it  must  be  for  the  interest  and  honor  of  both  nations  to  adjust  this  dif- 
ference with  good  faith,  I  indulge  confidently  the  expectation  that  the  sin- 
cere endeavors  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  bring  it  to  an 
amicable  termination  will  not  be  disappointed. 

The  envoys  extraordinary  and  ministers  plenipotentiary  from  the  United 
States  to  France  were  received  by  the  first  consul  with  the  respect  due  to 


ADAMS  S    FOURTH    ANNUAL    ADDRESS.  127 

t'.ioir  characters,  and  three  persons  with  equal  powers  were  appointed  to 
treat  with  them.  Although  at  the  date  of  the  last  official  intelligence  the 
negotiation  had  not  terminated,  yet  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  our  efforts  to 
effect  an  accommodation  will  at  length  meet  with  a  success  proportioned 
to  the  sincerity  with  which  they  have  been  so  often  repeated. 

While  our  best  endeavors  for  the  preservation  of  harmony  with  all  na- 
tions will  continue  to  be  used,  the  experience  of  the  world,  our  own  ex- 
perience, admonishes  us  of  the  insecurity  of  trusting  too  confidently  to 
their  success.  We  can  not,  without  committing  a  dangerous  imprudence, 
abandon  those  measures  of  self-protection  which  were  adapted  to  our  sit- 
uation, and  to  which,  notwithstanding  our  pacific  policy,  the  violence  and 
injustice  of  others  may  again  compel  us  to  resort.  While  our  vast  extent 
of  seacoast,  the  commercial  and  agricultural  habits  of  our  people,  the 
great  capital  they  will  continue  to  trust  on  the  ocean,  suggest  the  system 
of  defence  which  will  be  most  beneficial  to  ourselves,  our  distance  from 
Europe  and  our  resources  from  maritime  strength  will  enable  us  to  employ 
it  with  effect.  Seasonable  and  systematic  arrangements,  so  far  as  our 
resources  will  justify,  for  a  navy  adapted  for  defensive  war,  and  which 
may  in  case  of  necessity  be  quickly  brought  into  use,  seem  to  be  as  much 
recommended  by  a  wise  and  true  economy  as  by  a  just  regard  for  our 
future  tranquillity,  for  the  safety  of  our  shores,  and  for  the  protection  of  our 
property  committed  to  the  ocean. 

The  present  navy  of  the  United  States,  called  suddenly  into  existence 
by  a  great  national  exigency,  has  raised  us  in  our  own  esteem,  and  by  the 
protection  afforded  to  our  commerce,  has  effected  to  the  extent  of  our  ex- 
pectations, the  object  for  which  it  was  created. 

In  connexion  with  a  navy  ought  to  be  contemplated  the  fortification  of 
some  of  our  principal  seaports  and  harbors.  A  variety  of  considerations, 
which  will  readily  suggest  themselves,  urge  an  attention  to  this  measure 
of  precaution.  To  give  security  to  our  principal  ports  considerable  sums 
have  already  been  expended,  but  the  works  remain  incomplete.  It  is  for 
Congress  to  determine  whether  additional  appropriations  shall  be  made, 
in  order  to  render  competent  to  the  intended  purposes  the  fortifications 
which  have  been  commenced. 

The  manufacture  of  arms  within  the  United  States  still  invites  the  at- 
tention of  the  national  legislature.  At  a  considerable  expense  to  the  pub- 
lic, this  manufacture  has  been  brought  to  such  a  state  of  maturity  as,  with 
continued  encouragement,  will  supersede  the  necessity  of  future  importa- 
tions from  foreign  countries. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  shall  direct  the  estimates  of  the  appropriations  necessary  for  the  en- 
suing year,  together  with  an  account  of  the  public  revenue  and  expendi- 
ture to  a  later  period,  to  be  laid  before  you.  I  observe  with  much  satis- 
faction, that  the  product  of  the  revenue  during  the  present  year  has  been 
more  considerable  than  during  any  former  equal  period.  This  result  af- 
fords conclusive  evidence  of  the  great  resources  of  this  country,  and  of 
the  wisdom  and  efficiency  of  the  measures  which  have  been  adopted  by 
Congress  for  the  protection  of  commerce  and  preservation  of  public  credit. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

As  one  of  the  grand  community  of  nations  our  attention  is  irresistibly 

drawn  to  the  important  scenes  which  surround  us.      If  they  have  exhibited 


128  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  ADDRESS. 

an  uncommon  portion  of  calamity,  it  is  the  province  of  humanity  to  de- 
plore, nnd  of  wisdom  to  avoid,  the  causes  which  may  have  produced  it. 
If,  turning  our  eyes  homeward,  we  find  reason  to  rejoice  at  the  prospect 
which  presents  itself;  if  we  perceive  the  interior  of  our  country  prosper- 
ous, free,  and  happy  ;  if  all  enjoy  safety  under  the  protection  of  laws 
emanating  only  from  the  general  will,  the  fruits  of  their  own  labor  ;  we 
ought  to  fortify  and  cling  to  those  institutions  which  have  been  the  source 
of  such  real  felicity,  ami  resist  with  unabating  perseverance  the  progress 
of  those  dangerous  innovations  which  may  diminish  their  influence. 

To  your  patriotism,  gentlemen,  has  been  confided  the  honorable  dutv 
of  guarding  the  public  interests ;  and  while  the  past  is  to  your  country  a 
sure  pledge  that  it  will  be  faithfully  discharged,  permit  me  to  assure  you 
that  your  labors  to  promote  the  general  happiness  will  receive  from  me  the 
most  zealous  co-operation. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF  JOHN    ADAMS, 


THE  inauguration  of  John  Adams,  as  the  second  president  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  took  place  in  Congress  Hall,  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  fourth  of 
March,  1797,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  concourse  of  people,  among  whom 
were  General  Washington,  the  vice-president  elect,  the  heads  of  depart- 
ments, many  members  of  Congress,  foreign  ministers,  and  other  distin- 
guished persons.  Mr.  Adams,  who  was  then  in  his  62d  year,  was  dressed 
in  a  full  suit  of  pearl-colored  broadcloth  ;  with  powdered  hair.  Before  thr 
oath  of  office  was  administered  to  the  new  president,  by  Chief- Justice 
Ellsworth,  he  delivered  his  inaugural  address ;  the  sentiments  and  style 
of  which  produced  a  favorable  impression  upon  the  people. 

The  retirement  of  General  Washington  was  a  cause  of  sincere  rejoic- 
ing among  those  of  his  countrymen  who  had  opposed  his  administration. 
In  France  it  was  an  event  long  desired  and  cordially  welcomed.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  of  the  political  friends  of  Washington,  in  view  of  the 
situation  of  the  country,  considered  the  loss  of  his  personal  influence  a 
public  calamity.  But,  as  his  successor  was  known  to  entertain  similar 
views  of  public  policy,  great  hopes  were  felt  for  the  success  of  the  new 
administration. 

Mr.  Adams  continued  in  office  the  same  cabinet  which  had  been  left  by 
President  Washington,  namely :  Timothy  Pickering,  secretary  of  state  , 
Oliver  Wolcott,  secretary  of  the  treasury  ;  James  M'Henry,  secretary  of 
war  ;  and  Charles  Lee,  attorney-general ;  these  gentlemen  being  all  of  the 
federal  party.  The  navy  department  was  not  established  until  1798, 
when  Benjamin  Stoddert,  of  Maryland,  was  appointed  secretary  of  the 
navy,  George  Cabot,  of  Massachusetts,  having  declined  the  office. 

The  aflairs  of  the  United  States  with  France,  received  the  early  atten- 
tion of  President  Adams.  The  American  minister  to  that  republic, 
Charles  C.  Pinckriey,  had  been  expelled  from  their  territory  by  the 
French  rulers,  who  also  issued  new  orders  for  depredations  upon  Ameri- 
can commerce,  more  unjust  and  injurious  than  their  former  decrees.  The 
president  thought  the  state  of  affairs  demanded  the  immediate  considera- 
tion of  Congress,  and  he  therefore  called  that  body  together  on  the  fif- 
teenth of  May,  1797. 

VOL.  I.— 9 


130  ADMINISTRATION    O?    JOHN    ADAMS. 

There  was  a  decided  federal  majority  in  each  branch  of  the  national 
legislature.  Jonathan  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey,  was  again  elected  speaker 
of  the  house  of  representatives ;  which  body,  as  well  as  the  senate,  re- 
sponded to  the  president's  speech  in  terms  of  approval.  Several  mem- 
bers, who  were  generally  found  in  the  opposition,  voted  in  favor  of  reso- 
lutions for  supporting  the  honor  of  the  country,  in  consequence  of  the 
insulting  conduct  of  the  French  government. 

The  administration  and  a  majority  in  Congress,  were  still  desirous  of 
maintaining  a  neutral  position,  and  an  act  was  passed,  in  June,  1797,  to 
prevent  American  citizens  from  fitting  out  or  employing  privateers  against 
nations  at  peace  with  the  United  States.  The  exportation  of  arms  and 
ammunition  was  also  prohibited,  and  the  importation  of  the  same  encour- 
aged by  law.  The  president  was  authorized  to  call  out  the  militia  to  the 
number  of  eighty  thousand,  and  to  accept  of  the  services  of  volunteers 
At  the  same  time,  Congress  provided  for  a  small  naval  force,  but  not  suf- 
ficient to  meet  the  views  of  the  president. 

To  provide  means  for  extra  expenses,  to  be  incurred  for  measures  of 
national  defence,  duties  were  imposed  on  stamped  paper,  and  parchment, 
used  for  business  purposes  ;  an  additional  duty  was  also  laid  on  salt, 
while  a  drawback  was  allowed  on  salt  provisions  and  pickled  fish  export- 
ed. The  stamp  act  proved  an  unpopular  measure.  This  special  session 
of  the  fifth  Congress  was  adjourned  on  the  10th  of  July,  1797. 

The  president  having  intimated  to  Congress  that  he  should  make  a  new 
attempt  to  conciliate  France,  appointed,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
senate,  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  Elbridge  Gerry,  and  John  Mar- 
shall, special  envoys  to  that  republic,  with  very  ample  powers.  These 
gentlemen  met  at  Paris,  in  October,  1797,  and  promptly  attempted  to  ex- 
ecute their  commission.  The  scenes  which  followed  were  well  calculated 
to  excite  the  indignation  of  the  Americans. 

The  French  government  employed  unofficial  individuals  to  confer  with 
the  envoys,  those  individuals  using,  instead  of  their  names,  which  were 
then  unknown,  the  letters  X.  Y.  Z.,  and  in  this  way  the  intercourse 
with  the  American  ministers  was  carried  on.  Attempts  were  made  to 
detach  the  envoys  from  each  other,  and  to  learn  the  separate  views  of 
each,  by  secret  interviews.  Two  of  the  ministers,  Messrs.  Pinckney 
and  Marshall,  were  soon  satisfied  that  no  treaty  could  be  made  with 
France  which  would  be  honorable  to  the  United  States,  and  they  re- 
quested of  President  Adams  leave  to  return.  They  were  soon  ordered 
by  the  French  government  to  quit  France,  while  Mr.  Gerry  was  invited 
to  remain,  and  did  so ;  not  returning  to  the  United  States  until  October 
following. 

When  the  despatches  from  the  envoys  were  made  public  in  the  United 
States,  they  excited  very  general  indignation,  particularly  when  it  was 
known  that  the  French  negotiators  had  demanded  money  of  the  United  States, 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    ADAMS.  131 

as  the  price  of  peace.  The  people  responded  to  the  sentiment  of  Mr. 
Pinckney  on  the  occasion,  "  Millions  for  defence,  but  not  a  cent  for  trib- 
ute." Mr.  Gerry  was  severely  censured  for  not  having  left  France  with 
his  colleagues.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  meant  well,  and  that  he  sup- 
posed his  better  standing  with  the  French  rulers  would  enable  him  to 
effect  the  purposes  of  his  mission.  After  finding  his  mistake,  he  was 
compelled  to  withdraw,  on  receiving  instructions  from  the  president,  with- 
out, of  course,  effecting  anything. 

The  fifth  Congress  reassembled  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  1 3th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1797,  and  continued  in  session  until  the  16th  of  July,  1798,  a  period 
of  247  days,  or  over  eight  months.  Many  important  laws  were  passed — 
among  which  were  those  for  the  protection  of  navigation,  for  maintaining 
neutrality,  for  the  defence  of  the  seacoast,  by  the  fortification  of  Boston, 
Newport,  New  York,  Baltimore,  Norfolk,  Charleston,  and  Savannah  ;  and 
for  an  additional  land  and  naval  force  ;  also  for  a  loan,  which  was  nego- 
tiated at  eight  per  cent,  interest,  and  a  direct  tax  on  real  estate,  to  meet 
the  extra  expenses  of  these  measures  of  defence.  There  was  an  appre- 
hension on  the  part  of  a  majority  in  Congress,  that  the  French  govern- 
ment, elated  by  the  success  of  their  arms  in  Europe,  might  attempt  an  in- 
vasion of  the  United  States.  At  this  time  French  ships-of-war  were  dep- 
redating on  American  commerce,  and  decrees  were  issued  by  the  French 
directory,  subjecting  to  seizure  all  American  vessels  having  on  board  Brit- 
ish goods  or  products,  or  which  had  sailed  from  British  ports.  An  act  of 
Congress  was  passed,  in  June,  1798,  to  suspend  the  commercial  inter- 
course between  the  United  States  and  France  and  her  possessions.  Mer- 
chant ships  were  authorized,  under  certain  restrictions,  to  be  armed  in  their 
voyages  either  to  the  West  Indies  or  to  Europe.  A  regular  and  permanent 
army  was  ordered  to  be  raised,  and  the  president  was  authorized  to  organize 
twelve  additional  regiments  of  infantry,  and  one  regiment  each  of  cavalry, 
artillery,  and  engineers,  to  serve  during  the  difficulties  with  France.  The 
president  was  also  vested  with  power  to  build,  purchase,  or  hire,  twelve 
vessels,  of  twenty  guns  each,  as  an  increase  of  the  infant  navy  of  the 
United  .States.*  Although  these  measures  for  defence  were  generally 
warmly  opposed  by  the  democratic  minority  in  Congress,  and  some  of 
them  adopted  by  small  majorities,  they  were  received  with  approbation  by 
a  great  majority  of  the  people.  The  young  men  took  up  the  subject  of 
the  affairs  of  the  country  with  great  zeal,  and  in  Boston,  Robert  Treat 
Paine  wrote  the  celebrated  song  of  "  Adams  and  Liberty."  He  and  oth- 
ers delivered  patriotic  orations  to  their  young  associates.  Addresses  were 
sent  to  the  president  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  glowing  with  patriot- 
ism, and  with  defiance  of  France.  Mr.  Adams  had  good  reason  to  think 
that  he  stood  strong  in  the  respect  and  affections  of  the  people,  and  at 
this  period  his  administration  was  undoubtedly  popular. 
•  At  this  session  provision  was  made  by  law  for  the  establishment  of  a  navy  department. 


132  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    ADAMS. 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  intended  military  force,  all  eyes  were  turned 
to  Washington  as  the  chief.  Mr.  Adams  made  known  his  intention  to 
appoint  him  ;  and  in  answer,  without  intimating  a  willingness  to  accept, 
he  expressed  his  full  approbation  of  the  president's  measures.  He  was 
afterward  appointed,  with  the  condition  that  he  might  select  his  officers 
next  in  command.* 

The  crisis  did  not  arrive  which  rendered  it  necessary  for  Washington 
to  take  the  field,  and,  in  the  course  of  the  following  year,  a  treaty  was 
made  with  France,  which  put  an  end  to  the  military  operations  in  the 
United  States.  An  army,  however,  was  raised,  in  1798,  as  voted  by  Con- 
gress, and  General  Hamilton,  of  New  York,  was  the  immediate  and  ac- 
tive commander,  being  next  in  ,rank  to  Washington,  when  the  officers  were 
appointed,  and  who  was  recommended  by  him  for  that  station. f 

Although  there  was  no  declaration  of  war,  either  on  the  part  of  Franco 
or  the  United  States,  hostilities  actually  commenced  on  the  ocean  between 
the  two  nations.  The  United  States  frigate  Constellation,  of  38  guns, 
Commodore  Truxton,  on  the  9th  of  February,  1799,  fell  in  with  and 
captured  the  French  frigate  I'lnsurgent,  of  40  guns.  This  action  took 
place  in  the  West  India  seas,  and  lasted  about  an  hour.  The  Constella- 
tion, after  refitting  in  the  United  States,  met  at  sea,  February  1,  1800, 
the  French  frigate  1'Vengeance,  of  54  guns,  which  latter  vessel  was  si- 
lenced after  an  action  of  five  hours.  A  squall  enabled  her  to  escape,  with 
the  loss  of  160  men  killed  and  wounded. 

The  French  government  and  people  were  surprised  by  the  hostile 
movements  of  the  United  States.  They  seem  to  have  relied  on  the  op- 
position party  in  the  United  States  to  prevent  war,  which  was  not  the  ob- 
ject of  France,  and  there  soon  appeared  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
French  rulers  to  recede,  with  regard  to  their  course  toward  the  United 
States. 

There  were  two  acts  of  Congress  passed  in  the  summer  of  1798,  which 
became  extremely  unpopular  with  a  large  portion  of  the  people.  These 
were  the  alien  and  sedition  laws.  The  alien  law  was  objected  to  as  ex- 
tremely liable  to  abuse  by  the  president,  who  was  empowered  to  order 
aliens  who  were  found  or  supposed  to  be  conspiring  against  the  peace  and 
authority  of  the  United  States,  to  depart  from  its  territories.  One  apology  for 
the  law  was,  that  there  were  then  computed  to  be  thirty  thousand  French- 
men in  the  United  States,  all  of  whom  were  devoted  to  their  native  coun- 
try, and  mostly  associated,  through  clubs  or  otherwise.  Besides  these, 
there  were  computed  to  be  fifty  thousand  who  had  been  subjects  of  Great 
Britain,  some  of  whom  had  found  it  unsafe  to  remain  at  home.  It  was 
also  contended  that  the  persons  who,  by  the  law,  were  liable  to  be  re- 
quired to  leave  the  country,  were  not  citi'/ens — had  no  just  claims  to  a 
continuance  here — and  that  their  residence,  with  the  views  they  had,  and 
•  Sullivan.  f  Bradford. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    ADAMS.  133 

the  opinions  they  published,  endangered  the  welfare  of  the  nation,  for 
which  it  was  the  imperious  duty  of  Congress  to  provide.  The  objection 
to  the  sedition  law  was,  that  it  restricted  the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the 
press,  which  was  an  arbitrary  interference  with  the  right  of  the  citizens 
to  express  freely  their  opinions  on  all  public  and  political  measures. 
Those  who  justified  the  law  asserted  that  the  grossest  falsehoods  were  ut- 
tered and  published,  tending  to  deceive  the  people,  and  to  excite  their 
prejudices  unduly,  to  the  danger  of  the  peace  of  the  nation  :  And  the  gov- 
ernment ought  to  take  measures  to  protect  its  rightful  authority,  and  main- 
tain the  peace  of  the  republic — that  the  law  expressly  provided,  in  miti- 
gation of  the  common  law  on  libels,  that  the  truth,  if  proved,  should  be  a 
justification.*  [There  were  at  this  period  two  hundred  newspapers  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States  ;  178  or  180  were  in  favor  of  the  federal  ad- 
ministration, about  twenty  were  opposed  to  most  of-  the  leading  measures 
then  adopted,  and  the  greater  portion  of  these  were  under  the  control  of 
aliens.]! 

The  opposition  to  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  was  very  great  in  some 
parts  of  the  country.  In  Virginia  and  Kentucky  the  legislatures  declared 
them  to  be  direct  and  gross  infractions  of  the  constitution,  and  appealed 
to  the  other  states  to  join  in  opposition  to  them.  At  the  next  session  of 
Congress,  numerous  petitions  were  presented  for  a  repeal,  but  without 
avail  at  that  time  4 

When  the  president  met  the  fifth  Congress  at  the  commencement  of 
their  third  session,  in  December,  1798,  General  Washington  was  present 
in  the  representatives'  hall,  accompanied  by  Generals  Pinckney  and  Ham- 
ilton. This  was  Washington's  last  visit  to  Philadelphia,  previous  to  his 
death,  which  took  place  a  year  afterward.  He  was  now  at  the  seat  of 
government  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  with  the  president  in  arrange- 
ments respecting  the  organization  of  a  provisional  army. 

The  replies  of  both  branches  of  Congress  to  the  president's  speech 
were  in  terms  of  decided  approval  of  the  measures  recommended  by  him, 
particularly  with  regard  to  the  course  pursued  toward  France.  Acts  were 
passed  for  completing  the  organization  of  the  army,  and  for  augmenting 
the  navy.  The  navy  now  began  to  be  regarded  with  favor,  and  the  presi- 
dent was  authorized  to  contract  for  building  six  ships-of-war,  of  seventy- 
four  guns ;  and  six  sloops-of-war,  of  eighteen  guns  each  ;  for  which  pur- 
pose one  million  of  dollars  was  appropriated. 

Acts  were  also  passed,  for  the  relief  and  protection  of  American  sea- 
men, and  authorizing  the  president  to  retaliate  on  subjects  of  other  na- 
tions in  cases  of  impressment ;  to  regulate  trade  and  intercourse  with  the 
Indian  tribes  ;  and  farther  to  suspend  the  commercial  intercourse  between 
the  United  States  and  France.  Sundry  other  measures  of  importance 

•  See  Bradford's  History  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  Sullivan's  Letters, 
f  Bradford.  f  Il.id. 


134  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    ADAMS. 

were  adopted  to  provide  for  the  exigencies  of  the  country.  The  term  of 
the  fifth  Congress  expired  March  3,  1799. 

Resistance  to  the  laws  for  collecting  a  direct  tax  being  made  in  the 
state  of  Pennsylvania,  the  governor  of  that  state  was  called  on  by  the 
president  to  order  out  the  militia,  which  was  done,  and  the  insurrection 
was  promptly  suppressed. 

Before  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  Mr.  Adams  had  received  intima- 
tions from  the  French  government,  through  the  American  minister  in  Hol- 
land, Mr.  William  Vans  Murray,  that  one  or  more  envoys  would  be  re- 
ceived for  the  purpose  of  holding  diplomatic  intercourse.  The  president, 
therefore,  concluded  to  make  a  new  attempt  at  negotiation,  and  on  the  26th 
of  February,  1799,  he  nominated  to  the  senate  Mr.  Murray,  Oliver  Ells- 
worth (then  chief  justice),  and  Patrick  Henry,  as  envoys  to  France,  who 
were  confirmed  by  the  senate.  Mr.  Henry  declined,  and  Governor  Wil- 
liam R.  Davie,  of  North  Carolina,  was  substituted.  In  his  letter  decli- 
ning the  appointment,  Patrick  Henry  said  :  "  I  entertain  a  high  sense  of 
the  honor  done  me  by  the  president  and  the  senate.  Nothing  short  of 
absolute  necessity  could  induce  me  to  withhold  my  feeble  aid  from  an  ad- 
ministration whose  abilities,  patriotism,  and  virtue,  deserve  the  gratitude 
and  reverence  of  all  their  fellow-citizens." 

The  president  did  not  consult  his  cabinet  on  this  occasion.  When  Mr. 
Pickering,  secretary  of  state,  and  Mr.  M'Henry,  secretary  of  war,  were 
informed  that  he  intended  a  new  mission,  they  remonstrated,  and  this  made 
the  breach,  which  had  long  been  widening,  irreparable.  All  those  who 
had  so  far  supported  Mr.  Adams's  measures,  considered  it  inconsistent 
with  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  nation  to  make  any  such  attempt ;  and 
that  proposals  to  treat  should  come  directly  from  France.  General  Ham- 
ilton, Gouverneur  Morris,  and  other  prominent  supporters  of  the  adminis- 
tration, were  much  opposed  to  the  course  adopted  by  the  president  on  this 
occasion. 

The  envoys  to  France  delayed  their  departure  till  November,  1799,  di- 
rect assurances  not  having  beeta  given  to  the  president  until  October, 
that  they  would  be  favorably  received  by  the  French  government.  Hos- 
tilities between  the  two  nations  existed  on  the  ocean,  as  already  stated, 
without  declaration  of  war,  and  upward  of  300  private  American  vessels 
had  been  armed  for  self-defence.  Depredations  on  American  commerce 
had  been  committed  for  a  long  time  by  French  cruisers,  and  an  immense 
amount  of  property  taken  and  destroyed. 

When  the  American  ministers  reached  Paris,  a  change  in  the  French 
government  had  taken  place.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  then  first  consul, 
and  immediately  appointed  three  commissioners,  of  whom  his  brother  Jo- 
seph was  one,  to  treat  with  those  from  the  United  States.  Articles  were 
ratified  by  the  French  government  in  October,  1800,  and  afterward  condi- 
tionally confirmed  by  the  president  and  senate,  before  the  close  of  Mr. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    ADAMS.  135 

Adams's  administration.  The  senate  suspended  two  articles  of  the  treaty, 
for  further  negotiation,  which  were  settled  after  Mr.  Jefferson's  accession 
to  the  presidency.  The  treaty  was  objected  to  in  this  country,  that  it  did 
not  definitely  and  expressly  stipulate  indemnification  for  recent  depreda- 
tions, by  French  vessels,  on  American  commerce.  The  claims  of  the 
United  States  on  France  were  nof,  indeed,  abandoned,  and  the  friends  of 
the  administration  refrained  from  all  denunciations  and  clamors  against  the 
treaty,  from  their  confidence  in  the  desire  of  the  president  and  senate  to 
sustain  the  honor  and  interest  of  the  United  States. 

The  elections  for  members  of  the  sixth  Congress  had  terminated  favor- 
ably for  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams ;  and  on  the  assembling  of  that 
body,  in  December,  1799,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  of  Massachusetts,  a  prom- 
inent federalist,  was  elected  speaker.  The  answers  of  the  two  houses  to 
the  president's  speech,  expressed  their  entire  approbation  of  the  course 
of  the  president  toward  France,  and  their  concurrence  in  his  views  on 
other  subjects  mentioned,  particularly  in  persevering  in  a  system  of  na- 
tional defence,  however  the  mission  to  France  might  terminate. 

On  the  18th  of  December,  Congress  received  the  afflicting  intelligence 
of  the  death  of  General  Washington,  which  was  announced  in  the  house 
of  representatives  by  Mr.  Marshall,  of  Virginia  (afterward  chief  justice), 
and  both  houses  immediately  adjourned.  The  senate-chamber,  and  rep- 
resentatives' hall,  were  afterward  dressed  in  mourning,  and  other  demon- 
strations of  respect  and  of  the  feelings  of  Congress,  were  adopted  in  mem- 
ory of  the  father  of  his  country. 

At  this  session  of  Congress,  which  continued  until  the  14th  of  May, 
1800,  acts  were  passed  further  providing  for  the  defence  of  the  country 
and  for  the  protection  of  commerce  ;  for  maintaining  peace  with  the  Indi- 
ans ;  and  for  the  relief  of  persons  imprisoned  for  debt  in  cases  decided  by 
the  courts  of  the  United  States.  A  bankrupt  law  was  also  enacted,  having 
been  proposed  and  advocated  at  several  preceding  sessions.  An  addi- 
tional act  was  passed  prohibiting  the  slave-trade,  more  explicit  and  exten- 
sive than  the  law  of  1794.  Additional  duties  were  laid  on  sugar,  molas- 
ses, and  wines ;  and  acts  were  also  passed  for  taking  a  census  in  1 800, 
for  erecting  additional  forts  on  the  seacoast,  for  extending  the  postoffice 
establishment,  and  for  the  organization  of  Indiana  territory.  At  this  ses- 
sion, William  H.  Harrison  appeared  as  the  first  delegate  to  Congress  from 
the  Northwest  territory  (now  Ohio  and  Indiana). 

The  conciliatory  measures  of  the  president  toward  France  did  not  have 
the  effect  of  lessening  the  opposition  to  his  administration  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, the  democratic  party  continually  gained  strength  and  new  adherent*, 
and  the  violence  of  their  censures  and  attacks  upon  the  prominent  meas- 
ures of  the  federal  government,  increased  as  the  dangers  of  war  with 
France  passed  away.  The  public  expenditures  for  the  support  of  the 
army  and  navy,  the  direct  taxes,  and  excise,  but  above  all,  the  alien  and 


136  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    ADAMS. 

sedition  laws,  were  the  subjects  of  constant  attack,  and  succor? jl  efforts 
were  made  to  render  these  measures  unpopular  with  the  people. 

The  two  parties  in  Congress  selected,  in  caucus,  their  candidates  for 
president  and  vice-president,  for  the  support  of  the  people ;  the  federalists 
presented  the  names  of  President  Adams  and  General  Charles  Cotesworth 
Pinckney,  brother  to  Thomas  Pinckney,  who  was  placed  on  the  ticket 
with  Mr.  Adams  in  1796;  the  democrats,  or  republicans,  nominated  Mr. 
Jefferson  and  Colonel  Aaron  Burr.  As  most  of  the  presidential  electors 
were  to  be  chosen  by  the  legislatures  of  the  several  states,  the  contest 
commenced  in  the  election  of  members  of  the  state  legislatures.  The 
most  important,  as  well  as  one  of  the  earliest  of  these  elections,  was  that 
in  the  state  of  New  York,  which  took  place  on  the  last  two  days  of  April 
and  the  first  of  May,  1800.  The  result  of  that  contest,  which  was 
known  before  Congress  adjourned,  was  favorable  to  the  friends  of  Jeffer- 
son and  Burr,  thus  reversing  the  vote  of  New  York,  which  had  been  given 
to  Adams  and  Pinckney  in  1796.  The  hopes  of  the  democrats  were,  of 
course,  raised  in  a  high  degree,  and  that  of  the  federalists  proportionally 
depressed,  by  the  prospects  before  them  which  this  election  presented. 
The  question  of  the  presidency  was  not,  however,  by  any  means,  consid- 
ered as  settled,  and  the  public  mind  was  destined  to  be  deeply  excited  on 
the  subject  during  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

Immediately  after  the  New  York  election,  President  Adams  abrup'ly 
dismissed  two  of  his  cabinet  ministers,  viz.,  Mr.  Pickering,  secretary  of 
state,  and  Mr.  M'Henry,  secretary  of  war,  an  event  which  caused  much 
sensation,  and  probably  had  some  influence  in  reducing  the  federal- 
ists to  a  minority.  General  Hamilton  subsequently  came  out  with  a 
letter  censuring  the  public  conduct  and  character  of  Mr.  Adams ;  which 
letter,  disclosing  a  determined  aversion  to  the  president  by  so  conspicuous 
a  leader  of  the  administration  party,  was  considered  as  among  the  opera- 
tive causes  of  Mr.  Adams's  failure  at  the  ensuing  election.  Hamilton,  it 
is  supposed,  intended  the  pamphlet  only  for  circulation  at  the  south  ;  but, 
as  it  got  into  the  hands  of  his  opponents,  its  publication  at  New  York  Avas 
deemed  indispensable.  The  object  of  the  author  of  the  letter  appears  to  have 
been  to  secure  the  election  of  General  Pinckney  for  president,  but  at  the 
same  time,  he  did  not  advise  the  withholding  any  of  the  votes  of  the  fed- 
eral electors  from  Mr.  Adams.  It  was  believed,  by  some,  that  the  state 
of  South  Carolina  would  vote  for  Jefferson  and  Pinckney,  as  was  the  case 
in  1796,  but  in  the  month  of  December,  1800,  when  it  was  known  that 
South  Carolina  had  given  her  electoral  votes  for  Jefferson  and  Burr,  the 
defeat  of  the  federal  candidates  was  settled.  The  votes  of  the  electoral 
colleges  were  as  follows  :  Jefferson,  73  ;  Burr,  73  ;  Adams,  65  ;  Pinck- 
ney, 64  ;  John  Jay,  1.  The  votes  for  Jefferson  and  Burr  being  equal,  it 
remained  for  the  house  of  representatives  to  decide,  according  to  the  con- 
stitution, as  it  then  stood,  which  should  be  president,  and  which  vice-pres- 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    ADAMS.  137 

ident.     Thus   a  new  turn  was   given  to  the   excitement  in  the   public 
mind. 

During  the  summer  of  1800,  the  seat  of  government  had  been  removed 
from  Philadelphia  to  the  new  federal  city  of  Washington,  and  at  the  lately- 
erected  capitol  President  Adams  met  the  sixth  Congress,  on  the  22d  of  No- 
vember, 1800,  when  he  delivered  his  last  annual  speech  to  the  national  leg- 
islature. He  had,  in  May  previous,  appointed  John  Marshall,  of  Virginia, 
secretary  of  state,  and  Samuel  Dexter,  of  Massachusetts,  secretary  of  war. 
On  the  31st  of  December  following,  Oliver  Wolcott  resigned,  as  secretary 
of  the  treasury,  and  Mr.  Dexter  was  appointed  in  his  place.  Roger  Gris- 
wold,  of  Connecticut,  was  appointed  secretary  of  war  on  the  3d  of  Febru- 
ary, 1801. 

The  most  important  acts  of  Congress,  from  November,  1800,  to  March 
3,  1801,  were  the  following :  An  additional  law  relating  to  the  federal  ju- 
diciary, which  divided  the  United  States  into  six  circuits,  and  provided  for 
the  appointment  of  three  judges  in  each,  leaving  the  judges  of  the  supreme 
court  to  exercise  power  as  a  court  of  appeals,  and  for  the  correction  of  er- 
rors. An  act  for  a  naval  peace  establishment,  by  which  the  president  was 
empowered,  when  he  should  think  it  safe  and  proper,  to  sell  the  ships  of 
the  United  States,  except  thirteen  of  the  largest  frigates  ;  that  six  of  these 
be  hauled  up  and  dismantled,  and  the  others  retained  in  service.  An  act 
for  continuing  the  mint  at  Philadelphia,  and  for  directing  the  mode  of  es- 
timating foreign  coins  ;  for  extending  routes  for  conveying  the  public  mails  ; 
and  for  erecting  several  new  lighthouses  on  the  seacoasts. 

The  subject  of  erecting  a  mausoleum  or  monument  to  the  memory  of 
Washington,  was  frequently  discussed  in  Congress  during  this  session.  It 
was  voted,  by  the  house  of  representatives,  to  erect  a  mausoleum,  and  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  were  appropriated  for  the  purpose  ;  but  the  sen- 
ate rejected  the  plan,  and  decided  in  favor  of  a  monument,  as  it  would  be 
less  expensive,  and  voted  only  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  complete  it.* 

Between  the  13th  of  February  and  the  4th  of  March,  1801,  President 
Adams  appointed,  with  the  consent  of  the  senate,  all  the  judges  for  the  new 
courts,  and  the  commissions  were  issued.  The  individuals  selected  for 
these  offices  were  men  of  high  standing,  but  the  law  was  condemned  by 
the  democratic  party,  and  the  judges  were  called  "  the  midnight  judges  of 
John  Adams,"  in  allusion  to  the  supposed  time  of  appointment,  at  the  close 
of  his  official  duties.  In  consequence  of  the  repeal  of  the  law  under 
which  they  were  appointed,  these  judges  lost  their  offices,  in  the  early 
part  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration. 

On  tho  1 1th  of  February,  1801,  the  votes  for  president  and  vice-presi- 
dent were  counted,  in  the  senate-chamber,  in  the  presence  of  botli  houses 
of  Congress,  when,  the  tellers  having  announced  the  result,  the  vice-pres- 
'dent  (Mr.  Jefferson)  declared,  that  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr 

•  Bradford. 


138  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    ADAMS. 

being  equal  in  the  number  of  votes,  it  remained  for  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives to  determine  the  choice.  Thereupon,  the  members  of  the  house 
returned  to  their  chamber,  when  it  was  ascertained  that  104  members  were 
present,  one  deceased,  and  one  absent,  from  sickness.  The  first  ballot, 
(being  by  states,  according  to  the  constitution)  was  eight  states  for  Mr. 
Jeflerson,  six  states  for  Mr.  Burr,  and  two  divided,  which  result  continued 
to  be  the  same  after  balloting  thirty-five  times.  The  number  of  those 
who  voted  for  Burr  was  53,  all  federalists,  and  51  for  Jefferson,  all  repub- 
licans, or  democrats,  with  one  or  two  exceptions.  On  the  3Gth  ballot, 
which  took  place  on  the  17th  of  February,  several  of  the  members  who 
had  voted  for  Burr,  withdrew  their  opposition  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, by  putting  in  blank  votes,  in  consequence  of  which,  there  appeared 
for  Jeflerson  ten  states,  for  Burr  four,  viz.,  New  Hampshire,  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island,  and  there  were  two  blanks,  viz., 
Delaware  and  South  Carolina.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  thereupon  elected 
president,  and  Colonel  Burr  vice-president,  for  four  years  from  the  fourth 
of  March,  1801. 

The  friends  of  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams  generally  supported 
Colonel  Burr,  without  any  concert  or  understanding  with  him,  but  believ- 
ing him  to  be  more  in  favor  of  the  policy  before  pursued,  than  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, particularly  on  the  subject  of  commerce. 

Of  the  character  of  Mr.  Adams's  administration,  much  difference  of 
opinion  still  prevails ;  but  viewing  it  in  continuation  of  that  of  Washing- 
ton, Mr.  Bradford,  in  his  history  of  the  federal  government,  remarks : — 

"  By  the  prudent  and  pacific,  yet  firm  and  decided  measures  of  the  fed- 
eral government,  for  twelve  years,  the  character  of  the  United  States  had 
become  highly  respectable  among  the  greatest  statesmen  of  Europe.  Its 
policy  exhibited  a  happy  union  of  energy  and  magnanimity ;  and  it  was 
respected  alike  for  its  wisdom  and  power.  The  nation  was  placed  in  a 
commanding  attitude  of  defence,  while  liberty,  peace,  and  improvement, 
were  everywhere  witnessed  within  its  jurisdiction.  Public  credit  had 
been  fully  established ;  and  able  and  faithful  men  had  been  selected  for 
the  public  agents  ;  men  whose  patriotism  had  been  proved  by  eight  years, 
service  devoted  to  their  country's  welfare  " 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH 


OF 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 


THE  life  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  third  president  of  the  United  States,  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  instructive  among  those  of  the  distinguished 
persons  whose  names  are  identified  with  American  history.  In  the  charac- 
ter of  this  extraordinary  man,  as  well  as  in  the  events  of  his  life,  we  are 
presented  with  a  combination  of  philosophical  attainments  and  political 
talents,  of  benevolent  feelings,  and  ambitious  aspirations,  rarely  found 
united  in  the  same  individual,  and  still  more  rarely  resulting  in  the  popu- 
lar veneration  bestowed  upon  his  name  by  a  large  portion  of  his  country- 
men ;  while  by  others  he  has  been  regarded  in  an  unfavorable  light  as  a 
statesman  and  a  ruler,  particularly  in  the  effect  of  his  political  principles 
upon  the  American  people,  over  whom  he  acquired  such  an  astonishing 
ascendency. 

The  family  of  Jefferson  were  among  the  early  emigrants  from  Great 
Britain  to  Virginia.  "  The'  tradition  in  my  father's  family,"  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  says,  in  his  own  memoirs,  "  was,  that  their  ancestor  came  to 
this  country  from  Wales,  arid  from  near  the  mountain  of  Snowdon ;  but 
the  first  particular  information  I  have  of  any  ancestor,  was  of  my  grand- 
father, who  lived  at  the  place  in  Chesterfield  called  Osborne's,  and  owned 
the  lands,  afterward  the  glebe  of  the  parish.  He  had  three  sons  :  Thomas, 
who  died  young  ;  Field,  who  settled  on  the  waters  of  the  Roanoke, 
and  left  numerous  descendants  ;  and  Peter,  my  father,  who  settled  on  the 
lands  I  still  own,  called  Shadwell,  adjoining  my  present  residence.  He 
was  born  February  29,  1707-'8,  and  intermarried,  1739,  with  Jane  Ran- 
dolph, of  the  age  of  1  9,  daughter  of  Isham  Randolph,  one  of  the  seven 
sons  of  that  name  and  family  settled  in  Goochland.  They  traced  their 
pedigree  far  back  in  England  and  Scotland,  to  which  let  every  one  ascribe 
the  faith  and  merit  he  chooses." 

At  the  above-named  place,  Shadwell,  in  Albomarle  county,  Virginia, 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  born,  on  the  2d  of  April  (old  style),  1743.  His 


140  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JEFFERSON. 

father,  Peter  Jefferson,  a  man  of  some  distinction  in  the  colony,  died  in 
1757,  leaving  a  widow  (who  lived  until  1776)  with  two  sons  and  six 
daughters.  These  children  inherited  a  handsome  estate  from  their  father : 
Thomas,  the  eldest,  received  the  lands  which  he  called  Monticello,  on 
which  he  resided,  when  not  in  public  life  and  when  he  died. 

At  the  age  of  five,  his  father  placed  him  at  an  English  school,  and  at 
nine  years  of  age  he  commenced  the  study  of  Latin  and  Greek,  with  Mr. 
Douglass,  a  Scotch  clergyman,  who  also  instructed  him  in  French.  On 
the  death  of  his  father,  he  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of  another  clergy- 
man, Mr.  Maury,  a  classical  scholar,  with  whom  he  pursued  his  studies 
two  years.  In  the  spring  of  1760,  he  entered  William  and  Mary  College, 
where  he  continued  two  years.  Dr.  William  Small,  of  Scotland,  was  then 
professor  of  mathematics,  and  is  described  by  Mr.  Jefferson  as  "  a  man 
profound  in  most  of  the  useful  branches  of  science,  with  a  happy  talent 
of  communication,  correct  and  gentlemanly  manners,  and  an  enlarged  and 
liberal  mind.  He,  most  happily  for  me,"  he  adds,  "  became  soon  attached 
to  me,  and  made  me  his  daily  companion  when  not  engaged  in  the  school ; 
and  from  his  conversation  I  got  my  first  views  of  the  expansion  of  sci- 
ence, and  of  the  system  of  things  in  which  we  are  placed.  He  returned 
to  Europe  in  1762,  having  previously  filled  up  the  measure  of  his  good- 
ness to  me,  by  procuring  for  me,  from  his  most  intimate  friend,  George 
Wythe,  a  reception  as  a  student  at  law  under  his  direction,  and  introducing 
me  to  the  acquaintance  and  familiar  table  of  Governor  Fauquier,  the  ablest 
man  who  had  ever  filled  that  office.  Mr.  Wythe  continued  to  be  my 
faithful  and  beloved  mentor  in  youth,  and  my  most  affectionate  friend 
through  life.  In  1767,  he  led  me  into  the  practice  of  the  law,  at  the  bar 
of  the  general  court,  at  which  I  continued  until  the  revolution  shut  up  the 
courts  of  justice." 

"  It  has  been  thought,"  says  Mr.  Wirt,  "  thaf  Mr.  Jefferson  made  no  fig- 
ure at  the  bar ;  but  the  case  was  far  otherwise.  There  are  still  extant,  in 
his  own  fair  and  neat  hand,  in  the  manner  of  his  master,  a  number  of  ar- 
guments wliich  were  delivered  by  him  at  the  bar,  upon  some  of  the  most 
intricate  questions  of  the  law ;  which,  if  they  shall  ever  see  the  light, 
»vill  vindicate  his  claim  to  the  first  honors  of  his  profession.  It  is  true, 
he  was  not  distinguished  in  popular  debate  ;  why  he  was  not  so,  has  often 
been  matter  of  surprise  to  those  who  have  not  seen  his  eloquence  on  pa- 
per, and  heard  it  in  conversation.  He  had  all  the  attributes  of  the  mind, 
and  the  heart,  and  the  soul,  which  are  essential  to  eloquence  of  the  high- 
est order.  The  only  defect  was  a  physical  one  :  he  wanted  volume  and 
compass  of  voice  for  a  large,  deliberative  assembly  ;  and  his  voice,  from  the 
excess  of  his  sensibility,  instead  of  rising  with  his  feelings  and  concep- 
tions, sank  under  their  pressure,  and  became  guttural  and  inarticulate. 
The  consciousness  of  this  infirmity  repressed  any  attempt  in  a  large  body 
in  which  he  knew  he  must  fail.  But  his  voice  was  all-sufficient  for  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JEFFERSON.  141 

purposes  of  judicial  debate  ;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  if  the 
service  of  his  country  had  not  called  him  away  so  soon  from  his  profes- 
sion, his  fame  as  a  lawyer  would  now  have  stood  upon  the  same  distin- 
guished ground  which  he  confessedly  occupies  as  a  statesman,  an  author, 
and  a  scholar. 

"  At  the  time  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  appearance,"  the  same  writer  remarks, 
"  the  society  of  Virginia  was  much  diversified,  and  reflected  pretty  dis- 
tinctly an  image  of  that  of  England.  There  was,  first,  the  landed  aris- 
tocracy, shadowing  forth  the  order  of  English  nobility ;  then  the  sturdy 
yeomanry,  common  to  them  both ;  and  last,  a  f&culum  of  beings,  as  they 
were  called  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  corresponding  with  the  mass  of  the  English 
plebeians. 

"  Mr.  Jefferson,  by  birth,  belonged  to  the  aristocracy :  but  the  idle  and 
voluptuous  life  which  marked  that  order  had  no  charms  for  a  mind  like 
his.  He  relished  better  the  strong,  unsophisticated,  and  racy  character 
of  the  yeomanry,  and  attached  himself,  of  choice,  to  that  body.  He  was 
a  republican  and  a  philanthropist,  from  the  earliest  dawn  of  his  character. 
He  read  with  a  sort  of  poetic  illusion,  which  identified  him  with  every 
scene  that  his  author  spread  before  him.  Enraptured  with  the  brighter 
ages  of  republican  Greece  and  Rome,  he  had  followed  with  an  aching 
heart  the  march  of  history  which  had  told  him  of  the  desolation  of  those 
fairest  portions  of  the  earth  ;  and  had  read,  with  dismay  and  indignation, 
of  that  swarm  of  monarchies,  the  progeny  of  the  Scandinavian  hive,  under 
which  genius  and  liberty  were  now  everywhere  crushed.  He  loved  his 
own  country  with  a  passion  not  less  intense,  deep,  and  holy,  than  that  of  hi? 
great  compatriot  (John  Adams)  :  and  with  this  love  he  combined  an  ex 
panded  philanthropy  which  encircled  the  globe.  From  the  working  of 
the  strong  energies  within  him,  there  arose  an  early  vision,  too,  which 
cheered  his  youth  and  accompanied  him  through  life — the  vision  of  eman 
cipated  man  throughout  the  world."* 

While  he  was  a  student  of  law  at  Williamsburg,  in  1765,  Mr.  Jefferson 
heard  the  celebrated  speech  of  Patrick  Henry,  in  the  Virginia  house  of 
delegates,  against  the  stamp-act ;  animated  by  the  eloquence  of  Henry, 
he  from  that  time  stood  forward  as  a  champion  for  his  country. 

In  1769,  he  was  chosen  by  the  people  of  his  county  to  represent  them 
in  the  legislature  of  the  colony,  a  station  that  he  continued  to  fill  up  to  the 
period  of  the  revolution.  In  that  capacity  he  made  an  effort,  which  was 
not  successful,  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves  in  Virginia. 

In  January,  1772,  Mr.  Jefferson  married  Mrs.  Martha  Skelton,  a  widow 
of  twenty-three  years  of  age,  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Waylcs,  an  eminent 
lawyer  of  Virginia,  who  left  her  a  considerable  fortune. 

On  the  12th  of  March,  1773,  Mr.  Jefferson  was   chosen  a  member  of 
the  first  committee  of  correspondence  established  by  the  colonial  Icgisla- 
•  Wirt's  Eulogy  on  Adams  and  Jefferson. 


142  BIOORAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JEFFERSOJS. 

lures.  In  1774,  he  published  his  "Summary  "View  of  the  Rights  of 
British  America,"  a  powerful  pamphlet,  addressed  to  the  king  of  Great 
Britain,  in  which  he  set  forth  the  true  relations  between  the  mother-coun- 
try and  colonies,  as  claimed  by  the  people  of  this  country.  This  pam- 
phlet was  republished  in  England,  under  the  auspices  of  Edmund  Burke. 

In  1775,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  delegates  to  represent  Virginia  in 
the  continental  Congress,  of  which  body  he  was  for  several  years  one  of 
the  most  active  members.  The  Virginia  delegates  having,  in  pursuance 
of  instructions  from  their  provincial  convention,  moved  a  resolution  in  fa- 
vor of  the  independence  of  the  colonies,  that  question  was  taken  up  in 
Congress,  and,  after  debate,  referred  to  a  committee  of  five,  of  whom  Mr. 
Jefferson  was  chosen  chairman.  The  committee,  whose  names  are  given 
in  our  biography  of  Mr.  Adams,  requested  Mr.  Jefferson  to  prepare  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  To  this  he  consented,  although  then  one 
of  the  youngest  members  of  Congress,  and  his  draught  of  that  paper, 
which  is  the  principal  monument  of  his  fame,  was  accepted  by  the  com- 
mittee and  by  Congress,  with  few  amendments,  and  finally  adopted  on  the 
4th  of  July,  1776. 

The  new  state  government  of  Virginia  having  been  organized  the  same 
year,  while  Mr.  Jefferson  was  in  Congress,  and  he  having  been  elected  a 
member  of  the  legislature,  where  he  thought  he  could  be  useful  in  framing 
tlie  laws  required  under  a  republican  form  of  government,  he  resigned  his 
place  in  Congress,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  Virginia  legislature,  in  October. 
In  this  station  he  acted  as  one  of  a  commission  for  revising  the  laws  of 
the  commonwealth. 

Among  the  laws  proposed  by  him,  and  adopted,  were  those  prohibiting 
the  future  importation  of  slaves  ;  for  abolishing  the  law  of  primogeniture, 
and  providing  for  the  equal  partition  of  inheritances  ;  for  establishing  re- 
ligious freedom  ;  and  for  a  system  of  general  education  ;  which  last  meas- 
ure was  never  carried  into  practice  in  the  state. 

The  benevolence  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  character  is  shown  in  a  transaction 
which  took  place  in  1779.  Congress  had  deemed  it  prudent  to  retain  in 
this  country  the  British  troops  who  were  captured  at  Saratoga  on  the  sur- 
render of  Burgoyne,  until  the  British  government  ratified  the  agreement 
of  their  commanding  officer.  These  troops  were  removed  into  the  inte- 
rior of  the  county,  and  Charlottesville,  in  Virginia,  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  Mr.  Jefferson's  residence,  was  selected  for  their  residence.  There 
they  were  sent  in  the  early  part  of  1779,  although  the  barracks  were 
in  an  unfinished  state,  the  provisions  for  their  sustenance  insufficient, 
and  the  roads  in  a  bad  condition.  Mr.  Jefferson  and  some  of  his  neigh- 
bors did  all  in  their  power  to  alleviate  the  distresses  of  the  troops, 
and  the  circumstances  of  their  captivity.  After  arrangements  were  made 
for  their  accommodation,  the  governor  and  council,  in  consequence  of 
the  representations  of  persons  who  apprehended  a  scarcity  of  provisions, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JEFFERSON'.  143 

determined,  as  they  were  authorized  to  do  by  Congress,  to  remove 
the  prisoners  to  another  state,  or  to  some  other  part  of  Virginia.  This 
intention  was  heard  by  the  officers  and  men  with  distress,  and  with 
regret  by  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  neighbors.  He  therefore  addressed  a 
letter  to  Governor  Henry,  in  which  he  stated,  in  earnest  and  feeling 
language,  the  inhumanity  and  impolicy  of  the  proposed  measure.  This 
appeal  was  successful,  and  the  troops  were  suffered  to  remain  at  Char- 
lottesville.  From  the  British  officers  Mr.  Jefferson  received  many  let- 
ters of  thanks  for  his  kindness  and  hospitality,  which  they  did  not  for- 
get in  his  subsequent  visit  to  Europe.  When  the  time  arrived  for  their 
leaving  Virginia  to  return  to  England,  the  officers  united  in  a  letter  of  re- 
newed thanks  and  respectful  farewell  to  him.  In  his  reply  Mr.  Jefferson 
said :  "  The  little  attentions  you  are  pleased  to  magnify  so  much,  never 
deserved  a  mention  or  thought.  Opposed  as  we  happen  to  be,  in  our  sen- 
timents of  duty  and  honor,  and  anxious  for  contrary  events,  I  shall,  never- 
theless, sincerely  rejoice  in  every  circumstance  of  happiness  and  safety 
which  may  attend  you  personally." 

On  the  first  of  June,  1779,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  elected  by  the  legislature 
to  succeed  Patrick  Henry,  the  first  republican  governor  of  Virginia.  Af- 
ter holding  the  office  two  years,  he  retired  to  private  life,  and  soon  after- 
ward he  narrowly  escaped  capture  by  a  company  of  250  British  cavalry, 
who  were  sent  into  the  interior  for  the  purpose  of  surprising  and  making 
prisoners  the  members  of  assembly  at  Charlottesville.  No  one  was  taken, 
and  Mr.  Jefferson,  when  pursued,  escaped  on  his  horse,  through  the  woods 
at  Carter's  mountain.  He  was  the  same  year  elected  a  member  of  the 
legislature. 

In  1781,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  his  "  Notes  on  Virginia,"  in  reply  to  cer- 
tain questions  addressed  to  him  by  M.  de  Marbois,  the  secretary  of  lega- 
tion from  France  in  the  United  States,  embracing  a  general  view  of  its 
geography,  natural  productions,  statistics,  government,  history,  and  laws. 
This  little  work,  which  has  been  very  generally  admired  for  its  style  and 
variety  of  information,  was  soon  after  published,  both  in  French  and 
English. 

He  had,  in  1776,  declined  the  appointment  of  commissioner,  with  Frank- 
lin and  Deane,  to  negotiate  treaties  with  France.  In  1782,  Congress  ap- 
pointed him  a  minister  plenipotentiary,  to  join  those  who  were  in  Europe, 
to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  but  intelligence  having 
been  received  that  preliminaries  had  been  signed,  Congress  dispensed 
with  his  leaving  the  United  States. 

Having  been  again  elected  a  delegate  to  Congress,  in  1783,  he  was 
chairman  of  the  committee  to  whom  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Groat  Brit- 
ain was  referred  ;  and  on  the  report  of  this  committee  the  treaty  was 
unanimously  ratified.  In  1784,  he  wrote  notes  on  the  establishment  of  a 
coinage  for  the  United  States,  and  proposed  a  different  money  unit  from 


144  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JEFFERSON. 

that  supported  by  Robert  Morris,  the  continental  financier,  and  of  his  as- 
sistant, Gouverneur  Morris.  To  Mr.  Jefferson  we  are  indebted  for  the 
dollar  as  the  unit,  and  our  present  system  of  coins  and  decimals. 

As  a  member  of  Congress,  Mr.  Jefferson  made  but  few  speeches.     He 
remarks :  "  I   served  with  General  Washington  in  the  legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia, before  the  revolution,  and  during  it,^with  Dr.  Franklin  in  Congress. 
I  never  heard  either  of  them_^pjeak  ten  minutes  at  a  time,  nor  to  any  but 
.    thejnain  point  which  was  to  decide  the  question." 

He  was  appointed  by  Congress,  in  May,  1784,  with  Adams  and  Frank- 
lin, a  minister  plenipotentiary  to  negotiate  treaties  of  commerce  with  for- 
eign nations.  In  July  he  sailed  from  Boston  for  Europe,  with  his  eldest 
daughter,  and  joined  the  other  commissioners,  at  Paris,  in  August.  Ne- 
gotiations were  only  successful  with  Prussia  and  Morocco.  In  March, 
1785,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  appointed  by  Congress  to  succeed  Dr.  Franklin 
as  minister  at  the  French  court,  and  remained  in  France  until  Octo- 
oer,  1789. 

During  his  residence  in  Paris,  his  society  was  courted  by  Condorcet, 
D'Alembert,  Morrellet,  and  other  distinguished  literary  and  scientific  men 
of  France  ;  and  in  the  gayety,  learning,  taste,  elegance,  and  hospitality  of 
Paris,  he  found  the  pleasures  most  congenial  to  his  disposition.  In  the 
month  of  October,  1789,  he  obtained  leave  of  absence  for  a  short  time, 
and  returned  to  the  United  States.  He  arrived  at  Norfolk  on  the  23d  of 
November,  and  on  his  way  home  received  from  President  Washington  a 
letter  offering  him  the  appointment  of  secretary  of  state,  at  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  federal  government  under  the  constitution,  which  had  then 
recently  been  adopted.  His  inclinations  were  to  return  to  France,  as  min- 
ister, which  was  left  at  his  option  by  the  president,  but  he  finally  conclu- 
ded to  accede  to  the  wishes  of  Washington  that  he  should  accept  the  seat 
in  his  cabinet  offered  to  him.  His  reports,  while  secretary  of  state,  on 
the  currency,  on  weights  and  measures,  on  the  fisheries,  and  on  commer- 
cial restrictions,  as  well  as  his  correspondence  with  foreign  ministers, 
gave  ample  proofs  of  his  ability  as  a  statesman.  In  1790,  Mr.  Jefferson 
accompanied  President  Washington  on  a  visit  to  Rhode  Island,  after  that 
state  had  accepted  the  federal  constitution.  In  1791,  being  called  on  by 
the  president  for  his  opinion  on  the  act  passed  by  Congress  establishing  a 
national  bank,  he  made  a  written  communication,  objecting  to  the  institu- 
tion as  unconstitutional.  The  bill  was,  however,  approved  by  President 
Washington.  On  the  31st  of  December,  1793,  Mr.  Jefferson  resigned  his 
seat  in  the  cabinet,  and  retired  to  private  life,  at  Monticello.  While  hold- 
ing office  under  Washington,  he  had  disapproved  of  many  of  the  measures 
')  of  his  administration,  particularly  in  those  which  originated  with  the  sec- 
retary of  the  treasury.  Hamilton.  Between  that  gentleman  and  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson there  were  irreconcilable  differences  of  opinion  on  political  mat- 
ters, which  caused  constant  bickerings  in  the  cabinet  first  formed  by  Gen 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JEFFERSON.  145 

eral  Washington.  The  opposition  to  the  federal  administration  assiimed 
an  organized  form  under  the  auspices  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  By  his  advice, 
the  opposition  party,  which  had  been  called  anti-federalists,  claimed  the 
name  of  republicans,  while  their  federal  opponents  called  them  democrats 
after  that  name  was  introduced  here  from  France.  The  term  democra 
was  seldom  used  or  countenanced  by  Mr.  Jefferson. 

In  1796,  the  political  friends  of  Mr.  Jefferson  brought  him  forward  as  a 
candidate  for  president,  but  as  Mr.  Adams  received  the  highest  number  of 
votes,  that  gentleman  was  elected  president,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  vice-presi- 
dent, for  four  years  from  March  4,  1797.  During  that  period,  when-  not 
presiding  in  the  senate,  his  time  was  passed  in  his  favorite  retreat  at  Mon- 
ticello.  He  wrote  a  manual  for  the  senate,  which  has  ever  since  been 
the  standard  guide  of  Congress,  as  well  as  other  political  bodies,  in  the 
rules  for  transacting  business. 

In  1800,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  again  nominated  by  his  party,  for  president, 
and  received  a  majority  of  votes  over  Mr.  Adams.  The  votes  for  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson and  Colonel  Burr,  the  republican  candidates  for  president  an  J  vice- 
president,  being  equal,  the  house  of  representatives,  as  then  required  by 
the  constitution,  were  called  upon  to  decide  which  should  be  president. 
When  the  election  came  on  in  the  house,  the  political  opponents  of  Mr. 
Jefferson  voted  for  Burr ;  but  on  the  36th  ballot,  the  opposition  being  par 
tially  withdrawn,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  elected  president,  and  Colonel  Bun 
became,  of  course,  rice-president. 

Of  the  events  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  we  shall  speak  in  an 
other  place.  He  was  re-elected  president  in  1804,  and  retired  finally 
from  public  life  March  4,  1809.  The  remaining  seventeen  years  of 
his  life  were  passed  in  the  tranquillity  of  Monticello.  "  Here,"  says  Mr. 
Webster,  "  he  lived  as  became  a  wise  man.  Surrounded  by  affectionate 
friends,  his  ardor  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  undiminished,  with  uncom- 
mon health,  and  unbroken  spirits,  he  was  able  to  enjoy  largely  the  rational 
pleasures  of  life,  and  to  partake  in  that  public  prosperity  which  he  had  so 
much  contributed  to  produce.  His  kindness  and  hospitality,  the  charm 
of  his  conversation,  the  ease  of  his  manners,  the  extent  of  his  acquire- 
ments, and  especially  the  full  store  of  revolutionary  incidents  which  he 
possessed,  and  which  he  knew  when  and  how  to  dispense,  rendered  his 
abode  in  a  high  degree  attractive  to  his  admiring  countrymen,  while  his 
public  and  scientific  character  drew  toward  him  every  intelligent  and  edu- 
cated traveller  from  abroad." 

The  correspondence  of  Mr.  Jefferson  was  extensive  through  life.  In 
his  latter  years  he  renewed  his  intimacy  with  Mr.  Adams,  and  the  letters 
between  the  two  ex-presidents  which  were  published,  are  of  the  most 
friendly  character. 

The  principal  object  in  which  Mr.  Jefferson  took  an  interest  in  his  de- 
clining years,  was  that  of  a  system  of  education  in  Virginia,  especially  in 

VOL.  I.— 10 


146  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JBFFER8ON. 

the  supcrindfcdence  of  the  university  of  Virginia,  which  was  founded  in 
1818,  through  his  instrumentality.  This  institution  was  located  at  Char- 
lottesville,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  on  which  Monticello  is  situated, 
and  Mr.  Jefferson  acted  as  rector  from  the  time  of  its  foundation  until  his 
death. 

The  pecuniary  circumstances  of  Mr.  Jefferson  became  embarrassed  in 
his  old  age.  He  was  compelled  to  dispose  of  his  library,  which  was  pur- 
chased by  Congress  for  $30,000,  and  in  1825  he  applied  to  the  legislature 
of  Virginia  for  leave  to  dispose  of  his  estate  at  Monticello  by  lottery,  to 
prevent  its  being  sacrificed  in  payment  of  his  debts.  His  request  was 
granted,  but  his  earthly  career  was  closed  before  his  wishes  could  be  car- 
ried into  effect.  After  a  short  illness,  he  died  the  following  4th  of  July, 
1826,  the  aniversary  of  that  day  which  fifty  years  before  had  been  ren- 
dered memorable  by  that  declaration  of  independence  which  had  emana- 
ted from  his  pen.  We  have  mentioned  in  another  place  the  remarkable 
coincidence  that  his  compatriot,  John  Adams,  died  on  the  same  day. 

In  a  private  memorandum  left  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  he  desired  that  a  small 
granite  obelisk  might  be  erected  over  his  remains,  with  the  following  in- 
scription : — 

Here  was  buried 
THOMAS  JEFFERSON, 

Author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 

Of  the  Statute  of  Virginia  for  Religious  Freedom, 

And  Father  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 

The  age  of  Mr.  Jefferson  at  the  time  of  his  death,  was  a  little  over 
eighty-three  years.  His  wife  died  in  1782,  leaving  three  daughters,  one 
of  whom  died  young,  one  married  John  W.  Eppes,  and  the  other  Thomas 
M.  Randolph,  both  of  Virginia,  the  latter  afterward  governor  of  the  state. 
Mrs.  Eppes  died  in  1804,  while  Mr.  Jefferson  was  president;  Mrs.  Ran- 
dolph survived  him. 

In  person  Mr.  Jefferson  was  beyond  the  ordinary  dimensions,  being  six 
feet  two  inches  in  height,  thin,  but  well  formed,  erect  in  his  carriage,  and 
imposing  in  his  appearance.  His  complexion  was  fair,  his  hair,  originally 
red,  became  white  and  silvery  in  old  age  ;  his  eyes  were  light  blue, 
sparkling  with  intelligence,  and  beaming  with  philanthropy ;  his  nose  was 
large, -his  forehead  broad,  and  his  whole  countenance  indicated  great  sen- 
sibility and  profound  thought.  His  manners  were  simple  and  unpolished, 
yet  dignified,  and  all  who  approached  him  were  rendered  perfectly  at  ease, 
both  by  his  republican  habits  and  his  genuine  politeness.  His  disposition 
being  cheerful,  his  conversation  was  lively  and  enthusiastic,  remarkable 
for  the  chastity  of  his  colloquial  diction  and  the  correctness  of  his  phrase- 
ology. He  disliked  form  and  parade,  and  his  dress  was  remarkably  plain, 
and  often  slovenly  Benevolence  and  liberality  were  orominent  traits  of 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JEFFERSON.  147 

hr»  disposition.  To  his  slaves  he  was  an  indulgent  master.  '  As  a  neigh- 
bor, he  was  much  esteemed  for  his  liberality  and  friendly  offices.  As  a 
friend,  he  was  ardent  and  unchangeable ;  and  as  a  host,  the  munificence 
of  his  hospitality  was  carried  to  the  excess  of  self-impoverishment.  He 
possessed  great  fortitude  of  mind,  and  his  command  of  temper  was  such 
that  he  was  never  seen  in  a  passion. 

As  a  man  of  letters,  and  a  votary  of  science,  he  acquired  high  distinction. 
In  the  classics,  and  in  several  European  languages,  as  well  as  in  mathe- 
matics, he  attained  a  proficiency  not  common  to  American  students. 

With  regard  to  his  political  opinions,  and  his  character  as  a  statesman, 
his  countrymen  have  widely  differed  in  their  estimates.  By  some  per- 
sons he  has  been  considered  as  one  of  the  most  pure,  amiable,  dignified, 
wise,  and  patriotic  of  men.  By  others  he  has  been  considered  as  re- 
markably defective  in  the  qualities  which  dignify  and  adorn  human  life, 
and  as  one  of  the  most  wrong-headed  statesmen  that  ever  lived.  Poster- 
ity will  judge  which  of  these  opinions  is  right,  and  which  is  wrong.  His 
writings  which,  agreeably  to  directions  left  by  him,  have  been  published 
since  his  death,  afford  ample  materials  for  judging  of  his  character. 
They  consist  of  four  volumes,  octavo,  of  correspondence,  anas,  &c. 

The  religious  opinions  of  Mr.  Jefferson  were  peculiar  and  eccentric. 
His  writings  show  that  he  was  a  free-thinker,  with  a  preference  for  some 
of  the  doctrines  of  Unitarian  ism.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  says  :  "  I  have 
to  thank  you  for  your  pamphlets  on  the  subjects  of  unitarianism,  and  to 
express  my  gratification  with  your  efforts  for  the  revival  of  primitive 
Christianity  in  your  quarter.  And  a  strong  proof  of  the  solidity  of  the 
primitive  faith  is  its  restoration,  as  soon  as  a  nation  arises  which  vindi- 
cates to  itself  the  freedom  of  religious  opinion,  and  its  external  divorce 
from  civil  authority.  I  confidently  expect  that  the  present  generation  will 
see  unitarianism  become  the  general  religion  of  the  United  States." 

In  a  letter  to  William  Short,  dated  April,  1820,  when  alluding  to  the 
subject  of  religion,  Mr.  Jefferson  remarks  :  "  But  it  is  .not^to  be  under- 
stood that  I  am  wjjk-him  [JesuslJn  all  his  doctrines.  I  am  a  materialist ; 
he  takes  the  side  of  spiritualism ;  he  preaches  the  efficacy  of  repentance 
toward  forgiveness  of  sin  ;  I  require  a  counterpoise  of  good  works  to  re- 
deem it,  &c.,  &c.  It  is  the  innocence  of  his  character,  the  purity  and 
sublimity  of  his  moral  precepts,  the  eloquence  of  his  inculcations,  the 
beauty  of  the  apologues  in  which  he  conveys  them,  that  I  so  much  ad- 
mire ;  sometimes,  indeed,  needing  indulgence  to  eastern  hyperbolism.  My 
eulogies,  loo,  may  be  founded  on  a  postulate  which  all  may  not  be  ready 
to  grant.  Among  the  sayings  and  discourses  imputed  to  him  by  his  biog- 
raphers, I  find  many  passages  of  fine  imagination,  correct  morality,  and  of 
the  most  lovely  benevolence  ;  and  others,  again,  of  so  much  ignorance,  so 
much  absurdity,  so  much  untruth,  charlatanism,  and  imposture,  as  to  pro- 
nounce it  impossible  that  such  contradictions  should  have  proceeded  from 


148  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JWFERSON. 

the  same  being.  I  separate,  therefore,  the  gold  from  the  dross  ;  restore 
to  him  the  former,  and  leave  the  latter  to  the  stupidity  of  some,  and 
roguery  of  others  of  his  disciples.  Of  this  band  of  dupes  and  impostors, 
Paul  was  the  great  Coryphaeus,  and  first  corrupter  of  the  doctrines  of  Je- 
sus. These  palpable  interpolations  and  falsification  of  his  doctrines  led 
me  to  try  to  sift  them  apart.  I  found  the  work  obvious  and  easy,  and  that 
his  part  composed  the  most  beautiful  morsel  of  morality  which  has  been 
given  to  us  by  man." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  last  letter  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  written 
only  ten  days  previous  to  his  death  : — 

"MONTICELLO,  June  24,  1826. 

"  RESPECTED  SIR  :  The  kind  invitation  I  received  from  you,  on  the 
part  of  the  citizens  of  Washington,  to  be  present  with  them  at  their  cele- 
bration on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  American  independence,  as  one  of 
the  surviving  signers  of  an  instrument  pregnant  with  our  own,  and  the 
fate  of  the  world,  is  most  flattering  to  myself,  and  heightened  by  the  hon- 
orable accompaniment  proposed  for  the  comfort  of  such  a  journey.  It  adds 
sensibly  to  the  sufferings  of  sickness,  to  be  deprived  by  it  of  a  personal 
participation  in  the  rejoicings  of  that  day.  But  acquiescence  is  a  duty, 
under  circumstances  not  placed  among  those  we  are  permitted  to  control. 
May  that  day  be  to  the  world,  what  I  believe  it  will  be  (to  some  parts 
sooner,  to  others  later,  but  finally  to  all)  the  signal  of  arousing  men  to 
burst  the  chains  under  which  monkish  ignorance  and  superstition  had  per- 
suaded them  to  bind  themselves,  and  to  assume  the  blessings  and  security 
of  self-government.  For  ourselves,  let  the  annual  return  of  this  day  for 
ever  refresh  our  recollections  of  these  rights,  and  an  undiminished  devo- 
tion to  them.  "TH.  JEFFEKSOH. 
"  To  Mr.  WEIOHTMAN." 


JEFFERSON'S 

ADDRESSES  AND  MESSAGES. 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

MARCH  4,   1801. 

Friends  and  Fellow-  Citizens : — 

CALLED  upon  to  undertake  the  duties  of  the  first  executive  office  of  our 
country,  I  avail  myself  of  the  presence  of  that  portion  of  my  fellow-citi- 
zens which  is  here  assembled,  to  express  my  grateful  thanks  for  the  favor 
with  which  they  have  been  pleased  to  look  toward  me,  to  declare  a  sin- 
cere consciousness  that  the  task  is  above  my  talents,  and  that  I  approach 
it  with  those  anxious  and  awful  presentiments  which  the  greatness  of  the 
charge  and  the  weakness  of  my  powers  so  justly  inspire.  A  rising  na- 
tion, spread  over  a  wide  and  fruitful  land,  traversing  all  the  seas  with  the 
rich  productions  of  their  industry,  engaged  in  commerce  with  nations  who 
feel  power  and  forget  right,  advancing  rapidly  to  destinies  beyond  the 
reach  of  mortal  eye — when  I  contemplate  these  transcendent  objects,  and 
see  the  honor,  the  happiness,  and  the  hopes  of  this  beloved  country  com- 
mitted to  the  issue  and  the  auspices  of  this  day,  I  shrink  from  the  contem- 
plation, and  humble  myself  before  the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking. 
Utterly  indeed,  should  1  despair,  did  not  the  presence  of  many  whom  1 
here  see  remind  me,  that  in  the  /other  high  authorities  provided  by  our 
constitution  I  shall  find  resources  of  wisdom,  of  virtue,  and  of  zeal,  on 
which  to  rely  under  all  difficulties.  To  you,  then,  gentlemen,  who  are 
charged  with  the  sovereign  functions  of  legislation,  and  to  those  associ- 
ated with  you,  1  look  with  encouragement  for  that  guidance  and  support 
which  may  enable  us  to  steer  with  safety  the  vessel  in  which  we  arc  all 
embarked  amid  the  conflicting  elements  of  a  troubled  world. 

During  the  contest  of  opinion  through  which  we  have  passed,  the  ani- 
mation of  discussion  and  of  exertions  has  sometimes  worn  an  aspect  which 
might  impose  on  strangers  unused  to  think  freely  and  to  speuk  and  to 
write  what  they  think  ;  but  this  being  now  decided  by  the  voice  of  the 
nation,  announced  according  to  the  rules  of  the  constitution,  all  will,  of 
course,  arrange  themselves  under  the  will  of  the  law,  and  unitu  in  com- 
mon efforts  for  the  common  good.  All,  too,  will  bear  in  mind  this  sacred 
principle,  that  though  the  will  of  the  majority  is  in  all  cases  to  prevail, 
that  will,  to  be  rightful,  must  bo  reasonable  ;  that  the  minority  possess 
their  equal  rights,  which  equal  laws  must  protect,  and  to  violate  which 
would  be  oppression.  Let  us,  then,  fellow-citizens,  unite  with  one  heart 


150  JEFFERSON'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

and  one  mind.  Let  us  restore  to  social  intercourse  that  harmony  and 
affection  without  which  liberty  and  even  life  itself  are  but  dreary  things. 
And  let  us  reflect  that  having  banished  from  our  land  that  religious  intole- 
rance under  which  mankind  so  long  bled  and  suffered,  we  have  yet  gained 
little  if  we  countenance  a  political  intolerance  as  despotic,  as  wicked,  and 
capable  of  as  bitter  and  bloody  persecutions.  During  the  throes  :uid 
convulsions  of  the  ancient  world,  during  the  agonizing  spasms  of  infuriated 
man,  seeking  through  blood  and  slaughter  his  long-lost  liberty,  it  was  not 
wonderful  that  the  agitation  of  the  billows  should  reach  even  this  distant 
and  peaceful  shore  ;  that  this  should  be  more  felt  and  feared  by  some  and 
less  by  others  ;  that  this  should  divide  opinions  as  to  measures  of  safety 
But  every  difference  of  opinion  is  not  a  difference  of  principle.  We  have 
called  by  different  names  brethren  of  the  same  principle.  We  are  all  re- 
publicans— we  are  all  federalists.  If  there  be  any  among  us  who  would 
wish  to  dissolve  this  Union  or  to  change  its  republican  form,  let  them 
stand  undisturbed  as  monuments  of  the  safety  with  which  error  of  opinion 
may  be  tolerated  where  reason  is  left  free  to  combat  it.  I  know,  indeed, 
that  some  honest  men  fear  that  a  republican  government  can  not  be  strong  , 
that  this  government  is  not  strong  enough.  But  would  the  honest  patriot, 
in  the  full  tide  of  successful  experiment,  abandon  a  government  which 
has  so  far  kept  us  free  and  firm,  on  the  theoretic  and  visionary  fear  that 
this  government,  the  world's  best  hope,  may  by  possibility  want  energy  to 
preserve  itself?  I  trust  not.  1  believe  this,  on  the  contrary,  the  strongest 
government  on  earth.  I  believe  it  the  only  one  where  every  man,  at  the 
call  of  the  laws,  would  fly  to  the  standard  of  the  law,  and  would  meet 
invasions  of  the  public  order  as  his  own  personal  concern.  Sometimes  it 
is  said  that  man  can  not  be  trusted  with  the  government  of  himself.  Can 
he,  then,  be  trusted  with  the  government  of  others  ?  Or  have  we  found 
angels  in  the  forms  of  kings  to  govern  him  ?  Let  history  answer  this 
question. 

Let  us,  then,  with  courage  and  confidence  pursue  our  own  federal  and 
republican  principles,  our  attachment  to  our  union  and  representative  gov- 
ernment. Kindly  separated  by  nature  and  a  wide  ocean  from  the  exter- 
minating havoc  of  one  quarter  of  the  globe  ;  too  high-minded  to  endure 
the  degradations  of  the  others  ;  possessing  a  chosen  country,  with  room 
enough  for  our  descendants  to  the  hundredth  and  thousandth  generation  ; 
entertaining  a  due  sense  of  our  equal  right  to  the  use  of  our  own  facul- 
ties, to  the  acquisitions  of  our  industry,  to  honor  and  confidence  from  our 
fellow-citizens,  resulting  not  from  birth  but  from  our  actions  and  their 
sense  of  them  ;  enlightened  by  a  benign  religion,  professed,  indeed,  and 
practised  in  various  forms,  yet  all  of  them  including  honesty,  truth,  tem- 
perance, gratitude,  and  the  love  of  man ;  acknowledging  and  adoring  an 
overruling  Providence,  which  by  all  its  dispensations  proves  that  it  de- 
lights in  the  happiness  of  man  here  and  his  greater  happiness  hereafter ; 
with  all  these  blessings,  what  more  is  necessary  to  make  us  a  happy  and 
prosperous  people  ?  Still  one  thing  more,  fellow-citizens — a  wise  and 
frugal  government,  which  shall  restrain  men  from  injuring  one  another, 
which  shall  leave  them  otherwise  free  to  regulate  their  own  pursuits  of 
industry  atid  improvement,  and  shall  not  take  from  the  mouth  of  labor  the 
bread  it  has  earned.  This  is  the  sum  of  good  government,  and  this  is 
necessary  to  close  the  circle  of  our  felicities.  , 

About  to  enter,  fellow-citizens,  on  the  exercise  of  duties  which  compre- 
hend everything  dear  and  valuable  to  you,  it  is  proper  that  you  should 


JEFFERSON'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  151 

understand  what  I  deem  the  essential  principles  of  our  government,  and 
consequently  those  which  ought  to  shape  its  administration.  I  will  com- 
press them  within  the  narrowest  compass  they  will  bear,  stating  the  gen- 
eral principle,  but  not  all  its  limitations.  Equal  and  exact  justice  to  all 
men,  of  whatever  state  or  persuasion,  religious  or  political  ;  peace,  com- 
merce, and  honest  friendship,  with  all  nations — entangling  alliances  with 
none  ;  the  support  of  the  state  governments  in  all  their  rights,  as  the  most 
competent  administrations  for  our  domestic  concerns  and  the  surest  bul- 
warks against  anti-republican  tendencies  ;  the  preservation  of  the  general 
government  in  its  whole  constitutional  vigor,  as  the  sheet  anchor  of  our 
peace  at  home  and  safety  abroad ;  a  jealous  care  of  the  right  of  election 
by  the  people — a  mild  and  safe  corrective  of  abuses  which  are  lopped  by 
the  sword  of  revolution  where  peaceable  remedies  are  unprovided  ;  abso- 
lute acquiescence  in  the  decisions  of  the  majority — the  vital  principle  of 
republics,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal  but  to  force,  the  vital  principle 
and  immediate  parent  of  despotism  ;  a  well-disciplined  militia — our  best 
reliance  in  peace  and  for  the  first  moments  of  war,  till  regulars  may  re- 
lieve them  ;  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military  authority ;  econ- 
omy in  the  public  expense,  that  labor  may  be  lightly  burdened  ;  the  honest 
payment  of  our  debts  and  sacred  preservation  of  the  public  faith ;  en- 
couragement of  agriculture,  and  of  commerce  as  its  handmaid  ;  the  diffu- 
sion of  information  and  the  arraignment  of  all  abuses  at  the  bar  of  public 
reason  ;  freedom  of  religion ;  freedom  of  the  press  ;  freedom  of  person 
under  the  protection  of  the  habeas  corpus  ;  and  trial  by  juries  impartially 
selected — these  principles  form  the  bright  constellation  which  has  gone 
before  us,  and  guided  our  steps  through  an  age  of  revolution  and  reforma- 
tion. The  wisdom  of  our  sages  and  the  blood  of  our  heroes  have  been 
devoted  to  their  attainment.  They  should  be  the  creed  of  our  political 
faith — the  text  of  civil  instruction — the  touchstone  by  which  to  try  the 
services  of  those  we  trust ;  and  should  we  wander  from  them  in  moments 
of  error  or  alarm,  let  us  hasten  to  retrace  our  step's  and  to  regain  the  road 
which  alone  leads  to  peace,  liberty,  and  safety. 

I  repair,  then,  fellow-citizens,  to  the  post  you  have  assigned  me.  With 
experience  enough  in  subordinate  offices  to  have  seen  the  difficulties  of 
this,  the  greatest  of  all,  I  have  learned  to  expect  that  it  will  rarely  fall  to 
the  lot  of  imperfect  man  to  retire  from  this  station  with  the  reputation  and 
the  favor  which  bring  him  into  it.  Without  pretensions  to  that  high  con- 
fidence reposed  in  our  first  and  great  revolutionary  character,  whose  pre- 
eminent services  had  entitled  him  to  the  first  place  in  his  country's  love, 
and  destined  for  him  the  fairest  page  in  the  volume  of  faithful  history,  I 
ask  so  much  confidence  only  as  may  give  firmness  and  effect  to  the  legal 
administration  of  your  affairs.  I  shall  often  go  wrong  through  defect  of 
judgment.  When  right,  I  shall  often  be  thought  wrong  by  those  whose 
positions  will  not  command  a  view  of  the  whole  ground.  I  ask  your  in- 
dulgence for  my  own  errors,  which  will  never  be  intentional  ;  and  your 
support  against  the  errors  of  others,  who  may  condemn  what  they  would 
not  if  seen  in  all  its  parts.  The  approbation  implied  by  your  suffrage  is 
a  consolation  to  me  for  the  past ;  and  my  future  solicitude  will  be  to  re- 
tain the  good  opinion  of  those  who  have  bestowed  it  in  advance,  to  con- 
ciliate that  of  others  by  doing  them  all  the  good  in  my  power,  and  to  be 
instrumental  to  the  happiness  and  freedom  of  all. 

Relying,  then,  on  the  patronage  of  your  good  will,  I  advance  with  obe- 
dience to  the  work,  ready  to  retire  from  it  whenever  you  become  sensible 


152  JEFFERSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

how  much  better  choice  it  is  in  your  power  to  make.  And  may  that  In- 
finite Power  which  rules  the  destinies  of  the  universe,  lead  our  councils 
to  what  is  best,  and  give  them  a  favorable  issue  for  your  peace  and  pros- 
perity. 


[In  communicating  his  first  message  to  Congress,  President  Jefferson 
addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  presiding  officer  of  each  branch  of  the 
national  legislature.] 

December  8,  1801. 

SIR  :  The  circumstances  under  which  we  find  ourselves  placed  render- 
ing inconvenient  the  mode  heretofore  practised  of  making  by  personal 
address  the  first  communication  between  the  legislative  and  executive 
branches,  I  have  adopted  that  by  message,  as  used  on  all  subsequent  oc 
casions  through  the  session.  In  doing  this,  I  have  had  principal  regard 
to  the  convenience  of  the  legislature,  to  the  economy  of  their  time,  to  their 
relief  from  the  embarrassment  of  immediate  answers  on  subjects  not  yet 
fully  before  them,  and  to  the  benefits  thence  resulting  to  the  public  afl'airs. 
Trusting  that  a  procedure  founded  in  these  motives  will  meet  their  appro- 
bation, I  beg  leave,  through  you,  sir,  to  communicate  the  enclosed  message, 
with  the  documents  accompanying  it,  to  the  honorable  the  senate,  and 
pray  you  to  accept,  for  yourself  and  them,  the  homage  of  my  high  respect 
and  consideration. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 
The  Hon.  tlie  President  of  the  Senate. 


FIRST    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  8,  1801. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

IT  is  a  circumstance  of  sincere  gratification  to  me,  that  on  meeting  the 
great  council  of  our  nation,  I  am  able  to  announce  to  them,  on  grounds  of 
reasonable  certainty,  that  the  wars  and  troubles  which  have  for  so  many 
years  afflicted  our  sister  nations  have  at  length  come  to  an  end,  and  that 
the  communications  of  peace  and  commerce  are  once  more  opening  among 
them.  While  we  devoutly  return  thanks  to  the  beneficent  Being  who  has 
been  pleased  to  breathe  into  them  the  spirit  of  conciliation  and  forgive- 
ness, we  are  bound  with  peculiar  gratitude  to  be  thankful  to  him  that  our 
own  peace  has  been  preserved  through  so  perilous  a  season,  and  ourselves 
permitted  quietly  to  cultivate  the  earth  and  to  practise  and  improve  those 
arts  which  tend  to  increase  our  comforts.  The  assurances,  indeed,  of 
friendly  disposition,  received  from  all  the  powers  with  whom  we  have 
principal  relations,  had  inspired  a  confidence  that  our  peace  with  them 
would  not  have  been  disturbed.  But  a  cessation  of  the  irregularities  which 
had  affected  the  commerce  of  neutral  nations,  and  of  the  irritations  and  in- 
juries produced  by  them,  can  not  but  add  to  this  confidence  ;  and  strength- 
ens, at.  the  same  time,  the  hope,  that  wrongs  committed  on  unoffending 
friends,  under  a  pressure  of  circumstances,  will  now  be  reviewed  with 
candor,  and  will  be  considered  as  founding  just  claims  of  retribution  for 
the  past  and  new  assurance  for  the  future. 


JEFFERSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  153 

Among  our  Indian  neighbors,  also,  a  spirit  of  peace  and  friendship  gen- 
erally prevails  ;  and  I  am  happy  to  inform  you  that  the  continued  efforts  to 
introduce  among  them  the  implements  and  the  practice  of  husbandry,  and 
of  the  household  arts,  have  not  been  without  success ;  that,  they  are  be- 
coming more  and  more  sensible  of  the  superiority  of  this  dependence  for 
clothing  and  subsistence  over  the  precarious  resources  of  hunting  and  fish- 
ing ;  and  already  we  are  able  to  announce,  that  instead  of  that  constant 
diminution  of  their  numbers,  produced  by  their  wars  and  their  wants,  some 
of  them  begin  to  experience  an  increase  of  population. 

To  this  state  of  general  peace  with  which  we  have  been  blessed,  one 
only  exception  exists.  Tripoli,  the  least  considerable  of  the  Barbary  states, 
had  come  forward  with  demands  unfounded  either  in  right  or  in  compact, 
and  had  permitted  itself  to  denounce  war,  on  our  failure  to  comply  before 
a  given  day.  The  style  of  the  demand  admitted  but  one  answer.  I  sent 
a  small  squadron  of  frigates  into  the  Mediterranean,  with  assurances  to 
that  power  of  our  sincere  desire  to  remain  in  peace,  but  with  orders  to 
protect  our  commerce  against  the  threatened  attack.  The  measure  was 
seasonable  and  salutary.  The  bey  had  already  declared  war  in  form.  His 
cruisers  were  out.  Two  had  arrived  at  Gibraltar.  Our  commerce  in  the 
Mediterranean  was  blockaded  and  that  of  the  Atlantic  in  peril.  The  ar- 
rival of  our  squadron  dispelled  the  danger ,  One  of  the  Tripolitan  cruisers 
having  fallen  in  with  and  engaged  the  small  schooner  Enterprise,  com- 
manded by  Lieutenant  Sterret,  which  had  gone  as  a  tender  to  our  larger 
vessels,  was  captured,  after  a  heavy  slaughter  of  her  men,  without  the  loss 
of  a  single  one  on  our  part.  The  bravery  exhibited  by  our  citizens  on 
that  element,  will,  I  trust,  be  a  testimony  to  the  world  that  it  is  not  the 
want  of  that  virtue  which  makes  us  seek  their  peace,  but  a  conscientious 
desire  to  direct  the  energies  of  our  nation  to  the  multiplication  of  the  hu- 
man race,  and  not  to  its  destruction.  Unauthorized  by  the  constitution, 
without  the  sanction  of  Congress,  to  go  beyond  the  line  of  defence,  the 
vessel  being  disabled  from  committing  further  hostilities  was  liberated 
with  its  crew.  The  legislature  will  doubtless  consider  whether,  by  au- 
thorizing measures  of  offence  also,  they  will  place  our  force  on  an  equal 
footing  with  that  of  its  adversaries.  I  communicate  all  material  informa- 
tion on  this  subject,  that  in  the  exercise  of  the  important  function  confided 
by  the  constitution  to  the  legislature  exclusively,  their  judgment  may 
form  itself  on  a  knowledge  and  consideration  of  every  circumstance  of 
weight. 

I  wish  I  could  say  that  our  situation  with  all  the  other  Barbary  states 
was  entirely  satisfactory.  Discovering  that  some  delays  had  taken  place 
in  the  performance  of  certain  articles  stipulated  by  us,  I  thought  it  my 
duty,  by  immediate  measures  for  fulfilling  them,  to  vindicate  to  ourselves 
the  right  of  considering  the  effect  of  departure  from  stipulation  on  their 
side.  From  the  papers  which  will  be  laid  before  you,  you  will  be  enabled 
to  judge  whether  our  treaties  are  regarded  by  them  as  fixing  at  all  the 
measure  of  their  demands,  or  as  guarding  from  the  exercise  of  force  our 
vessels  within  their  power ;  and  to  consider  how  far  it  will  be  safe  and 
expedient  to  leave  our  affairs  with  them  in  their  present  posture. 

I  lay  before  you  the  result  of  the  census  lately  taken  of  our  inhabitants, 
to  a  conformity  with  which  we  are  to  reduce  the  ensuing  rates  of  repre- 
sentation and  taxation.  You  will  perceive  that  the  increase  of  numbers 
during  the  last  ten  years,  proceeding  in  geometrical  ratio,  promises  a  dupli- 
cation in  little  more  than  twenty-two  years.  We  contemplate  this  rapid 


54  JEFFERSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

growth  and  the  prospect  it  holds  up  to  us,  not  with  a  view  to  the  injuries 
it  may  enable  us  to  do  to  others  in  some  future  day,  but  to  the  settlement 
of  the  extensive  country  still  remaining  vacant  within  our  limits,  to  the 
multiplications  of  men  susceptible  of  happiness,  educated  in  the  love  of 
order,  habituated  to  self-government,  and  valuing  its  blessings  above  all 
price. 

Other  circumstances,  combined  with  the  increase  of  numbers,  have  pro- 
duced an  augmentation  of  revenue  arising  from  consumption,  in  a  ratio  far 
beyond  that  of  population  alone,  and  though  the  changes  of  foreign  rela- 
tions now  taking  place  so  desirably  for  the  world  may  for  a  season  aflect 
this  branch  of  revenue,  yet  weighing  all  probabilities  of  expense,  as  well 
as  of  income,  there  is  reasonable  ground  of  confidence  that  we  may  now 
safely  dispense  with  all  the  internal  taxes,  comprehending  excises,  stamps, 
auctions,  licenses,  carriages,  and  refined  sugars,  to  which  the  Dostage  on 
newspapers  maybe  added  to  facilitate  the  progress  of  information,  and  that 
the  remaining  sources  of  revenue  will  be  sufficient  to  provide  for  the  sup- 
port of  government,  to  pay  the  interest  of  the  public  debts,  and  to  discharge 
the  principals  in  shorter  periods  than  the  laws  or  the  general  expectation 
had  contemplated.  War,  indeed,  and  untoward  events,  may  change  this 
prospect  of  things  and  call  for  expenses  which  the  imposts  could  not  meet ; 
but  sound  principles  will  not  justify  our  taxing  the  industry  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  to  accumulate  treasure  for  wars  to  happen  we  know  not  when, 
and  which  might  not  perhaps  happen  but  from  the  temptations  ofi'ered  by 
that  treasure. 

These  views,  however,  of  reducing  our  burdens,  are  formed  on  the  ex- 
pectation that  a  sensible,  and  at  the  same  time  a  salutary  reduction,  may 
take  place  in  our  habitual  expenditures.  For  this  purpose,  those  of  the 
civil  government,  the  army,  and  navy,  will  need  revisal. 

When  we  consider  that  this  government  is  charged  with  the  external 
and  mutual  relations  only  of  these  states ;  that  the  states  themselves  have 
principal  care  of  our  persons,  our  property,  and  our  reputation,  consti- 
tuting the  great  field  of  human  concerns,  we  may  well  doubt  whether  our 
organization  is  not  too  complicated,  too  expensive  ;  whether  offices  and 
officers  have  not  been  multiplied  unnecessarily,  and  sometimes  injuriously 
to  the  service  they  were  meant  to  promote.  I  will  cause  to  be  laid  be- 
fore you  an  essay  toward  a  statement  of  those  who,  under  public  employ- 
ment of  various  kinds,  draw  money  from  the  treasury  or  from  our  citizens. 
Time  has  not  permitted  a  perfect  enumeration,  the  ramifications  of  office 
being  too  multiplied  and  remote  to  be  completely  traced  in  a  first  trial. 
Among  those  who  are  dependent  on  executive  discretion,  I  have  begun 
the  reduction  of  what  was  deemed  necessary.  The  expenses  of  diplo- 
matic agency  have  been  considerably  diminished.  The  inspectors  of  in- 
ternal revenue  who  were  found  to  obstruct  the  accountability  of  the  insti- 
tution, have  been  discontinued.  Several  agencies  created  by  executive 
authority,  on  salaries  fixed  by  that  also,  have  been  suppressed,  and  should 
suggest  the  expediency  of  regulating  that  power  by  law,  so  as  to  subject 
its  exercises  to  legislative  inspection  and  sanction.  Other  reformations 
of  the  same  kind  will  be  pursued  with  that  caution  which  is  requisite  in 
removing  useless  things,  not  to  injure  what  is  retained.  But  the  great 
mass  of  public  offices  is  established  by  law,  and,  therefore,  by  law  alone 
can  be  abolished.  Should  the  legislature  think  it  expedient  to  pass  this 
roll  in  review,  and  try  all  its  parts  by  the  test  of  public  utility,  they  may 
be  assured  of  every  aid  and  light  which  executive  information  can  yield. 


JEFFERSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  155 

Considering  the  general  tendency  to  multiply  offices  and  dependencies, 
and  to  increase  expense  to  the  ultimate  term  of  burden  which  the  citizen 
can  bear,  it  behooves  us  to  avail  ourselves  of  every  occasion  which  pre- 
sents itself  for  taking  off  the  surcharge  ;  that  it  never  may  be  seen  here 
that,  after  leaving  to  labor  the  smallest  portion  of  its  earnings  on  which  it 
can  subsist,  government  shall  itself  consume  the  residue  of  what  it  was 
instituted  to  guard. 

In  our  care  too  of  the  public  contributions  intrusted  to  our  direction,  it 
would  be  prudent  to  multiply  barriers  against  their  dissipation,  by  appro- 
priating specific  sums  to  every  specific  purpose  susceptible  of  definition  ; 
by  disallowing  all  applications  of  money  varying  from  the  appropriation 
in  object  or  transcending  it  in  amount ;  by  reducing  the  undefined  field 
of  contingencies,  and  thereby  circumscribing  discretionary  powers  over 
money  ;  and  by  bringing  back  to  a  single  department  all  accountabilities 
for  money  where  the  examination  maybe  prompt,  efficacious,  and  uniform 

An  account  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  last  year,  as  pre- 
pared by  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  will  as  usual  be  laid  before  you 
The  success  which  has  attended  the  late  sales  of  the  public  lands  shows 
that  with  attention  they  may  be  made  an  important  source  of  receipt 
Among  the  payments,  those  made  in  discharge  of  the  principal  and  inter 
est  of  the  national  debt  will  show  that  the  public  faith  has  been  exactly 
maintained.  To  these  will  be  added  an  estimate  of  appropriations  neces- 
sary for  the  ensuing  year.  This  last  will  of  course  be  effected  by  such 
modifications  of  the  systems  of  expense  as  you  shall  think  proper  to  adopt. 

A  statement'  has  been  formed  by  the  secretary  of  war,  on  mature  con- 
sideration, of  all  the  posts  and  stations  where  garrisons  will  be  expedient, 
and  of  the  number  of  men  requisite  for  each  garrison.  The  whole 
amount  is  considerably  short  of  the  present  military  establishment.  For 
the  surplus  no  particular  use  can  be  pointed  out.  For  defence  against, 
invasion  their  number  is  as  nothing ;  nor  is  it  conceived  needful  or  safe 
that  a  standing  army  should  be  kept  up  in  time  of  peace  for  that  purpose 
Uncertain  as  we  must  ever  be  of  the  particular  point  in  our  circumference 
where  an  enemy  may  choose  to  invade  us,  the  only  force  which  can  be 
ready  at  every  point  and  competent  to  oppose  them,  is  the  body  of  neigh- 
boring citizens  as  formed  into  a  militia.  On  these,  collected  from  the 
parts  most  convenient,  in  numbers  proportioned  to  the  invading  foe,  it  is 
best  to  rely,  not  only  to  meet  the  first  attack,  but  if  it  threatens  to  be  per- 
manent, to  maintain  the  defence  until  regulars  may  be  engaged  to  relieve 
them.  These  considerations  render  it  important  that  we  should  at  every 
session  continue  to  amend  the  defects  which  from  time  to  time  show 
themselves  in  the  laws  for  regulating  the  militia,  until  they  are  sufficiently 
perfect.  Nor  should  we  now  or  at  any  time  separate,  until  we  can  say 
we  have  done  everything  for  the  militia  which  we  could  do  were  an  ene- 
my at  our  door. 

The  provisions  of  military  stores  on  hand  will  be  laid  before  you,  that 
you  may  judge  of  the  additions  still  requisite. 

With  respect  to  the  extent  to  which  our  naval  preparations  should  be 
carried,  some  difference  of  opinion  may  be  expected  to  appear ;  but  just 
attention  to  the  circumstances  of  every  part  of  the  Union  will  doubtless 
reconcile  all.  A  small  force  will  probably  continue  to  be  wanted  for 
actual  service  in  the  Mediterranean.  Whatever  annual  sum  beyond  that 
you  may  think  proper  to  appropriate  to  naval  preparations,  would  perhaps 
be  better  employed  in  providing  those  articles  which  may  be  kept  without 


156  JEFFERSON'S  FIKST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

waste  or  consumption,  and  be  in  readiness  when  any  exigence  calls  them 
into  use.  Progress  has  been  made,  as  will  appear  by  papers  now  com- 
municated, in  providing  materials  for  seventy-four-gun  ships  as  directed 
by  law. 

How  far  the  authority  given  by  the  legislature  for  procuring  and  estab- 
lishing sites  for  naval  purposes  has  been  perfectly  understood  and  pursued 
in  the  execution,  admits  of  some  doubt.  A  statement  of  the  expenses  al- 
ready incurred  on  that  subject  shall  be  laid  before  you.  I  have  in  certain 
cases  suspended  or  slackened  these  expenditures,  that  the  legislature 
might  determine  whether  so  many  yards  are  necessary  as  have  been  con- 
templated. The  works  at  this  place  are  among  those  permitted  to  go  on ; 
and  five  of  the  seven  frigates  directed  to  be  laid  up  have  been  brought  and 
laid  up  here,  where,  besides  the  safety  of  their  position,  they  are  under 
the  eye  of  the  executive  administration,  as  well  as  of  its  agents,  and  where 
yourselves  also  will  be  guided  by  your  own  view  in  the  legislative  provis- 
ions respecting  them  which  may  from  time  to  time  be  necessary.  They 
are  preserved  in  such  condition,  as  well  the  vessels  as  whatever  belongs 
to  them,  as  to  be  at  all  times  ready  for  sea  on  a  short  warning.  Two 
others  are  yet  to  be  laid  up  so  soon  as  they  shall  have  received  the  re- 
pairs requisite  to  put  them  also  into  sound  condition.  As  a  superintending 
officer  will  be  necessary  at.  each  yard,  his  duties  and  emoluments,  hither- 
to fixed  by  the  executive,  will  be  a  more  proper  subject  for  legislation.  A 
communication  will  also  be  made  of  our  progress  in  the  execution  of  the 
law  respecting  the  vessels  directed  to  be  sold. 

The  fortifications  of  our  harbors,  more  or  less  advanced,  present  con- 
siderations of  great  difficulty.  While  some  of  them  are  on  a  scale  suffi- 
ciently proportioned  to  the  advantages  of  their  position,  to  the  efficacy  of 
their  protection,  and  the  importance  of  the  points  within  it,  others  are  so 
extensive,  will  cost  so  much  in  their  first  erection,  so  much  in  their  main- 
tenance, and  require  such  a  force  to  garrison  them,  as  to  make  it  ques- 
tionable what  is  best  now  to  be  done.  A  statement  of  those  commenced 
or  projected,  of  the  expenses  already  incurred,  and  estimates  of  their  fu- 
ture cost,  so  far  as  can  be  foreseen,  shall  be  laid  before  you,  that  you  may 
be  enabled  to  judge  whether  any  attention  is  necessary  in  the  laws  re- 
specting this  subject. 

Agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce,  and  navigation,  the  four  pillars  of 
our  prosperity,  tire  the  most  thriving  when  left  most  free  to  individual  en- 
terprise. Protection  from  casual  embarrassments,  however,  may  some- 
times be  seasonably  interposed.  If  in  the  course  of  your  observations  or 
inquiri-  s  they  should  appear  to  need  any  aid  within  the  limits  of  our  con- 
stitutional powers,  your  sense  of  their  importance  is  a  sufficient  assurance 
they  will  occupy  your  attention.  We  can  not,  indeed,  but  all  feel  an  anx- 
ious solicitude  for  the  difficulties  under  which  our  carrying  trade  will  soon 
be  placed.  How  far  it  can  be  relieved,  otherwise  than  by  time,  is  a  sub- 
ject of  important  consideration. 

The  judiciary  system  of  the  United  States,  and  especially  that  portion 
of  it  recently  erected,  will  of  course  present  itself  to  the  contemplation  of 
Congress  ;  and  that  they  may  be  able  to  judge  of  the  proportion  which  the 
institution  bears  to  the  business  it  has  to  perform,  I  have  caused  to  be  pro- 
cured from  the  several  states,  and  now  lay  before  Congress,  an  exact 
statement  of  all  the  causes  decided  since  the  first  establishment  of  the 
courts,  and  of  those  which  were  depending  when  additional  courts  and 
judges  were  brought  in  to  their  aid. 


JEFFERSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  157 

And  while  on  the  judiciary  organization,  it  will  be  worthy  your  consider- 
ation, whether  the  protection  of  the  inestimable  institution  of  juries  has 
been  extended  to  all  the  cases  involving  the  security  of  our  persons  and 
property.  Their  impartial  selection  also  being  essential  to  their  value,  we 
ought  further  to  consider  whether  that  is  sufficiently  secured  in  those  states 
where  they  are  named  by  a  marshal  depending  on  executive  will,  or  des- 
ignated by  the  court  or  by  officers  dependent  on  them. 

I  can  not  omit  recommending  a  revisal  of  the  laws  on  the  subject  of 
naturalization.  Considering  the  ordinary  chances  of  human  life,  a  denial 
of  citizenship  under  a  residence  of  fourteen  years  is  a  denial  to  a  great 
proportion  of  those  who  ask  it,  and  controls  a  policy  pursued  from  their 
first  settlement  by  many  of  these  states,  and  still  believed  of  consequence 
to  their  prosperity.  And  shall  we  refuse  the  unhappy  fugitives  from  dis- 
tress that  hospitality  which  the  savages  of  the  wilderness  extended  to  our 
fathers  arriving  in  this  land  ?  Shall  oppressed  humanity  find  no  asylum 
on  this  globe  ?  The  constitution,  indeed,  has  wisely  provided  that,  for 
admission  to  certain  offices  of  important  trust,  a  residence  shall  be  required 
sufficient  to  develop  character  and  design.  But  might  not  the  general 
character  and\  capabilities  of  a  citizen  be  safely  communicated  to  every 
one  manifesting  a  bonafide  purpose  of  embarking  his  life  and  fortunes  per- 
manently with  us  ?  with  restrictions,  perhaps,  to  guard  against  the  fraudu- 
lent usurpation  of  our  flag ;  an  abuse  which  brings  so  much  embarrass- 
ment and  loss  on  the  genuine  citizen,  and  so  much  danger  to  the  nation  of 
being  involved  in  war,  that  no  endeavor  should  be  spared  to  detect  and 
suppress  it. 

These,  fellow-citizens,  are  the  matters  respecting  the  state  of  the  nation 
which  I  have  thought  of  importance  to  be  submitted  to  your  consideration 
at  this  time.  Some  others  of  less  moment,  or  not  yet  ready  for  communi- 
cation, will  be  the  subject  of  separate  messages.  I  am  happy  in  this 
opportunity  of  committing  the  arduous  affairs  of  our  government  to  the 
collected  wisdom  of  the  Union.  Nothing  shall  be  wanting  on  my  part  to 
inform,  as  far  as  in  my  power,  the  legislative  judgment,  nor  to  carry  that 
judgment  into  faithful  execution.  The  prudence  and  temperance  of  your 
discussions  will  promote,  within  your  own  walls,  that  conciliation  which 
so  much  befriends  rational  conclusion ;  and  by  its  example  will  encourage 
among  our  constituents  that  progress  of  opinion  which  is  tending  to  unite 
them  in  object  and  in  will.  That  all  should  be  satisfied  with  any  one  order 
of  things  is  not  to  be  expected,  but  I  indulge  the  pleasing  persuasion  that 
the  great  body  of  our  citizens  will  cordially  concur  in  honest  and  disin- 
terested efforts,  which  have  for  their  object  to  preserve  the  general  and 
state  governments  in  their  constitutional  form  and  equilibrium ;  to  main- 
tain peace  abroad,  and  order  and  obedience  to  the  laws  at  home ;  to  estab- 
lish principles  and  practices  of  administration  favorable  to  the  security  of 
liberty  and  property,  and  to  reduce  expenses  to  what  is  necessary  for  the 
useful  purposes  of  government. 


158  JEFFERSON'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

SECOND    ANNUAL    MESSAGE 
DECEMBER  15,  1802. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  :  — 

WHEN  we  assemble  together,  fellow-citizens,  to  consider  the  state  of 
our  beloved  country,  our  just  attentions  are  first  drawn  to  those  pleasing 
circumstances  which  mark  the  goodness  of  that  Being  from  whose  favor 
they  flow,  and  the  large  measure  of  thankfulness  we  owe  for  his  bounty. 
Another  year  has  come  around,  and  finds  us  still  blessed  with  peace  and 
friendship  abroad ;  law,  order,  and  religion,  at  home  ;  good  affection  and 
harmony  with  our  Indian  neighbors  ;  our  burdens  lightened,  yet  our  income 
sufficient  for  the  public  wants,  and  the  produce  of  the  year  great  beyond 
example.  These,  fellow-citizens,  are  the  circumstances  under  which  we 
meet ;  and  we  remark  with  special  satisfaction,  those  which,  under  the 
smiles  of  Providence,  result  from  the  skill,  industry  and  order  of  our  citi- 
zens, managing  their  own  affairs  in  their  own  way  and  for  their  own  use, 
unembarrassed  by  too  much  regulations,  unoppressed  by  fiscal  exactions. 

On  the  restoration  of  peace  in  Europe,  that  portion  of  the  general  car- 
rying trade  which  had  fallen  to  our  share  during  the  war  was  abridged  by 
the  returning  competition  of  the  belligerent  powers.  This  was  to  be  ex- 
pected, and  was  just.  But  in  addition  we  find  in  some  parts  of  Europe 
monopolizing  discriminations,  which  in  the  form  of  duties  tend  effectually 
to  prohibit  the  carrying  thither  our  own  produce  in  our  own  vessels. 
From  existing  amities,  and  a  spirit  of  justice,  it  is  hoped  that  friendly  dis- 
cussion will  produce  a  fair  and  adequate  reciprocity.  But  should  false 
calculations  of  interest  defeat  our  hope,  it  rests  with  the  legislature  to  de- 
cide whether  they  will  meet  inequalities  abroad  with  countervailing  ine- 
qualities at  home,  or  provide  for  the  evil  in  any  other  way. 

It  is  with  satisfaction  I  lay  before  you  an  act  of  the  British  parliament 
anticipating  this  subject  so  far  as  to  authorize  a  mutual  abolition  of  the 
duties  and  countervailing  duties  permitted  under  the  treaty  of  1794.  It 
shows  on  their  part  a  spirit  of  justice  and  friendly  accommodation  which 
it  is  our  duty  and  our  interest  to  cultivate  with  all  nations.  Whether  this 
would  produce  a  due  equality  in  the  navigation  between  the  two  countries, 
is  a  subject  for  your  consideration. 

Another  circumstance  which  claims  attention,  as  directly  affecting  the 
very  source  of  our  navigation,  is  the  defect  or  the  evasion  of  the  law  pro- 
viding for  the  return  of  seamen,  and  particularly  of  those  belonging  to 
vessels  sold  abroad.  Numbers  of  them,  discharged  in  foreign  ports,  have 
been  thrown  on  the  hands  of  our  consuls,  who,  to  rescue  them  from  the 
dangers  into  which  their  distresses  might  plunge  them,  and  save  them  to 
their  country,  have  found  it  necessary  in  some  cases  to  return  them  at  the 
public  charge. 

The  cession  of  the  Spanish  province  of  Louisiana  to  France,  which 
took  place  in  the  course  of  the  late  war,  will,  if  carried  into  effect,  make 
a  change  in  the  aspect  of  our  foreign  relations  which  will  doubtless  have 
a  just  weight  in  any  deliberations  of  the  legislature  connected  with  that 
subject. 

There  was  reason,  not  long  since,  to  apprehend  that  the  warfare  in  which 
we  were  engaged  with  Tripoli  might  be  taken  up  by  some  others  of  the 
Barbary  powers.  A  reinforcement,  therefore,  was  immediately  ordered  to 


JEFFERSON'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  159 

the  vessels  already  there.  Subsequent  information,  however,  has  removed 
these  apprehensions  for  the  present.  To  secure  our  commerce  in  that  sea 
with  the  smallest  force  competent,  we  have  supposed  it  best  to  watch 
strictly  the  harbor  of  Tripoli.  Still,  however,  the  shallowness  of  their 
coast,  and  the  want  of  smaller  vessels  on  our  part,  has  permitted  some 
cruisers  to  escape  unobserved  ;  and  to  one  of  these  an  American  vessel 
unfortunately  fell  a  prey.  The  captain,  one  American  seamen,  and  two 
others  of  color,  remain  prisoners  with  them  unless  exchanged  under  an 
agreement  formerly  made  with  the  bashaw,  to  whom,  on  the  faith  of  that, 
some  of  his  captive  subjects  had  been  restored. 

The  convention  with  the  state  of  Georgia  has  been  ratified  by  their 
legislature,  and  a  repurchase  from  the  Creeks  has  been  consequently  made 
of  a  part  of  the  Tallahassee  county.  In  this  purchase  has  been  also 
comprehended  part  of  the  lands  within  the  fork  of  Oconee  and  Oakmulgee 
rivers.  The  particulars  of  the  contract  will  be  laid  before  Congress  so 
soon  as  they  shall  be  in  a  state  for  communication. 

In  order  to  remove  every  ground  of  difference  possible  with  our  Indian 
neighbors,  I  have  proceeded  in  the  work  of  settling  with  them  and  mark- 
ing the  boundaries  between  us.  That  with  the  Choctaw  nation  is  fixed 
in  one  part,  and  will  be  through  the  whole  in  a  short  time.  The  country 
to  which  their  title  had  been  extinguished  before  the  revolution  is  sufficient 
to  receive  a  very  respectable  population,  which  Congress  will  probably  see 
the  expediency  of  encouraging  so  soon  as  the  limits  shall  be  declared. 
We  are  to  view  this  position  as  an  outpost  of  the  United  States,  surrounded 
by  strong  neighbors  and  distant  from  its  support.  And  how  far  that 
monopoly  which  prevents  population  should  here  be  guarded  against,  and 
actual  habitation  made  a  condition  of  the  continuance  of  title,  will  be  for 
your  consideration.  A  prompt  settlement,  too,  of  all  existing  rights  and 
claims  within  this  territory  presents  itself  as  a  preliminary  operation. 

In  that  part  of  the  Indian  territory  which  includes  Vincennes,  the  lines 
settled  with  the  neighboring  tribes  fix  the  extinction  of  their  title  at  a 
breadth  of  twenty-four  leagues  from  east  to  west,  and  about  the  same 
length,  parallel  with  and  including  the  Wabash.  They  have  also  ceded 
a  tract  of  four  miles  square,  including  the  salt  springs  near  the  mouth  of 
the  river. 

In  the  department  of  finance  it  is  with  pleasure  I  inform  you  that  the 
receipts  of  external  duties  for  the  last  twelve  months  have  exceeded  those 
of  any  former  year,  and  that  the  ratio  of  increase  has  been  also  greater 
than  usual.  This  has  enabled  us  to  answer  all  the  regular  exigiencies  of 
government,  to  pay  from  the  treasury  in  one  year  upward  of  eight  millions 
of  dollars,  principal  and  interest,  of  the  public  debt,  exclusive  of  upward 
of  one  million  paid  by  the  sale  of  bank  stock,  and  making  in  the  whole 
a  reduction  of  nearly  five  millions  and  a  half  of  principal ;  and  to  have 
now  in  the  treasury  four  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars,  which  are  in  a 
course  of  application  to  a  further  discharge  of  debt  and  current  demands. 
Experience,  too,  so  far,  authorizes  us  to  believe,  if  no  extraordinary  event 
supervenes,  and  the  expenses  which  will  be  actually  incurred  shall  not  be 
greater  than  were  contemplated  by  Congress  at  their  last  session,  that  we 
shall  not  be  disappointed  in  the  expectations  then  formed.  But  neverthe- 
less, as  the  effect  of  peace  on  the  amount  of  duties  is  riot  yet  fully  ascer- 
tained, it  is  the  more  necessary  to  practise  every  useful  economy,  and  to 
incur  no  expense  which  may  be  avoided  without  prejudice. 

The  collection  of  the  internal  taxes  having  been  completed  in  some  of 


160  JEFFERSON'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

the  states,  the  officers  employed  in  it  are  of  course  out  of  commission. 
In  others,  they  will  be  so  shortly.  But  in  a  few,  where  the  arrangement 
for  the  direct  tax  had  been  retarded,  it  will  still  be  some  time  before  the 
system  is  closed.  It  has  not  yet  been  thought  necessary  to  employ  the 
agent  authorized  by  an  act  of  the  last  session  for  transacting  business  in 
Europe  relative  to  debts  and  loans.  Nor  have  we  used  the  power  con 
fided  by  the  same  act,  of  prolonging  the  foreign  debts  by  reloans,  and  of 
redeeming,  instead  thereof,  an  equal  sum  of  the  domestic  debt.  Should, 
however,  the  difficulties  of  remittance  on  so  large  a  scale  render  it  neces- 
sary at  any  time,  the  power  shall  be  executed,  and  the  money  thus  unem- 
ployed abroad  shall,  in  conformity  with  that  law,  be  faithfully  applied 
here  in  an  equivalent  extinction  of  domestic  debt.  When  effects  so  sal- 
utary result  from  the  plans  you  have  already  sanctioned,  when  merely  by 
avoiding  false  objects  of  expense  we  are  able,  without  a  direct  tax,  with- 
out internal  taxes,  and  without  borrowing,  to  make  large  and  effectual  pay- 
ments toward  the  discharge  of  our  public  debt  and  the  emancipation  of 
our  posterity  from  that  moral  canker,  it  is  an  encouragement,  fellow-citi- 
zens, of  the  highest  order,  to  proceed  as  we  have  begun,  in  substituting 
economy  for  taxation,  and  in  pursuing  what  is  useful  ibr  a  nation  placed 
as  we  are,  rather  than  what  is  practised  by  others  under  different  circum- 
stances. And  whensoever  we  are  destined  to  meet  events  which  shall 
call  forth  all  the  energies  of  our  countrymen,  we  have  the  firmest  reliance 
on  those  energies,  and  the  comfort  of  leaving  for  calls  like  these  the  ex- 
traordinary resources  of  loans  and  internal  taxes.  In  the  meantime,  by 
payments  of  the  principal  of  our  debt,  we  are  liberating,  annually,  por- 
tions of  the  external  taxes,  and  fonning  from  them  a  growing  fund  still 
further  to  lessen  the  necessity  of  recurring  to  extraordinary  resources. 

The  usual  accounts  of  receipts  and  expenditures  for  the  last  year,  with 
an  estimate  of  the  expenses  of  the  ensuing  one,  will  be  laid  before  you  by 
the  secretary  of  the  treasury. 

No  change  being  deemed  necessary  in  our  military  establishment,  an 
estimate  of  its  expenses  for  the  ensuing  year  on  its  present  footing,  as 
also  of  the  sums  to  be  employed  in  fortifications  and  other  objects  within 
that  department,  has  been  prepared  by  the  secretary  of  war,  and  will  make 
a  part  of  the  general  estimates  which  will  be  presented  to  you. 

Considering  that  our  regular  troops  are  employed  for  local  purposes, 
and  that  the  militia  is  our  general  reliance  for  great  and  sudden  emergen- 
cies, you  will  doubtless  think  this  institution  worthy  of  a  review,  and  give 
it  those  improvements  of  which  you  find  it  susceptible. 

Estimates  for  the  naval  department,  prepared  by  the  secretary  of  the 
navy  for  another  year,  will  in  like  manner  be  communicated  with  the  gen- 
eral estimates.  A  small  force  in  the  Mediterranean  will  still  be  neces- 
sary to  restrain  the  Tripoline  cruisers,  and  the  uncertain  tenure  of  peace, 
with  some  other  of  the  Barbary  powers,  may  eventually  require  that  force 
to  be  augmented.  The  necessity  of  procuring  some  smaller  vessels  for 
that  service  will  raise  the  estimate,  but  the  difference  in  their  maintenance 
will  soon  make  it  a  measure  of  economy. 

Presuming  it  will  be  deemed  expedient  to  expend  annually  a  convenient 
sum  toward  providing  the  naval  defence  which  our  situation  may  require, 
I  can  not  but  recommend  that  the  first  appropriations  for  that  purpose  may 
go  to  the  saving  what  we  already  possess.  No  cares,  no  attentions,  can 
preserve  vessels  from  rapid  decay  which  lie  in  water  and  exposed  to  the 
sun.  These  decays  require  great  and  constant  repairs,  and  will  con- 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  10] 

sume,  if  continued,  a  great  portion  of  the  money  destined  to  naval  pur- 
poses. To  avoid  this  waste  of  our  resources,  it  is  proposed  to  add  to  our 
navy-yard  here  a  dock,  within  which  our  vessels  may  be  laid  up  dry  and 
under  cover  from  the  sun.  Under  these  circumstances  experience  proves 
that  works  of  wood  will  remain  scarcely  at  all  affected  by  time.  The 
great  abundance  of  running  water  which  this  situation  possesses,  at  heights 
far  above  the  level  of  the  tide,  if  employed  as  is  practised  for  lock  navi- 
gation, furnishes  the  means  for  raising  and  laying  up  our  vessels  on  a  dry 
and  sheltered  bed.  And  should  the  measure  be  found  useful  here,  similar 
depositories  for  laying  up  as  well  as  for  building  and  repairing  vessels 
may  hereafter  be  undertaken  at  other  navy-yards  offering  the  same  means. 
The  plans  and  estimates  of  the  work,  prepared  by  a  person  of  skill  and 
experience,  will  be  presented  to  you  without  delay  ;  and  from  this  it  will 
be  seen  that  scarcely  more  than  has  been  the  cost  of  one  vessel  is  neces- 
sary to  save  the  whole,  and  that  the  annual  sum  to  be  employed  toward 
its  completion  may  be  adapted  to  the  views  of  the  legislature  as  to  naval 
expenditure 

To  cultivate  peace  and  maintain  commerce  and  navigation  in  all  their 
lawful  enterprises  ;  to  foster  our  fisheries  and  nurseries  of  navigation  and 
for  the  nurture  of  man,  and  protect  the  manufactures  adapted  to  our  cir- 
cumstances ;  to  preserve  the  faith  of  the  nation  by  an  exact  discharge  of 
its  debts  and  contracts,  expend  the  public  money  with  the  same  care  and 
economy  we  would  practise  with  our  own,  and  impose  on  our  citizens  no 
unnecessary  burden  ;  to  keep  in  all  things  within  the  pale  of  our  consti- 
tutional powers,  and  cherish  the  federal  union  as  the  only  rock  of  safety — 
these,  fellow-citizens,  are  the  landmarks  by  which  we  are  to  guide  our- 
selves in  all  our  proceedings.  By  continuing  to  make  these  our  rule  of 
action,  we  shall  endear  to  our  countrymen  the  true  principles  of  their  con- 
stitution, and  promote  a  union  of  sentiment  and  of  action  equally  auspi- 
cious to  their  happiness  and  safety.  On  my  part,  you  may  count  on  a 
cordial  concurrence  in  every  measure  for  the  public  good,  and  on  all  the 
information  I  possess  which  may  enable  you  to  discharge  to  advantage 
the  high  functions  with  which  you  are  invested  by  your  country. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  28,   1802. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  LAY  before  you  the  accounts  of  our  Indian  trading  houses,  as  rendered 
up  to  the  first  day  of  January,  1801,  with  a  report  of  the  secretary  of  war 
thereon,  explaining  the  effects  and  the  situation  of  that  commerce,  and  the 
reasons  in  favor  of  its  farther  extension.  But  it  is  believed  that  the  act 
authorizing  this  trade  expired  so  long  ago  as  the  3d  of  March,  1799.  Its 
revival,  therefore,  as  well  as  its  extension,  is  submitted  to.  the  considera- 
tion of  the  legislature. 

The  act  regulating  trade  and  intercourse  with  the  Indian  tribes  will  also 
expire  on  the  3d  day  of  March  next.     While  on  the  subject  of  its  contin- 
uance, it  will  be  worthy  the  consideration  of  the  legislature,  whether  the 
provisions  of  the  law  inflicting  on  Indians,  in  certain  cases,  the  punish- 
VOL.  I. — 11 


162  JEFFERSON'S   THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

ment  of  death  by  hanging,  might  not  permit  its  commutation  into  death  by 
military  execution,  the  form  of  the  punishment  in  the  former  way  being 
peculiarly  repugnant  to  their  ideas,  and  increasing  the  obstacles  to  the 
surrender  of  the  criminal. 

These  people  are  becoming  very  sensible  of  the  baneful  effects  pro- 
duced on  their  morals,  their  health  and  existence,  by  the  abuse  of  ardent 
spirits,  and  some  of  them  earnestly  desire  a  prohibition  of  that  article  from 
being  carried  among  them.  The  legislature  will  consider  whether  the 
effectuating  that  desire  would  not  be  in  the  spirit  of  benevolence  and  lib- 
erality which  they  have  hitherto  practised  toward  these  our  neighbors,  and 
which  hns  had  so  happy  an  effect  toward  conciliating  their  friendship.  It 
•has  been  found  too,  in  experience,  that  the  same  abuse  gives  frequent  rise 
to  incidents  tending  much  to  commit  our  peace  with  the  Indians. 

It  is  now  become  necessary  to  run  and  mark  the  boundaries  between 
them  and  us  in  various  parts.  The  law  last  mentioned  has  authorized 
this  to  be  done,  but  no  existing  appropriation  meets  the  expense. 

Certain  papers,  explanatory  of  the  grounds  of  this  communication,  are 
herewith  enclosed. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  24,  1803. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  LAY  before  you  a  report  of  the  secretary  of  state  on  the  case  of  the 
Danish  brigantine  Henrick,  taken  by  a  French  privateer  in  1799,  retaken 
by  an  armed  vessel  of  the  United  States,  carried  into  a  British  island  and 
there  adjudged  to  be  neutral,  but  under  an  allowance  of  such  salvage  and 
costs  as  absorbed  nearly  the  whole  amount  of  sales  of  the  vessel  and  cargo. 
Indemnification  for  these  losses,  occasioned  by  our  officers,  is  now  claim- 
ed by  the  sufferers,  supported  by  the  representation  of  their  government. 
I  have  no  doubt  the  legislature  will  give  to  the  subject  that  just  attention 
and  consideration  which  it  is  useful  as  well  as  honorable  to  practise  in 
our  transactions  with  other  nations,  and  particularly  with  one  which  has 
observed  toward  us  the  most  friendly  treatment  and  regard. 


THIRD    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

OCTOBER  17,  1803. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

IN  calling  you  together,  fellow-citizens,  at  an  earlier  day  than  was  con- 
templated by  the  act  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  I  have  not  been  in- 
sensible to  the  personal  inconveniences  necessarily  resulting  from  an 
unexpected  change  in  your  arrangements.  But  matters  of  great  public 
concernment  have  rendered  this  call  necessary,  and  the  interest  you  feel 
in  these  will  supersede  in  your  minds  all  private  considerations. 


JEFFERSON'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  1G3 

Congress  witnessed,  at  their  last  session,  the  extraordinary  agitation 
produced  in  the  public  mind  by  the  suspension  of  our  right  of  deposite  at 
the  port  of  New  Orleans,  no  assignment  of  another  place  having  been 
made  according  to  treaty.  They  were  sensible  that  the  continuance  of 
that  privation  would  be  more  injurious  to  our  nation  than  any  consequen- 
ces which  could  flow  from  any  mode  of  redress,  but  reposing  just  confi- 
dence in  the  good  faith  of  the  government  whose  officer  had  committed 
the  wrong,  friendly  and  reasonable  representations  were  resorted  to,  and 
the  right  of  deposite  was  restored. 

Previous,  however,  to  this  period,  we  had  not  been  unaware  of  the  dari- 
ger  to  which  our  peace  would  be  perpetually  exposed  while  so  important 
a  key  to  the  commerce  of  the  western  country  remained  under  foreign 
power.  Difficulties,  too,  were  presenting  themselves  as  to  the  navigation 
of  other  streams,  which,  arising  within  our  territories,  pass  through  those 
adjacent.  Propositions  had,  therefore,  been  authorized  for  obtaining,  on 
fair  conditions,  the  sovereignty  of  New  Orleans,  and  of  other  possessions 
in  that  quarter  interesting  to  our  quiet,  to  such  extent  as  was  deemed  prac- 
ticable ;  and  the  provisional  appropriation  of  two  millions  of  dollars,  to  be 
applied  and  accounted  for  by  the  president  of  the  United  States,  intended 
as  part  of  the  price,  was  considered  as  conveying  the  sanction  of  Congress 
to  the  acquisition  proposed.  The  enlightened  government  of  France  saw, 
with  just  discernment,  the  importance  to  both  nations  of  such  liberal  ar- 
rangements as  might  best  and  permanently  promote  the  peace,  friendship, 
and  interests  of  both ;  and  the  property  and  sovereignty  of  all  Louisiana, 
which  had  been  restored  to  them,  have  on  certain  conditions  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  United  States  by  instruments  bearing  date  the  30th  of  April 
last.  When  these  shall  have  received  the  constitutional  sanction  of  the 
senate,  they  will  without  delay  be  communicated  to  the  representatives 
also,  for  the  exercise  of  their  functions,  as  to  those  conditions  which  are 
within  the  powers  vested  by  the  constitution  in  Congress.  While  the 
property  and  sovereignty  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  waters  secure  an  inde- 
pendent outlet  for  the  produce  of  the  western  states  and  an  uncontrolled 
navigation  through  their  whole  course,  free  from  collision  with  other  pow- 
ers and  the  dangers  to  our  peace  from  that  source,  the  fertility  of  the 
country,  its  climate  and  extent,  promise  in  due  season  important  aids  to 
our  treasury,  an  ample  provision  for  our  posterity,  and  a  wide-spread  field 
for  the  blessings  of  freedom  and  equal  laws. 

With  the  wisdom  of  Congress  it  will  rest  to  take  those  ulterior  meas- 
ures which  maybe  necessary  for  the  immediate  occupation  and  temporary 
government  of  the  country  ;  for  its  incorporation  into  our  Union  ;  for  ren- 
dering the  change  of  government  a  blessing  to  our  newly-adopted  breth- 
ren ;  for  securing  to  them  the  rights  of  conscience  and  of  property  ;  for 
confirming  to  the  Indian  inhabitants  their  occupancy  and  self-government, 
establishing  friendly  and  commercial  relations  with  them  and  for  ascer- 
taining the  geography  of  the  country  acquired.  Such  materials  for  your 
information,  relative  to  its  affairs  in  general,  as  the  short  space  of  time  has 
permitted  me  to  collect,  will  be  laid  before  you  when  the  subject  shall  be 
in  a  state  for  your  consideration. 

Another  important  acquisition  of  territory  has  also  been  made  since  the 
last  session  of  Congress.  The  friendly  tribe  of  Kaskaskia  Indians  with 
which  we  have  never  had  a  difference,  reduced  by  the  wars  and  wants  of 
savage  life  to  a  few  individuals  unable  to  defend  themselves  against  the 
neighboring  tribes,  has  transferred  its  country  to  the  United  States,  re- 


164  JEFFERSON'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

serving  only  for  its  members  what  is  sufficient  to  maintain  them  in  an 
agricultural  way.  The  considerations  stipulated  are,  that  we  shall  extend 
to  thorn  our  patronage  and  protection,  and  give  them  certain  annual  aids 
in  money,  in  implements  of  agriculture,  and  other  articles  of  their  choice. 
This  country,  among  the  most  fertile  within  our  limits,  extending  along 
the  Mississippi  from  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  to  and  up  the  Ohio,  though 
not  so  necessary  as  a  barrier  since  the  acquisition  of  the  other  bank,  may 
yet  be  well  worthy  of  being  laid  open  to  immediate  settlement,  as  its  in- 
hahit-ints  may  descend  with  rapidity  in  support  of  the  lower  country  should 
future  circumstances  expose  that  to  foreign  enterprise.  As  the  stipula- 
tions in  this  treaty  also  involve  matters  within  the  competence  of  both 
houses  only,  it  will  be  laid  before  Congress  as  soon  as  the  senate  shall 
have  advised  its  ratification. 

With  many  of  the  other  Indian  tribes,  improvements  in  agriculture  and 
household  manufacture  are  advancing,  and  with  all  our  peace  and  friend- 
ship are  established  on  grounds  much  firmer  than  heretofore.  The  measure 
adopted  of  establishing  trading  houses  among  them,  and  of  furnishing  them 
necessaries  in  exchange  for  their  commodities  at  such  moderated  prices 
as  leave  no  gain,  but  cover  us  from  loss,  has  the  most  conciliatory  and 
useful  effect  upon  them;  and  is  that  which  will  best  secure  their  peace 
and  good  will. 

The  small  vessels  authorized  by  Congress  with  a  view  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean service  have  been  sent  into  that  sea,  and  will  be  able  more  effect- 
ually to  confine  the  Tripoline  cruisers  within  their  harbors  and  supersede 
the  necessity  of  convoy  to  our  commerce  in  that,  quarter.  They  will  sen- 
sibly lessen  the  expenses  of  that  service  the  ensuing  year. 

A  further  knowledge  of  the  ground  in  the  northeastern  and  northwestern 
angles  of  the  United  States  has  evinced  that  the  boundaries  established  by 
the  treaty  of  Paris,  between  the  British  territories  and  ours  in  those  parts, 
were  too  imperfectly  described  to  be  susceptible  of  execution.  It  has 
therefore  been  thought  worthy  of  attention,  for  preserving  and  cherishing 
the  harmony  and  useful  intercourse  subsisting  between  the  two  nations,  to 
remove  by  timely  arrangements  what  unfavorable  incidents  might  other- 
wise render  a  ground  of  future  misunderstanding.  A  convention  has  there- 
fore been  entered  into,  which  provides  for  a  practicable  demarcation  of 
those  limits  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  parties. 

An  account  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  year  ending  30th 
September  last,  with  the  estimates  for  the  service  of  the  ensuing  year,  will 
be  laid  before  you  by  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  so  soon  as  the  receipts 
of  the  last  quarter  shall  be  returned  from  the  more  distant  states.  It  is  al- 
ready ascertained  that  the  amount  paid  into  the  treasury  for  that  year  has 
been  between  eleven  and  twelve  millions  of  dollars,  and  that  the  revenue 
accrued  during  the  same  term  exceeds  the  sum  counted  on  as  sufficient  for 
our  current  expenses,  and  to  extinguish  the  public  debt  within  the  period 
heretofore  proposed. 

The  amount  of  debt  paid  for  the  same  year  is  about  three  millions  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  exclusive  of  interest,  and  making,  with  the  pay- 
ment of  the  preceding  year,  a  discharge  of  more  than  eight  millions  and  a 
half  of  dollars  of  the  principal  of  that  debt,  besides  the  accruing  interest , 
and  there  remain  in  the  treasury  nearly  six  millions  of  dollars.  Of  these, 
eight  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  have  been  reserved  for  payment  of  the 
first  instalment  due  under  the  British  convention  of  January  8th,  1802,  and 
two  millions  are  what  have  been  before  mentioned  as  placed  by  Congress 


JEFFERSON'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  165 

under  the  power  and  accountability  of  the  president,  toward  the  price  of 
New  Orleans  and  other  territories  acquired,  which  remaining  untouched, 
are  still  applicable  to  that  object  and  go  in  diminution  of  the  sum  to  be 
funded  for  it. 

Should  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana  be  constitutionally  confirmed  and 
carried  into  effect,  a  sum  of  nearly  thirteen  millions  of  dollars  will  then  be 
added  to  our  public  debt,  most  of  which  is  payable  after  fifteen  years  ;  be- 
fore which  term  the  present  existing  debts  will  all  be  discharged  by  the 
established  operation  of  the  sinking  fund.  When  we  contemplate  the  or- 
dinary annual  augmentation  of  imposts  from  increasing  population  and 
wealth,  the  augmentation  of  the  same  revenue  by  its  extension  to  the  new 
acquisition,  and  the  economies  which  may  still  be  introduced  into  our  pub- 
lic expenditures,  I  can  not  but  hope  that  Congress  in  reviewing  their  re- 
sources will  find  means  to  meet  the  intermediate  interest  of  this  additional 
debt  without  recurring  to  new  taxes,  and  applying  to  this  object  only  the 
ordinary  progression  of  our  revenue.  Its  extraordinary  increase  in  times 
of  foreign  war  will  be  the  proper  and  sufficient  fund  for  any  measures  of 
safety  or  precaution  which  that  state  of  things  may  render  necessary  in 
our  neutral  position. 

Remittances  for  the  instalments  of  our  foreign  debt  having  been  found 
practicable  without  loss,  it  has  not  been  thought  expedient  to  use  the  power 
given  by  a  former  act  of  Congress  of  continuing  them  by  reloans,  and  of 
redeeming  instead  thereof  equal  sums  of  domestic  debt,  although  no  diffi- 
culty was  found  in  obtaining  that  accommodation. 

The  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  appropriated  by  Congress  for  pro- 
viding gun-boats  remains  unexpended.  The  favorable  and  peaceful  turn 
of  affairs  on  the  Mississippi  rendered  an  immediate  execution  of  that  law 
unnecessary,  and  time  was  desirable  in  order  that  the  institution  of  that 
branch  of  our  force  might  begin  on  models  the  most  approved  by  experi- 
ence. The  same  issue  of  events  dispensed  with  a  resort  to  the  appropri- 
ation of  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  contemplated  for  purposes  which 
were  effected  by  happier  means. 

We  have  seen  with  sincere  concern  the  flames  of  war  lighted  up  again 
in  Europe,  and  nations  with  which  we  have  the  most  friendly  and  useful 
relations  engaged  in  mutual  destruction.  While  we  regret  the  miseries  in 
which  we  see  others  involved,  let  us  bow  with  gratitude  to  that  kind  Prov- 
idence which,  inspiring  with  wisdom  arid  moderation  our  late  legislative 
councils  while  placed  under  the  Urgency  of  the  greatest  wrongs,  guarded 
us  from  hastily  entering  into  the  sanguinary  contest,  and  left  us  only  to 
look  on  and  to  pity  its  ravages.  These  will  be  heaviest  on  those  imme- 
diately engaged.  Yet  the  nations  pursuing  peace  will  not  be  exempt  from 
all  evil.  In  the  course  of  this  conflict,  let  it  be  our  endeavor,  as  it  is  our 
interest  and  desire,  to  cultivate  the  friendship  of  the  belligerent  nations 
by  every  act  of  justice  and  of  innocent  kindness  ;  to  receive  their  armed 
vessels  with  hospitality  from  the  distresses  of  the  sea,  but  to  administer 
the  means  of  annoyance  to  none  ;  to  establish  in  our  harbors  such  a  police 
as  may  maintain  law  and  order ;  to  restrain  our  citizens  from  embarking 
individually  in  a  war  in  which  their  country  takes  no  part  ;  to  punish 
severely  those  persons,  citizen  or  alien,  who  shall  usurp  the  cover  of  our 
flag  for  vessels  not  entitled  to  it,  infecting  thereby  with  suspicion  those 
of  real  Americans,  and  committing  us  into  controversies  for  the  redress 
of  wrongs  not  our  own  ;  to  exact  from  every  nation  tin1  observance,  toward 
our  vessels  and  citizens,  of  those  principles  and  practices  which  all  civil- 


166  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

ized  people  acknowledge  ;  to  merit  the  character  of  a  just  nation,  and 
maintain  that  of  an  independent  one,  preferring  every  consequence  to  in- 
sult and  habitual  wrong.  Congress  will  consider  whether  the  existing 
laws  enable  us  efficaciously  to  maintain  this  course  with  our  citizens  in  all 
places,  and  with  others  while  within  the  limits  of  our  jurisdiction,  and  will 
give  them  the  new  modifications  necessary  for  these  objects.  Some  con- 
traventions of  right  have  already  taken  place,  both  within  our  jurisdictional 
limits  and  on  the  high  seas.  The  friendly  disposition  of  the  governments 
from  whose  agents  they  have  proceeded,  as  well  as  their  wisdom  and  re- 
gard for  justice,  leave  us  in  reasonable  expectation  that  they  will  be  rec- 
tified and  prevented  in  future  ;  and  that  no  act  will  be  countenanced  by 
them  which  threatens  to  disturb  our  friendly  intercourse.  Separated  by  a 
wide  ocean  from  the  nations  of  Europe,  and  from  the  political  interests 
which  entangle  them  together,  with  productions  and  wants  which  render 
our  commerce  and  friendship  useful  to  them  and  theirs  to  us,  it  can  not  be 
the  interest  of  any  to  assail  us,  nor  ours  to  disturb  them.  We  should  be 
most  unwise,  indeed,  were  we  to  cast  away  the  singular  blessings  of  the 
position  in  which  nature  has  placed  us,  the  opportunity  she  has  endow,ed 
us  with  of  pursuing,  at  a  distance  from  foreign  contentions,  the  paths  of 
industry,  peace,  and  happiness  ;  of  cultivating  general  friendship,  and  of 
bringing  collisions  of  interest  to  the  umpirage  of  reason  rather  than  of  force. 
How  desirable  then  must  it  be,  in  a  government  like  ours,  to  see  its  citi- 
zens adopt  individually  the  views,  the  interests,  and  the  conduct  which 
their  country  should  pursue,  divesting  themselves  of  those  passions  and 
partialities  which  tend  to  lessen  useful  friendships,  and  to  embarrass  and 
embroil  us  in  the  calamitous  scenes  of  Europe.  Confident,  fellow-citizens, 
that  you  will  duly  estimate  the  importance  of  neutral  dispositions  toward 
the  observance  of  neutral  conduct,  that  you  will  be  sensible  how  much  it 
is  our  duty  to  look  on  the  bloody  arena  spread  before  us  with  commisera- 
tion indeed,  but  with  no  other  wish  than  to  see  it  closed,  I  am  persuaded 
you  will  cordially  cherish  these  dispositions  in  all  discussions  among  your- 
selves, and  in  all  communications  with  your  constituents ;  and  I  anticipate 
with  satisfaction  the  measures  of  wisdom  which  the  great  interests  now- 
committed  to  you  will  give  you  an  opportunity  of  providing,  and  myself  that 
of  approving  and  carrying  into  execution  with  the  fidelity  I  owe  to  my 
country. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE 
OCTOBER  21,  1803. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

IN  my  communication  to  you  of  the  17th  instant,  I  informed  you  that 
conventions  had  been  entered  into  with  the  government  of  France  for  the 
cession  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States.  These,  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  senate,  having  now  been  ratified,  and  my  ratification  ex- 
changed for  that  of  the  first  consul  of  France  in  due  form,  they  are  com- 
municated to  you  for  consideration  in  your  legislative  capacity.  You  will 
observe  that  some  important  conditions  can  not  be  carried  into  execution, 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  167 

but  with  the  aid  of  the  legislature  ;  and  that  time  presses  a  decision  on 
them  without  delay. 

The  ulterior  provisions,  also  suggested  in  the  same  communication,  for 
the  occupation  and  government  of  the  country,  will  call  for  early  attention. 
Such  information  relative  to  its  government,  as  time  and  distance  have  en- 
abled me  to  obtain,  will  be  ready  to  be  laid  before  you  within  a  few  days . 
But,  as  permanent  arrangements  for  this  object  may  require  time  and  de- 
liberation, it  is  for  your  consideration  whether  you  will  not,  forthwith, 
make  such  temporary  provisions  for  the  preservation,  in  the  meanwhile, 
of  order  and  tranquillity  in  the  country,  as  the  case  may  require 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

NOVEMBER  4,  1803. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

BY  the  copy  now  communicated  of  a  letter  from  Captain  Bainbridge  of 
the  Philadelphia  frigate,  to  our  consul  at  Gibraltar,  you  will  learn  that  an 
act  of  hostility  has  been  committed  on  a  merchant-vessel  of  the  United 
States  by  an  armed  ship  of  the  emperor  of  Morocco.  This  conduct  on 
the  part  of  that  power  is  without  cause  and  without  explanation.  It  is 
fortunate  that  Captain  Bainbridge  fell  in  with  and  took  the  capturing  ves- 
sel and  her  prize  ;  and  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  inform  you,  that  about 
the  date  of  this  transaction  such  a  force  would  be  arriving  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Gibraltar,  both  from  the  east  and  the  west,  as  leaves  less  to  be 
feared  for  our  commerce  from  the  suddenness  of  the  aggression. 

On  the  4th  of  September,  the  Constitution  frigate,  Captain  Preble,  with 
Mr.  Lear  on  board,  was  within  two  days'  sail  of  Gibraltar,  where  the 
Philadelphia  would  then  be  arrived  with  her  prize,  and  such  explanations 
would  probably  be  instituted  as  the  state  of  things  required,  and  as  might 
perhaps  arrest  the  progress  of  hostilities. 

In  the  meanwhile  it  is  for  Congress  to  consider  the  provisional  authori- 
ties which  may  be  necessary  to  restrain  the  depredations  of  this  power, 
should  they  be  continued. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
NOVEMBER  25,  1803. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THE  treaty  with  the  Kaskaskia  Indians  being  ratified  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  senate,  it  is  now  laid  before  both  houses,  in  their  legis- 
lative capacity.  It  will  inform  them  of  the  obligations  which  the  United 
States  thereby  contract,  and  particularly  that  of  taking  the  tribe  under 
their  future  protection ;  and  that  the  ceded  country  is  submitted  to  their 
immediate  possession  and  disposal. 


168  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  5,  1803. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  HAVE  the  satisfaction  to  inform  you  that  the  act  of  hostility  mentioned 
in  my  message  of  the  4th  of  November  to  have  been  committed  by  a 
cruiser  of  the  emperor  of  Morocco  on  a  vessel  of  the  United  States,  has 
been  disavowed  by  the  emperor.  All  differences  in  consequence  thereof 
have  been  amicably  adjusted,  and  the  treaty  of  1786,  between  this  coun- 
try and  that,  has  been  recognised  and  confirmed  by  the  emperor,  each  party 
restoring  to  the  other  what  had  been  detained  or  taken.  I  enclose  the 
emperor's  orders  given  on  this  occasion. 

The  conduct  of  our  officers  generally,  who  have  had  a  part  in  these 
transactions,  has  merited  entire  approbation. 

The  temperate  and  correct  course  pursued  by  our  consul,  Mr.  Simpson, 
the  promptitude  and  energy  of  Commodore  Preble,  the  efficacious  co- 
operation of  Captains  Rodgers  and  Campbell  of  the  returning  squadron, 
the  proper  decision  of  Captain  Bainbridge  that  a  vessel  which  had  com- 
mitted an  open  hostility  was  of  right  to  be  detained  for  inquiry  and  con- 
sideration, and  the  general  zeal  of  the  other  officers  and  men,  are  honora- 
ble facts  which  I  make  known  with  pleasure.  And  to  these  I  add  what 
was  indeed  transacted  in  another  quarter — the  gallant  enterprise  of  Cap- 
tain Rodgers  in  destroying,  on  the  coast  of  Tripoli,  a  corvette  of  that 
power,  of  twenty-two  guns. 

I  recommended  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  a  just  indemnification 
for  the  interest  acquired  by  the  captors  of  the  Mishouda  and  Mirboha, 
yielded  by  them  for  the  public  accommodation. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  16,  1804. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

IN  execution  of  the  act  of  the  present  session  of  Congress  for  taking 
possession  of  Louisiana,  as  ceded  to  us  by  France,  and  for  the  temporary 
government  thereof,  Governor  Claiborne,  of  the  Mississippi  territory,  and 
General  Wilkinson,  were  appointed  commissioners  to  receive  possession. 
They  proceeded,  with  such  regular  troops  as  had  been  assembled  at  For 
Adams,  from  the  nearest  posts,  and  with  some  militia  of  the  Mississippi 
territory,  to  New  Orleans.  To  be  prepared  for  anything  unexpected, 
which  might  arise  out  of  the  transaction,  a  respectable  body  of  militia 
was  ordered  to  be  in  readiness,  in  the  states  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and 
Tennessee,  and  a  part  of  those  of  Tennessee  was  moved  on  to  Natchez 
No  occasion,  however,  arose  for  their  services.  Our  commissioners,  on 
their  arrival  at  New  Orleans,  found  the  province  already  delivered  by  the 
commissaries  of  Spain  to  that  of  France,  who  delivered  it  over  to  them 
on  the  twentieth  day  of  December,  as  appears  by  their  declaratory  act 
accompanying  it.  Governor  Claiborne,  being  duly  invested  with  the  pow- 


JEFFERSON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  169 

ers  Heretofore  exercised  by  the  governor  and  intendant  of  Louisiana,  as- 
sumed the  government  on  the  same  day,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  law 
and  order,  immediately  issued  the  proclamation  and  address  now  commu- 
icated.  > 

On  this  important  acquisition,  so  favorable  to  the  immediate  interests 
of  our  western  citizens,  so  auspicious  to  the  peace  and  security  of  the 
nation  in  general,  which  adds  to  our  country  territories  so  extensive  and 
fertile,  and  to  our  citizens  new  brethren  to  partake  of  the  blessings  of 
freedom  and  self-government,  I  ofl'er  to  Congress  and  the  country,  my 
sincere  congratulations. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  20,  1804. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  COMMUNICATE  to  Congress,  a  letter  received  from  Captain  Bainbridge, 
commander  of  the  Philadelphia  frigate,  informing  us  of  the  wreck  of  that 
vessel  on  the  coast  of  Tripoli,  and  that  himself,  his  officers,  and  men,  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Tripolitans.  This  accident  renders  it  expe- 
dient to  increase  our  force,  and  enlarge  our  expenses  in  the  Mediterranean 
beyond  what  the  last  appropriation  for  the  naval  service  contemplated.  I 
recommend,  therefore,  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  such  an  addition 
to  that  appropriation  as  they  may  think  the  exigency  requires. 


FOURTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
NOVEMBER  8,   1804. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

To  a  people,  fellow-citizens,  who  sincerely  desire  the  happiness  and 
prosperity  of  other  nations  ;  to  those  who  justly  calculate  that  their  own 
well-being  is  advanced  by  that  of  the  nations  with  which  they  have  inter- 
course, it  will  be  a  satisfaction  to  observe  that  the  war  which  was  lighted 
up  in  Europe  a  little  before  our  last  meeting  has  not  yet  extended  its 
flames  to  other  nations,  nor  been  marked  by  the  calamities  which  some- 
times stain  the  footsteps  of  war.  The  irregularities  too  on  the  ocean, 
which  generally  harass  the  commerce  of  neutral  nations  have,  in  distant 
parts,  disturbed  ours  less  than  on  former  occasions.  But  in  the  American 
seas  they  have  been  greater  from  peculiar  causes  ;  and  even  within  our 
harbors  and  jurisdiction,  infringements  on  the  authority  of  the  laws  have 
been  committed  which  have  called  for  serious  attention.  The  friendly 
conduct  of  the  governments  from  whose  officers  and  subjects  these  acts 
have  proceeded,  in  other  respects  and  in  places  more  under  their  observa- 
tion and  control,  gives  us  confidence  that  our  representations  on  this  sub- 
ject will  have  been  properly  regarded. 

Whilt;  noticing  the   irregularities   committed  on  the  ocean  by  others 
those   on   our  own  part  should  not   be   omitted   nor  left  unprovided  for 


170  JEFFERSON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

Complaints  have  been  received  that  persons  residing  within  the  United 
States  have  taken  on  themselves  to  arm  merchant  vessels,  and  to  force  a 
commerce  into  certain  ports  and  countries  in  defiance  of  the  laws  of  those 
countries.  That  individuals  should  undertake  to  wage  private  war,  inde- 
pendently of  the  authority  of  their  country,  can  not  be  permitted  in  a  well- 
ordered  society.  Its  tendency  to  produce  aggression  on  the  laws  and 
rights  of  other  nations,  and  to  endanger  the  peace  of  our  own  is  so  obvi- 
ous, that  I  doubt  not  you  will  adopt  measures  for  restraining  it  effectually 
in  future. 

Soon  after  the  passage  of  the  act  of  the  .ast  session,  authorizing  the 
establishment  of  a  district  and  port  of  entry  on  the  waters  'of  the  Mobile, 
we  learnt  that  its  object  was  misunderstood  on  the  part  of  Spain.  Candid 
explanations  were  immediately  given,  and  assurances  that,  reserving  our 
claims  in  that  quarter  as  a  subject  of  discussion  and  arrangement  with 
Spain,  no  act  was  meditated,  in  the  meantime,  inconsistent  with  the  peace 
and  friendship  existing  between  the  two  nations,  and  that  conformably  to 
these  intentions  would  be  the  execution  of  the  law.  That  government 
had,  however,  thought  proper  to  suspend  the  ratification  of  the  convention 
of  1802.  But  the  explanations  which  would  reach  them  soon  after,  and 
still  more,  the  confirmation  of  them  by  the  tenor  of  the  instrument  estab- 
lishing the  port  and  district,  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  replace  them 
in  the  dispositions  and  views  ,of  the  whole  subject  which  originally  dic- 
tated the  conviction. 

I  have  the  satisfaction  to  inform  you  that  the  objections  which  had  been 
urged  by  that  government  against  the  validity  of  our  title  to  the  country  of 
Louisiana  have  been  withdrawn,  its  exact  limits,  however,  remaining  still 
to  be  settled  between  us.  And  to  this  is  to  be  added  that,  having  prepar- 
ed and  delivered  the  stock  created  in  execution  of  the  convention  of  Paris, 
of  April  30,  1803,  in  consideration  of  the  cession  of  that  country,  we  have 
received  from  the  government  of  France  an  acknowledgment,  in  due  form, 
of  the  fulfilment  of  that  stipulation. 

With  the  nations  of  Europe  in  general  our  friendship  and  intercourse 
are  undisturbed,  and  from  the  governments  of  the  belligerent  powers  espe- 
cially we  continue  to  receive  those  friendly  manifestations  which  are  justly 
due  to  an  honest  neutrality,  and  to  such  good  offices  consistent  with  that 
as  we  have  opportunities  of  rendering. 

The  activity  and  success  of  the  small  force  employed  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean in  the  early  part  of  the  present  year,  the  reinforcement  sent  into  that 
sea,  and  the  energy  of  the  officers  having  command  in  the  several  vessels, 
will,  I  trust,  by  the  sufferings  of  war,  reduce  the  barbarians  of  Tripoli  to 
the  desire  of  peace  on  proper  terms.  Great  injury,  however,  ensues  to 
ourselves,  as  well  as  to  others  interested,  from  the  distance  to  which 
prizes  must  be  brought  for  adjudication,  and  from  the  impracticability  of 
bringing  hither  such  as  are  not  seaworthy. 

The  bey  of  Tunis  having  made  requisitions  unauthorized  by  our  treaty, 
their  rejection  has  produced  from  him  some  expressions  of  discontent. 
But  to  those  who  expect  us  to  calculate  whether  a  compliance  with  unjust 
demands  will  not  cost  us  less  than  a  war,  we  must  leave  as  a  question  of 
calculation  for  them,  also,  whether  to  retire  from  unjust  demands  will  not 
cost  them  less  than  a  war.  We  can  do  to  each  other  very  sensible  inju- 
ries by  war,  but  the  mutual  advantages  of  peace  make  that  the  best  inter- 
est of  both. 


JEFFERSON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  171 

Peace  and  intercourse  with  the  other  powers  on  the  same  coast  con- 
tinue on  the  footing  on  which  they  are  established  by  treaty. 

In  pursuance  of  the  act  providing  for  the  temporary  government  of 
Louisiana,  the  necessary  officers  for  the  territory  of  Orleans  were  appoint- 
ed in  due  time,  to  commence  the  exercise  of  their  functions  on  the  first 
day  of  October.  The  distance,  however,  of  some  of  them,  and  indispens- 
able previous  arrangements,  may  have  retarded  its  commencement  in  some 
of  its  parts  ;  the  form  of  government  thus  provided  having  been  consider- 
ed but  as  temporary,  and  open  to  such  future  improvements  as  further 
information  of  the  circumstances  of  our  brethren  there  might  suggest,  it 
will  of  course  be  subject  to  your  consideration. 

In  the  district  of  Louisiana  it  has  been  thought  best  to  adopt  the  divis- 
ion into  subordinate  districts  which  had  been  established  under  its  former 
government.  These  being  five  in  number,  a  commanding  officer  has  been 
appointed  to  each,  according  to  the  provision  of  the  law,  and  so  soon  as 
they  can  be  at  their  station,  that  district  will  also  be  in  its  due  state  of  or- 
ganization ;  in  the  meantime,  their  places  are  supplied  by  the  officers  be- 
fore commanding  there.  The  functions  of  the  governor  and  judges  of  In- 
diana have  commenced  ;  the  government  we  presume  is  proceeding  in  its 
new  form.  The  lead  mines  in  that  district  offer  so  rich  a  supply  of  that 
metal  as  to  merit  attention.  The  report  now  communicated  will  inform 
you  of  their  state,  and  of  the  necessity  of  immediate  inquiry  into  their 
occupation  and  titles. 

With  the  Indian  tribes  established  within  our  newly-acquired  limits,  I 
have  deemed  it  necessary  to  open  conferences  for  the  purpose  of  estab- 
lishing a  good  understanding  and  neighborly  relations  between  us.  So 
far  as  we  have  yet  learned,  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  their  disposi- 
tions are  generally  favorable  and  friendly  ;  and  with  these  dispositions  on 
their  part,  we  have  in  our  own  hands  means  which  can  not  fail  us  for  pre- 
serving their  peace  and  friendship.  By  pursuing  a  uniform  course  of 
justice  toward  them,  by  aiding  them  in  all  the  improvements  which  may 
better  their  condition,  and  especially  by  establishing  a  commerce  on  terms 
which  shall  be  advantageous  to  them  and  only  not  losing  to  us,  and  so 
regulated  as  that  no  incendiaries  of  our  own  or  any  other  nation  may  be 
permitted  to  disturb  the  natural  effects  of  our  just  and  friendly  offices,  we 
may  render  ourselves  so  necessary  to  their  comfort  and  prosperity,  that 
the  protection  of  our  citizens  from  their  disorderly  members  will  become 
their  interest  and  their  voluntary  care.  Instead,  therefore,  of  an  augment- 
ation of  military  force  proportioned  to  our  extension  of  frontier,  I  proposed 
a  moderate  enlargement  of  the  capital  employed  in  that  commerce,  as  a 
more  effectual,  economical,  and  humane  instrument  for  preserving  peace 
and  good  neighborhood  with  them. 

On  this  side  the  Mississippi  an  important  relinquishment  of  native  title 
has  been  received  from  the  Delawares.  That  tribe,  desiring  to  extinguish 
in  their  people  the  spirit  of  hunting,  and  to  convert  superfluous  lands  into 
the  means  of  improving  what  they  retain,  have  ceded  to  us  all  the  country 
between  the  Wabash  and  the  Ohio,  south  of  and  including  the  road  from 
the  rapids  toward  Vincennes,  for  which  they  are  to  receive  annuities  in 
animals  and  implements  for  agriculture,  and  in  other  necessaries.  This 
acquisition  is  important,  not  only  for  its  extent  and  fertility,  but  as  fronting 
three  hundred  miles  on  the  Ohio,  and  near  half  that  on  the  Wabash ;  the 
produce  of  the  settled  countries  descending  those  rivers  will  no  longer 
pass  in  review  of  the  Indian  frontier  but  in  a  small  portion,  and  with  the 


172  JEFFERSON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

cession  heretofore  made  with  the  Kaskaskias,  nearly  consolidates  our  po  ; 
sessions  north  of  the  Ohio,  in  a  very  respectable  breadth,  from  Lake  Eric 
to  the  Mississippi.  The  Piankeshaws  having  some  claim  to  the  country 
ceded  by  the  Delawares,  it  has  been  thought  best  to  quiet  that  by  fair  pur- 
chase also.  So  soon  as  the  treaties  on  this  subject  shall  have  received 
their  constitutional  sanctions,  they  shall  be  laid  before  both  houses. 

The  act  of  Congress  of  February  28th,  1803,  for  building  and  employ- 
ing a  number  of  gun-boats,  is  now  in  a  course  of  execution  to  the  extent 
there  provided  for.  The  obstacle  to  naval  enterprise  which  vessels  of 
this  construction  offer  for  our  seaport  towns  ;  their  utility  toward  support- 
ing within  our  waters  the  authority  of  the  laws  ;  the  promptness  with 
which  they  will  be  manned  by  the  seamen  and  militia  of  the  place  the 
moment  they  are  wanting;  the  facility  of  their  assembling  from  different 
parts  of  the  coast  to  any  point  where  they  are  required  in  greater  force 
than  ordinary ;  the  economy  of  their  maintenance  and  preservation  from 
decay  when  not  in  actual  service  ;  and  the  competence  of  our  finances  to 
this  defensive  provision,  without  any  new  burden,  are  considerations  which 
will  have  due  weight  with  Congress  in  deciding  on  the  expediency  of  ad- 
ding to  their  number  from  year  to  year,  as  experience  shall  test  their  utility, 
until  all  our  important  harbors,  by  these  and  auxiliary  means,  shall  be 
insured  against  insult  and  opposition  to  the  laws. 

No  circumstance  has  arisen  since  your  last  session  which  calls  for  any 
augmentation  of  our  regular  military  force.  Should  any  improvement 
occur  in  the  militia  system,  that  will  be  always  seasonable. 

Accounts  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  last  year,  with  esti- 
mates for  the  ensuing  one,  will  as  usual  be  laid  before  you. 

The  state  of  our  finances  continue  to  fulfil  our  expectations.  Eleven 
millions  and  a  half  of  dollars,  received  in  the  course  of  the  year  ending 
on  the  30th  of  September  last,  have  enabled  us,  after  meeting  all  the  or- 
dinary expenses  of  the  year,  to  pay  upward  of  $3,600,000  of  the  public 
debt,  exclusive  of  interest.  This  payment,  with  those  of  the  two  pre- 
ceding years,  has  extinguished  upward  of  twelve  millions  of  the  principal, 
and  a  greater  sum  of  interest,  within  that  period ;  and  by  a  proportional 
diminution  of  interest  renders  already  sensible  the  effect  of  the  growing 
sum  yearly  applicable  to  the  discharge  of  the  principal. 

It  is  also  ascertained  that  the  revenue  accrued  during  the'  last  year  ex- 
ceeds that  of  the  preceding  ;  and  the  probable  receipts  of  the  ensuing 
year  may  safely  be  relied  on  as  sufficient,  with  the  sum  already  in  the 
treasury,  to  meet  all  the  current  demands  of  the  year,  to  discharge  upward 
of  three  millions  and  a  half  of  the  engagements  incurred  under  the  Brit- 
ish and  French  conventions,  and  to  advance  in  the  farther  redemption  of 
the  funded  debts  as  rapidly  as  had  been  contemplated.  These,  fellow- 
citizens,  are  the  principal  matters  which  I  have  thought  it  necessary  at 
this  time  to  communicate  for  your  consideration  and  attention.  Some  oth- 
ers will  be  laid  before  you  in  the  course  of  the  session,  but  in  the  dis- 
charge of  the  great  duties  confided  to  you  by  our  country,  you  will  take 
a  broader  view  of  the  field  of  legislation.  Whether  the  great  interests  of 
agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce,  or  navigation,  can  within  the  pale 
of  your  constitutional  powers  be  aided  in  any  of  their  relations  ;  whether 
laws  are  provided  in  all  cases  where  they  are  wanting ;  whether  those 
provided  are  exactly  what  they  should  be  ;  whether  any  abuses  take  place 
in  their  administration,  or  in  that  of  the  public  revenues  ;  whether  the 
organization  of  the  public  agents  or  of  the  public  force  is  perfect  in  all  its 


JEFFERSON'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  173 

parts  ;  in  fine,  whether  anything  can  be  done  to  advance  the  general  good, 
are  questions  within  the  limits  of  your  functions  which  will  necessarily 
occupy  your  attention.  In  these  and  other  matters  which  you  in  your 
wisdom  may  propose  for  the  good  of  our  country,  you  may  count  with 
assurance  on  my  hearty  co-operation  and  faithful  execution. 


SECOND    INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 
MARCH  4,  1805. 

PROCEEDING,  fellow-citizens,  to  that  qualification  which  the  constitution 
requires,  before  my  entrance  on  the  charge  again  conferred  on  me,  it  is 
my  duty  to  express  the  deep  sense  I  entertain  of  this  new  proof  of  confi- 
dence from  my  fellow-citizens  at  large,  and  the  zeal  with  which  it  inspires 
me,  so  to  conduct  myself  as  may  best  satisfy  their  just  expectations. 

On  taking  this  station  on  a  former  occasion,  I  declared  the  principles 
on  which  I  believed  it  my  duty  to  administer  the  affairs  of  our  common- 
wealth. My  conscience  tells  me  that  I  have,  on  every  occasion,  acted  up 
to  that  declaration,  according  to  its  obvious  import,  and  to  the  understand- 
ing of  every  candid  mind. 

In  the  transaction  of  your  foreign  affairs,  we  have  endeavored  to  culti- 
vate the  friendship  of  all  nations,  and  especially  of  those  with  which  we 
have  the  most  important  relations.  We  have  done  them  justice  on  all 
occasions,  favored  where  favor  was  lawful,  and  cherished  mutual  inter- 
ests and  intercourse  on  fair  and  equal  terms.  We  are  firmly  convinced, 
and  we  act  on  that  conviction,  that  with  nations,  as  with  individuals,  our 
interests  soundly  calculated  will  ever  be  found  inseparable  from  our  moral 
duties  ;  and  history  bears  witness  to  the  fact,  that  a  just  nation  is  trusted 
on  its  word,  when  resource  is  had  to  armaments  and  wars  to  bridle 
others. 

At  home,  fellow-citizens,  you  best  know  whether  we  have  done  well  or 
ill.  The  suppression  of  unnecessary  offices,  of  useless  establishments  and 
expenses,  enabled  us  to  discontinue  our  internal  taxes.  These  covering 
our  land  with  officers,  and  opening  our  doors  to  their  intrusions,  had  already 
begun  that  process  of  domiciliary  vexation,  which,  once  entered,  is  scarcely 
to  be  restrained  from  reaching  successively  every  article  of  produce  and 
property.  If  among  these  taxes  some  minor  ones  fell  which  had  not  been 
inconvenient,  it  was  because  their  amount  would  not  have  paid  the  officers 
who  collected  them,  and  because,  if  they  had  any  merit,  the  state  authori- 
ties might  adopt  them,  instead  of  others  less  approved. 

The  remaining  revenue  on  the  consumption  of  foreign  articles,  is  paid 
cheerfully  by  those  who  can  afford  to  add  foreign  luxuries  to  domestic 
comforts,  being  collected  on  our  seaboard  and  frontiers  only,  and  incorpo- 
rated witb  the  transactions  of  our  mercantile  citizens,  it  may  be  the  pleas- 
ure and  the  pride  of  an  American  to  ask,  what  farmer,  what  mechanic,  what 
laborer,  ever  sees  a  taxgatherer  of  the  United  States  ?  These  contribu- 
tions enable  us  to  support  the  current  expenses  of  the  government,  to  fulfil 
contracts  with  foreign  nations,  to  extinguish  the  native  right  of  soil  within 


174  JEFFERSON'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

our  limits,  to  extend  those  limits,  and  to  apply  such  a  surplus  to  our  public 
debts,  as  places  at  a  short  day  their  final  redemption,  and  that  redemption 
once  effected,  the  revenue  thereby  liberated  may,  by  a  just  repartition 
among  the  states,  and  a  corresponding  amendment  of  the  constitution,  be 
applied,  in  time  of  peace,  to  rivers,  canals,  roads,  arts,  manufactures,  edu- 
cation, and  other  great  objects  within  each  state.  In  time  of  war,  if  injus- 
tice, by  ourselves  or  others,  must  sometimes  produce  war,  increased  as  the 
same  revenue  will  bo  increased  by  population  and  consumption,  and  aided 
by  other  resources  reserved  for  that  crisis,  it  may  meet  within  the  year  all 
the  expenses  of  the  year,  without  encroaching  on  the  rights  of  future  gen- 
erations by  burdening  them  with  the  debts  of  the  past.  War  will  then  be 
but  a  suspension  of  useful  works,  and  a  return  to  a  state  of  peace,  a  return 
to  the  progress  of  improvement. 

I  have  said,  fellow-citizens,  that  the  income  reserved  had  enabled  us  to 
extend  our  limits  ;  but  that  extension  may  possibly  pay  for  itself  before  we 
are  called  on,  and  in  the  meantime,  may  keep  down  the  accruing  interest ; 
in  all  events,  it  will  repay  the  advances  we  hiive  made.  I  know  that  the 
acquisition  of  Louisiana  has  been  disapproved  by  some,  from  a  candid  ap- 
prehension that  the  enlargement  of  our  territory  would  endanger  its  union. 
But  who  can  limit  the  extent  to  which  the  federative  principle  may  operate 
effectively  ?  The  larger  our  association,  the  less  will  it  be  shaken  by  lo- 
cal passions  ;  and  in  any  view,  is  it  not  better  that  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
Mississippi  should  be  settled  by  OUT  own  brethren  and  children,  than  by 
strangers  of  another  family  ?  With  which  shall  we  be  most  likely  to  live 
in  harmony  and  friendly  intercourse  ? 

In  matters  of  religion,  1  have  considered  that  its  free  exercise  is  placed 
by  the  constitution  independent  of  the  powers  of  the  general  government. 
I  have  therefore  undertaken,  on  no  occasion,  to  prescribe  the  religious  ex- 
ercises suited  to  it ;  but  have  left  them,  as  the  constitution  found  them, 
under  the  direction  and  discipline  of  state  or  church  authorities  acknowl- 
edged by  the  several  religious  societies. 

The  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  these  countries  I  have  regarded  with  me 
commiseration  their  history  inspires.  Endowed  with  the  faculties  and 
the  rights  of  men,  breathing  an  ardent  love  of  liberty  and  independence, 
and  occupying  a  country  which  left  them  no  desire  but  to  be  undisturbed, 
the  stream  of  overflowing  population  from  other  regions  directed  itself  on 
these  shores ;  without  power  to  divert,  or  habits  to  contend  against,  they 
have  been  overwhelmed  by  the  current,  or  driven  before  it ;  now  reduced 
within  limits  too  narrow  for  the  hunter's  state,  humanity  enjoins  us  to  teach 
them  agriculture  and  the  domestic  arts  ;  to  encourage  them  to  that  indus- 
try which  alone  can  enable  them  to  maintain  their  place  in  existence,  and 
to  prepare  them  in  time  for  that  state  of  society,  which  to  bodily  comforts 
adds  the  improvement  of  the  mind  and  morals.  We  have  therefore  liberally 
furnished  them  with  the  implements  of  husbandry  and  household  use  ;  we 
have  placed  among  them  instructors  in  the  arts  of  first  necessity  ;  and  they 
are  covered  with  the  segis  of  the  law  against  aggressors  from  among  our- 
selves. 

But  the  endeavors  to  enlighten  them  on  the  fate  which  awaits  their 
present  course  of  life,  to  induce  them  to  exercise  their  reason,  follow  its 
dictates,  and  change  their  pursuits  with  the  change  of  circumstances,  have 
powerful  obstacles  to  encounter  ;  they  are  combated  by  the  habits  of  their 
bodies,  prejudice  of  their  minds,  ignorance,  pride,  and  the  influence  of 


JEFFERSON'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  175 

interested  and  crafty  individuals  among  them,  who  feel  themselves  some- 
thing in  the  present  order  of  things,  and  fear  to  become  nothing  in  any 
other.  These  persons  inculcate  a  sanctimonious  reverence  for  the  cus- 
toms of  their  ancestors ;  that  whatsoever  they  did,  must  be  done  through 
all  time  ;  that  reason  is  a  false  guide,  and  to  advance  under  its  counsel,  in 
their  physical,  moral,  or  political  condition,  is  perilous  innovation  ;  that 
their  duty  is  to  remain  as  their  Creator  made  them,  ignorance  being  safety, 
and  knowledge  full  of  danger ;  in  short,  my  friends,  among  them  is  seen 
the  action  and  counteraction  of  good  sense  and  bigotry  ;  they  too  have 
their  anti-philosophers,  who  find  an  interest  in  keeping  things  in  their 
present  state,  who  dread  reformation,  and  exert  all  their  faculties  to  main- 
tain the  ascendency  of  habit  over  the  duty  of  improving  our  reason  and 
obeying  its  mandates. 

In  giving  these  outlines,  I  do  not  mean,  fellow-citizens,  to  arrogate  to 
myself  the  merit  of  the  measures  ;  that  is  due,  in  the  first  place,  to  the 
reflecting  character  of  our  citizens  at  large,  who,  by  the  weight  of  public 
opinion,  influence  and  strengthen  the  public  measures  ;  it  is  due  to  the 
sound  discretion  with  which  they  select  from  among  themselves  those  to 
whom  they  confide  the  legislative  duties  ;  it  is  due  to  the  zeal  and  wisdom 
of  the  characters  thus  selected,  who  lay  the  foundations  of  public  happi- 
ness in  wholesome  laws,  the  execution  of  which  alone  remains  for  others  ; 
and  it  is  due  to  the  able  and  faithful  auxiliaries,  whose  patriotism  has  asso- 
ciated with  me  in  the  executive  functions. 

During  this  course  of  administration,  and  in  order  to  disturb  it,  the  artil- 
lery of  the  press  has  been  levelled  against  us,  charged  with  whatsoever  its 
licentiousness  could  devise  or  dare.  These  abuses  of  an  institution  so 
important  to  freedom  and  science,  are  deeply  to  be  regretted,  inasmuch  as 
they  tend  to  lessen  its  usefulness,  and  to  sap  its  safety  ;  they  might,  indeed, 
have  been  corrected  by  the  wholesome  punishments  reserved  and  provided 
by  the  laws  of  the  several  states  against  falsehood  and  defamation ;  but 
public  duties  more  urgent  press  on  the  time  of  public  servants,  and  th^ 
offenders  have  therefore  been  left  to  find  their  punishment  in  the  public 
indignation. 

Nor  was  it  uninteresting  to  the  world,  that  an  experiment  should  be 
fairly  and  fully  made,  whether  freedom  of  discussion,  unaided  by  power, 
is  not  sufficient  for  the  propagation  and  protection  of  truth — whether  a 
government,  conducting  itself  in  the  true  spirit  of  its  constitution,  with  zeal 
and  purity,  and  doing  no  act  which  it  would  be  unwilling  the  whole  world 
should  witness,  can  be  written  down  by  falsehood  and  defamation.  The 
experiment  has  been  tried  ;  you  have  witnessed  the  scene  ;  our  fellow- 
citizens  have  looked  on,  cool  and  collected ;  they  saw  the  latent  source 
from  which  these  outrages  proceeded  ;  they  gathered  around  their  public 
functionaries,  and  when  the  constitution  called  them,  to  the  decision  by 
suffrage,  they  pronounced  their  verdict,  honorable  to  those  who  had  served 
them,  and  consolatory  to  the  friend  of  man,  who  believes  he  may  be  in- 
trusted with  his  own  affairs. 

No  inference  is  here  intended,  that  the  laws,  provided  by  the  state 
against  false  and  defamatory  publications,  should  not  be  enforced  ;  he  who 
has  time,  renders  a  service  to  public  morals  and  public  tranquillity,  in  re- 
forming these  abuses  by  the  salutary  coercions  of  the  law  ;  but  the  exper- 
iment is  noted,  to  prove  that,  since  truth  and  reason  have  maintained  their 
ground  against  false  opinions  in  league  with  false  facts,  the  press,  confined 


176  JEFFERSON'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

to  truth,  needs  no  other  legal  restraint ;  the  public  judgment  will  correct 
false  reasonings  and  opinions,  on  a  full  hearing  of  all  parties  ;  and  no 
other  definite  line  can  be  drawn  between  the  inestimable  liberty  of  the 
press  and  its  demoralizing  licentiousness.  If  there  be  still  improprieties 
which  this  rule  would  not  restrain,  its  supplement  must  be  sought  in  the 
censorship  of  public  opinion. 

Contemplating  the  union  of  sentiment  now  manifested  so  generally,  as 
auguring  harmony  and  happiness  to  our  future  course,  I  offer  to  our  coun- 
try sincere  congratulations.  With  those,  too,  not  yet  rallied  to  the  same 
point,  the  disposition  to  do  so  is  gaining  strength  ;  facts  are  piercing  through 
the  veil  drawn  over  them  ;  and  our  doubting  breihrcn  will  at  length  see, 
that  the  mass  of  their  fellow-citizens,  with  whom  they  can  not  yet  resolve 
to  act,  as  to  principles  and  measures,  think  as  they  think,  and  desire  what 
they  desire  ;  that  our  wish,  as  well  as  theirs,  is,  that  the  public  efforts 
may  be  directed  honestly  to  the  public  good,  that  peace  be  cultivated,  civil 
and  religious  liberty  unassailed,  law  and  order  preserved,  equality  of  rights 
maintained,  and  that  state  of  property,  equal  or  unequal,  which  results  to 
every  man  from  his  own  industry,  or  that  of  his  fathers.  When  satisfied 
of  these  views,  it  is  not  in  human  nature  that  they  should  not  approve  and 
support  them  ;  in  the  meantime,  let  us  cherish  them  with  patient  affec- 
tion ;  let  us  do  them  justice,  and  more  than  justice,  in  all  competitions  of 
interest ;  and  we  need  not  doubt  that  truth,  reason,  and  their  own  inter- 
ests, will  at  length  prevail,  will  gather  them  into  the  fold  of  their  country, 
and  will  complete  their  entire  union  of  opinion,  which  gives  to  a  nation  the 
blessing  of  harmony,  and  the  benefit  of  all  its  strength. 

I  shall  now  enter  on  the  duties  to  which  my  fellow-citizens  have  again 
called  me,  and  shall  proceed  in  the  spirit  of  those  principles  which  they 
have  approved.  I  fear  not  that  any  motives  of  interest  may  lead  me 
astray  ;  I  am  sensible  of  no  passion  which  could  seduce  me  knowingly 
from  the  path  of  justice ;  but  the  weakness  of  human  nature,  and  the  lim- 
its of  my  own  understanding,  will  produce  errors  of  judgment  sometimes 
injurious  to  your  interests.  I  shall  need,  therefore,  all  the  indulgence  I 
have  heretofore  experienced — the  want  of  it  will  certainly  not  lessen  with 
increasing  years.  I  shall  need,  too,  the  favor  of  that  Being  in  whose 
hands  we  are,  who  led  our  forefathers,  as  Israel  of  old,  from  their  native 
land,  and  planted  them  in  a  country  flowing  with  all  the  necessaries  and 
comforts  of  life  ;  who  has  covered  our  infancy  with  his  providence,  and 
our  riper  years  with  his  wisdom  and  power ;  and  to  whose  goodness 
I  ask  you  to  join  with  me  in  supplications,  that  he  will  so  enlighten  the 
minds  of  your  servants,  guide  their  councils,  and  prosper  their  measures, 
that  whatsoever  they  do,  shall  result  in  your  good,  and  shall  secure  to  yov 
the  peace,  friendship,  and  approbation  of  all  nations. 


FIFTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  3,  1805. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

AT  a  moment  when  the  nations  of  Europe  are  in  commotion  and  arming 
against  each  other,  and  when  those  with  whom  we  have  principal  inter- 
course are  engaged  in  the  general  contest,  and  when  the  countenance  of 
some  of  them  toward  our  peaceable  country  threatens  that  even  that  may 
not  be  unaffected  by  what  is  passing  on  the  general  theatre,  a  meeting  of 
the  representatives  of  the  nation  in  both  houses  of  Congress  has  become 
more  than  usually  desirable.  Coming  from  every  section  of  our  country, 
they  bring  with  them  the  sentiments  and  the  information  of  the  whole,  and 
will  be  enabled  to  give  a  direction  to  the  public  affairs  which  the  will  and 
the  wisdom  of  the  whole  will  approve  and  support. 

In  taking  a  view  of  the  state  of  our  country,  we  in  the  first  place  notice 
the  late  affliction  of  two  of  our  cities  under  the  fatal  fever  which  in  latter 
times  has  occasionally  visited  our  shores.  Providence  in  his  goodness 
gave  it  an  early  termination  on  this  occasion,  and  lessened  the  number  of 
victims  which  have  usually  fallen  before  it.  In  the  course  of  the  several 
visitations  by  this  disease  it  has  appeared,  that  it  is  strictly  local ;  incident 
to  the  cities  and  on  the  tide  waters  only  ;  incommunicable  in  the  country, 
either  by  persons  under  the  disease  or  by  goods  carried  from  diseased 
places  ;  that  its  access  is  with  the  autumn,  and  that  it  disappears  with  the 
early  frosts.  These  restrictions  within  narrow  limits  of  time  and  space 
give  security  even  to  our  maritime  cities  during  three  fourths  of  the  year, 
and  to  the  country  always.  Although  from  these  facts  it  appears  unneces- 
sary, yet  to  satisfy  the  fears  of  foreign  nations,  and  cautions  on  their  part 
not  to  be  complained  of  in  a  danger  whose  limits  are  yet  unknown  to  them, 
I  have  strictly  enjoined  on  the  officers  at  the  head  of  the  customs  to  cer- 
tify with  exact  truth  for  every  vessel  sailing  for  a  foreign  port,  the  state 
of  health  respecting  this  fever  which  prevails  at  the  place  from  which  she 
sails.  Under  every  motive  from  character  and  duty  to  certify  the  truth,  I 
have  no  doubt  they  have  faithfully  executed  this  injunction.  Much  real 
injury  has,  however,  been  sustained,  from  a  propensity  to  identify  with 
this  epidemic,  and  to  call  by  the  same  name,  fevers  of  very  different 
kinds,  which  have  been  known  at  all  times  and  in  all  countries  and  never 
have  been  placed  among  those  deemed  contagious.  As  we  advance  in 
our  knowledge  of  this  disease,  as  facts  develop  the  source  from  which 
individuals  receive  it,  the  state  authorities  charged  with  the  care  of  the 
public  health,  and  Congress  with  that  of  the  general  commerce,  will 
become  able  to  regulate  with  effect  their  respective  functions  in  these 
departments.  The  burden  of  quarantines  is  felt  at  home  as  well  as  abroad  , 
their  efficacy  merits  examination.  Although  the  health  laws  of  the  states 
VOL.  I.— 12 


178  JEFFERSON'S  FIFTH   ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

should  hi-  found  to  need  no  present  rcvisal  hy  Congress,  yet  commerce 
claims  that  their  attention  be  ever  awake  to  them. 

Since  our  last  meeting  the  aspect  of  our  foreign  relations  has  consider- 
ably changed.  Our  coasts  have  been  infested  and  our  harbors  watched  by 
private  armed  vessels,  some  of  them  without  commissions,  some  with  il- 
legal commissions,  others  with  those  of  legal  form  but  committing  piratical 
acts  beyond  the  authority  of  their  commissions.  They  have  captured  in 
the  very  entrance  of  our  harbors, -as  well  as  on  the  high  seas,  not  only 
the  vessels  of  our  friends  coming  to  trade  witli  us  but  our  own  also. 
They  have  carried  them  off  under  pretence  of  legal  adjudication,  but  not 
daring  to  approach  a  court  of  justice,  they  have  plundered  and  sunk  them 
by  the  way,  or  in  obscure  places  where  no  evidence  could  arise  against 
them ;  maltreated  the  crews,  and  abandoned  them  in  boats  in  the  open  sea 
or  on  desert  shores  without  food  or  covering.  These  enormities  appear- 
ing to  be  unreached  by  any  control  of  their  sovereigns,  I  found  it  neces- 
sary to  equip  a  force  to  cruise  within  our  own  seas,  to  arrest  all  vessels 
of  these  descriptions  found  hovering  on  our  coast  within  the  limits  of  the 
Gulf  Stream,  and  to  bring  the  offenders  in  for  trial  as  pirates. 

The  same  system  of  hovering  on  our  coasts  and  harbors  under  color  of 
seeking  enemies  has  been  also  carried  on  by  public  armed  ships,  to  the 
great  annoyance  and  oppression  of  our  commerce.  New  principles,  too, 
have  been  interpolated  into  the  law  of  nations,  founded  neither  in  justice 
nor  the  usage  or  acknowledgment  of  nations.  According  to  these,  a  bel- 
ligerent takes  to  himself  a  commerce  with  its  own  enemy  which  it  denies 
to  a  neutral  on  the  ground  of  its  aiding  that  enemy  in  the  war.  But  rea- 
son revolts  at  such  an  inconsistency,  and  the  neutral  having  equal  right 
with  the  belligerent  to  decide  the  question,  the  interest  of  our  constituents 
and  the  duty  of  maintaining  the  authority  of  reason,  the  only  umpire  be- 
tween just  nations,  impose  on  us  the  obligation  of  providing  an  effectual 
and  determined  opposition  to  a  doctrine  so  injurious  to  the  rights  of  peace- 
able nations.  Indeed  the  confidence  we  ought  to  have  in  the  justice  of 
others  still  countenances  the  hope  that  a  sounder  view  of  those  rights  will 
of  itself  induce  from  every  belligerent  a  more  correct  observance  of  them. 

With  Spain  our  negotiations  for  a  settlement  of  differences  have  not  had 
a  satisfactory  issue.  Spoliations  during  the  former  war,  for  which  she  had 
formally  acknowledged  herself  responsible,  have  been  refused  to  be  com- 
pensated, but  on  conditions  affecting  other  claims  in  no  wise  connected 
with  them.  Yet  the  same  practices  are  renewed  in  the  present  war  and 
are  already  of  great  amount.  On  the  Mobile,  our  commerce  passing 
through  that  river  continues  to  be  obstructed  by  arbitrary  duties  and  vexa- 
tious searches.  Propositions  for  adjusting  amicably  the  boundaries  of 
Louisiana  have  not  been  acceded  to.  While,  however,  the  right  is  un- 
settled, we  have  avoided  changing  the  state  of  things  by  taking  new  posts 
or  strengthening  ourselves  in  the  disputed  territories,  in  the  hope  that  the 
other  power  would  not  by  contrary  conduct  oblige  us  to  meet  their  example, 
and  endanger  conflicts  of  authority  the  issue  of  which  may  not  be  easily 
controlled.  But  in  this  hope  we  have  now  reason  to  lessen  our  confidence. 
Inroads  have  been  recently  made  into  the  territories  of  Orleans  and  the 
Mississippi,  our  citizens  have  been  seized  and  their  property  plundered  in 
the  very  parts  of  the  former  which  had  been  actually  delivered  up  by  Spain, 
and  this  by  the  regular  officers  and  soldiers  of  that  government.  I  have 
therefore  found  it  necessary  at  length  to  give  orders  to  our  troops  on  that 
frontier  to  be  in  readiness  to  protect  our  citizens,  and  to  repel  by  arms  any 


JEFFERSON'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  179 

similar  aggiessions  in  future.  Other  details,  necessary  for  your  full  in- 
formation of  the  state  of  things  between  this  country  and  that,  shall  be  the 
subject  of  another  communication. 

In  reviewing  these  injuries  from  some  of  the  belligerent  powers,  the 
moderation,  the  firmness,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  legislature  will  be  all  called 
into  action.  We  ought  still,  to  hope  that  time  and  a  more  correct  estimate 
of  interest,  as  well  as  of  character,  will  produce  the  justice  we  are  bound 
to  expect.  But  should  any  nation  deceive  itself  by  false  calculations,  and 
disappoint  that  expectation,  we  must  join  in  the  unprofitable  contest  of  try- 
ing which  party  can  do  the  other  the  most  harm.  Some  of  these  injuries 
may  perhaps  admit  a  peaceable  remedy.  Where  that  is  competent  it  is 
always  the  most  desirable.  But  some  of  them  are  of  a  nature  to  be  met 
by  force  only,  and  all  of  them  may  lead  to  it.  I  can  not,  therefore,  but  rec- 
ommend such  preparations  as  circumstances  call  for.  The  first  object  is 
to  place  our  seaport  towns  out  of  the  danger  of  insult.  Measures  have 
been  already  taken  for  furnishing  them  with  heavy  cannon  for  the  service 
of  such  land  batteries  as  may  make  a  part  of  their  defence  against  armed 
vessels  approaching  them.  In  aid  of  these  it  is  desirable  that  we  should 
have  a  competent  number  of  gun-boats  ;  and  the  number,  to  be  competent, 
must  be  considerable.  If  immediately  begun,  they  may  be  in  readiness 
for  service  at  the  opening  of  the  next  season.  Whether  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  augment  our  land  forces  will  be  decided  by  occurrences  probably 
in  the  course  of  your  session.  In  the  meantime,  you  will  consider 
whether  it  would  not  be  expedient,  for  a  state  of  peace  as  well  as  of  war, 
so  to  organize  or  class  the  militia  as  would  enable  us,  on  a  sudden  emer- 
gency, to  call  for  the  services  of  the  younger  portions,  unencumbered  with 
the  old  and  those  having  families.  Upward  of  three  hundred  thousand 
able-bodied  men,  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  twenty-six  years,  which 
the  last  census  shows  we  may  now  count  within  our  limits,  will  furnish  a 
competent  number  for  offence  or  defence  in  any  point  where  they  may  be 
wanted,  and  will  give  time  for  raising  regular  forces  after  the  necessity  of 
them  shall  become  certain  ;  and  the  reducing  to  the  early  period  of  life  all 
its  active  service  can  not  but  be  desirable  to  our  younger  citizens,  of  the 
present  as  well  as  future  times,  inasmuch  as  it  engages  to  them  in  more 
advanced  age  a  quiet  and  undisturbed  repose  in  the  bosom  of  their  families. 
I  can  not,  then,  but  earnestly  recommend  to  your  early  consideration  the 
expediency  of  so  modifying  our  militia  system  as,  by  a  separation  of  the 
more  active  part  from  that  which  is  less  so,  we  may  draw  from  it,  when 
necessary,  an  efficient  corps  fit  for  real  and  active  service,  and  to  be  call- 
ed to  it  in  regular  rotation. 

Considerable  provision  has  been  made,  under  former  authorities  from 
Congress,  of  materials  for  the  construction  of  ships-of-war  of  seventy-four 
guns.  These  materials  are  on  hand,  subject  to  the  further  will  of  the  legis- 
lature. 

An  immediate  prohibition  of  the  exportation  of  arms  and  ammunition  is 
aUo  submitted  to  your  determination. 

Turning  from  these  unpleasant  views  of  violence  and  wrong,  I  congratu- 
late you  on  the  liberation  of  our  fellow-citizens  who  were  stranded  on  the 
coast  of  Tripoli  and  made  prisoners-of-war.  In  a  government  bottomed 
on  the  will  of  all,  the  life  and  liberty  of  every  individual  citizen  become 
interesting  to  all.  In  the  treaty,  therefore,  which  has  concluded  our  war- 
fare with  that  state,  an  article  for  the  ransom  of  our  citizens  has  been 
agreed  to.  An  operation  by  Inn-l,  by  .1  sm;ill  band  of  our  countrymen,  and 


180  JEFFERSON'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

others — engaged  for  the  occasion,  in  conjunction  with  the  troops  of  the 
ex-bashaw  of  that  country,  gallantly  conducted  by  our  late  consul  Eaton, 
and  their  successful  enterprise  on  the  city  of  Deme,  contributed,  doubt- 
less, to  the  impression  which  produced  peace  ;  and  the  conclusion  of  this 
prevented  opportunities  of  which  the  officers  and  men  of  our  squadron 
destined  for  Tripoli  would  have  availed  themselves,  to  emulate  the  acts 
of  valor  exhibited  by  their  brethren  in  the  attack  of  the  last  year.  Reflect- 
ing with  high  satisfaction  on  the  distinguished  bravery  displayed  whenever 
occasion  permitted  in  the  Mediterranean  service,  I  think  it  would  be  a 
useful  encouragement,  as  well  as  a  just  reward,  to  make  an  opening  for 
some  present  promotion  by  enlarging  our  peace  establishment  of  captains 
and  lieutenants. 

With  Tunis  some  misunderstandings  have  arisen,  not  yet  sufficiently 
explained,  but  friendly  discussions  with  their  ambassador  recently  arrived, 
and  a  mutual  disposition  to  do  whatever  is  just  and  reasonable,  can  not 
fail  of  dissipating  these ;  so  that  we  may  consider  our  peace  on  that 
coast,  generally,  to  be  on  as  sound  a  footing  as  it  has  been  at  any  prece- 
ding time.  Still  it  will  not  be  expedient  to  withdraw,  immediately,  tho 
M'hole  of  our  force  from  that  sea. 

The  law  for  providing  a  naval  peace  establishment  fixes  the  number  of 
frigates  which  shall  be  kept  in  constant  service  in  time  of  peace,  and  pre- 
scribes that  they  shall  not  be  manned  by  more  than  two  thirds  of  their 
complement  of  seamen  and  ordinary  seamen.  Whether  a  frigate  may  be 
trusted  to  two  thirds  only  of  her  proper  complement  of  men  must  depend 
on  the  nature  of  the  service  on  which  she  is  ordered  ;  that  may  some- 
times, for  her  safety  as  well  as  to  insure  her  object,  require  her  fullest 
complement.  In  adverting  to  this  subject,  Congress  will  perhaps  consider 
whether  the  best  limitation  on  the  executive'  discretion  in  this  case  would 
not  be  by  the  number  of  seamen  which  may  be  employed  in  the  whole 
service,  rather  than  by  the  number  of  vessels.  Occasions  oftener  arise 
for  the  employment  of  small  than  of  large  vessels,  and  it  would  lessen  risk 
as  well  as  expense  to  be  authorized  to  employ  them  of  preference.  The 
limitation  suggested  by  the  number  of  seamen  would  admit  a  selection  of 
vessels  best  adapted  to  the  service. 

Our  Indian  neighbors  are  adrwcing,  many  of  them  with  spirit  and  oth- 
ers beginning  to  engage,  in  the  pursuits  of  agriculture  and  household  man- 
ufacture. They  are  becoming  sensible  that  the  earth  yields  subsistence 
with  less  labor  and  more  certainty  than  the  forest,  and  find  it  their  inter- 
est, from  time  to  time,  to  dispose  of  parts  of  their  surplus  and  waste  lands 
for  the  means  of  improving  those  they  occupy,  and  of  subsisting  their  fam- 
ilies while  they  are  preparing  their  farms.  Since  your  last  session,  the 
northern  tribes  have  sold  to  us  the  lands  between  the  Connecticut  reserve 
and  the  former  Indian  boundary ;  and  those  on  the  Ohio,  from  the  same 
boundary  to  the  rapids,  and  for  a  considerable  depth  inland.  The  Chick- 
asaws  and  Cherokees  have  sold  us  the  country  between  and  adjacent  to 
the  two  districts  of  Tennessee,  and  the  Creeks,  the  residue  of  their  lands 
in  the  fork  of  Ocmulgee,  up  to  the  Ulcofauhatche.  The  three  former  pur- 
chases are  important,  inasmuch  as  they  consolidate  disjointed  parts  of  our 
settled  country,  and  render  their  intercourse  secure  ;  and  the  second  par- 
ticularly so,  as  with  the  small  point  on  the  river  which  we  expect  is  by 
this  time  ceded  by  the  Piankeshaws,  it  completes  our  possession  of  the 
whole  of  both  banks  of  the  Ohio,  from  its  source  to  near  its  mouth,  and 
the  navigation  of  that  river  is  thereby  rendered  forever  safe  to  our  citizens 


JEFFERSON'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  1S1 

settled  and  settling  on  its  extensive  waters.  The  purchase  from  the 
Creeks  too  has  been  for  some  time  particularly  interesting  to  the  state  of 
Georgia. 

The  several  treaties  which  have  been  mentioned  will  be  submitted  to 
both  houses  of  Congress  for  the  exercise  of  their  respective  functions. 

Deputations  now  on  their  way  to  the  seat  of  government,  from  various 
nations  of  Indians  inhabiting  the  Missouri  and  other  parts  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi, come  charged  with  the  assurances  of  their  satisfaction  with  the 
new  relations  in  which  /they  are.  placed  with  us,  of  their  disposition  to 
cultivate  our  peace  and  friendship,  and  their  desire  to  enter  into  commer- 
cial intercourse  with  us.  A  statement  of  our  progress  in  exploring  the 
principal  rivers  of  that  country,  and  of  the  information  respecting  them 
hitherto  obtained,  will  be  communicated  so  soon  as  we  shall  receive  some 
further  relations  which  we  have  reason  shortly  to  expect. 

The  receipts  at  the  treasury  during  the  year  ending  the  30th  day  of 
September  last,  have  exceeded  the  sum  of  thirteen  millions  of  dollars, 
which,  with  not  quite  five  millions  in  the  treasury  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  have  enabled  us,  after  meeting  other  demands,  to  pay  nearly  two 
millions  of  the  debt  contracted  under  the  British  treaty  and  convention,  up- 
ward of  four  millions  of  principal  of  the  public  debt,  and  four  millions  of 
interest.  These  payments,  with  those  which  had  been  made  in  three 
years  and  a  half  preceding,  have  extinguished  of  the  funded  debt  nearly 
eighteen  millions  of  principal.  Congress,  by  their  act  of  November  10th, 
1803,  authorized  us  to  borrow  one  million,  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars,  toward  meeting  the  claims  of  our  citizens  assumed  by 
the  convention  with  France.  We  have  not,  however,  made  use  of  this 
authority,  because  the  sum  of  four  millions  and  a  half,  which  remained  in 
the  treasury  on  the  same  30th  day  of  September  last,  with  the  receipts  which 
we  may  calculate  on  for  the  ensuing  year,  besides  paying  the  annual  sum 
of  eight  millions  of  dollars  appropriated  to  the  funded  debt,  and  meeting  all 
the  current  demands  which  may  be  expected,  will  enable  us  to  pay  the 
whole  sum  of  three  millions  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  as- 
sumed by  the  French  convention,  and  still  leave  us  a  surplus  of  nearly  a 
million  of  dollars  at  our  free  disposal.  Should  you  concur  in  the  provis- 
ions of  arms  and  armed  vessels  recommended  by  the  circumstances  of  the 
times,  this  surplus  will  furnish  the  means  of  doing  so. 

On  this  first  occasion  of  addressing  Congress,  since  by  the  choice  of  my 
constituents  I  have  entered  on  a  second  term  of  administration,  I  em- 
brace the  opportunity  to  give  this  public  assurance,  that  I  will  exert  my 
best  endeavors  to  administer  faithfully  the  executive  department,  and  will 
zealously  co-operate  with  you  in  every  measure  which  may  tend  to  secure 
the  liberty,  property,  and  personal  safety  of  our  fellow-citizens,  and  to  con- 
solidate the  republican  forms  and  principles  of  our  government. 

In  the  course  of  your  session  you  shall  receive  all  the  aid  which  I  can 
give  for  the  despatch  of  the  public  business,  and  all  the  information  ne- 
cessary for  your  deliberations,  of  which  the  interests  of  our  own  country 
ai  1  the  confidence  reposed  in  us  by  others  will  admit  a  communication. 


182  JEFFERSON S    SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  13,  1806. 

To  thf  Senate  an<l  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

I  LAY  before  Congress  the  application  of  Hamet  Caramalli,  elder  broth 
er  of  the  reigning  bashaw  of  Tripoli,  soliciting  from  the  United  States 
attention  to  his  services  and  sufferings  in  the  late  war  against  that  state. 
And  in  order  to  possess  them  of  the  ground  on  which  that  application 
stands,  the  facts  shall  be  stated  according  to  the  views  and  information  o( 
the  executive. 

During  the  war  with  Tripoli,  it  was  suggested  that  Hamet  Caramalli, 
elder  brother  of  the  reigning  bashaw,  and  driven  by  him  from  his  throne, 
meditated  the  recovery  of  his  inheritance,  and  that  a  concert  in  action 
with  us  was  desirable  to  him.  We  considered  that  concerted  operations 
by  those  who  have  a  common  enemy  were  entirely  justifiable,  and  might 
produce  effects  favorable  to  both,  without  binding  either  to  guaranty  the 
objects  of  the  other.  But  the  distance  of  the  scene,  the  difficulties  of 
communication,  and  the  uncertainty  of  our  information,  inducing  the  less 
confidence  in  the  measures,  it  was  committed  to  our  agents  as  one  which 
might  be  resorted  to  if  it  promised  to  promote  our  success. 

Mr.  Eaton,  however  (our  late  consul),  on  his  return  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean, possessing  a  personal  knowledge  of  the  scene,  and  having  confi- 
dence in  the  effect  of  a  joint  operation,  we  authorized  Commodore  Barron, 
then  proceeding  with  his  squadron,  to  enter  into  an  understanding  with 
Hamet  if  he  should  deem  it  useful ;  and  as  it  was  represented  that  he 
would  need  some  aids  of  arms,  and  ammunition,  and  even  of  money,  he 
was  authorized  to  furnish  them  to  a  moderate  extent,  according  to  the 
prospect  of  utility  to  be  expected  from  it.  In  order  to  avail  him  of  the 
advantages  of  Mr.  Eaton's  knowledge  of  circumstances,  an  occasional 
employment  was  provided  for  the  latter  as  an  agent  for  the  navy  in  that 
sea.  Our  expectation  was,  that  an  intercourse  should  be  kept  up  between 
the  ex-bashaw  and  the  commodore,  that  while  the  former  moved  on  by 
land,  our  squadron  should  proceed  with  equal  pace  so  as  to  arrive  at  their 
destination  together,  and  to  attack  the  common  enemy  by  land  and  sea  at 
the  same  time.  The  instructions  of  June  6th,  to  Commodore  Barron, 
show  that  a  co-operation  only  was  intended,  and  by  no  means  a  union  of 
our  object  with  the  fortune  of  the  ex-bashaw,  and  the  commodore's  letters 
of  March  22d  and  May  19th  proved  that  he  had  the  most  correct  idea  of 
our  intentions.  His  verbal  instructions  indeed  to  Mr.  Eaton  and  Captain 
Hull,  if  the  expressions  are  accurately  committed  to  writing  by  those  gen- 
tlemen, do  not  limit  the  extent  of  his  co-operation  as  rigorously  as  he 
probably  intended  ;  but  it  is  certain,  from  the  ex-bashaw's  letter  of  January 
3d,  written  when  he  was  proceeding  to  join  Mr.  Eaton,  and  in  which  he 
says,  "  Your  operations  should  be  carried  on  by  sea,  mine  by  land,"  that 
he  left  the  position  in  which  he  was  with  a  proper  idea  of  the  nature  of 
the  co-operation.  If  Mr.  Enton's  subsequent  convention  should  appear  to 
bring  forward  other  objects,  his  letter  of  April  29th  and  May  1st  views 
this  convention  but  as  provisional,  the  second  article,  as  he  expressly 
slates,  guarding  it  against  any  ill  effect ;  and  his  letter  of  June  30th  con- 
firms this  construction. 

In  the  event  it  was  found  that  after  placing  the  ex -bashaw  in  possession 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  183 

of  Derne,  one  of  the  most  important  cities  and  provinces  of  the  country, 
where  he  had  resided  himself  as  governor,  he  was  totally  unable  to  com- 
mand any  resources,  or  to  bear  any  part  in  the  co-operation  with  us.  This 
hope  was  then  at  an  end,  and  we  certainly  had  never  contemplated,  nor 
were  we  prepared,  to  land  an  army  of  our  own,  or  to  raise,  pay,  or  subsist, 
an  army  of  Arabs,  to  march  from  Derne  to  Tripoli  and  to  carry  on  a  land 
war  at  such  a  distance  from  our  resources.  Our  means  and  our  authority 
were  merely  naval,  and  that  such  were  the  expectations  of  Hamet,  his 
letter  of  June  29th  is  an  unequivocal  acknowledgment.  While,  therefore, 
an  impression  from  the  capture  of  Derne  might  still  operate  at  Tripoli,  and 
an  attack  on  that  place  from  our  squadron  was  daily  expected,  Colonel 
Lear  thought  it  the  best  moment  to  listen  to  overtures  of  peace  then  made 
by  the  bashaw.  He  did  so,  and  while  urging  provisions  for  the  United 
States,  he  paid  attention  also  to  the  interests  of  Hamet ;  but  was  able  to 
effect  nothing  more  than  to  engage  the  restitution  of  his  family,  and  even 
the  persevering  in  this  demand  suspended  for  some  time  the  conclusion 
of  the  treaty. 

In  operations  at  such  a  distance,  it  becomes  necessary  to  leave  much  to 
the  discretion  of  the  agents  employed,  but  events  may  still  turn  up  beyond 
the  limits  of  that  discretion.  Unable  in  such  case  to  consult  his  govern- 
ment, a  zealous  citizen  will  act  as  he  believes  that  would  direct  him  were 
it  apprized  of  the  circumstances,  and  will  take  on  himself  the  responsibility 
In  all  these  cases  the  purity  and  patriotism  of  the  motives  should  shield 
the  agent  from  blame,  and  even  secure  a  sanction  where  the  error  is  not 
too  injurious.  Should  it  he  thought  by  any  that  the  verbal  instructions 
said  to  have  been  given  by  Commodore  Barron  to  Mr.  Eaton  amount  to  a 
stipulation  that  the  United  States  should  place  Hamet  Caramalli  on  the 
throne  of  Tripoli,  a  stipulation  so  entirely  unauthorized,  so  far  beyond  our 
views,  and  so  onerous,  could  not  be  sanctioned  by  our  government ;  or 
should  Hamet  Caramalli,  contrary  to  the  evidence  of  his  letters  of  January 
3d  and  June  29th,  be  thought  to  have  left  the  position  which  he  now  seems 
to  regret,  under  a  mistaken  expectation  that  we  were  at  all  events  to  place 
him  on  his  throne,  on  an  appeal  to  the  liberality  of  the  nation  something 
equivalent  to  the  replacing  him  in  his  former  situation  might  be  worthy  its 
consideration. 

A  nation,  by  establishing  a  character  of  liberality  and  magnanimity, 
gains  in  the  friendship  and  respect  of  others  more  than  the  worth  of  mere 
money.  This  appeal  is  now  made  by  Hamet  Caramalli  to  the  United 
States.  The  ground  he  has  taken  being  different  not  only  from  our  views 
but  from  those  expressed  by  himself  on  former  occasions,  Mr.  Eaton  was 
desired  to  state  whether  any  verbal  communications  passed  from  him  to 
Hamet  which  had  varied  what  we  saw  in  writing.  His  answer  of  De- 
cember 5th  is  herewith  transmitted,  and  has  rendered  it  still  more  neces- 
sary, that  in  presenting  to  the  legislature  the  application  of  Hamet  I  should 
present  them  at  the  same  time  an  exact  statement  of  the  views  and  pro- 
ceedings of  the  executive  through  this  whole  business,  that  they  may 
clearly  understand  the  ground  on  which  we  are  placed.  It  is  accompanied 
by  all  the  papers  which  bear  any  relation  to  the  principles  of  the  co-oper- 
ation, and  which  can  inform  their  judgment  in  deciding  on  the  application 
of  Hamet  Caramalli. 


184  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  17,  1806. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

Ix  my  message  to  both  houses  of  Congress  at  the  opening  of  their 
present  session,  I  submitted  to  their  attention,  among  other  subjects,  the 
oppression  of  our  commerce  and  navigation  by  the  irregular  practices  of 
armed  vessels,  public  and  private,  and  by  the  introduction  of  new  princi- 
ples, derogatory  of  the  rights  of  neutrals  and  unacknowledged  by  the 
usage  of  nations. 

The  memorials  of  several  bodies  of  merchants  of  the  United  States  are 
now  communicated,  and  will  develop  these  principles  and  practices  which 
are  producing  the  most  ruinous  effects  on  our  lawful  commerce  and  navi- 
gation. 

The  rights  of  a  neutral  to  carry  on  a  commercial  intercourse  with  every 
part  of  the  dominions  of  a  belligerent,  permitted  by  the  laws  of  the  coun- 
try (with  the  exception  of  blockaded  ports  and  contraband  of  war),  was 
believed  to  have  been  decided  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  by  the  sentence  of  the  commissioners  mutually  appointed  to  decide 
on  that  and  other  questions  of  difference  between  the  two  nations,  and  by 
the  actual  payment  of  damages  awarded  by  them  against  Great  Britain  for 
the  infractions  of  that  right.  When,  therefore,  it  was  perceived  that  the 
same  principle  was  revived  with  others  more  novel,  and  extending  the  in- 
jury, instructions  were  given  to  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  United 
States  at  the  court  of  London,  and  remonstrances  duly  made  by  him  on 
this  subject,  as  will  appear  by  documents  transmitted  herewith.  These 
were  followed  by  a  partial  and  temporary  suspension  only,  without  any 
disavowal  of  the  principle.  He  has  therefore  been  instructed  to  urge  this 
subject  anew,  to  bring  it  more  fully  to  the  bar  of  reason,  and  to  insist  on 
rights  too  evident  and  too  important  to  be  surrendered.  In  the  meantime, 
the  evil  is  proceeding  under  adjudications  founded  on  the  principle  which 
is  denied.  Under  these  circumstances  the  subject  presents  itself  for  the 
consideration  of  Congress. 

On  the  impressment  of  our  seamen  our  remonstrances  have  never  been 
intermitted.  A  hope  existed  at  one  moment  of  an  arrangement  which 
might  have  been  submitted  to,  but  it  soon  passed  away,  and  the  practice, 
though  relaxed  at  times  in  the  distant  seas,  has  been  constantly  pursued  in 
those  in  our  neighborhood.  The  grounds  on  which  the  reclamations  OP 
this  subject  have  been  urged  will  appear  in  an  extract  from  instructions  to 
our  minister  at  London  now  communicated. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  3,  1806. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

A  LETTER  has  been  received  from  the  governor  of  South  Carolina,  cover- 
ing an  act  of  the  legislature  of  that  state,  ceding  to  the  United  States  vari 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  185 

ous  forts  and  fortifications,  and  sites  for  the  erection  of  forts  in  that  state, 
on  the  conditions  therein  expressed.  This  letter  and  the  act  it  covered 
are  now  communicated  to  Congress. 

I  am  not  informed  whether  the  positions  ceded  are  the  best  which  can 
be  taken  for  securing  their  respective  objects.  No  doubt  is  entertained 
that  the  legislature  deemed  them  such.  The  river  of  Beaufort  particular- 
ly, said  to  be  accessible  to  ships  of  very  large  size,  and  capable  of  yielding 
them  a  protection  which  they  can  not  find  elsewhere,  but  very  far  to  the 
north,  is,  from  these  circumstances,  so  interesting  to  the  Union  in  general, 
as  to  merit  particular  attention  and  inquiry,  as  to  the  positions  on  it  best 
calculated  for  health  as  well  as  safety. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  19,  1806. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

IN  pursuance  of  a  measure  submitted  to  Congress  by  a  message  of  Jan- 
uary 18th,  1803,  and  sanctioned  by  their  appropriation  for  carrying  it  into 
execution,  Captain  Meriwether  Lewis,  of  the  first  regiment  of  infantry,  was 
appointed,  with  a  party  of  men,  to  explore  the  river  Missouri  from  its  mouth 
to  its  source  ;  and,  crossing  the  highlands  by  the  shortest  portage,  to  seek 
the  best  water  communication  thence  to  the  Pacific  ocean  ;  and  Lieutenant 
Clarke  was  appointed  second  in  command.  They  were  to  enter  into  con- 
ference with  the  Indian  nations  on  their  route,  with  a  view  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  commerce  with  them.  They  entered  the  Missouri,  May  14th, 
1804,  and  on  the  1st  of  November,  took  up  their  winter  quarters  near  the 
Maudan  towns,  1609  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  river,  in  latitude  47° 
21'  47"  north,  and  longitude,  99°  24'  45"  west,  from  Greenwich.  On  the 
8th  of  April,  1805,  they  proceeded  up  the  river  in  pursuance  of  the  objects 
prescribed  to  them.  A  letter  of  the  preceding  day,  April  the  7th,  from 
Captain  Lewis,  is  herewith  communicated.  During  his  stay  among  the 
Maudans',  he  had  been  able  to  lay  down  the  Missouri  according  to  courses 
and  distances  taken  under  his  passage  up  it,  corrected  by  frequent  obser- 
vations of  longitude  and  latitude,  and  to  add  to  the  actual  survey  of  this 
portion  of  the  river,  a  general  map  of  the  country  between  the  Mississippi 
and  Pacific,  from  the  thirty-fourth  to  the  fifty-fourth  degrees  of  latitude 
These  additions  are  from  information  collected  from  Indians  with  whom 
he  had  opportunity  of  communicating  during  his  journey  and  residence 
among  them.  Copies  of  this  map  are  now  presented  to  both  houses  of 
Congress.  With  these  I  communicate,  also,  a  statistical  view,  procured 
and  forwarded  by  him,  of  the  Indian  nations  inhabiting  the  territory  of 
Louisiana,  and  the  countries  adjacent  to  its  northern  and  western  borders  ; 
of  their  commerce,  and  of  other  interesting  circumstances  respecting  them. 

In  order  to  render  the  statement  as  complete  as  may  be,  of  the  Indians 
inhabiting  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi,  I  add  Dr.  Sibley's  account 
of  those  residing  in  and  adjacent  to  the  territory  of  Orleans. 

I  communicate  also,  from  the  same  person,  an  account  of  the  Red  river, 
according  to  the  best  information  he  had  been  able  to  collect. 

Having  been  disappointed,  after  considerable  preparation,  in  the  purpose 


ISO  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

of  sending  an  exploring  expedition  up  that  river  in  the  summer  of  1804,  it 
was  thought  best  to  employ  the  autumn  in  that  year  in  procuring  a  knowl- 
edge on  an  interesting  branch  of  the  river  called  Washita.  This  was 
undertaken  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Dunbar,  of  Natchez,  a  citizen  of 
distinguished  science,  who  had  aided,  and  continues  to  aid  us  with  his 
disinterested  valuable  services  in  the  prosecution  of  these  enterprises. 
He  ascended  the  river  to  the  remarkable  hot  springs  near  it,  in  latitude, 
34°  31'  4. "16,  longitude,  92°  50'  45"  west,  from  Greenwich,  taking  its 
courses  and  distances,  and  correcting  them  by  frequent  celestial  observa- 
tions. Extracts  from  his  observations,  and  copies  of  his  map  of  the  river, 
from  its  mouth  to  the  hot  springs,  make  part  of  the  present  communications. 
The  examination  of  the  Red  river  itself  is  but  now  commencing. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  20,  1806. 

4 

To   the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

IT  was  reasonably  expected,  that  while  the  limits  between  the  territories 
of  the  United  States  and  of  Spain  were  unsettled,  neither  party  would  have 
innovated  on  the  existing  state  of  their  respective  positions.  Some  time 
since,  however,  we  learned  that  the  Spanish  authorities  were  advancing 
into  the  disputed  country  to  occupy  new  posts  and  make  new  settlements. 
Unwilling  to  take  any  measures  which  might  preclude  a  peaceable  accom- 
modation of  differences,  the  officers  of  the  United  States  were  ordered  to 
confine  themselves  within  the  country  on  this  side  of  the  Sabine  river ; 
which,  by  the  delivery  of  its  principal  post  (Natchitoches),  was  understood 
to  have  been  itself  delivered  up  by  Spain  ;  and  at  the  same  time  to  permit 
no  adverse  post  to  be  taken,  nor  armed  men  to  remain  within  it.  In  con- 
sequence of  these  orders,  the  commanding  officer  of  Natchitoches,  learn- 
ing that  a  party  of  Spanish  troops  had  crossed  the  Sabine  river  and  were 
posting  themselves  on  this  side  the  Adais,  sent  a  detachment  of  his  force 
to  require  them  to  withdraw  to  the  other  side  of  the  Sabine,  which  they 
accordingly  did. 

I  have  thought  it  proper  to  communicate  to  Congress  the  letters  detail- 
ing this  incident,  that  they  may  fully  understand  the  state  of  things  in  that 
quarter,  and  be  enabled  to  make  such  provision  for  its  security  as  in  their 
wisdom  they  shall  deem  sufficient. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
APRIL  14,  1806. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

DURING  the  blockade  of  Tripoli  by  the  squadron  of  the  United  States,  a 
small  cruiser,  under  the  flag  of  Tunis,  with  two  prizes  (all  of  trifling  value), 
attempted  to  enter  Tripoli,  was  turned  back,  warned,  and  attempting  again 


JEFFERSON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  187 

to  enter,  was  taken  and  detained  as  prize  by  the  squadron.  Her  restitu- 
tion was  claimed  by  the  bey  of  Tunis,  with  a  threat  of  war  so  serious, 
that,  on  withdrawing  from  the  blockade  of  Tripoli,  the  commanding  officer 
of  the  squadron  thought  it  his  duty  to  repair  to  Tunis *with  his  squadron, 
and  to  require  a  categorical  declaration  whether  peace  or  war  was  intend- 
ed. The  bey  preferred  explaining  himself  by  an  ambassador  to  the  United 
States,  who,  on  his  arrival,  renewed  the  request  that  the  vessel  and  hel 
prizes  should  be  restored.  It  was  deemed  proper  to  give  this  proof  of 
friendship  to  the  bey,  and  the  ambassador  was  informed  the  vessels  would 
be  restored.  Afterward  he  made  a  requisition  of  naval  stores  to  be  sent 
to  the  bey,  in  order  to  secure  peace  for  the  term  of  three  years,  with  a 
threat  of  war,  if  refused.  It  has  been  refused,  and  the  ambassador  is  about 
to  depart  without  receding  from  his  threat  or  demand. 

Under  these  circumstances,  and  considering  that  the  several  provisions 
of  the  act,  March  25th,  1 804,  will  cease  in  consequence  of  the  ratification 
of  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Tripoli,  now  advised  to  and  consented  to  by  the 
senate,  I  have  thought  it  my  duty  to  communicate  these  facts,  in  order  that 
Congress  may  consider  the  expediency  of  continuing  the  same  provisions 
for  a  limited  time  or  making  others  equivalent. 


SIXTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  2,  1806. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  in  Con- 
gress assembled  : — 

IT  would  have  given  me,  fellow-citizens,  great  satisfaction  to  announce 
in  the  moment  of  your  meeting  that  the  difficulties  in  our  foreign  relations, 
existing  at  the  time  of  your  last  separation,  had  been  amicably  and  justly 
terminated.  I  lost  no  time  in  taking  those  measures  which  were  most 
likely  to  bring  them  to  such  a  termination,  by  special  missions  charged 
with  such  powers  and  instructions  as  in  the  event  of  failure  could  leave  no 
imputation  on  either  our  moderation  or  forbearance.  The  delays  which 
have  since  taken  place  in  our  negotiations  with  the  British  government  ap- 
pear to  have  proceeded  from  causes  which  do  not  forbid  the  expectation 
that  during  the  course  of  the  session  I  may  be  enabled  to  lay  before  you 
their  final  issue.  What  will  be  that  of  the  negotiations  for  settling  our 
differences  with  Spain,  nothing  which  had  taken  place  at  the  date  of  the 
last  despatches  enables  us  to  pronounce.  On  the  western  side  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi she  advanced  in  considerable  force,  and  took  post  at  the  settlement 
of  Bayou  Pierre,  on  the  Red  river.  This  village  was  originally  settled  by 
France,  was  held  by  her  as  long  as  she  held  Louisiana,  and  was  deliver- 
ed to  Spain  only  as  a  part  of  Louisiana.  Being  small,  insulated,  and 
distant,  it  was  not  observed,  at  the  moment  of  rcdelivery  to  France  and  the 
United  States,  that  she  continued  a  guard  of  half  a  dozen  men  which  had 
been  stationed  there.  A  proposition,  however,  having  been  lately  made 
by  our  commander-in-chief,  to  assume  the  Sabine  river  as  a  temporary  line 
of  separation  between  the  troops  of  the  two  nations  until  the  issue  of  our 
negotiation  shall  be  known  ;  this  has  been  referred  by  the  Spanish  com- 
mandant to  his  superior,  and  in  the  meantime,  he  has  withdrawn  his  force 


Idd  JEFFERSON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

to  the  western  side  of  the  Sabine  river.  The  correspondence  on  this  sub 
ject,  now  communicated,  will  exhibit  more  particularly  the  present  state 
of  things  in  that  quarter. 

The  nature  of  that  country  requires  indispensably  that  an  unusual  pro- 
portion of  the  force  employed  there  should  be  cavalry  or  mounted  infantry. 
In  order,  therefore,  that  the  commanding  officer  might  be  enabled  to  act 
with  effect,  I  had  authorized  him  to  call  on  the  governors  of  Orleans  and 
Mississippi  for  a  corps  of  five  hundred  volunteer  cavalry.  The  temporary 
arrangement  he  has  proposed  may  perhaps  render  this  unnecessary.  But 
I  inform  you  with  great  pleasure  of  the  promptitude  with  which  the  inhab- 
itants of  those  territories  have  tendered  their  services  in  defence  of  their 
country.  It  has  done  honor  to  themselves,  entitled  them  to  the  confidence 
of  their  fellow-citizens  in  every  part  of  the  Union,  and  must  strengthen  the 
general  determination  to  protect  them  efficaciously  under  all  circumstances 
which  may  occur. 

Having  received  information  that  in  another  part  of  the  United  States  a 
great  number  of  private  individuals  were  combining  together,  arming  and 
organizing  themselves  contrary  to  law,  to  carry  on  military  expeditions 
against  the  territories  of  Spain,  I  thought  it  necessary,  by  proclamations 
as  well  as  by  special  orders,  to  take  measures  for  preventing  and  sup- 
pressing this  enterprise,  for  seizing  the  vessels,  arms,  and  other  means 
provided  for  it,  and  for  arresting  and  bringing  to  justice  its  authors  and 
abettors.  It  was  due  to  that  good  faith  which  ought  ever  to  be  the  rule 
of  action  in  public  as  well  as  in  private  transactions ;  it  was  due  to  good 
order  and  regular  government,  that  while  the  public  force  was  acting 
strictly  on  the  defensive  and  merely  to  protect  our  citizens  from  aggres- 
sion, the  criminal  attempts  of  private  individuals  to  decide  for  their  country 
the  question  of  peace  or  war,  by  commencing  active  and  unauthorized 
hostilities,  should  be  promptly  and  efficaciously  suppressed. 

Whether  it  will  be  necessary  to  enlarge  our  regular  force  will  depend 
on  the  result  of  our  negotiation  with  Spain  ;  but  as  it  is  uncertain  when 
that  result  will  be  known,  the  provisional  measures  requisite  for  tliat,  and 
to  meet  any  pressure  intervening  in  that  quarter,  will  be  a  subject  for 
your  early  consideration. 

The  possession  of  both  banks  of  the  Mississippi  reducing  to  a  single 
point  the  defence  of  that  river,  its  waters,  and  the  country  adjacent,  it 
becomes  highly  necessary  to  provide  for  that  point  a  more  adequate  se- 
curity. Some  position  above  its  mouth,  commanding  the  passage  of  the 
river,  should  be  rendered  sufficiently  strong  to  cover  the  armed  vessels 
which  may  be  stationed  there  for  defence,  and  in  conjunction  with  them  to 
present  an  insuperable  obstacle  to  any  force  attempting  to  pass.  The  ap- 
proaches to  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  from  the  eastern  quarter  also,  will 
require  to  be  examined,  and  more  effectually  guarded.  For  the  internal 
support  of  the  country,  the  encouragement  of  a  strong  settlement  on  the 
western  side  of  the  Mississippi,  within  reach  of  New  Orleans,  will  be 
worthy  the  consideration  of  the  legislature. 

The  gun-boats  authorized  by  an  act  of  the  last  session  are  so  advanced 
that  they  will  be  ready  for  service  in  the  ensuing  spring.  Circumstances 
permitted  us  to  allow  the  time  necessary  for  their  more  solid  construction. 
As  a  much  larger  number  will  still  be  wanting  to  place  our  seaport  towns 
and  waters  in  that  state  of  defence  to  which  we  are  competent  and  they 
entitled,  a  similar  appropriation  for  a  further  provision  for  them  is  recom- 
mended for  the  ensuing  year. 


JEFFERSON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  189 

A  further  appropriation  will  also  be  necessary  for  repairing  fortifications 
already  established,  and  the  erection  of  such  works  as  may  have  real 
effect  in  obstructing  the  approach  of  an  enemy  to  our  seaport  towns,  or 
their  remaining  before  them. 

In  a  country  whose  constitution  is  derived  from  the  will  of  the  people, 
directly  expressed  by  their  free  suffrages ;  where  the  principal  executive 
functionaries,  and  those  of  the  legislature,  are  renewed  by  them  at  short 
periods  ;  where,  under  the  characters  of  jurors,  they  exercise  in  person 
the  greatest  portion  of  the  judiciary  powers  ;  where  the  laws  are  conse- 
quently so  formed  and  administered  as  to  bear  with  equal  weight  and  favor 
on  all,  restraining  no  man  in  the  pursuits  of  honest  industry,  and  securing 
to  every  one  the  property  which  that  acquires,  it  would  not  be  supposed 
that  any  safeguards  could  be  needed  against  insurrection  or  enterprise  on 
the  public  peace  or  authority.  The  laws,  however,  aware  that  these 
should  not  be  trusted  to  moral  restraints  only,  have  wisely  provided  pun- 
ishments for  these  crimes  when  committed.  But  would  it  not  be  salutary 
to  give  also  the  means  of  preventing  their  commission  ?  Where  an  en- 
terprise is  'meditated  by  private  individuals  against  a  foreign  nation  in 
amity  with  the  United  States,  powers  of  prevention  to  a  certain  extent  are 
given  by  the  laws  ;  would  they  not  be  as  reasonable  and  useful  where  the 
enterprise  preparing  is  against  the  United  States  ?  While  adverting  to 
this  branch  of  the  law,  it  is  proper  to  observe,  that  in  enterprises  medita- 
ted against  foreign  nations,  the  ordinary  process  of  binding  to  the  obser- 
vance of  the  peace  and  good  behavior,  could  it  be  extended  to  acts  to  be 
done  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  would  be  effectual  in 
some  cases  where  the  offender  is  able  to  keep  out  of  sight  every  indica- 
tion of  his  purpose  which  could  draw  on  him  the  exercise  of  the  powers 
now  given  by  law. 

The  states  on  the  coast  of  Barbary  seem  generally  disposed  at  present 
to  respect  our  peace  and  friendship ;  with  Tunis  alone  some  uncertainty 
remains.  Persuaded  that  it  is  our  interest  to  maintain  our  peace  with 
them  on  equal  terms,  or  not  at  all,  1  propose  to  send  in  due  time  a  rein- 
forcement into  the  Mediterranean,  unless  previous  information  shall  show 
it  to  be  unnecessary. 

We  continue  to  receive  proofs  of  the  growing  attachment  of  our  Indian 
neighbors,  and  of  their  disposition  to  place  all  their  interests  under  the 
patronage  of  the  United  States.  These  dispositions  are  inspired  by  their 
confidence  in  our  justice,  and -in  the  sincere  concern  we  feel  lor  their 
welfare  ;  and  as  long  as  we  discharge  these  high  and  honorable  functions 
with  the  integrity  and  good  faith  which  alone  can  entitle  us  to  their  con- 
tinuance, we  may  expect  to  reap  the  just  reward  in  their  peace  and  friend- 
ship. 

The  expedition  of  Messrs.  Lewis  and  Clarke,  for  exploring  the  rivei 
Missouri  and  the  best  communication  from  that  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  haa 
had  all  the  success  which  could  have  been  expected.  They  have  traced 
the  Missouri  nearly  to  its  source,  descended  the  Columbia  to  the  Pacific 
ocean,  ascertained  with  accuracy  the  geography  of  that  interesting  com- 
munication across  our  continent,  learned  the  character  of  the  country,  of 
its  commerce,  and  inhabitants  ;  and  it  is  but  justice  to  say  that  Messrs. 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  and  their  brave  companions,  have  by  this  arduous  ser- 
vice deserved  well  of  their  country. 

The  attempt  to  explore  the  Hod  river,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Free- 
nan,  though  conducted  with  a  zeal  and  prudence  meriting  entire  approba- 


190  JEFFERSON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

tion,  has  not  been  equally  successful.  After  proceeding  up  it  ubout  six 
hundred  miles,  nearly  as  far  as  the  French  settlements  had  extended  while 
the  country  was  in  their  possession,  our  geographers  were  obliged  to  re- 
turn without  completing  their  work. 

Very  useful  additions  have  also  been  made  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
Mississippi  by  Lieutenant  Pike,  who  has  ascended  it  to  its  source,  and 
whose  journal  and  map,  giving  the  details  of  his  journey,  will  shortly  be 
ready  for  communication  to  both  houses  of  Congress.  Those  of  Messrs. 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  and  Freeman,  will  require  further  time  to  be  digested 
and  prepared.  These  important  surveys,  in  addition  to  those  before  pos- 
sessed, furnish  materials  for  commencing  an  accurate  map  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  its  western  waters.  Some  principal  rivers,  however,  remain 
still  to  be  explored,  toward  which  the  authorization  of  Congress,  by  mod- 
erate appropriations,  will  be  requisite. 

1  congratulate  you,  fellow-citizens,  on  the  approach  of  the  period  at 
which  you  may  interpose  your  authority  constitutionally,  to  withdraw  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  from  all  further  participation  in  those  viola- 
tions of  human  rights  which  have  been  so  long  continued  on  the  unoffend- 
ing inhabitants  of  Africa,  and  which  the  morality,  the  reputation,  and  the 
best  interests  of  our  country,  have  long  been  eager  to  proscribe.  Although 
no  law  you  may  pass  can  take  prohibitory  effect  till  the  first  day  of  the 
year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight,  yet  the  intervening  period  is 
not  too  long  to  prevent,  by  timely  notice,  expeditions  which  can  not  be 
completed  before  that  day. 

The  receipts  at  the  treasury  during  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  day  of 
September  last,  have  amounted  to  near  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  which 
have  enabled  us,  after  meeting  the  current  demands,  to  pay  two  millions 
seven  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  the  American  claims,  in  parts  of  the 
price  of  Louisiana  ;  to  pay  of  the  funded  dubt  upward  of  three  millions  of 
principal,  and  nearly  four  of  interest ;  and  in  addition,  to  reimburse,  in 
the  course  of  the  present  month,  near  two  millions  of  five  and  a  half  per 
cent,  stock.  These  payments  and  reimbursements  of  the  funded  debt, 
with  those  which  had  been  made  in  the  four  years  and  a  half  preceding, 
will  at  the  close  of  the  present  year  have  extinguished  upward  of  twenty- 
three  millions  of  principal. 

The  duties  composing  the  Mediterranean  fund  will  cease  by  law  at  the 
end  of  the  present  season.  Considering,  however,  that  they  are  levied 
chiefly  on  luxuries,  and  that  we  have  an  impost  on  salt,  a  necessary  of  life 
the  free  use  of  which  otherwise  is  so  important,  I  recommend  to  your  con- 
sideration the  suppression  of  the  duties  on  salt,  and  the  continuation  of  the 
Mediterranean  fund,  insiead  thereof,  for  a  short  time,  after  which  that  also 
will  become  unnecessary  for  any  purpose  now  within  contemplation. 

When  both  of  these  branches  of  revenue,  shall  in  this  way  be  relinquish- 
ed, there  will  still  ere  long  be  an  accumulation  of  moneys  in  the  treasury 
beyond  the  instalments  of  public  debt  which  we  are  permitted  by  contract 
to  pay.  They  can  not,  then,  without  a  modification  assented  to  by  the  pub- 
lic creditors,  be  applied  to  the  extinguishment  of  this  debt,  and  the  complete 
liberation  of  our  revenues — the  most  desirable  of  all  objects  :  nor,  if  our 
peace  continues,  will  they  be  wanting  for  any  other  existing  purpose.  The 
question,  therefore,  now  comes  forward ;  to  what  other  objects  shall  these 
surpluses  be  appropriated,  and  the  whole  surplus  of  impost,  after  the  en- 
tire discharge  of  the  public  debt,  and  during  those  intervals  when  the 
purposes  of  war  shall  not  call  for  them  ?  Shall  we  suppress  the  impost 


JEFFERSON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  191 

and  give  that  advantage  to  foreign  over  domestic  manufactures  ?  On  a  few 
articles  of  more  general  and  necessary  use,  the  suppression  in  due  season 
will  doubtless  be  right,  but  the  great  mass  of  the  articles  on  which  impost 
is  paid  are  foreign  luxuries,  purchased  by  those  only  who  are  rich  enough 
to  afford  themselves  the  use  of  them.  Their  patriotism  would  certainly 
prefer  its  continuance  and  application  to  the  great  purposes  of  the  public 
education,  roads,  rivers,  canals,  and  such  other  objects  of  public  improve- 
ment as  it  may  be  thought  proper  to  add  to  the  constitutional  enumeration 
of  federal  powers.  By  these  operations  new  channels  of  communication 
will  be  opened  between  the  states  ;  the  lines  of  separation  will  disappear, 
their  interests  will  be  identified,  and  their  union  cemented  by  new  and  in- 
dissoluble ties.  Education  is  here  placed  among  the  articles  of  public 
care,  not  that  it  would  be  proposed  to  take  its  ordinary  branches  out  of  the 
hands  of  private  enterprise,  which  manages  so  much  better  all  the  concerns 
to  which  it  is  equal ;  but  a  public  institution  can  alone  supply  those  sciences 
which  though  rarely  called  for  are  yet  necessary  to  complete  the  circle, 
all  the  parts  of  which  contribute  to  the  improvement  of  the  country  and 
some  of  them  to  its  preservation.  The  subject  is  now  proposed  for  the 
consideration  of  Congress,  because,  if  approved  by  the  time  the  state  legis- 
latures shall  have  deliberated  on  this  extension  of  the  federal  trusts,  and 
the  laws  shall  be  passed  and  other  arrangements  made  for  their  execution, 
the  necessary  funds  will  be  on  hand  and  without  employment.  I  suppose 
an  amendment  to  the  constitution,  by  consent  of  the  states,  necessary,  be- 
cause the  objects  now  recommended  are  not  among  those  enumerated  in 
the  constitution,  and  to  which  it  permits  the  public  moneys  to  be  applied. 

The  present  consideration  of  a  national  establishment  for  education,  par- 
ticularly, is  rendered  proper  by  this  circumstance  also,  that,  if  Congress, 
approving  the  proposition,  shall  yet  think  it  more  eligible  to  found  it  on  a 
donation  of  lands,  they  have  it  now  in  their  power  to  endow  it  with  those 
which  will  be  among  the  earliest  to  produce  the  necessary  income.  This 
foundation  would  have  the  advantage  of  being  independent  on  war,  which 
may  suspend  other  improvements  by  requiring  for  its  own  purposes  the 
resources  destined  for  them. 

This,  fellow-citizens,  is  the  state  of  the  public  interest  at  the  present 
moment,  and  according  to  the  information  now  possessed.  But  such  is  the 
situation  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  and  such  too  the  predicament  in  which 
we  stand  with  some  of  them,  that  we  can  not  rely  with  certainty  on  the 
present  aspect  of  our  affairs  that  may  change  from  moment  to  moment, 
during  the  course  of  your  session  or  after  you  shall  have  separated.  Our 
duty  is,  therefore,  to  act  upon  things  as  they  are  and  to  make  a  reasonable 
provision  for  whatever  they  may  be.  Were  armies  to  be  raised  whenever 
a  speck  of  war  is  visible  in  our  horizon,  we  never  should  have  been  with- 
out them.  Our  resources  would  have  been  exhausted  on  dangers  which 
have  never  happened,  instead  of  being  reserved  for  what  is  really  to  take 
place.  A  steady,  perhaps  a  quickened  pace  in  preparations  for  the  defence 
of  our  seaport  towns  and  waters ;  an  early  settlement  of  the  most  exposed 
and  vulnerable  parts  of  our  country  ;  a  militia  so  organized  that  its  effective 
portions  can  be  called  to  any  point  in  the  Union,  or  volunteers  instead  of 
them  to  serve  a  sufficient  time,  are  means  which  may  always  be  ready  yet 
never  preying  on  our  resources  until  actually  called  into  use.  They  will 
maintain  the  public  interests  while  a  more  permanent  force  shall  be  in 
course  of  preparation.  But  much  will  depend  on  the  promptitude  with 
which  these  means  can  be  brought  into  activity.  If  war  be  forced  upon 


192  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

us  in  spite  of  our  long  and  vain  appeals  to  the  justice  of  nations,  rapid  and 
vigorous  movements  in  its  outset  will  go  far  toward  securing  us  in  its 
course  and  issue,  and  toward  throwing  its  burdens  on  those  who  render 
necessary  the  resort  from  reason  to  force. 

The  result  of  our  negotiations,  or  such  incidents  in  their  course  as  may 
enable  us  to  infer  their  probable  issue  ;  such  further  movements  also  on 
our  western  frontiers  as  may  show  whether  war  is  to  be  pressed  there 
while  negotiation  is  protracted  elsewhere,  shall  b'e  communicated  to  you 
from  time  to  time  as  they  become  known  to  me,  with  whatever  other  in- 
formation I  possess  or  may  receive,  which  may  aid  your  deliberations  on 
the  great  national  interests  committed  to  your  charge. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  3,  1806. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: — 

I  HAVE  the  satisfaction  to  inform  you  that  the  negotiation  depending  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the  government  of  Great  Britain  is  proceed- 
ing in  a  spirit  of  friendship  and  accommodation  which  promises  a  result 
of  mutual  advantage.  Delays  indeed  have  taken  place,  occasioned  by  the 
long  illness  and  subsequent  death  of  the  British  minister  charged  with  that 
duty.  But  the  commissioners  appointed  by  that  government  to  resume 
the  negotiation  have  shown  every  disposition  to  hasten  its  progress.  It 
is,  however,  a  work  of  time,  as  many  arrangements  are  necessary  to  place 
our  future  harmony  on  stable  grounds.  In  the  meantime,  we  find  by  the 
communications  of  our  plenipotentiaries,  that  a  temporary  suspension  of  the 
act  of  the  last  session  prohibiting  certain  importations  would,  as  a  mark  of 
candid  disposition  on  our  part,  and  of  confidence  in  the  temper  and  views 
with  which  they  have  been  met,  have  a  happy  effect  on  its  course.  A 
step  so  friendly  will  afford  further  evidence  that  all  our  proceedings  have 
flowed  from  views  of  justice  and  conciliation,  and  that  we  give  them  will- 
ingly that  form  which  may  best  meet  corresponding  dispositions. 

Add  to  this,  that  the  same  motives  which  produced  the  postponement  of 
the  act  till  the  fifteenth  of  November  last,  are  in  favor  of  its  further  sus- 
pension ;  and  as  we  have  reason  to  hope  that  it  may  soon  yield  to  ar- 
rangements of  mutual  consent  and  convenience,  justice  seems  to  require 
that  the  same  measure  may  be  dealt  out  to  the  few  cases  which  may  fall 
within  its  short  course,  as  to  all  others  preceding  and  following  it.  I  can 
not,  therefore,  but  recommend  the  suspension  of  this  act  for  a  reasonable 
time,  on  considerations  of  justice,  amity,  and  the  public  interests 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  193 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE- 
JANUARY  22,  1807. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  .  — 

AGREEABLY  to  the  request  of  the  house  of  representatives,  communi- 
cated in  their  resolution  of  the  sixteenth  instant,  I  proceed  to  state  under 
the  reserve  therein  expressed,  information  received  touching  an  illegal 
combination  of  private  individuals  against  the  peace  and  safety  of  the 
Union,  and  a  military  expedition  planned  by  them  against  the  territories 
of  a  power  in  amity  with  the  United  States,  with  the  measures  I  have 
pursued  for  suppressing  the  same. 

I  had  for  some  time  been  in  the  constant  expectation  of  receiving  such 
further  information  as  would  have  enabled  me  to  lay  before  the  legisla- 
ture the  termination  as  well  as  the  beginning  and  progress  of  this  scene 
of  depravity,  so  far  as  it  has  been  acted  on  the  Ohio  and  its  waters.  From 
this  the  state  and  safety  of  the  lower  country  might  have  been  estimated 
on  probable  grounds,  and  the  delay  was  indulged  the  rather,  because  no 
circumstance  had  yet  made  it  necessary  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  legisla- 
tive functions.  Information  now  recently  communicated  has  brought  us 
nearly  to  the  period  contemplated.  The  mass  of  what  I  have  received,  in 
the  course  of  these  transactions,  is  voluminous,  but  little  has  been  given 
under  the  sanction  of  an  oath,  so  as  to  constitute  formal  and  legal  evidence. 
It  is  chiefly  in  the  form  of  letters,  often  containing  such  a  mixture  of  ru- 
mors, conjectures,  and  suspicions,  as  render  it  difficult  to  sift  out  the  real 
facts,  and  unadvisable  to  hazard  more  than  general  outlines,  strengthened 
by  concurrent  information,  or  the  particular  credibility  of  the  relater.  In 
this  state  of  the  evidence,  delivered  sometimes  too  under  the  restriction  of 
private  confidence,  neither  safety  nor  justice  will  permit  the  exposing 
names,  except  that  of  the  principal  actor  whose  guilt  is  placed  beyond 
question. 

Some  time  in  the  latter  part  of  September,  I  received  intimations  that 
designs  were  in  agitation  in  the  western  country,  unlawful  and  unfriend- 
ly to  the  peace  of  the  Union  ;  and  that  the  prime  mover  in  these  was 
Aaron  Burr,  heretofore  distinguished  by  the  favor  of  his  country.  The 
grounds  of  these  intimations  being  inconclusive,  the  objects  uncertain,  and 
the  fidelity  of  that  country  known  to  be  firm,  the  only  measure  taken  was 
to  urge  the  informants  to  use  their  best  endeavors  to  get  further  insight 
into  the  designs  and  proceedings  of  the  suspected  persons,  and  to  communi- 
cate them  to  me. 

It  was  not  until  the  latter  part  of  October,  that  the  objects  of  the  coa 
spiracy  began  to  be  perceived,  but  still  so  blended  and  involved  in  mys- 
tery that  nothing  distinct  could  be  singled  out  for  pursuit.  In  this  state  of 
uncertainty  as  to  the  crime  contemplated,  the  acts  done,  and  the  legal 
course  to  be  pursued,  I  thought  it  best  to  send  to  the  scene  where  these 
things  were  principally  in  transaction,  a  person,  in  whose  integrity,  under- 
standing, and  discretion,  entire  confidence  could  be  reposed,  with  instruc- 
tions to  investigate  the  plots  going  on,  to  enter  into  conference  (for  which 
he  had  sufficient  credentials)  with  the  governors  and  all  other  officers  civil 
and  military,  and  with  their  aid  to  do  on  the  spot  whatever  should  be  ne- 
cessary to  discover  the  designs  of  the  conspirators,  arrest  their  means,  bring 

VOL.  I.— 13 


194  JEFFERSON  S    SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

their  persons  to  punishment,  and  to  call  out  the  force  of  the  country  to  sup- 
press any  unlawful  enterprise  in  which  it  should  be  found  they  were  en- 
gaged. By  this  time  it  was  known  that  many  boats  were  under  prepara- 
tion, stores  of  provisions  collecting,  and  an  unusual  number  of  suspicious 
characters  in  motion  on  the  Ohio  and  its  waters.  Besides  despatching 
the  confidential  agent  to  that  quarter,  orders  were  at  the  same  time  sent  to 
the  governors  of  the  Orleans  and  Mississippi  territories  and  to  the  com- 
manders of  the  land  and  naval  forces  there,  to  be  on  their  guard  against 
surprise  and  in  constant  readiness  to  resist  any  enterprise  which  might  be 
attempted  on  the  vessels,  posts,  or  other  objects  under  their  care  ;  and  on 
the  8th  of  November,  instructions  were  forwarded  to  General  Wilkinson 
to  hasten  an  accommodation  with  the  Spanish  commander  on  the  Sabine, 
and  as  soon  as  that  was  effected  to  fall  back  with  his  principal  force  to  the 
hither  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  for  the  defence  of  the  intersecting  points  on 
that  river.  By  a  letter  received  from  that  officer  on  the  25th  of  November, 
but  dated  October  21st,  we  learn  that  a  confidential  agent  of  Aaron  Burr 
had  been  deputed  to  him,  with  communications  partly  written  in  cipher 
and  partly  oral,  explaining  his  designs,  exaggerating  his  resources,  and 
making  such  offers  of  emolument  and  command,  to  engage  him  and  the 
army  in  his  unlawful  enterprise,  as  he  had  flattered  himself  would  be  suc- 
cessful. The  general,  with  the  honor  of  a  soldier  and  fidelity  of  a  good 
citizen,  immediately  despatched  a  trusty  officer  to  me  with  information  of 
what  had  passed,  proceeding  to  establish  such  an  understanding  with  the 
Spanish  commandant  on  the  Sabine  as  permitted  him  to  withdraw  his 
force  across  the  Mississippi,  and  to  enter  on  measures  for  opposing  the 
projected  enterprise. 

The  general's  letter,  which  came  to  hand  on  the  25th  of  November,  as 
has  been  mentioned,  and  some  other  information  received  a  few  days  ear- 
lier, when  brought  together,  developed  Burr's  general  designs,  different 
parts  of  which  only  had  been  revealed  to  different  informants.  It  appear- 
ed that  he  contemplated  two  distinct  objects,  which  might  be  carried  on 
either  jointly  or  separately,  and  either  the  one  or  the  other  first,  as  circum- 
stances should  direct.  One  of  these  was  the  severance  of  the  Union  of 
these  states  by  the  Allegany  mountains ;  the  other,  an  attack  on  Mexico. 
A  third  object  was  provided,  merely  ostensible,  to  wit  :  the  settlement  of 
a  pretended  purchase  of  a  tract  of  country  on  the  Washita,  claimed  by  a 
Baron  Bastrop.  This  was  to  serve  as  the  pretext  for  all  his  preparations, 
an  allurement  for  such  followers  as  really  wished  to  acquire  settlements 
in  that  country,  and  a  cover  under  which  to  retreat  in  the  event  of  final 
discomfiture  of  both  branches  of  his  real  design. 

He  found  at  once  that  the  attachment  of  the  western  country  to  the  pres- 
ent Union  was  not  to  be  shaken  ;  that  its  dissolution  could  not  be  effect- 
ed with  the  consent  of  its  inhabitants,  and  that  his  resources  were  inade- 
quate, as  yet,  to  effect  it  by  force.  He  took  his  course  then  at  once,  de- 
termined to  seize  on  New  Orleans,  plunder  the  bank  there,  possess  him- 
self of  the  military  and  naval  stores,  and  proceed  on  his  expedition  to 
Mexico  ;  and  to  this  object  all  his  means  and  preparations  were  now  di- 
rected. He  collected  from  all  the  quarters  where  himself  or  his  agents 
possessed  influence,  all  the  ardent,  restless,  desperate,  and  disaffected 
persons  who  were  ready  for  any  enterprise  analogous  to  their  characters. 
He  seduced  good  and  well-meaning  citizens,  some  by  assurances  that  he 
possessed  the  confidence  of  the  government  and  was  acting  under  its  se- 
cret patronage,  a  pretence  which  obtained  some  credit  from  the  state  of 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  195 

our  differences  with  Spain ;  and  others  by  offers  of  land  in  Bastrop's 
claim  on  the  Washita. 

This  was  the  state  of  my  information  of  his  proceedings  about  the  last 
of  November,  at  which  time,  therefore,  it  was  first  possible  to  take  specific 
measures  to  meet  them.  The  proclamation  of  November  27th,  two  days 
after  the  receipt  of  General  Wilkinson's  information,  was  now  issued. 
Orders  were  despatched  to  every  intersecting  point  on  the  Ohio  and  Mis- 
sissippi, from  Pittsburg  to  New  Orleans,  for  the  employment  of  such  force 
either  of  the  regulars  or  of  the  militia,  and  of  such  proceedings  also  of  the 
civil  authorities,  as  might  enable  them  to  seize  on  all  the  boats  and  stores 
provided  for  the  enterprise,  to  arrest  the  persons  concerned,  and  to  sup- 
press effectually  the  further  progress  of  the  enterprise.  A  little  before 
the  receipt  of  these  orders  in  the  state  of  Ohio,  our  confidential  agent,  who 
had  been  diligently  employed  in  investigating  the  conspiracy,  had  acquir- 
ed sufficient  information  to  open  himself  to  the  governor  of  that  state,  and 
apply  for  the  immediate  exertion  of  the  authority  and  power  of  the  state 
to  crush  the  combination.  Governor  Tiffin  and  the  legislature,  with  a 
promptitude,  an  energy,  and  patriotic  zeal,  which  entitle  them  to  a  distin- 
guished place  in  the  affection  of  their  sister  states,  effected  the  seizure 
of  all  ihe  boats,  provisions,  and  other  preparations  within  their  reach,  and 
thus  gave  a  first  blow,  materially  disabling  the  enterprise  in  its  outset. 

In  Kentucky,  a  premature  attempt  to  bring  Burr  to  justice,  without  suf- 
ficient evidence  for  his  conviction,  had  produced  a  popular  impression  in 
his  favor  and  a  general  disbelief  of  his  guilt.  This  gave  him  an  unfor- 
tunate opportunity  of  hastening  his  equipments.  The  arrival  of  the  proc- 
lamation and  orders,  and  the  application  and  information  of  our  confiden- 
tial agent,  at  length  awakened  the  authorities  of  that  state  to  the  truth,  and 
then  produced  the  same  promptitude  and  energy  of  which  the  neighboring 
state  had  set  the  example.  Under  an  act  of  their  legislature  of  Decem- 
ber 23d,  militia  was  instantly  ordered  to  different  important  points,  and 
measures  taken  for  doing  whatever  could  yet  be  done.  Some  boats  (ac- 
counts vary  from  five  to  double  or  treble  that-jmrnber)  and  persons  (differ- 
ently estimated  from  one  to  three  hundred)  had  in  the  meantime  passed 
the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  to  rendezvous  at  the  mouth  of  Cumberland,  with  oth- 
ers expected  down  that  river. 

Not  apprized,  till  very  late,  that  any  boats  were  building  on  Cumber- 
land, the  effect  of  the  proclamation  had  been  trusted  to  for  some  time  in 
the  state  of  Tennessee  ;  but  on  the  19th  of  December,  similar  communi- 
cations and  instructions  with  those  of  the  neighboring  states  were  de- 
spatched by  express  to  the  governor,  and  a  general  officer  of  the  western 
division  of  the  state,  and  on  the  23d  of  December  our  confidential  agent 
left  Frankfort  for  Nashville,  to  put  into  activity  the  means  of  that  state 
also.  But  by  information  received  yesterday,  I  learn  that  on  the  22d  of 
December,  Mr.  Burr  descended  the  Cumberland  with  two  boats  merely 
of  accommodation,  carrying  with  him  from  that  state  no  quota  toward  his 
unlawful  enterprise.  Whether  after  the  arrival  of  the  proclamation,  of  the 
orders,  or  of  our  agent,  any  exertion  which  could  be  made  by  that  state, 
or  the  orders  of  the  governor  of  Kentucky  for  calling  out  the  militia  at  the 
mouth  of  Cumberland,  would  be  in  time  to  arrest  these  boats,  and  those 
from  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  is  still  doubtful. 

On  the  whole,  the  fugitives  from  the  Ohio,  with  their  associates  from 
Cumberland,  or  any  other  place  in  that  quarter,  can  not  threaten  serious 
danger  to  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 


196  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

By  the  same  express  of  December  nineteenth,  orders  were  sent  io  the 
governors  of  New  Orleans  and  Mississippi,  supplementary  to  those  which 
had  been  given  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  November,  to  hold  the  militia  of  their 
territories  in  readiness  to  co-operate,  for  their  defence,  with  the  regular 
troops  and  armed  vessels  then  under  command  of  General  Wilkinson. 
Great  alarm,  indeed,  was  excited  at  New  Orleans  by  the  exaggerated  ac- 
counts of  Mr.  Burr,  disseminated  through  his  emissaries,  of  the  armies 
and  navies  he  was  to  assemble  there.  General  Wilkinson  had  arrived 
there  himself  on  the  24th  of  November,  and  had  immediately  put  into  ac- 
tivity the  resources  of  the  place  for  the  purpose  of  its  defence ;  and  on 
the  tenth  of  December  he  was  joined  by  his  troops  from  the  Sabine. 
Great  zeal  was  shown  by  the  inhabitants  generally,  the  merchants  of  the 
place  readily  agreeing  to  the  most  laudable  exertions  and  sacrifices  for 
manning  the  armed  vessels  with  their  seamen,  and  the  other  citizens  man- 
ifesting unequivocal  fidelity  to  the  Union,  and  a  spirit  of  determined  re- 
sistance to  their  expected  assailants. 

Surmises  have  been  hazarded  that  this  enterprise  is  to  receive  aid  from 
certain  foreign  powers.  But  these  surmises  are  without  proof  or  proba- 
bility. The  wisdom  of  the  measures  sanctioned  by  Congress  at  its  last 
session  has  placed  us  in  the  paths  of  peace  and  justice  with  the  only  pow- 
ers with  whom  we  had  any  differences,  and  nothing  has  happened  since 
which  makes  it  either  their  interest  or  ours  to  pursue  another  course.  No 
change  of  measures  has  taken  place  on  our  part ;  none  ought  to  take  place 
at  this  time.  With  the  one,  friendly  arrangement  was  then  proposed,  and 
the  law  deemed  necessary  on  the  failure  of  that  was  suspended  to  give 
time  for  a  fair  trial  of  the  issue.  With  the  same  power,  negotiation  is 
still  preferred,  and  provisional  measures  only  are  necessary  to  meet  the 
event  of  rupture.  While,  therefore,  we  do  not  deflect  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree from  the  course  we  then  assumed,  and  are  still  pursuing,  with  mutual 
consent,  to  restore  a  good  understanding,  we  are  not  to  impute  to  them 
practices  as  irreconcilable  to  interest  as  to  good  faith,  and  changing  neces- 
sarily the  relations  of  peace  and  justice  between  us  to  those  of  war 
These  surmises  are,  therefore,  to  be  imputed  to  the  vauntings  of  the  au- 
thor of  this  enterprise,  to  multiply  his  partisans  by  magnifying  the  belief 
of  his  prospects  and  support. 

By  letters  from  General  Wilkinson,  of  the  14th  and  18th  of  September, 
which  came  to  hand  two  days  after  date  of  the  resolution  of  the  house  of 
representatives,  that  is  to  say,  on  the  morning  of  the  18th  instant,  I  re- 
ceived the  important  affidavit,  a  copy  of  which  I  now  communicate,  with 
extracts  of  so  much  of  the  letters  as  come  within  the  scope  of  the  resolu- 
tion. By  these  it  will  be  seen  that  of  three  of  the  principal  emissaries  of 
Mr.  Burr,  whom  the  general  had  caused  to  be  apprehended,  one  had  been 
liberated  by  habeas  corpus,  and  the  two  others,  being  those  particularly 
employed  in  the  endeavor  to  corrupt  the  general  and  army  of  the  United 
States,  have  been  embarked  by  him  for  our  ports  in  the  Atlantic  states, 
probably  on  the  consideration  that  an  impartial  trial  could  not  be  expected 
during  the  present  agitations  of  New  Orleans,  and  that  that  city  was  not 
as  yet  a  safe  place  of  confinement.  As  soon  as  these  persons  shall  arrive, 
they  will  be  delivered  to  the  custody  of  the  law,  and  left  to  such  course 
of  trial,  both  as  to  place  and  process,  as  its  functionaries  may  direct.  The 
presence  of  the  highest  judicial  authorities,  to  be  assembled  at  this  place 
within  a  few  days,  the  means  of  pursuing  a  sounder  course  of  proceedings 
here  than  elsewhere,  and  the  aid  of  the  executive  means,  should  the  judges 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  197 

have  occasion  to  use  them,  render  it  equally  desirable  for  the  criminals  as 
for  the  public,  that  being  already  removed  from  the  place  where  they  were 
first  apprehended,  the  first  regular  arrest  should  take  place  here,  and  the 
course  of  proceedings  receive  here  its  proper  direction. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

JANUARY  28,   1807. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

BY  the  letters  of  Captain  Bissel,  who  commands  at  Fort  Massac,  and  of 
Mr.  Murrell,  to  General  Jackson,  of  Tennessee,  copies  of  which  are  now 
communicated  to  Congress,  it  will  be  seen  that  Aaron  Burr  passed  Fort 
Massac  on  the  31st  of  December,  with  about  ten  boats,  navigated  by  about 
six  hands  each,  without  any  military  appearance,  and  that  three  boats  with 
ammunition  were  said  to  have  been  arrested  by  the  militia  at  Louisville. 

As  the  guards  of  militia  posted  on  various  points  on  the  Ohio  will  be 
able  to  prevent  any  further  aids  passing  through  that  channel,  should  any 
be  attempted,  we  may  now  estimate,  with  tolerable  certainty,  the  means 
derived  from  the  Ohio  and  its  waters,  toward  the  accomplishment  of  the 
purposes  of  Mr.  Burr. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  31,  1807. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

IN  execution  of  the  act  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  entitled,  "  An 
act  to  regulate  the  laying  out  and  making  a  road  from  Cumberland,  in  the 
state  of  Maryland,  to  the  state  of  Ohio,"  I  appointed  Thomas  Moore,  of 
Maryland,  Joseph  Kerr,  of  Ohio,  and  Eli  Williams,  of  Maryland,  commis- 
sioners to  lay  out  the  said  road,  and  to  perform  the  other  duties  assigned 
to  them  by  the  act.  The  progress  which  they  made  in  the  execution  of 
the  work,  during  the  last  season,  will  appear  in  their  report,  now  com- 
municated to  Congress.  On  the  receipt  of  it,  I  took  measures  to  obtain 
consent  for  making  the  road,  of  the  states  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and 
Virginia,  through  which  the  commissioners  proposed  to  lay  it  out.  I  have 
received  acts  of  the  legislatures  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  giving  the  con- 
sent desired ;  that  of  Pennsylvania  has  the  subject  still  under  considera- 
tion, as  is  supposed.  Until  I  receive  full  consent  to  a  free  choice  of  route 
through  the  whole  distance,  I  have  thought  it  safest  neither  to  accept,  nor 
reject,  finally,  the  partial  report  of  the  commissioners.  Some  matters  sug- 
gested in  the  report  belong  exclusively  to  the  legislature. 


198  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY   10,  1807. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

IN  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  house  of  representatives,  express- 
ed in  their  resolution  of  the  5th  instant,  I  proceed  to  give  such  information 
as  is  possessed,  of  the  effect  of  gun-boats  in  the  protection  and  defence  of 
harbors,  of  the  numbers  thought  necessary,  and  of  the  proposed  distribu- 
tion of  them  among  the  ports  and  harbors  of  the  United  States. 

Under  present  circumstances,  and  governed  by  the  intentions  of  the 
legislature,  as  manifested  by  their  annual  appropriations  of  money  for  the 
purposes  of  defence,  it  has  been  concluded  to  combine — 1st,  land  batteries, 
furnished  with  heavy  cannon  and  mortars,  and  established  on  all  the  points 
around  the  place  favorable  for  preventing  vessels  from  lying  before  it ;  2d, 
moveable  artillery  which  may  be  carried,  as  an  occasion  may  require,  to 
points  unprovided  with  fixed  batteries-;  3d,  floating  batteries  ;  and  4 ih,  gun- 
boats, which  may  oppose  an  enemy  at  its  entrance  and  co-operate  with  the 
batteries  for  his  expulsion. 

On  this  subject  professional  men  were  consulted  as  far  as  we  had  op- 
portunity. General  Wilkinson,  and  the  late  General  Gates,  gave  their 
opinions  in  writing,  in  favor  of  the  system,  as  will  be  seen  by  their  letters 
now  communicated.  The  higher  officers  of  the  navy  gave  the  same  opin- 
ions, in  separate  conferences,  as  their  presence  at  the  seat  of  government 
offered  occasions  of  consulting  them,  and  no  difference  of  judgment  ap- 
peared on  the  subject.  Those  of  Commodore  Barron  and  Captain  Tingey, 
now  here,  are  recently  furnished  in  writing,  and  transmitted  herewith  to 
the  legislature. 

The  efficacy  of  gun-boats  for  the  defence  of  harbors,  and  of  other  smooth 
and  enclosed  waters,  may  be  estimated  in  part  from  that  of  galleys,  former- 
ly much  used  but  less  powerful,  more  costly  in  their  construction  and  main- 
tenance, and  requiring  more  men.  But  the  gun-boat  itself  is  believed  to 
be  in  use  with  every  modern  maritime  nation  for  the  purpose  of  defence. 
In  the  Mediterranean,  on  which  are  several  small  powers,  whose  system 
like  ours  is  peace  and  defence,  few  harbors  are  without  this  article  of  pro- 
tection. Our  own  experience  there  of  .the  effect  of  gun-boats  for  harbor 
service,  is  recent.  Algiers  is  particularly  known  to  have  owed  to  a  great 
provision  of  these  vessels  the  safety  of  its  city,  since  the  epoch  of  their 
construction.  Before  that  it  had  been  repeatedly  insulted  and  injured. 
The  effect  of  gun-boats  at  present  in  the  neighborhood  of  Gibraltar,  is  well 
known,  and  how  much  they  were  used  both  in  the  attack  and  defence  of 
that  place  during  a  former  war.  The  extensive  resort  to  them  by  the  two 
greatest  naval  powers  in  the  world,  on  an  enterprise  of  invasion  not  long 
since  in  prospect,  shows  their  confidence  in  their  efficacy  for  the  purposes 
for  which  they  are  suited.  By  the  northern  powers  of  Europe,  whose  seas 
are  particularly  adapted  to  them,  they  are  still  more  used.  The  remark- 
able action  between  the  Russian  flotilla  of  gun-boats  and  galleys,  and  a 
Turkish  fleet  of  ships-of-the-line  and  frigates,  in  the  Liman  sea,  1788, 
will  be  readily  recollected.  The  latter,  commanded  by  their  most  cele- 
brated admiral,  were  completely  defeated,  and  several  of  their  ships-of-the- 
line  destroyed. 

From  the  opinions  given  as  to  the  number  of  gun-boats  necessary  for 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  199 

some  of  the  principal  seaports,  and  from  a  view  of  all  the  towns  and  ports 
from  Orleans  to  Maine  inclusive,  entitled  to  protection,  in  proportion  to 
their  situation  and  circumstances,  it  is  concluded,  that  to  give  them  a  due 
measure  of  protection  in  time  of  war,  about  two  hundred  gun-boats  will  be 
requisite.  According  to  first  ideas,  the  following  would  be  their  general 
distribution,  liable  to  be  varied  on  more  mature  examination,  and  as  circum- 
stances shall  vary,  that  is  to  say  : — 

To  the  Mississippi  and  its  neighboring  waters,  forty  gun-boats. 

To  Savannah  and  Charleston,  and  the  harbors  on  each  side,  from  St. 
Mary's  to  Currituck,  twenty-five. 

To  the  Chesapeake  and  its  waters,  twenty. 

To  Delaware  bay  and  river,  fifteen. 

To  New  York,  the  Sound,  and  waters  as  far  as  Cape  Cod,  fifty. 

To  Boston  and  the  harbors  north  of  Cape  Cod,  fifty. 

The  flotillas  assigned  to  these  several  stations  might  each  be  under  the 
care  of  a  particular  commandant,  and  the  vessels  composing  them  would, 
in  ordinary,  be  distributed  among  the  harbors  within  the  station  in  propor- 
tion to  their  importance.  i 

Of  these  boats  a  proper  proportion  would  be  of  the  larger  size,  such  as 
those  heretofore  built,  capable  of  navigating  any  seas,  and  of  reinforcing 
occasionally  the  strength  of  even  the  most  distant  port  when  menaced  with 
danger.  The  residue  would  be  confined  to  their  own  or  the  neighboring 
harbors,  would  be  smaller,  less  furnished  for  accommodation,  and  conse- 
quently less  costly.  Of  the  number  supposed  necessary,  seventy-three 
are  built  or  building,  and  the  hundred  and  twenty-seven  still  to  be  pro- 
vided would  cost  from  five  to  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Having  re- 
gard to  the  convenience  of  the  treasury,  as  well  as  to  the  resources  for 
building,  it  has  been  thought  that  one  half  of  these  might  be  built  in  the 
present  year,  and  the  other  half  the  next.  With  the  legislature,  however, 
it  will  rest  to  stop  where  we  are,  or  at  any  further  point,  when  they  shall 
be  of  opinion  that  the  number  provided  shall  be  sufficient  for  the  object. 

At  times  when  Europe  as  well  as  the  United  States  shall  be  at  peace, 
it  would  not  be  proposed  that  more  than  six  or  eight  of  these  vessels 
should  be  kept  afloat.  When  Europe  is  in  war,  treble  that  number  might 
be  necessary  to  be  distributed  among  those  particular  harbors  which  for- 
eign vessels-of-war  are  in  the  habit  of  frequenting,  for  the  purpose  of 
preserving  order  therein.  But  they  would  be  manned,  in  ordinary,  with 
only  their  complement  for  navigation,  relying  on  the  seamen  and  militia 
of  the  port  if  called  into  action  on  any  sudden  emergency.  It  would  be 
only  when  the  United  States  should  themselves  be -at  war,  that  the  whole 
number  would  be  brought  into  actual  service,  and  would  be  ready  in  the 
first  moments  of  the  war  to  co-operate  with  other  means  for  covering  at 
once  the  line  of  our  seaports.  At  all  times,  those  unemployed  would  be 
withdrawn  into  places  not  exposed  to  sudden  enterprise,  hauled  up  under 
sheds  from  the  sun  and  weather,  and  kept  in  preservation  with  little  ex- 
pense for  repairs  or  maintenance. 

It  must  be  superfluous  to  observe,  that  this  species  of  aaval  armament 
is  proposed  merely  for  defensive  operation  ;  that  it  can  have  but  little  ef- 
fect toward  protecting  our  commerce  in  the  open  seas,  even  on  our  coast ; 
and  still  less  can  it  become  an  excitement  to  engage  in  offensive  maritime 
war,  toward  which  it  would  furnish  no  means- 


200  JEFFERSON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

SEVENTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
OCTOBER  27,  1807. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

CIRCUMSTANCES,  fellow-citizens,  which  seriously  threatened  the  peace 
of  our  country,  have  made  it  a  duty  to  convene  you  at  an  earlier  period 
than  usual.  The  love  of  peace  so  much  cherished  in  the  bosoms  of  our 
citizens,  which  has  so  long  guided  the  proceedings  of  the  public  coun- 
cils, and  induced  forbearance  under  so  many  wrongs,  may  not  insure  our 
continuance  in  the  quiet  pursuits  of  industry.  The  many  injuries  and 
depredations  committed  on  our  commerce  and  navigation  upon  the  high 
seas  for  years  past,  the  successive  innovations  on  those  principles  of  pub- 
lic law  which  have  been  established  by  the  reason  and  usage  of  nations 
as  the  rule  of  their  intercourse,  and  the  umpire  and  security  of  their  rights 
and  peace,  and  all  the  circumstances  which  induced  the  extraordinary 
mission  to  London,  are  already  known  to  you.  The  instructions  given  to 
our  ministers  were  framed  in  the  sincerest  spirit  of  amity  and  moderation. 
They  accordingly  proceeded,  in  conformity  therewith,  to  propose  arrange- 
ments which  might  embrace  and  settle  all  the  points  in  difference  between 
us,  which  might  bring  us  to  a  mutual  understanding  on  our  neutral  and 
national  rights,  and  provide  for  a  commercial  intercourse  on  conditions  of 
some  equality.  After  long  and  fruitless  endeavors  to  effect  the  purposes 
of  their  mission,  and  to  obtain  arrangements  within  the  limits  of  their  in- 
structions, they  concluded  to  sign  such  as  could  be  obtained,  and  to  send 
them  for  consideration,  candidly  declaring  to  the  other  negotiators,  at  the 
same  time,  that  they  were  acting  against  their  instructions,  and  that  their 
government  therefore  could  not  be  pledged  for  ratification.  Some  of  the 
articles  proposed  might  have  been  admitted  on  a  principle  of  compromise, 
but  others  were  too  highly  disadvantageous,  and  no  sufficient  provision 
was  made  against  the  principal  source  of  the  irritations  and  collisions 
which  were  constantly  endangering  the  peace  of  the  two  nations.  The 
question,  therefore,  whether  a  treaty  should  be  accepted  in  that  form  could 
have  admitted  but  of  one  decision,  even  had  no  declarations  of  the  other 
party  impaired  our  confidence  in  it.  Still  anxious  not  to  close  the  door 
against  friendly  adjustment,  new  modifications  were  framed  and  further 
concessions  authorized,  than  could  before  have  been  supposed  necessary ; 
and  our  ministers  were  instructed  to  resume  their  negotiations  on  these 
grounds.  On  this  new  reference  to  amicable  discussion  we  were  repo- 
sing in  confidence,  when  on  the  22d  day  of  June  last,  by  a  formal  order 
from  the  British  admiral,  the  frigate  Chesapeake,  leaving  her  port  for  dis- 
tant service,  was  attacked  by  one  of  those  vessels  which  had  been  lying  in 
our  harbors  under  the  indulgences  of  hospitality,  was  disabled  from  pro- 
ceeding, had  several  of  her  crew  killed,  and  four  taken  away.  On  this 
outrage  no  commentaries  are  necessary.  Its  character  has  been  pronoun- 
ced by  the  indignant  voice  of  our  citizens  with  an  emphasis  and  unanimity 
never  exceeded.  I  immediately,  by  proclamation,  interdicted  our  harbors 
and  waters  to  all  British  armed  vessels,  forbade  intercourse  with  them,  and 
uncertain  how  far  hostilities  were  intended,  and  the  town  of  Norfolk  in- 
deed being  threatened  with  immediate  attack,  a  sufficient  force  was  order- 
ed for  the  protection  of  that  place  and  such  other  preparations  commenced 
and  pursued  as  the  prospect  rendered  proper.  An  armed  vessel  of  the 


JEFFERSON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  201 

United  States  was  despatched  with  instructions  to  our  ministers  at  London 
to  call  on  that  government  for  the  satisfaction  and  security  required  by  the 
outrage.  A  very  short  interval  ought  now  to  bring  the  answer,  which 
shall  be  communicated  to  you  as  soon  as  received ;  then  also,  or  as  soon 
after  as  the  public  interests  shall  be  found  to  admit,  the  unratified  treaty 
and  proceedings  relative  to  it,  shall  be  made  known  to  you. 

The  aggression  thus  begun  has  been  continued  on  the  part  of  the  Brit- 
ish commanders,  by  remaining  within  our  waters,  in  defiance  of  the  au- 
thority of  the  country,  by  habitual  violations  of  its  jurisdiction,  and  at 
length  by  putting  to  death  one  of  the  persons  whom  they  had  forcibly  taken 
from  on  board  the  Chesapeake.  These  aggravations  necessarily  lead  to 
the  policy,  either  of  never  admitting  an  armed  vessel  into  our  harbors,  or  of 
maintaining  in  every  harbor  such  an  armed  force  as  may  constrain  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws,  and  protect  the  lives  and  property  of  our  citizens,  against 
their  armed  guests.  But  the  expense  of  such  a  standing  force,  and  its  in- 
consistence  with  our  principles,  dispense  with  those  courtesies  which 
would  necessarily  call  for  it,  and  leave  us  equally  free  to  exclude  the 
navy,  as  we  are  the  army,  of  a  foreign  power,  from  entering  our  limits. 

To  former  violations  of  maritime  rights,  another  is  now  added  of  very 
extensive  effect.  The  government  of  that  nation  has  issued  an  order  in- 
terdicting all  trade  by  neutrals  between  ports  not  in  amity  with  them  ;  and 
being  now  at  war  with  nearly  every  nation  on  the  Atlantic  and  Mediterra- 
nean seas,  our  vessels  are  required  to  sacrifice  their  cargoes  at  the  first 
port  they  touch,  or  to  return  home  without  the  benefit  of  going  to  any  other 
market.  Under  this  new  law  of  the  ocean,  our  trade  on  the  Mediterrane- 
an has  been  swept  away  by  seizures  and  condemnations,  and  that  in  other 
seas  is  threatened  with  the  same"  fate. 

Our  differences  with  Spain  remain  still  unsettled  ;  no  measure  having 
been  taken  on  her  part,  since  my  last  communication  to  Congress,  to  bring 
them  to  a  close.  But  under  a  state  of  things  which  may  favor  a  reconsid- 
eration, they  have  been  recently  pressed,  and  an  expectation  is  entertain- 
ed that  they  may  now  soon  be  brought  to  an  issue  of  some  sort.  With 
their  subjects  on  our  borders,  no  new  collisions  have  taken  place  nor  seem 
immediately  to  be  apprehended.  To  our  fonner  grounds  of  complaint  has 
been  added  a  very  serious  one,  as  you  will  see  by  the  decree,  a  copy  of 
which  is  now  communicated.  Whether  this  decree,  which  professes  to 
be  conformable  to  that  of  the  French  government  of  November  21st,  1806, 
heretofore  communicated  to  Congress,  will  also  the  conformed  to  that  in 
its  construction  and  application  in  relation  to  the  United  States,  had  not 
been  ascertained  at  the  date  of  our  last  communications.  These,  how- 
ever, gave  reason  to  expect  such  a  conformity. 

With  the  other  nations  of  Europe  our  harmony  has  been  uninterrupted, 
and  commerce  and  friendly  intercourse  have  been  maintained  on  their 
usual  footing. 

Our  peace  with  the  several  states  on  the  coast  of  Barbary  appears  as 
firm  as  at  any  former  period,  and  is  as  likely  to  continue  as  that  of  any 
other  nation. 

Among  our  Indian  neighbors  in  the  northwestern  quarter,  some  fermen- 
tation was  observed  soon  after  the  late  occurrences,  threatening  the  con- 
tinuance of  our  peace.  Messages  were  said  to  be  interchanged,  and  to- 
kens to  be  passing,  which  usually  denote  a  state  of  restlessness  among 
them,  and  the  character  of  the  agitators  pointed  to  the  sources  of  ex- 
citement. Measures  were  immediately  taken  for  providing  against  that 


202  JEFFERSON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

danger ;  instructions  were  given  to  require  explanations,  and  with  assur- 
ances of  our  continued  friendship,  to  admonish  the  tribes  to  remain  quiet 
at  home,  taking  no  part  in  quarrels  not  belonging  to  them.  As  far  as  we 
are  yet  informed,  the  tribes  in  our  vicinity,  who  are  most  advanced  in  the 
pursuits  of  industry,  are  sincerely  disposed  to  adhere  to  their  friendship 
with  us,  and  to  their  peace  with  all  others  ;  while  those  more  remote  do 
not  present  appearances  sufficiently  quiet  to  justify  the  intermission  of  mil- 
itary precaution  on  our  part. 

The  great  tribes  on  our  southwestern  quarter,  much  advanced  beyond 
the  others  in  agriculture  and  household  arts,  appear  tranquil,  and  identify- 
ing their  views  with  ours,  in  proportion  to  their  advancement.  With  the 
whole  of  these  people,  in  every  quarter,  I  shall  continue  to  inculcate  peace 
and  friendship  with  all  their  neighbors,  and  perseverance  in  those  occu- 
pations and  pursuits  which  will  best  promote  their  own  well-being. 

The  appropriations  of  the  last  session,  for  the  defence  of  our  seaport 
towns  and  harbors,  were  made  under  expectation  that  a  continuance  of 
our  peace  would  permit  us  to  proceed  in  that  work  according  to  our  con- 
venience. It  has  been  thought  better  to  apply  the  sums  then  given, 
toward  the  defence  of  New  York,  Charleston,  and  New  Orleans  chiefly,  as 
most  open  and  most  likely  first  to  need  protection ;  and  to  leave  places 
less  immediately  in  danger  to  the  provisions  of  the  present  session. 

The  gun-boats,  too,  already  provided,  have  on  a  like  principle  been 
chiefly  assigned  to  New  York,  New  Orleans,  and  the  Chesapeake.  Wheth- 
er our  moveable  force  on  the  water,  so  material  in  aid  of  the  defensive 
works  on  the  land,  should  be  augmented  in  this  or  any  other  form,  is  left 
to  the  wisdom  of  the  legislature.  For  the  purpose  of  manning  these  ves- 
sels in  sudden  attacks  on  our  harbors,  it  is  a  matter  for  consideration,  wheth- 
er the  seamen  of  the  United  States  may  not  justly  be  formed  into  a  special 
militia,  to  be  called  on  for  tours  of  duty  in  defence  of  the  harbors  where 
they  shall  happen  to  be  ;  the  ordinary  militia  of  the  place  furnishing  that 
portion  which  may  consist  of  landsmen. 

The  moment  our  peace  was  threatened,  I  deemed  it  indispensable  to 
secure  a  greater  provision  of  those  articles  of  military  stores  with  which 
our  magazines  were  not  sufficiently  furnished.  To  have  awaited  a  previous 
and  special  sanction  by  law  would  have  lost  occasions  which  might  not 
be  retrieved.  I  did  not  hesitate,  therefore,  to  authorize  engagements  for 
such  supplements  to  our  existing  stock  as  would  render  it  adequate  to  the 
emergencies  threatening  us  ;  and  1  trust  that  the  legislature,  feeling  the 
same  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  our  country,  so  materially  advanced  by  this 
precaution,  will  approve,  when  done,  what  they  would  have  seen  so  im- 
portant to  be  done  if  then  assembled.  Expenses,  also  unprovided  for, 
arose  out  of  the  necessity  of  calling  all  our  gun-boats  into  actual  service 
for  the  defence  of  our  harbors  ;  of  all  which  accounts  will  be  laid  before 
you. 

Whether  a  regular  army  is  to  be  raised,  and  to  what  extent,  must  de- 
pend on  the  information  so  shortly  expected.  In  the  meantime,  I  have 
called  on  the  states  for  quotas  of  militia,  to  be  in  readiness  for  present  de- 
fence ;  and  have,  moreover,  encouraged  the  acceptance  of  volunteers  ; 
and  I  am  happy  to  inform  you  that  these  have  offered  themselves  with 
great  alacrity  in  every  part  of  the  Union.  v  They  are  ordered  to  be  organ- 
ized, and  ready  at  a  moment's  warning  to  proceed  on  any  service  to  which 
they  may  be  called,  and  every  preparation  within  the  executive  powers 
has  been  made  to  insure  us  the  benefit  of  early  exertions. 


JEFFERSON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  203 

1  informed  Congress  at  their  last  session  of  the  enterprises  against  the 
public  peace,  which  were  believed  to  be  in  preparation  by  Aaron  Burr  and 
his  associates,  of  the  measures  taken  to  defeat  them,  and  to  bring  the  of- 
fenders to  justice.  Their  enterprises  were  happily  defeated  by  the  patri- 
otic exertions  of  the  militia  wherever  called  into  action,  by  the  fidelity  of 
the  army,  and  energy  of  the  commander-in-chief  in  promptly  arranging 
the  difficulties  presenting  themselves  on  the  Sabine,  repairing  to  meet 
those  arising  on  the  Mississippi,  and  dissipating,  before  their  explosion, 
plots  engendering  there.  I  shall  think  it  my  duty  to  lay  before  you  the 
proceedings  and  the  evidence  publicly  exhibited  on  the  arraignment  of  the 
principal  offenders  before  the  circuit  court  of  Virginia.  You  will  be  ena- 
bled to  judge  whether  the  defect  was  in  the  testimony,  in  the  law,  or  in 
the  administration  of  the  law  ;  and  wherever  it  shall  be  found,  the  legis- 
lature alone  can  apply  or  originate  the  remedy.  The  framers  of  our  con- 
stitution certainly  supposed  they  had  guarded,  as  well  their  government 
against  destruction  by  treason,  as  their  citizens  against  oppression,  under 
pretence  of  it,  and  if  these  ends  are  not  attained,  it  is  of  importance  to  in- 
quire by  what  means,  more  effectual,  they  may  be  secured. 

The  accounts  of  the  receipts  of  revenue,  during  the  year  ending  on  the 
thirtieth  day  of  September  last,  being  not  yet  made  up,  a  correct  statement 
will  be  hereafter  transmitted  from  the  treasury.  In  the  meantime,  it  is 
ascertained  that  the  receipts  have  amounted  to  near  sixteen  millions  of 
dollars,  which,  with  the  five  millions  and  a  half  in  the  treasury  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year,  have  enabled  us,  after  meeting  the  current  demands 
and  interest  incurred,  to  pay  more  than  four  millions  of  the  principal  of 
our  funded  debt.  These  payments,  with  those  of  the  preceding  five  and 
a  half  years,  have  extinguished  of  the  funded  debt  twenty-five  millions  and 
a  half  of  dollars,  being  the  whole  which  could  be  paid  or  purchased  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  law  and  of  our  contracts,  and  have  left  us  in  the  treas- 
ury eight  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars.  A  portion  of  this  sum  may  be 
considered  as  a  commencement  of  accumulation  of  the  surpluses  of  reve- 
nue, which,  after  paying  the  instalments  of  debts  as  they  shall  become 
payable,  will  remain  without  any  specific  object.  It  may  partly,  indeed, 
be  applied  toward  completing  the  defence  of  the  exposed  points  of  our 
country,  on  such  a  scale  as  shall  be  adapted  to  our  principles  and  circum- 
stances. This  object  is  doubtless  among  the  first  entitled  to  attention  ;  in 
such  a  state  of  our  finances,  and  it  is  one  which,  whether  we  have  peace 
or  war,  will  provide  security  where  it  is  due.  Whether  what  shall  remain 
of  this,  with  the  future  surpluses,  may  be  usefully  applied  to  purposes 
already  authorized,  or  more  usefully  to  others  requiring  new  authorities,  or 
how  otherwise  they  shall  be  disposed  of,  are  questions  calling  for  the  no- 
tice of  Congress,  unless  indeed  they  shall  be  superseded  by  a  change  in 
our  public  relations  now  awaiting  the  determination  of  others.  Whatever 
be  that  determination,  it  is  a  great  consolation  that  it  will  become  known 
at  a  moment  when  the  supreme  council  of  the  nation  is  assembled  at  its 
post,  and  ready  to  give  the  aids  of  its  wisdom  and  authority  to  whatever 
course  the  good  of  our  country  shall  then  call  us  to  pursue. 

Matters  of  minor  importance  will  be  the  subjects  of  future  communica- 
tions ;  and  nothing  shall  be  wanting  on  my  part  which  may  give  informa- 
tion or  despatch  to  the  proceedings  of  the  legislature  in  the  exercise  of 
their  high  duties,  and  at  a  moment  so  interesting  to  the  public  welfare. 


204  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES 

SPECIAL    MESSAGF 
NOVEMBER  23,  1807. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  Slates  :  - 

AGREEABLY  to  the  assurance  in  my  message  at  the  opening  of  the  pros 
ent  session  of  Congress,  I  now  lay  before  you  a  copy  of  the  proceedings 
and  of  the  evidence  exhibited  on  the  arraignment  of  Aaron  Burr,  and  others, 
before  the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States,  held  in  Virginia,  in  the  course 
of  the  present  year,  in  as  authentic  form  as  their  several  parts  have  ad- 
mitted. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  18,  1807. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

THE  communications  now  made,  showing  the  great  and  increasing 
dangers  with  which  our  vessels,  our  seamen,  and  merchandise,  are  threat- 
ened on  the  high  seas  and  elsewhere,  from  the  belligerent  powers  of 
Europe,  and  it  being  of  great  importance  to  keep  in  safety  these  essential 
resources,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  recommend  the  subject  to  the  considera- 
tion of  Congress,  who  will  doubtless  perceive  all  the  advantages  which 
may  be  expected  from  an  inhibition  of  the  departure  of  our  vessels  from 
the  ports  of  the  United  States. 

Their  wisdom  will  also  see  the  necessity  of  making  every  preparation 
for  whatever  events  may  grow  out  of  the  present  crisis. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  20,  1808. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

SOME  days  previous  to  your  resolutions  of  the  13th  instant,  a  court  of  in- 
quiry had  been  instituted  at  the  request  of  General  Wilkinson,  charged  to 
make  the  inquiry  into  his  conduct  which  the  first  resolution  desires,  and  had 
commenced  their  proceedings.  To  the  judge-advocate  of  that  court  the 
papers  and  information  on  that  subject,  transmitted  to  me  by  the  house  of 
representatives,  have  been  delivered,  to  be  used  according  to  the  rules 
and  powers  of  that  court. 

The  request  of  a  communication  of  any  information,  which  may  have 
been  received  at  any  time  since  the  establishment  of  the  present  govern- 
ment, touching  combinations  with  foreign  nations  for  dismembering  the 
Union,  or  the  corrupt  receipt  of  money  by  any  officer  of  the  United  States 
from  the  agents  of  foreign  governments,  can  be  complied  with  but  in  a 
partial  degree. 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  205 

It  is  well  understood  that,  in  the  first  or  second  year  of  the  presidency 
of  General  Washington,  information  was  given  to  him  relating  to  certain 
combinations  with  the  agents  of  a  foreign  government  for  the  dismember- 
ment of  the  Union  ;  which  combinations  had  taken  place  before  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  present  federal  government.  This  information,  however, 
is  believed  never  to  have  been  deposited  in  any  public  office,  or  left  in  that 
of  the  president's  secretary ;  these  having  been  duly  examined,  but  to 
have  been  considered  as  personally  confidential,  and,  therefore,  retained 
among  his  private  papers.  A  communication  from  the  governor  of  Vir- 
ginia to  General  Washington,  is  found  in  the  office  of  the  president's  sec- 
retary, which,  although  not  strictly  within  the  terms  of  the  request  of  the 
house  of  representatives,  is  communicated,  inasmuch  as  it  may  throw  some 
light  on  the  subjects  of  the  correspondence  of  that  time,  between  certain 
foreign  agents  and  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  first  or  second  year  of  the  administration  of  President  Adams, 
Andrew  Ellicott,  then  employed  in  designating,  in  conjunction  with  the 
Spanish  authorities,  the  boundaries  between  the  territories  of  the  United 
States  and  Spain,  under  the  treaty  with  that  nation,  communicated  to  the 
executive  of  the  United  States  papers  and  information  respecting  the  sub- 
jects of  the  present  inquiry,  which  were  deposited  in  the  office  of  state. 
Copies  of  these  are  now  transmitted  to  the  house  of  representatives,  except 
of  a  single  letter  and  a  reference  from  the  said  Andrew  Ellicott,  which 
being  expressly  desired  to  be  kept  secret,  is,  therefore,  not  communicated, 
but  its  contents  can  be  obtained  from  himself  in  a  more  legal  form,  and  di- 
rections have  been  given  to  summon  him  to  appear  as  a  witness  before  the 
court  of  inquiry. 

A  paper  "  on  the  commerce  of  Louisiana,"  bearing  date  of  the  18th  of 
April,  1798,  is  found  in  the  office  of  state,  supposed  to  have  been  com- 
municated by  Mr.  Daniel  Clark,  of  New  Orleans,  then  a  subject  of  Spain, 
and  now  of  the  house  of  representatives  of  the  United  States,  stating  cer- 
tain commercial  transactions  of  General  Wilkinson,  in  New  Orleans  ;  an 
extract  from  this  is  now  communicated,  because  it  contains  facts  which 
may  have  some  bearing  on  the  questions  relating  to  him. 

The  destruction  of  the  war-office,  by  fire,  in  the  close  of  1800,  involved 
all  information  it  contained  at  that  date. 

The  papers  already  described,  therefore,  constitute  the  whole  informa- 
tion on  the  subjects,  deposited  in  the  public  offices,  during  the  preceding 
administrations,  as  far  as  has  yet  been  found  ;  but  it.  can  not  be  affirmed 
that  there  may  be  no  others,  because,  the  papers  of  the  office  being  filed, 
for  the  most  part,  alphabetically,  unless  aided  by  the  suggestion  of  any 
particular  name  which  may  have  given  such  information,  nothing  short  of 
a  careful  examination  of  the  papers  in  the  offices  generally,  could  authorize 
such  affirmation. 

About  a  twelvemonth  after  I  came  to  the  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment, Mr.  Clark  gave  some  verbal  information  to  myself,  as  well  as  to  the 
secretary  of  state,  relating  to  the  same  combinations  for  the  dismember- 
ment of  the  Union.  He  was  listened  to  freely,  and  he  then  delivered  the 
letter  of  Governor  Gagoso,  addressed  to  himself,  of  which  a  copy  is  now 
communicated.  After  his  return  to  New  Orleans,  he  forwarded  to  the 
secretary  of  state  other  papers,  with  a  request  that,  after  perusal,  they 
should  be  burned.  This,  however,  was  not  done,  and  he  was  so  informed 
by  the  secretary  of  state,  and  that  they  would  be  held  subject  to  his  order. 
These  papers  have  not  yet  been  found  in  the  office.  A  letter,  therefore. 


206  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

lias  been  addressed  to  the  former  chief  clerk,  who  may,  perhaps,  give  in- 
formation respecting  them.  As  far  as  our  memories  enables  us  to  say,  they 
related  only  to  the  combinations  before  spoken  of,  and  not  at  all  to  the  cor- 
rupt receipt  of  money  by  any  officer  of  the  United  States  ;  consequently, 
they  respected  what  was  considered  as  a  dead  matter,  known  to  the  pre- 
ceding administrations,  and  offering  nothing  new  to  call  for  investigations, 
which  those  nearest  the  dates  of  the  transactions  had  not  thought  proper 
to  institute. 

In  the  course  of  the  communications  made  to  me  on  the  subject  of  the 
conspiracy  of  Aaron  Burr,  I  sometimes  received  letters,  some  of  them 
anonymous,  some  under  names  true  or  false,  expressing  suspicions  and  in- 
sinuations against  General  Wilkinson.  But  one  only  of  them,  and  that 
anonymous,  specified  any  particular  fact,  and  that  fact  was  one  of  those 
which  had  already  been  communicated  to  a  former  administration. 

No  other  information  within  the  purview  of  the  request  of  the  house  is 
known  to  have  been  received  by  any  department  of  the  government  from 
the  establishment  of  the  present  federal  government.  That  which  has 
recently  been  communicated  to  the  house  of  representatives,  and  by  them 
to  me,  is  the  first  direct  testimony  ever  made  known  to  me,  charging  Gen- 
eral Wilkinson  with  the  corrupt  receipt  of  money  ;  and  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives may  be  assured  that  the  duties  which  this  information  devolves 
on  me  shall  be  exercised  with  rigorous  impartiality.  Should  any  want  of 
power  in  the  court  to  compel  the  rendering  of  testimony,  obstruct  that  full 
and  impartial  inquiry,  which  alone  can  establish  guilt  or  innocence,  and 
satisfy  justice,  the  legislative  authority  only  will  bev  competent  to  the 
remedy. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  30,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THE  Choctaws  being  indebted  to  their  merchants  beyond  what  could  be 
discharged  by  the  ordinary  proceeds  of  their  huntings,  and  pressed  for 
payment,  proposed  to  the  United  States  to  cede  lands  to  the  amount  of 
their  debts,  and  designated  them  in  two  different  portions  of  their  country. 
These  designations  not  at  all  suiting  us,  were  declined.  Still,  urged  by 
their  creditors,  as  well  as  their  own  desire  to  be  liberated  from  debt,  they 
at  length  proposed  to  make  a  cession  which  should  be  to  our  convenience . 
By  a  treaty  signed  at  Pooshapakonuk,  on  the  16th  November,  1805,  they 
accordingly  ceded  all  their  lands  south  of  a  line  to  be  run  from  their  and 
our  boundary  at  the  Omochita,  eastwardly  to  their  boundary  with  the  Creeks 
on  the  ridge  between  the  Tombigbee  and  Alabama,  as  is  more  particular- 
ly described  in  the  treaty,  containing  about  five  millions  of  acres,  as  is 
supposed,  and  uniting  our  possessions  there  from  Adams  to  Washington 
county. 

The  location  contemplated  in  the  instnictions  to  the  commissioners  was 
on  the  Mississippi.  That  in  the  treaty  being  entirely  different,  I  was,  at 
that  time,  disinclined  to  its  ratification,  and  have  suffered  it  to  be  unacted 
on.  But  progressive  difficulties  in  our  foreign  relations  have  brought  into 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  207 

view  considerations  others  -than  those  which  then  prevailed.  It  is  per- 
haps now  as  interesting  to  .obtain  footing  for  a  strong  settlement  of  militia 
along  our  southern  frontier,  eastward  of  the  Mississippi,  as  on  the  west  of 
that  river,  and  more  so  than  higher  up  the  river  itself.  The  consolidation 
of  the  Mississippi  territory,  and  the  establishment  of  a  barrier  of  separation 
between  the  Indians  and  our  southern  neighbors,  are  also  important  ob- 
jects ;  and  the  Choctaws  and  their  creditors  being  still  anxious  that  the 
sale  should  be  made,  I  submitted  the  treaty  to  the  senate,  who  have  ad- 
vised and  consented  to  its  ratification.  I,  therefore,  now  lay  it  before 
both  houses  of  Congress  for  the  exercise  of  their  constitutional  powers  as 
to  the  means  of  fulfilling  it. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  30,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

THE  posts  of  Detroit  and  Mackinac,  having  been  originally  intended  by 
the  governments  which  established  and  held  them,  as  mere  depots  for  the 
commerce  with  the  Indians,  very  small  cessions  of  land  around  were  ob- 
tained or  asked  from  the  native  proprietors,  and  these  posts  depended  for 
protection  on  the  strength  of  their  garrisons.  The  principle  of  our  gov- 
ernment leading  us  to  the  employment  of  such  moderate  garrisons  in  time 
of  peace,  as  may  merely  take  care  of  the  post,  and  to  a  reliance  on  the 
neighboring  militia  for  its  support  in  the  first  moments  of  war,  I  have 
thought  it  would  be  important  to  obtain  from  the  Indians  such  a  cession 
of  the  neighborhood  of  these  posts  as  might  maintain  a  militia  proportioned 
to  this  object ;  and  I  have  particularly  contemplated,  with  this  view,  the 
acquisition  of  the  eastern  moiety  of  the  peninsula  between  the  lakes  Huron, 
Michigan,  and  Erie,  extending  it  to  the  Connecticut  reserve,  so  soon  as  it 
could  be  effected  with  the  perfect  good  will  of  the  natives. 

By  a  treaty  concluded  at  Detroit,  on  the  17th  of  November  last,  with 
the  Ottawas,  Chippewas,  Wyandots,  and  Pottawatomies,  so  much  of  this 
country  has  been  obtained  as  extends  from  about  Saguina  bay  southwardly 
to  the  Miami  of  the  lakes,  supposed  to  contain  upward  of  five  millions  of 
acres,  with  a  prospect  of  obtaining,  for  the  present,  a  breadth  of  two  miles 
for  a  communication  from  the  Miami  to  the  Connecticut  reserve. 

The  senate  having  advised  and  consented  to  the  ratification  of  this  treaty, 
I  now  lay  it  before  both  houses  of  Congress  for  the  exercise  of  their  con- 
stitutional powers  as  to  the  means  of  fulfilling  it. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  2,  1808. 


To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: — 

HAVING  received  an  official  communication   of  certain  orders  of  the 
British  government  against  the  maritime  rights  of  neutrals,  bearing  date  of 


208  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES 

the  1 1th  of  November,  1807, 1  transmitted  to  Congress,  as  a  further  proof 
of  the  increasing  dangers  to  our  navigation  and  commerce  which  led  to  the 
provident  measures  of  the  act  of  the  present  session,  laying  an  embargo 
on  our  own  vessels. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  4,  1808. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

IN  my  message,  January  20th,  I  stated  that  some  papers  forwarded  by 
Mr.  Daniel  Clark,  of  New  Orleans,  to  the  secretary  of  state,  in  1803,  had 
not  then  been  found  in  the  office  of  state ;  and  that  a  letter  had  been  ad- 
dressed to  the  former  chief  clerk,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  advise  where 
they  should  be  sought  for.  By  indications  received  from  him  they  are 
now  found.  Among  them  are  two  letters  from  the  Baron  de  Carondelet 
to  an  officer  serving  under  him  at  a  separate  post,  in  which  his  views  of  a 
dismemberment  of  our  Union  are  expressed.  Extracts  of  so  much  of  these 
letters  as  are  within  the  scope  of  the  resolutions  of  the  house,  are  now 
communicated.  With  these  were  found  the  letters  from  Mr.  Clark,  to  the 
secretary  of  state,  in  1803.  A  part  of  one  only  of  these  relates  to  this  subject, 
and  is  extracted  and  enclosed  for  the  information  of  the  house.  In  no  part 
of  the  papers  communicated  by  Mr.  Clark,  which  are  voluminous,  and  in 
different  languages,  nor  in  his  letters,  have  we  found  any  intimation  of  the  cor- 
rupt receipt  of  money  by  any  officer  of  the  United  States,  from  any  foreign 
agent.  As  to  the  combinations  with  foreign  agents  for  the  dismemberment 
of  the  Union,  these  papers  and  letters  offer  nothing  which  was  not  prob- 
ably known  to  my  predecessors,  or  which  could  call  anew  for  inquiries, 
which  they  had  not  thought  necessary  to  institute,  when  the  facts  were 
recent  and  could  be  better  proved.  They  probably  believed  it  best  to  let 
pass  into  oblivion  transactions,  which,  however  culpable,  had  commenced 
before  this  government  existed,  and  had  been  finally  extinguished  by  the 
treaty  of  1795. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  9,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  COMMUNICATE  to  Congress  for  their  information,  a  letter  from  the  per- 
son acting  in  the  absence  of  our  consul  at  Naples,  giving  reason  to  believe, 
on  the  affidavit  of  a  Captain  Sheffield  of  the  American  schooner  Mary  Ann, 
lhat  the  dey  of  Algiers  had  commenced  war  against  the  United  States. 
For  this  no  just  cause  has  been  given  on  our  part  within  my  knowledge. 
We  may  daily  expect  more  authentic  and  particular  information  on  the 
subject  from  Mr.  Lear,  who  was  residing  as  our  consul  at  Algiers. 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  209 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  15,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  COMMUNICATE  for  the  information  of  Congress  a  letter  from  the  con- 
sul of  the  United  States  at  Malaga,  to  the  secretary  of  state,  covering 
one  from  Mr.  Lear,  our  consul  at  Algiers,  which  gives  information,  that 
the  rupture  threatened  on  the  part  of  the  dey  of  Algiers  has  been  amicably 
settled,  and  the  vessels  seized  by  him  are  liberated. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  19,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THE  states  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  having,  by  their 
several  acts,  consented  that  the  road  from  Cumberland  to  the  state  of  Ohio, 
authorized  by  the  act  of  Congress  of  the  29th  March,  1806,  should  pass 
through  those  states,  and  the  report  of  the  commissioners  communicated  to 
Congress  with  my  message  of  the  31st  January,  1807,  having  been  duly 
considered,  I  have  approved  of  the  route  therein  proposed  for  the  said  road, 
as  far  as  Brownsville,  with  a  single  deviation  since  located,  which  carries 
it  through  Uniontown. 

From  thence  the  course  to  the  Ohio,  and  the  point  within  the  legal 
limits  at  which  it  shall  strike  that  river,  is  still  to  be  decided.  In  forming 
this  decision,  I  shall  pay  material  regard  to  the  interests  and  wishes  of  the 
populous  part  of  the  state  of  Ohio,  and  to  a  future  and  convenient  connexion 
with  the  road  which  is  to  lead  from  the  Indian  boundary  near  Cincinnati, 
by  Vincennes  to  the  Mississippi,  at  St.  Louis,  under  authority  of  the  act, 
21st  April,  1806.  In  this  way  we  may  accomplish  a  continued  and  ad- 
vantageous line  of  communication  from  the  seat  of  the  general  government 
to  St.  Louis,  passing  through  several  very  interesting  points  of  the  western 
country. 

I  have  thought  it  advisable  also  to  secure  from  obliteration  the  trace  of 
the  road  so  far  as  it  has  been  approved,  which  has  been  executed  at  such 
considerable  expense,  by  opening  one  half  of  its  breadth  through  its  whole 
length. 

The  report  of  the  commissioners,  herewith  transmitted,  will  give  partic- 
ular information  of  their  proceedings,  under  the  act  of  the  29th  March, 
1806,  since  the  date  of  my  message  of  the  31st  January,  1807,  and  will 
enable  Congress  to  adopt  such  further  measures  relative  thereto,  as  they 
may  deem  proper  under  existing  circumstances. 

Voi,.  I.— 14 


210  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  25,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: — 

THE  dangers  to  our  country,  arising  from  the  contests  of  other  nations 
and  the  urgency  of  making  preparation  for  whatever  events  might  affect 
our  relations  with  them,  have  been  intimated  in  preceding  messages  to 
Congress.  To  secure  ourselves  by  due  precautions,  an  augmentation  of 
our  military  force,  as  well  regular  as  of  volunteer  militia,  seems  to  be  ex- 
pedient. The  precise  extent  of  that  augmentation  can  not  as  yet  be  satis- 
factorily suggested,  but  that  no  time  may  be  lost,  and  especially  at  a  season 
deemed  favorable  to  the  object,  I  submit  to  the  wisdom  of  the  legislature 
whether  they  will  authorize  a  commencement  of  this  precautionary  work 
by  a  present  provision  for  raising  and  organizing  some  additional  force  ; 
reserving  to  themselves  to  decide  its  ultimate  extent  on  such  views  of  our 
situation  as  I  may  be  enabled  to  present  at  a  future  day  of  the  session. 

If  an  increase  of  force  be  now  approved,  I  submit  to  their  consideration 
the  outlines  of  a  plan  proposed  in  the  enclosed  letter  from  the  secretary 
of  war. 

I  recommend,  also,  to  the  attention  of  Congress,  the  term  at  which  the 
act  of  April  1 8th,  1 806,  concerning  the  militia,  will  expire,  and  the  effect 
of  that  expiration. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  7,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

IN  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  and  adjacent  to  it,  are  sundry  parcels  of 
ground,  some  of  them  with  buildings  and  other  improvements  on  them, 
which  it  is  my  duty  to  present  to  the  attention  of  the  legislature.  The 
title  to  those  grounds  appear  to  have  been  retained  in  the  former  sovereigns 
of  the  province  of  Louisiana,  as  public  fiduciaries,  and  for  the  purposes  of 
the  province.  Some  of  them  were  used  for  the  residence  of  the  governor, 
for  public  offices,  hospitals,  barracks,  magazines,  fortifications,  levees,  &c., 
others  for  the  townhouse,  schools,  markets,  landings,  and  other  purposes 
of  the  city  of  New  Orleans  ;  some  were  held  by  religious  corporations  or 
persons ;  others  seem  to  have  been  reserved  for  future  disposition.  To 
these  must  be  added  a  parcel  called  the  Batture,  which  requires  more  par- 
ticular description.  It  is  understood  to  have  been  a  shoal  or  elevation  of 
the  "bottom  of  the  river,  adjacent  to  the  bank  of  the  suburbs  of  St.  Mary, 
produced  by  the  successive  depositions  of  mud  during  the  annual  inunda- 
tions of  the  river,  and  covered  with  water  only  during  those  inundations. 
At  all  other  seasons  it  has  been  used  by  the  city,  immemorially  to  furnish 
earth  for  raising  their  streets  and  courtyards,  for  mortar,  and  other  neces- 
sary purposes,  and  as  a  landing  or  quay  for  unlading  firewood,  lumber, 
and  other  articles,  brought  by  water.  This  having  been  lately  claimed  by 
a  private  individual,  the  city  opposed  the  claim  on  a  supposed  legal  title 


JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  211 

in  itself ;  but  it  has  been  adjudged  that  the  legal  title  was  not  in  the  city. 
It  is,  however,  alleged,  that  that  title,  originally  in  the  former  sovereigns, 
was  never  parted  with  by  them,  but  was  retained  in  them  for  the  uses  of 
the  city  and  province,  and  consequently  has  now  passed  over  to  the  United 
States.  Until  this  question  can  be  decided  under  legislative  authority, 
measures  have  been  taken,  according  to  law,  to  prevent  any  change  in  the 
state  of  things,  and  to  keep  the  grounds  clear  of  intruders.  The  settlement 
of  this  title,  the  appropriations  of  the  grounds  and  improvements  formerly 
occupied  for  provincial  purposes  to  the  same  or  such  other  objects  as  may 
be  better  suited  to  present  circumstances  ;  the  confirmation  of  the  uses  in 
other  parcels  to  such  bodies,  corporate  or  private,  as  may  of  right,  or  on 
other  reasonable  considerations,  expect  them,  are  matters  now  submitted 
to  the  legislature. 

The  papers  and  plans  now  transmitted,  will  give  them  such  information 
on  the  subject  as  I  possess,  and  being  mostly  originals,  I  must  request  that 
they  may  be  communicated  from  the  one  to  the  other  house  to  answer  the 
purposes  of  both. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  17,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  HAVE  heretofore  communicated  to  Congress  the  decrees  of  the  govern- 
ment of  France,  of  November  21st,  1806,  and  of  Spain,  February  19th, 
1807,  with  the  orders  of  the  British  government,  of  January  and  Novem- 
ber, 1807. 

I  now  transmit  a  decree  of  the  emperor  of  France,  of  December  17th, 
1807,  and  a  similar  decree  of  the  3d  January  last,  by  his  catholic  majes- 
ty. Although  the  decree  of  France  has  not  been  received  by  official  com- 
munication, yet  the  different  channels  of  promulgation  through  which  the 
public  are  possessed  of  it,  with  the  formal  testimony  furnished  by  the  gov- 
ernment of  Spain,  in  their  decree,  leave  us  without  a  doubt  that  such  a  one 
has  been  issued.  These  decrees  and  orders,  taken  together,  want  little 
of  amounting  to  a  declaration  that  every  neutral  vessel  found  on  the  high 
seas,  whatsoever  be  her  cargo,  and  whatsoever  foreign  port  be  that  of  her 
departure  or  destination,  shall  be  deemed  lawful  prize  ;  and  they  prove, 
more  and  more,  the  expediency  of  retaining  our  vessels,  our  seamen,  and 
property,  within  our  own  harbors,  until  the  dangers  to  which  they  are  ex- 
posed can  be  removed  or  lessened. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  18,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THE  scale  on  which  the  military  academy  at  West  Point,  was  originally 
established,  is  become  too  limited  to  furnish  the  number  of  well-instructed 


212  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

subjects  in  the  different  branches  of  artillery  and  engineering  which  the 
public  service  calls  for.  The  want  of  such  characters  is  already  sensibly 
felt,  and  will  be  increased  with  the  enlargement  of  our  plans  of  military 
preparation.  The  chief  engineer  having  been  instructed  to  consider  the 
subject,  and  to  propose  an  augmentation  which  might  render  the  establish- 
ment commensurate  with  the  present  circumstances  of  our  country,  has 
made  the  report  I  now  transmit  for  the  consideration  of  Congress. 

The  idea  suggested  by  him  of  removing  the  institution  to  this  place,  is 
also  worthy  of  attention.  Beside  the  advantage  of  placing  it  under  the  im- 
mediate eye  of  the  government,  it  may  render  its  benefits  common  to  the 
naval  department,  and  will  furnish  opportunities  of  selecting  on  better  in- 
formation, the  characters  most  qualified  to  fulfil  the  duties  which  the  public 
service  may  call  for. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  22,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

AT  the  opening  of  the  present  session  I  informed  the  legislature  that  the 
measures  which  had  been  taken  with  the  government  of  Great  Britain  for 
the  settlement  of  our  neutral  and  national  rights,  and  of  the  conditions  of 
commercial  intercourse  with  that  nation,  had  resulted  in  articles  of  a  treaty 
which  could  not  be  acceded  to  on  our  part ;  that  instructions  had  conse- 
quently been  sent  to  our  ministers  there  to  resume  the  negotiations,  and  to 
endeavor  to  obtain  certain  alterations  ;  and  that  this  was  interrupted  by  the 
transaction  which  took  place  between  the  frigates  Leopard  and  Chesa- 
peake. The  call  on  that  government  for  reparation  of  this  wrong  produced 
as  Congress  have  already  been  informed,  the  mission  of  a  special  minister 
to  this  country,  and  the  occasion  is  now  arrived  when  the  public  interest 
permits  and  requires  that  the  whole  of  these  proceedings  should  be  made 
known  to  you. 

I  therefore  now  communicate  the  instmctions  given  to  our  minister  resi- 
dent at  London,  and  his  communications  to  that  government  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Chesapeake,  with  the  correspondence  which  has  taken  place 
here  between  the  secretary  of  state  and  Mr.  Rose,  the  special  minister 
charged  with  the  adjustment  of  that  difference ;  the  instructions  to  our 
ministers  for  the  formation  of  a  treaty  ;  their  correspondence  with  the 
British  commissioners  and  with  their  own  government  on  that  subject ;  the 
treaty  itself,  and  written  declaration  of  the  British  commissioners  accom- 
panying it,  and  the  instructions  given  by  us  for  resuming  the  negotiations, 
with  the  proceedings  and  correspondence  subsequent  thereto.  To  these 
I  have  added  a  letter  lately  addressed  to  the  secretary  of  state  from  one 
of  our  late  ministers,  which,  though  not  strictly  written  in  an  official  char- 
acter, I  think  it  my  duty  to  communicate,  in  order  that  his  views  of  the 
proposed  treaty  and  its  several  articles  may  be  fairly  presented  and  un- 
derstood. 

Although  I  have  heretofore  and  from  time  to  time  made  such  communi- 
cations to  Congress  as  to  keep  them  possessed  of  a  general  and  just  view 
of  the  proceedings  and  dispositions  of  the  government  of  France  toward 
this  country,  yet,  in  our  present  critical  situation,  when  we  find  no  con- 


JEFFERSON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  213 

duct  on  our  part,  however  impartial  and  friendly,  has  been  sufficient  to  in- 
sure from  either  belligerent  a  just  respect  for  our  rights,  I  am  desirous  that 
nothing  shall  be  omitted  on  my  part  which  may  add  to  your  information 
on  this  subject,  or  contribute  to  the  correctness  of  the  views  which  should 
be  formed.  The  papers  which  for  these  reasons  I  now  lay  before  you 
embrace  all  the  communications,  official  or  verbal,  from  the  French  gov- 
ernment, respecting  the  general  relations  between  the  two  countries  which 
have  been  transmitted  through  our  minister  there,  or  through  any  other 
accredited  channel,  since  the  last  session  of  Congress,  to  which  time  all 
information  of  the  same  kind  had  from  time  to  time  been  given  them. 
Some  of  these  papers  have  already  been  submitted  to  Congress  ;  but  it  is 
thought  better  to  offer  them  again,  in  order  that  the  chain  of  communica- 
tions, of  which  they  make  a  part,  may  be  presented  unbroken. 

When,  on  the  26th  of  February,  I  communicated  to  both  houses  the  let- 
ter of  General  Armstrong  to  M.  Champagny,  I  desired  it  might  not  be  pub- 
lished, because  of  the  tendency  of  that  practice  to  restrain  injuriously  the 
freedom  of  our  foreign  correspondence.  But  perceiving  that  this  caution, 
proceeding  purely  from  a  regard  for  the  public  good,  has  furnished  occa- 
sion for  disseminating  unfounded  suspicions  and  insinuations,  I  am  induced 
to  believe  that  the  good  which  will  now  result  from  its  publication,  by  con- 
firming the  confidence  and  union  of  our  fellow-citizens,  will  more  than 
countervail  the  ordinary  objection  to  such  publications.  It  is  my  wish, 
»^—fore,  that  it  may  be  now  published. 


EIGHTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

NOVEMBER  8,  1808. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

IT  would  have  been  a  source,  fellow-citizens,  of  much  gratification,  if 
our  last  communications  from  Europe  had  enabled  me  to  inform  you  that 
the  belligerent  nations,  whose  disregard  of  neutral  rights  has  been  so  de- 
structive to  our  commerce,  had  become  awakened  to  the  duty  and  true 
policy  of  revoking  their  unrighteous  edicts.  That  no  means  might  be 
omitted  to  produce  this  salutary  effect,  I  lost  no  time  in  availing  myself  of 
the  act  authorizing  a  suspension,  in  whole  or  in  part,  of  the  several  embargo 
laws.  Our  ministers  at  London  and  Paris  were  instructed  to  explain  to 
the  respective  governments  there,  our  disposition  to  exercise  the  authority 
in  such  manner  as  would  withdraw  the  pretext  on  which  the  aggressions 
were  originally  founded,  and  open  the  way  for  a  renewal  of  that  commer- 
cial intercourse  which  it  was  alleged  on  all  sides  had  been  reluctantly  ob- 
structed. As  each  of  those  governments  had  pledged  its  readiness  to 
concur  in  renouncing  a  measure  which  reached  its  adversary  through  the 
incontestable  rights  of  neutrals  only,  and  as  the  measure  had  been  assum- 
ed by  each  as  a  retaliation  for  an  asserted  acquiescence  in  the  aggressions 
of  the  other,  it  was  reasonably  expected  that  the  occasion  would  have  been 
seized  by  both  for  evincing  the  sincerity  of  their  profession,  and  for  resto 
ring  to  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  its  legitimate  freedom.  The 
instructions  to  our  ministers  with  respect  to  the  different  belligerents  were 
necessarily  modified  with  reference  to  their  different  circumstances,  and 
to  the  condition  annexed  by  law  to  the  executive  power  of  suspension,  re- 
quiring a  degree  of  security  lo  our  commerce  which  would  not  result  from 


214  JEFFERSON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

a  repeal  of  the  decrees  of  France.  Instead  of  a  pledge,  therefore,  of  a 
suspension  of  the  embargo  as  to  her  in  case  of  such  a  repeal,  it  was  pre- 
sumed that  a  sufficient  inducement  might  be  found  in  other  considerations, 
and  particularly  in  the  change  produced  by  a  compliance  with  our  just  de- 
mands by  one  belligerent,  and  a  refusal  by  the  other,  in  the  relations  be- 
tween the  other  and  the  United  States.  To  Great  Britain,  whose  power 
on  the  ocean  is  so  ascendant,  it  was  deemed  not  inconsistent  with  that 
condition  to  state  explicitly,  that  on  her  rescinding  her  orders  in  relation 
to  the  United  States  their  trade  would  be  opened  with  her,  and  remain 
shut  to  her  enemy,  in  case  of  his  failure  to  rescind  his  decrees  also. 
From  France  no  answer  has  been  received,  nor  any  indication  that  the 
requisite  change  in  her  decrees  is  contemplated.  The  favorable  reception 
of  the  proposition  to  Great  Britain  was  the  less  to  be  doubted,  as  her  or- 
ders of  council  had  not  only  been  referred  for  their  vindication  to  an  acqui- 
escence on  the  part  of  the  United  States  no  longer  to  be  pretended,  but 
as  the  arrangement  proposed,  while  it  resisted  the  illegal  decrees  of 
France,  involved,  moreover,  substantially,  the  precise  advantages  profess- 
edly aimed  at  by  the  British  orders.  The  arrangement  has  nevertheless 
been  rejected. 

This  candid  and  liberal  experiment  having  thus  failed,  and  no  other 
event  having  occurred  on  which  a  suspension  of  the  embargo  by  the  ex- 
ecutive was  authorized,  it  necessarily  remains  in  the  extent  originally 
given  to  it.  We  have  the  satisfaction,  however,  to  reflect,  that  in  return 
for  the  privations  imposed  by  the  measure,  and  which  our  fellow-citizens 
in  general  have  borne  with  patriotism,  it  has  had  the  important  effects  of 
saving  our  mariners  and  our  vast  mercantile  property,  as  well  as  of  afford- 
.jng  time  for  prosecuting  the  defensive  and  provisional  measures  called  for 
by  the  occasion.  It  has  demonstrated  to  foreign  nations  the  moderation 
and  firmness  which  govern  our  councils,  and  to  our  citizens  the  necessity 
of  uniting  in  support  of  the  laws  and  the  rights  of  their  country,  and  has 
thus  long  frustrated  those  usurpations  and  spoliations  which,  if  resisted,  in- 
volved war ;  if  submitted  to,  sacrificed  a  vital  principle  of  our  national  in- 
dependence. 

Under  a  continuance  of  the  belligerent  measures  which,  in  defiance  of 
laws  which  consecrate  the  rights  of  neutrals,  overspread  the  ocean  with 
danger,  it  will  rest  with  the  wisdom  of  Congress  to  decide  on  the  course 
best  adapted  to  such  a  state  of  things  ;  and  bringing  with  them,  as  they  do, 
from  every  part  of  the  Union,  the  sentiments  of  our  constituents,  my  con- 
fidence is  strengthened,  that  in  forming  this  decision  they  will,  with  an 
unerring  regard  to  the  essential  rights  and  interests  of  the  nation,  weigh 
and  compare  the  painful  alternatives  out  of  which  a  choice  is  to  be  made. 
Nor  should  I  do  justice  to  the  virtues  which  on  other  occasions  have  marked 
the  character  of  our  fellow-citizens  if  I  did  not  cherish  an  equal  confidence 
that  the  alternative  chosen,  whatever  it  may  be,  will  be  maintained  with  all 
the  fortitude  and  patriotism  which  the  crisis  ought  to  inspire. 

The  documents  containing  the  correspondences  on  the  subject  of  the 
foreign  edicts  against  our  commerce,  with  the  instructions  given  to  our 
ministers  at  London  and  Paris,  are  now  laid  before  you. 

The  communications  made  to  Congress  at  their  last  session  explained 
the  posture  in  which  the  close  of  the  discussion  relating  to  the  attack  by 
a  British  ship-of-war  on  the  frigate  Chesapeake  left  a  subject  on  which 
the  nation  had  manifested  so  honorable  a  sensibility.  Every  view  of  what 
had  passed  authorized  a  belief  that  immediate  steps  would  be  taken  by  the 


JEFFERSON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  215 

British  government  for  redressing  a  wrong,  which,  the  more  it  was  inves- 
tigated, appeared  the  more  clearly  to  require  what  had  not  been  provided 
for  in  the  special  mission.  It  is  found  that  no  steps  have  been  taken  for 
the  purpose.  On  the  contrary  it  will  be  seen,  in  the  documents  laid  be- 
fore you,  that  the  inadmissible  preliminary  which  obstructed  the  adjust- 
ment is  still  adhered  to ;  and,  moreover,  that  it  is  now  brought  into  con- 
nexion with  the  distinct  and  irrelative  case  of  the  orders  in  council.  The 
instructions  which  had  been  given  to  our  ministers  at  London,  with  a  view 
to  facilitate,  if  necessary,  the  reparation  claimed  by  the  United  States,  are 
included  in  the  documents  communicated. 

Our  relations  with  the  other  powers  of  Europe  have  undergone  no  ma- 
terial changes  since  your  last  session.  The  important  negotiations  with 
Spain,  which  had  been  alternately  suspended  and  resumed,  necessarily 
experience  a  pause  under  the  extraordinary  and  interesting  crises  which 
distinguishes  her  internal  situation. 

With  the  Barbary  powers  we  continue  in  harmony,  with  the  exception 
of  an  unjustifiable  proceeding  of  the  dey  of  Algiers  toward  our  consul  to 
that  regency.  Its  character  and  circumstances  are  now  laid  before  you, 
and  will  enable  you  to  decide  how  far  it  may,  either  now  or  hereafter,  call 
for  any  measures  not  within  the  limits  of  the  executive  authority. 

With  our  Indian  neighbors  the  public  peace  has  been  steadily  maintain- 
ed. Some  instances  of  individual  wrong  have,  as  at  other  times,  taken 
place,  but  in  no  wise  implicating  the  will  of  the  nation.  Beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi, the  lowas,  the  Sacs,  and  the  Alabamas,  have  delivered  up  for 
trial  and  punishment  individuals  from  among  themselves  accused  of  mur- 
dering citizens  of  the  United  States.  On  this  side  of  the  Mississippi,  the 
Creeks  are  exerting  themselves  to  arrest  offenders  of  the  same  kind  ;  and 
the  Choctaws  have  manifested  their  readiness  and  desire  for  amicable  and 
just  arrangements  respecting  depredations  committed  by  disorderly  per- 
sons of  their  tribe.  And,  generally,  from  a  conviction  that  we  consider 
them  as  part  of  ourselves,  and  cherish  with  sincerity  their  rights  and  in- 
terests, the  attachment  of  the  Indian  tribes  is  gaining  strength  daily — is 
extending  from  the  nearer  to  the  more  remote,  and  will  amply  requite  us 
for  the  justice  and  friendship  practised  toward  them.  Husbandry  and 
household  manufacture  are  advancing  among  them,  more  rapidly  with  the 
southern  than  the  northern  tribes,  from  circumstances  of  soil  and  climate  ; 
and  one  of  the  two  great  divisions  of  the  Cherokee  nation  have  now  under 
consideration  to  solicit  the  citizenship  of  the  United  States,  and  to  be  iden- 
tified with  us  in  laws  and  government,  in  such  progressive  manner  as  we 
shall  think  best. 

In  consequence  of  the  appropriations  of  the  last  session  of  Congress 
for  the  security  of  our  seaport  towns  and  harbors,  such  works  of  defence 
have  been  erected  as  seemed  to  be  called  for  by  the  situation  of  the  seve- 
ral places,  their  relative  importance,  and  the  scale  of  expense  indicated  by 
the  amount  of  the  appropriation.  These  works  will  chiefly  be  finished  in 
the  course  of  the  present  season,  except  at  New  York  and  New  Orleans, 
where  most  was  to  be  done  ;  and  although  a  great  proportion  of  the  last 
appropriation  has  been  expended  on  the  former  place,  yet  some  further 
views  will  be  submitted  to  Congress  for  rendering  its  security  entirely  ad- 
equate against  naval  enterprise.  A  view  of  what  has  been  done  at  the 
several  places,  and  of  what  is  proposed  to  be  done,  shall  be  communicated 
as  soon  as  the  several  reports  are  received. 

Of  the  gun-boats  authorized  by  the  act  of  December  last,  it  has  been 


216  JEFFERSON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

thought  necessary  to  build  only  one  hundred  and  three  in  the  present  year. 
These,  with  those  before  possessed,  are  sufficient  for  the  harbors  and 
waters  exposed,  and  the  residue  will  require  little  time  for  their  construc- 
tion when  it  is  deemed  necessary. 

Under  the  act  of  the  last  session  for  raising  an  additional  military  force, 
so  many  officers  were  immediately  appointed  as  were  necessary  for  car- 
rying on  the  business  of  recruiting,  and  in  proportion  as  it  advanced  oth- 
ers have  been  added.  We  have  reason  to  believe  their  success  has  been 
satisfactory,  although  such  returns  have  not  yet  been  received  as  enable 
me  to  present  to  you  a  statement  of  the  numbers  engaged. 

I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  in  the  course  of  the  last  season  to  call 
for  any  general  detachments  of  militia  or  volunteers  under  the  laws  passed 
for  that  purpose.  For  the  ensuing  season,  however,  they  will  be  required 
to  be  in  readiness,  should  their  service  be  wanted.  Some  small  and  spe- 
cial detachments  have  been  necessary  to  maintain  the  laws  of  embargo  on 
that  portion  of  our  northern  frontier  which  offered  peculiar  facilities  for 
evasion,  but  these  were  replaced  as  soon  as  it  could  be  done  by  bodies 
of  new  recruits.  By  the  aid  of  these,  and  of  the  armed  vessels  called  into 
actual  service  in  other  quarters,  the  spirit  of  disobedience  and  abuse  which 
manifested  itself  early,  and  with  sensible  effect  while  we  were  unprepared 
to  meet  it,  has  been  considerably  repressed. 

Considering  the  extraordinary  character  of  the  times  in  which  we  live, 
our  attention  should  unremittingly  be  fixed  on  the  safety  of  our  country. 
For  a  people  who  are  free,  and  who  mean  to  remain  so,  a  well-organized 
and  armed  militia  is  their  best  security.  It  is,  therefore,  incumbent  on  us, 
at  every  meeting,  to  revise  the  condition  of  the  militia,  and  to  ask  our- 
selves if  it  is  prepared  to  repel  a  powerful  enemy  at  every  point  of  our 
territories  exposed  to  invasion.  Some  of  the  states  have  paid  a  laudable 
attention  to  this  object ;  but  every  degree  of  neglect  is  to  be  found  among 
others.  Congress  alone  have  power  to  produce  a  uniform  state  of  prep- 
aration in  this  great  organ  of  defence  ;  the  interests  which  they  so  deeply 
feel  in  their  own  and  their  country's  security  will  present  this  as  among 
the  most  important  objects  of  their  deliberation. 

Under  the  acts  of  March  llth  and  April  23d,  respecting  arms,  the  dif- 
ficulty of  procuring  them  from  abroad,  during  the  present  situation  and  dis- 
positions of  Europe,  induced  us  to  direct  our  whole  efforts  to  the  means 
of  internal  supply.  The  public  factories  have,  therefore,  been  enlarged, 
additional  machineries  erected,  and  in  proportion  as  artificers  can  be  found 
or  formed,  their  effect,  already  more  than  doubled,  may  be  increased  so  as 
to  keep  pace  with  the  yearly  increase  of  the  militia.  The  annual  sums 
appropriated  by  the  latter  act  have  been  directed  to  the  encouragement  of 
private  factories  of  arms,  and  contracts  have  been  entered  into  with  indi- 
vidual undertakers  to  nearly  the  amount  of  the  first  year's  appropriation. 

The  suspension  of  our  foreign  commerce,  produced  by  the  injustice  of 
the  belligerent  powers,  and  the  consequent  losses  and  sacrifices  of  our 
citizens,  are  subjects  of  just  concern.  The  situation  into  which  we  have 
thus  been  forced  has  impelled  us  to  apply  a  portion  of  our  industry  and 
capital  to  internal  manufactures  and  improvements.  The  extent  of  this 
conversion  is  daily  increasing,  and  little  doubt  remains  that  the  establish- 
ments formed  and  forming  will — under  the  auspices  of  cheaper  materials 
and  subsistence,  the  freedom  of  labor  from  taxation  with  us,  and  of  protect- 
ing duties  and  prohibitions — become  permanent.  The  commerce  with  the 
Indians,  too,  within  our  own  boundaries,  is  likely  to  receive  abundant  ali- 


JEFFERSON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  217 

ment  from  the  same  internal  source,  and  will  secure  to  them  peace  and  the 
progress  of  civilization,  undisturbed  by  practices  hostile  to  both. 

The  accounts  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  during  the  year  ending 
on  the  30th  day  of  September  last,  being  not  yet  made  up,  a  correct  state- 
ment will  hereafter  be  transmitted  from  the  treasury.  In  the  meantime,  it 
is  ascertained  that  the  receipts  have  amounted  to  near  eighteen  millions 
of  dollars,  which,  with  the  eight  millions  and  a  half  in  the  treasury  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year,  have  enabled  us,  after  meeting  the  current  demands 
and  interest  incurred,  to  pay  two  millions  three  hundred  thousand  dollars 
of  the  principal  of  our  funded  debt,  and  left  us  in  the  treasury,  on  that  day, 
near  fourteen  millions  of  dollars.  Of  these,  five  millions  three  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  will  be  necessary  to  pay  what  will  be  due  on 
the  first  day  of  January  next,  which  will  complete  the  reimbursement  of 
the  eight  per  cent,  stock.  These  payments,  with  those  made  in  the  six 
years  and  a  half  preceding,  will  have  extinguished  thirty -three  millions 
five  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars  of  the  principal  of  the  funded 
debt,  being  the  whole  which  could  be  paid  or  purchased  within  the  limits 
of  the  law  and  of  our  contracts  ;  and  the  amount  of  principaU  thus  dis- 
charged will  have  liberated  the  revenue  from  about  two  millions  of  dollars 
of  interest,  and  added  that  sum  annually  to  the  disposable  surplus.  The 
probable  accumulation  of  the  surpluses  of  revenue  beyond  what  can  be  ap- 
plied to  the  payment  of  the  public  debt,  whenever  the  freedom  and  safety 
of  our  commerce  shall  be  restored,  merits  the  consideration  of  Congress. 
Shall  it  lie  unproductive  in  the  public  vaults  ?  Shall  the  revenue  be  re- 
duced ?  Or  shall  it  not  rather  be  appropriated  to  the  improvements  of 
roads,  canals,  rivers,  education,  and  other  great  foundations  of  prosperity 
and  union,  under  the  powers  which  Congress  may  already  possess,  or 
such  amendment  of  the  constitution  as  may  be  approved  by  the  states  ? 
While  uncertain  of  the  course  of  things,  the  time  may  be  advantageously 
employed  in  obtaining  the  powers  necessary  for  a  system  of  improvement 
should  that  be  thought  best. 

Availing  myself  of  this,  the  last  occasion  which  will  occur  of  addressing 
the  two  houses  of  the  legislature  at  their  meeting,  I  can  not  omit  the  ex- 
pression of  my  sincere  gratitude  for  the  repeated  proofs  of  confidence 
manifested  to  me  by  themselves  and  their  predecessors  since  my  call  to 
the  administration,  and  the  many  indulgences  experienced  at  their  hands. 
The  same  grateful  acknowledgments  are  due  to  my  fellow-citizens  gen- 
erally, whose  support  has  been  my  great  encouragement  under  all  embar- 
rassments. In  the  transaction  of  their  business  1  can  not  have  escaped 
error.  It  is  incident  to  our  imperfect  nature.  But  I  may  say  with  truth, 
my  errors  have  been  of  the  understanding,  not  of  intention  ;  and  that  the 
advancement  of  their  rights  and  interests  has  been  the  constant  motive 
for  every  measure.  On  these  considerations  I  solicit  their  indulgence. 
Looking  forward  with  anxiety  to  their  future  destinies,  I  trust  that,  in  their 
steady  character  unshaken  by  difficulties,  in  their  love  of  liberty,  obedience 
to  law,  and  support  of  the  public  authorities,  I  see  a  sure  guaranty  of  the 
permanence  of  our  republic  ;  and  retiring  from  the  charge  of  their  affairs, 
I  carry  with  me  the  consolation  of  a  firm  persuasion  that  Heaven  has  in 
store  for  our  beloved  country  long  ages  to  come  of  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness. 


218  JEFFERSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  30,  1808. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

I  LAY  before  the  legislature  a  letter  from  Governor  Claiborne,  on  the 
subject  of  a  small  tribe  of  Alabama  Indians,  on  the  western  side  of  the 
Mississippi,  consisting  of  about  a  dozen  families.  Like  other  erratic  tribes 
in  that  country,  it  is  understood  that  they  have  hitherto  moved  from  place 
to  place,  according  to  their  convenience,  without  appropriating  to  them- 
selves exclusively  any  particular  territory.  But  having  now  become 
habituated  to  some  of  the  occupations  of  civilized  life,  they  wish  for  a 
fixed  residence.  I  suppose  it  will  be  the  interest  of  the  United  States  to 
encourage  the  wandering  tribes  of  that  country  to  reduce  themselves  to 
fixed  habitations,  whenever  they  are  so  disposed.  The  establishment  of 
towns,  and  growing  attachments  to  them,  will  furnish,  in  some  degree, 
pledges  of  their  peaceable  and  friendly  conduct.  The  case  of  this  par- 
ticular tribe  is  now  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  Congress 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  6,  1809. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  NOW  lay  before  Congress  a  statement  of  the  works  of  defence  which 
it  has  been  thought  necessary  to  provide  in  the  first  instance,  for  the  se- 
curity of  our  seaports,  towns,  and  harbors,  and  of  the  progress  toward 
their  completion ;  their  extent  has  been  adapted  to  the  scale  of  the  appro- 
priation, and  to  the  circumstances  of  the  several  places. 

The  works  undertaken  at  New  York  are  calculated  to  annoy  and  en- 
danger any  naval  force  which  shall  enter  the  harbor,  and,  still  more,  one 
which  should  attempt  to  lie  before  the  city.  To  prevent  altogether  the 
entrance  of  large  vessels,  a  line  of  blocks  across  the  harbor  has  been  con- 
templated, and  would,  as  is  believed,  with  the  auxiliary  means  already 
provided,  render  that  city  safe  against  naval  enterprise.  The  expense,  as 
well  as  the  importance  of  the  work,  renders  it  a  subject  proper  for  the 
special  consideration  of  Congress. 

At  New  Orleans,  two  separate  systems  of  defence  are  necessary ;  the 
one  for  the  river,  the  other  for  the  lake,  which,  at  present,  can  give  no  aid 
to  one  another.  The  canal  now  leading  from  the  lake,  if  continued  into 
the  river,  would  enable  the  armed  vessels  in  both  stations  to  unite,  and  to 
meet  in  conjunction  an  attack  from  either  side ;  half  the  aggregate  force 
would  then  have  the  same  effect  as  the  whole ;  or  the  same  force  double 
the  effect  of  what  either  can  have.  It  would  also  enable  the  vessels  sta- 
tioned in  the  lake,  when  attacked  by  superior  force,  to  retire  to  a  safer 
position  in  the  river.  The  same  considerations  of  expense  and  impor- 
tance renders  this  also  a  question  for  the  special  decision  of  Congress. 


ADMINISTRATION   OF  JEFFERSON, 


ON  the  day  of  his  inauguration  as  president  of  the  United  States,  March 
4,  1801,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  in  the  58th  year  of  his  age.  He  delivered  his 
inaugural  address  in  the  new  capitol  at  Washington,  in  presence  of  the 
vice-president,  the  senators,  many  members  of  the  house  of  represent- 
atives, the  foreign  ministers,  and  a  large  concourse  of  citizens.  The 
oath  of  office  was  administered  by  Chief- Justice  Marshall,  after  the  ad- 
dress was  delivered.  The  vice-president,  Colonel  Burr,  took  his  seat  in 
the  senate  the  same  day.  He  had  taken  no  part  in  the  election  of  presi- 
dent by  the  house  of  representatives,  having  been  in  Albany  during  that 
contest.  The  democratic  party  in  the  house  were  pledged  to  persevere 
in  voting  for  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the  end,  whatever  might  be  the  consequence, 
and  none  of  them  varied  from  that  pledge.  Colonel  Burr,  on  the  16th  of 
December,  1800,  addressed  a  letter  to  General  S.  Smith,  of  Baltimore, 
who  was  then  a  member  of  the  house  of  representatives,  in  which  he  dis- 
claimed all  competition  with  Mr.  Jefferson.  "  As  to  my  friends,"  he  says, 
"  they  would  dishonor  my  views,  and  insult  my  feelings,  by  a  suspicion 
that  I  would  submit  to  be  instrumental  in  counteracting  the  wishes  and 
the  expectations  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  And  I  now  consti- 
tute you  my  proxy  to  declare  these  sentiments,  if  the  occasion  should  re- 
quire." Notwithstanding  this  course  of  Colonel  Burr,  the  contest  in  Con- 
gress produced,  almost  immediately  after  the  election,  strong  feelings  of 
dissatisfaction  between  some  of  the  friends  of  the  president  and  vice-presi- 
dent. Jealousies  and  distrust  had  previously  existed  between  these  different 
sections  of  the  democratic  party,  now  triumphant  in  the  possession  of  the 
power  of  the  federal  government.  These  feelings  were  suppressed  for  a 
time,  but  circumstances  subsequently  occurred  which  renewed  them,  and 
the  result  was  the  political  prostration  of  the  vice-president,  before  his  term 
of  office  had  expired. 

The  senate  having  been  called  together  by  President  Adams,  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson commenced  the  organization  of  his  cabinet  by  the  appointment,  with 
the  consent  of  the  senate,  on  the  5th  of  March,  of  James  Madison,  secre- 
tary of  state,  Henry  Dearborn,  of  Massachusetts,  secretary  of  war,  and 
Levi  Lincoln,  of  Massachusetts,  attorney-general.  The  secretaries  of  the 


220  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

treasury-  and  navy,  Samuel  Dexter  and  Benjamin  Stoddert,  who  had  been 
appointed  by  Mr.  Adams,  were  continued  in  office  a  short  time  ;  but  before 
the  meeting  of  Congress,  Albert  Gallatin,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  appointed 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  Robert  Smith,  of  Maryland,  secretary  of  the 
navy.  At  the  same  time  with  the  last,  Gideon  Granger,  of  Connecticut, 
was  appointed  postmaster-general,  in  place  of  Joseph  Habersham,  of  Geor- 
gia. This  officer  was  not  made  a  member  of  the  cabinet  until  the 
administration  of  President  Jackson.  The  nominations  of  Gallatin, 
Smith,  and  Granger,  were  confirmed  by  the  senate  on  the  2Gth  of  Jan- 
uary, 1802. 

In  his  inaugural  speech,  Mr.  Jefferson  soothed  the  serious  apprehensions, 
which  were  entertained  by  his  political  opponents,  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  he  might  exercise  executive  power.  From  his  declarations  in 
that  address,  the  federalists  hoped  that  he  would  not  disturb  those  of  their 
party  who  were  in  office,  or  cause  any  radical  change  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  government.  They  were  soon  made  to  understand  that  polit- 
ical tolerance  was  not  to  be  expected  in  all  cases  toward  officeholders. 
In  June,  1801,  Mr.  Jefferson  removed  Elizur  Goodrich,  a  federalist,  from 
the  office  of  collector  of  the  port  of  New  Haven,  and  appointed  Samuel 
Bishop,  a  democrat,  in  his  place.  In  reply  to  a  remonstrance  from  the  mer- 
chants and  other  citizens  of  Xew  Haven,  in  which  they  assert  Mr.  Goodrich's 
promptness,  integrity,  and  ability ;  and  better  qualifications  than  those  of  Mr. 
Bishop,  who  was  nearly  seventy-eight  years  of  age,  and  quite  infirm,  Mr. 
Jefferson  said,  among  other  things,  in  his  answer,  dated  12th  of  July  :  "  Dec- 
larations by  myself,  in  favor  of  political  tolerance,  exhortations  to  harmony 
and  affection  in  social  intercourse,  and  respect  for  the  equal  rights  of  the 
minority,  have,  on  certain  occasions,  been  quoted  and  misconstrued  into  as- 
surances that  the  tenure  of  offices  was  not  to  be  disturbed.  But  could  candor 
apply  such  a  construction  ?  When  it  is  considered  that,  during  the  late  ad- 
ministration, those  who  were  not  of  a  particular  sect  of  politics  were  exclu- 
ded from  all  office  ;  when,  by  a  steady  pursuit  of  this  measure,  nearly  the 
whole  offices  of  the  United  States  were  monopolized  by  that  sect ;  when 
the  public  sentiment  at  length  declared  itself,  and  burst  open  the  doors  of 
honor  and  confidence  to  those  whose  opinions  they  approved ;  was  it  to 
be  imagined  that  this  monopoly  of  office  was  to  be  continued  in  the  hands 
of  the  minority  ?  Does  it  violate  their  equal  rights  to  assert  some  rights 
in  the  majority  also  ?  Is  it  political  intolerance  to  claim  a  proportionate 
share  in  the  direction  of  the  public  affairs  ?  If  a  due  participation  of 
office  is  a  matter  of  right,  how  are  vacancies  to  be  obtained  ?  Those  by 
death  are  few,  by  resignation  none.  Can  any  other  mode  than  that  of  re- 
moval be  proposed  ?  This  is  a  painful  office  ;  but  it  is  made  my  duty, 
and  I  meet  it  as  such.  I  proceed  in  the  operation  with  deliberation  and 
inquiry,  that  it  may  injure  the  best  men  least,  and  effect  the  purposes  of 
justice  and  public  utility  with  the  least  private  distress  ;  that  it  may  be 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  221 

thrown  as  much  as  possible  on  delinquency,  on  oppression,  on  intolerance, 
on  anti-revolutionary  adherence  to  our  enemies. 

"  I  lament  sincerely  that  unessential  differences  of  opinion  should  ever 
have  been  deemed  sufficient  to  interdict  half  the  society  from  the  rights 
and  the  blessings  of  self-government,  to  proscribe  them  as  unworthy  of  every 
trust.  It  would  have  been  to  me  a  circumstance  of  great  relief,  had  I 
found  a  moderate  participation  of  office  in  the  hands  of  the  majority.  I 
would  gladly  have  left  to  time  and  accident  to  raise  them  to  their  just 
share.  But  their  total  exclusion  calls  for  prompter  corrections.  I  shall 
correct  the  procedure  ;  but  that  done,  return  with  joy  to  that  state  of  things 
when  the  only  questions  concerning  a  candidate  shall  be,  Is  he  honest  ? 
Is  he  capable  ?  Is  he  faithful  to  the  constitution  ?" 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  most  of  the  persons  who  were  in  office 
when  Mr.  Jefferson  came  into  power,  were  those  who  had  been  appointed 
by  General  Washington,  and  continued  in  their  places  by  Mr.  Adams,  who 
made  very  few  removals,  and  none  for  party  reasons.  If  there  was  any- 
thing sectarian,  then,  in  the  system  of  appointments  to  office,  it  was 
chargeable  more  to  General  Washington  than  to  Mr.  Adams.  The  dem- 
ocratic party,  however,  had  scarcely  a  name  or  an  existence  when  Wash- 
ington's administration  commenced  ;  and  when  the  first  appointments  were 
made  under  the  general  government,  reference  could  not  have  been  had  to 
political  distinctions.  Those  who  received  appointments  from  Washing- 
ton were  doubtless  preferred  for  their  integrity,  capacity,  and  fidelity  to 
the  constitution. 

But  Mr.  Jefferson  had  been  elected  by  a  party,  and  was  under  the 
necessity  of  rewarding  his  supporters  with  offices  and  incomes  ;  and  in 
his  letter,  quoted  above,  may  be  found  the  origin  of  the  doctrine,  "  to  the 
victors  belong  the  spoils."  But  it  is  due  to  him  to  say,  that  although  he 
confined  his  appointments  to  office  to  his  political  friends,  as  did  generally 
his  successors,  Presidents  Madison  and  Monroe,  his  removals  of  political 
opponents  from  office,  during  the  eight  years  of  his  administration,  were 
but  few  in  number,  compared  with  those  of  more  recent  administrations. 

The  implied  invitation  given  by  Mr.  Jefferson  to  all  political  adversa- 
ries, to  abandon  their  creeds  and  adopt  his  own,  with  the  expectation  and  im- 
plied promises  of  reward  for  apostacy,  induced  many  of  the  federalists  to  join 
the  triumphant  party  of  the  administration,  some  of  whom  were  appointed 
to  office  under  the  general  government.  To  prove  their  sincerity,  they 
resorted  to  the  bitterest  condemnation  of  their  former  principles  and  asso- 
ciates. Sustained  by  the  salaries  of  office,  and  raised  by  titles  above 
those  they  had  deserted,  they  could  clearly  see  how  base,  plotting,  and 
traitorous,  some  of  their  fellow-citizens  were,  with  whom,  but  yesterday, 
they  were  proud  to  rank,  and  most  zealous  to  uphold,  as  worthy  patriots. 
There  were  instances  of  departure  from  the  federal  side  distinguishable 
from  such  as  have  been  mentioned,  and  which  did  not  deserve  reproach. 


222  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

There  were  timid  men  who  did  not  entirely  approve  of  federal  views  of 
the  national  policy ;  others,  who  thought  themselves  not  to  have  been  suf- 
ficiently valued  by  their  federal  associates  ;  and  some  were  by  nature  and 
inclination  Jeffersonians,  and  who  originally  mistook  their  side,  and  very 
properly  went  over  where  they  belonged.* 

Mr.  Jefferson  said  that  he  regarded  all  the  appointments  made  by  Mr. 
Adams  after  the  14th  of  February,  while  the  house  of  representatives  was 
balloting  for  president,  as  absolutely  void.  This  must  be  understood  to 
mean  that,  though  Mr.  Adams  was  constitutionally  president  up  to  the  mid- 
night hour  of  the  3d  of  March,  yet  he  ought  to  have  submitted  his  will  to 
that  of  his  successor.  On  the  same  principle,  Mr.  Jefferson  withheld'  the 
commissions  of  certain  magistrates  whom  Mr.  Adams  had  appointed,  in 
the  District  of  Columbia.  The  commissions  were  made  out,  and  ready  for 
delivery,  but  Mr.  Jefferson  ordered  them  to  be  suppressed.  One  of  these 
magistrates  (Mr.  Marbury)  applied  to  the  supreme  court  for  a  writ  of  man- 
damus to  Mr.  Madison,  the  new  president's  secretary  of  state,  to  deliver 
his  commission.  But,  after  an  able  investigation  of  constitutional  law,  the 
court  did  not  grant  the  motion.  Mr.  Jefferson  found  a  commission  duly 
made  out,  and  signed  by  Mr.  Adams,  appointing  a  gentleman  district  judge 
in  Rhode  Island.  This  commission  he  suppressed,  and  appointed  one  in 
whom  he  could  confide. t 

The  following  extracts  from  Mr.  Jefferson's  letters,  written  soon  after  his 
election,  are  interesting,  as  showing  his  views  and  feelings  at  that  time, 
with  regard  to  events,  and  on  questions  of  public  policy.  To  Governor 
M-Kean,  March  9,  1801,  he  writes  :  "  I  thank  you  for  congratulations  on 
the  event  of  the  election.  Had  it  terminated  in  the  elevation  of  Mr.  Burr, 
every  republican  would,  I  am  sure,  have  acquiesced  in  a  moment ;  be- 
cause, however  it  might  have  been  varient  from  the  intentions  of  the  vo- 
ters, yet  it  would  have  been  agreeable  to  the  constitution.  No  man  would 
more  cheerfully  have  submitted  than  myself,  because  I  am  sure  the  admin- 
istration would  have  been  republican,  and  the  chair  of  the  senate  permit- 
ting me  to  be  at  home  eight  months  in  the  year,  would,  on  that  account, 
have  been  much  more  consonant  to  my  real  satisfaction.  But  in  the  event 
of  a  usurpation,  I  was  decidedly  with  those  who  were  determined  not  to 
permit  it.  Because  that  precedent,  once  set,  would  be  artificially  repro- 
duced, and  end  soon  in  a  dictator."  An  explanation  of  his  meaning  may 
be  found  in  a  previous  letter  to  James  Monroe,  dated  February  15,  before 
the  question  of  election  of  president  by  the  house  was  decided :  "  Four 
days  of  balloting  have  produced  not  a  single  change  of  a  vote.  Yet  it  is 
confidently  believed  that  to-morrow  there  is  to  be  a  coalition.  I  know  of 
no  foundation  for  this  belief.  If  they  could  have  been  permitted  to  pass 
a  law  for  putting  the  government  into  the  hands  of  an  officer,  they  would 
certainly  have  prevented  an  election.  But  we  thought  it  best  to  declare 
•  Sullivan.  t  Ibid. 


ADMINISTRATION   OF    JEFFERSON.  223 

openly  and  firmly,  one  and  all,  that  the  day  such  an  act  passed,  the  middle 
states  would  arm,  and  that  no  such  usurpation,  even  for  a  single  day, 
should  be  submitted  to.  This  first  shook  them;  and  they  were  com- 
pletely alarmed  at  the  resource  for  which  we  declared,  to  wit,  a  convention 
to  reorganize  the  government  and  to  amend  it.  The  very  word  convention 
gives  them  the  horrors,  as,  in  the  present  democratical  spirit  of  America, 
they  fear  they  should  lose  some  of  the  favorite  morsels  of  the  constitution. 
Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  obtain  terms  and  promises  from  me.  I 
have  declared  to  them  unequivocally,  that  I  would  not  receive  the  govern- 
ment on  capitulation ;  that  I  would  not  go  into  it  with  my  hands  tied." 

The  following  extracts  from  documents  published  by  the  sons  of  the 
Hon.  James  A.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  in  the  National  Gazette,  of  Philadel- 
phia, in  December,  1830,  in  vindication  of  their  father,  who  was  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress  at  the  time  of  the  presidential  election  of  1801,  are  deemed 
important  to  illustrate  this  portion  of  political  history.* 

Extracts  of  a  letter  from  George  Baer,  Esq.  (a  member  of  the  6th  Con- 
gress, from  Maryland,  in  1801),  to  Richard  H.  Bayard,  Esq.,  dated  Fred- 
erick, April  19,  1830. 

"  Previous  to  and  pending  the  election,  rumors  were  industriously  cir- 
culated, and  letters  written  to  different  parts  of  the  country,  charging  the 
federalists  with  the  design  to  prevent  the  election  of  a  president,  and  to 
usurp  the  legislative  power.  I  was  privy  to  all  the  arrangements  made, 
and  attended  all  the  meetings  of  the  federal  party  when  consulting  on  the 
course  to  be  pursued  in  relation  to  the  election,  and  I  pledge  my  most 
solemn  asseveration  that  no  such  measure  was  for  a  moment  contemplated 
by  that  party  ;  that  no  such  proposition  was  ever  made  ;  and  that  if  it  had 
ever  been,  it  would  not  only  have  been  discouraged,  but  instantly  put 
down,  by  those  gentlemen  who  possessed  the  power,  and  were  pledged  to 
each  other  to  elect  a  president  before  the  close  of  the  session." 

"  Although  nearly  thirty  years  have  elapsed  since  that  eventful  period, 
my  recollection  is  vivid,  as  to  the  principal  circumstances,  which,  from 
the  part  I  was  called  upon  to  act,  were  deeply  graven  on  my  memory. 
It  was  soon  ascertained  that  there  were  six  individuals,  the  vote  of  any 
one  of  whom  could  at  any  moment  decide  the  election.  These  were 
your  father,  the  late  James  A.  Bayard,  who  had  the  vote  of  the  state  of 
Delaware,  General  Morris,  of  Vermont,  who  held  the  divided  vote  of  that 
state,  and  Mr.  Craik,  Mr.  Thomas,  Mr.  Dennis,  and  myself,  who  held  the 
divided  vote  of  Maryland.  Your  father,  Mr.  Craik,  and  myself,  having 
compared  ideas  upon  the  subject,  and  finding  that  we  entertained  the  same 
views  and  opinions,  resolved  to  act  together,  and  accordingly  entered  into 
a  solemn  and  mutual  pledge,  that  we  would,  in  the  first  instance,  yield  to 
the  wishes  of  the  great  majority  of  the  party  with  whom  we  acted,  and 
vote  for  Mr.  Burr,  but  that  no  consideration  should  induce  us  to  protract 
•  See  Dnvis's  Life  of  Burr,  nnd  Appendix  to  Knapp's  Life  of  Burr. 


224  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

the  contest  beyond  a  reasonable  period  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
whether  he  coulA  be  elected.  We  determined  that  a  president  should  be 
chosen,  but  were  willing  thus  far  to  defer  to  the  opinions  of  our  political 
friends,  whose  preference  of  Mr.  Burr  was  founded  upon  a  belief  that  he 
was  less  hostile  to  federal  men  and  federal  measures,  than  Mr.  Jefferson. 
General  Morris  and  Mr.  Dennis  concurred  in  this  arrangement." 

Extract  from  the  deposition  of  Hon.  James  A.  Bayard,  taken  and  sworn 
to,  at  Washington,  April  3,  1806 : — 

"  Messrs.  Baer  and  Craik,  members  of  the  house  of  representatives 
from  Maryland,  and  General  Morris,  a  member  of  the  house  from  Ver- 
mont, and  myself,  having  the  power  to  determine  the  votes  of  the  states, 
from  similarity  of  views  and  opinions,  during  the  pendency  of  the  elec- 
tion, made  an  agreement  to  vote  together.  We  foresaw  that  a  crisis  was 
approaching  which  might  probably  force  us  to  separate  in  our  votes  from 
the  party  with  whom  we  usually  acted.  We  were  determined  to  make  a 
president,  and  the  period  of  Mr.  Adams's  administration  was  rapidly  ap- 
proaching. 

"  In  determining  to  recede  from  the  opposition  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  it  oc- 
curred to  us,  that,  probably,  instead  of  being  obliged  to  surrender  at  dis- 
cretion, we  might  obtain  terms  of  capitulation.  The  gentlemen  whose 
names  I  have  mentioned,  authorized  me  to  declare  their  concurrence  with 
me  upon  the  best  terms  that  could  be  procured.  The  vote  of  either  of  us 
was  sufficient  to  decide  the  choice.  With  a  view  to  the  end  mentioned, 
I  applied  to  Mr.  John  Nicholas,  a  member  of  the  house  from  Virginia, 
who  was  a  particular  friend  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  I  stated  to  Mr.  Nicholas, 
that  if  certain  points  of  the  future  administration  could  be  understood  and 
arranged  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  I  was  authorized  to  say  that  three  states  would 
withdraw  from  an  opposition  to  his  election.  He  asked  me  what  those 
points  were  :  I  answered,  First,  sir,  the  support  of  the  public  credit ;  sec- 
ondly, the  maintenance  of  the  naval  system ;  and  lastly,  that  subordinate 
public  officers  employed  only  in  the  execution  of  details,  established  by 
law,  shall  not  be  removed  from  office  on  the  ground  of  their  political  char- 
acter, nor  without  complaint  against  their  conduct.  I  explained  myself 
that  I  considered  it  not  only  reasonable,  but  necessary,  that  offices  of  high 
discretion  and  confidence  should  be  filled  by  men  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
choice.  I  exemplified,  by  mentioning,  on  the  one  hand,  the  offices  of  the 
secretaries  of  state,  treasury,  foreign  ministers,  &c. ;  and  on  the  other,  the 
collectors  of  ports,  &c.  Mr.  Nicholas  answered  me,  that  he  considered 
the  points  very  reasonable,  that  he  was  satisfied  that  they  corresponded 
with  the  views  and  intentions  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  he  knew  him  well. 
That  he  was  acquainted  with  most  of  the  gentlemen  who  would  probably 
be  about  him  and  enjoy  his  confidence,  in  case  he  became  president,  and 
that  if  I  would  be  satisfied  with  his  assurance,  he  could  solemnly  declare 
it  as  his  opinion,  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his  administration,  would  not  de- 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  225 

part  from  the 'points  I  proposed.  I  replied  to  Mr.  Nicholas,  that  I  had 
not  the  least  doubt  of  the  sincerity  of  his  declaration,  and  that  his  opinion 
was  perfectly  correct,  but  that  I  wanted  an  engagement,  and  that  if  the 
points  could  in  any  form  be  understood  as  conceded  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  the 
election  should  be  ended  :  and  proposed  to  him  to  consult  Mr.  Jefferson. 
This  he  declined,  and  said  he  could  do  no  more  than  give  me  the  assur- 
ance of  his  own  opinion  as  to  the  sentiments  and  designs  of  Mr.  Jefferson 
and  his  friends.  I  told  him  that  was  not  sufficient,  that  we  should  not 
surrender  without  better  terras.  Upon  this  we  separated  ;  and  I  shortly  after 
met  with  General  Smith,  to  whom  I  unfolded  myself  in  the  same  manner 
that  I  had  done  to  Mr.  Nicholas.  In  explaining  myself  to  him  in  relation  to 
the  nature  of  the  offices  alluded  to,  I  mentioned  the  offices  of  George 
Latimer,  collector  of  the  port  of  Philadelphia,  and  Allen  M'Lane,*  col- 
lector of  Wilmington,  General  Smith  gave  me  the  same  assurance,  as  to 
the  observance  by  Mr.  Jefferson  of  the  points  which  1  had  stated,  which 
Mr.  Nicholas  had  done.  I  told  him  I  should  not  be  satisfied,  nor  agree 
to  yield,  till  I  had  the  assurance  of  Mr.  Jefferson  himself ;  but  that  if  he 
would  consult  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  bring  the  assurance  from  him,  the  elec- 
tion should  be  ended.  The  general  made  no  difficulty  in  consulting  Mr. 
Jefferson,  and  proposed  giving  me  his  answer  the  next  morning.  The 
next  day,  upon  our  meeting,  General  Smith  informed  me  that  he  had  seen 
Mr.  Jefferson,  and  stated  to  him  the  points  mentioned,  and  was  authorized 
by  him  to  say,  that  they  corresponded  with  his  views  and  intentions,  and 
that  we  might  confide  in  him  accordingly.  The  opposition  of  Vermont, 
Maryland,  and  Delaware,  was  immediately  withdrawn,  and  Mr.  Jefferson 
was  made  president  by  the  votes  of  ten  states." 

The  deposition  of  Mr.  Bayard  is  followed  by  that  of  Hon.  Samuel 
Smith,  of  Maryland,  taken  15th  of  April,  1806,  which  substantially  con- 
firms the  above  statement  of  Mr.  Bayard. 

We  give  a  few  further  extracts  from  Mr.  Jefferson's  letters,  to  show  his 
views  and  the  progress  of  political  events,  after  his  accession  to  the  presi- 
dency. 

To  John  Dickinson,  March  6, 1801,  he  writes:  "The  storm  through  which 
we  have  passed,  has  been  tremendous  indeed.  The  tough  sides  of  our 
Argosie  have  been  thoroughly  tried.  Her  strength  has  stood  the  waves 
into  which  she  was  steered  with  a  view  to  sink  her.  We  shall  put  her 
on  the  republican  track,  and  she  will  now  show,  by  the  beauty  of  her  mo- 
tion, the  skill  of  her  builders.  Figure  apart,  our  fellow-citizens  have  been 
led,  hoodwinked,  from  their  principles,  by  a  most  extraordinary  combi- 
nation of  circumstances.  But  the  band  is  removed,  and  they  now  see  for 
themselves.  I  hope  to  see  shortly  a  perfect  consolidation,  to  effect  which, 
nothing  shall  be  wanting  on  my  part,  short  of  the  abandonment  of  the  prin- 

•  According  to  Davis's  Life  of  Burr,  these  gentlemen,  Latimer  and  M'  Lane,  were  retained 
in  office. 

VOL.   I.— 15 


226  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

ciples  of  the  revolution  A  just  and  solid  republican  government  main- 
tained here,  wil!1>e  a  standing  monument  and  example  for  the  aim  and  im- 
itation of  the  people  of  other  countries." 

To  Colonel  Monroe,  March  7,  he  gives  his  views  as  to  appointments 
to  office,  as  follows :  "  To  give  time  for  a  perfect  consolidation  seems 
prudent.  I  have  firmly  refused  to  follow  the  counsels  of  those  who 
have  desired  the  giving  offices  to  some  of  their  leaders  [federalists], 
in  order  to  reconcile.  I  have  given,  and  will  give,  only  to  republi- 
cans, under  existing  circumstances.  But  I  believe,  with  others,  that 
deprivations  of  office,  if  made  on  grounds  of  political  principles  alone, 
would  revolt  our  new  converts,  and  give  a  body  to  leaders  who  now 
stand  alone.  Some,  I  know,  must  be  made.  They  must  be  as  few 
as  possible,  done  gradually,  and  bottomed  on  some  malversation  or  in- 
herent disqualification.  Where  we  shall  draw  the  line  between  retain- 
ing all  and  none,  is  not  yet  settled,  and  will  not  be  till  we  get  our  admin- 
istration together ;  and  perhaps  even  then  we  shall  proceed  a  tatons,  bal- 
ancing our  measures  according  to  the  impression  we  perceive  them  to 
make.  This  may  give  you  a  general  view  of  our  plan." 

To  Thomas  Paine  (then  in  France)  he  writes,  March  18:"  The  return 
of  our  citizens  from  the  phrensy  into  which  they  had  been  wrought,  partly 
by  ill  conduct  in  France,  partly  by  artifices  practised  on  them,  is  almost 
entire,  and  will,  I  believe,  become  quite  so.  But  these  details  will  be 
better  developed  by  Mr.  Dawson,  the  bearer  of  this,  a  member  of  the  late 
Congress,  to  whom  I  refer  you  for  them.  He  goes  in  the  Maryland,  a 
sloop-of-war,  which  will  wait  a  few  days  at  Havre  to  receive  his  letters. 
You  expressed  a  wish  to  get  a  passage  to  this  country  in  a  public  vessel. 
Mr.  Dawson  is  charged  with  orders  to  the  captain  of  the  Maryland  to  re- 
ceive and  accommodate  you  with  a  passage  back,  if  you  can  be  ready  at 
such  short  warning.  Robert  R.  Livingston  is  appointed  minister  to  the 
republic  of  France,  but  will  not  leave  this  till  we  receive  the  ratification 
of  the  convention  by  Mr.  Dawson.  I  am  in  hopes  you  will  find  us  re- 
turned generally  to  sentiments  worthy  of  former  times.  In  these  it  will 
be  your  glory  to  have  steadily  labored,  and  with  as  much  effect  as  any 
man  living.  That  you  may  long  live  to  continue  your  useful  labors,  and 
to  reap  their  reward  in  the  thankfulness  of  nations,  is  my  sincere  prayer." 

To  William  B.  Giles,  March  23  :  "I  received,  two  days  ago,  your  fa- 
vor of  the  16th,  and  thank  you  for  your  kind  felicitations  on  my  election  : 
but  whether  it  will  be  a  subject  of  felicitation  permanently,  will  be  for 
chapters  of  future  history  to  say.  The  important  subjects  of  the  govern- 
ment I  meet  with  some  degree  of  courage  and  confidence,  because  I  do 
believe  the  talents  to  be  associated  with  me,  the  honest  line  of  conduct  we 
will  religiously  pursue,  at  home  and  abroad,  and  the  confidence  of  my  fel- 
low-citizens dawning  on  us,  will  be  equal  to  these  objects.  But  there  is 
another  branch  of  duty  which  I  must  meet  with  courage  too,  though  I  can 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  227 

not  without  pain ;  that  is,  the  appointments  and  disappointments  as  to  offi- 
ces. Madison  and  Gallatin  being  still  absent,  we  have  not  yet  decided 
on  our  rules  of  conduct  as  to  these.  That  some  ought  to  be  removed 
from  office,  and  that  all  ought  not,  all  mankind  will  agree.  But  where  to 
draw  the  line,  perhaps  no  two  will  agree.  Consequently,  nothing  like  a 
general  approbation  on  this  subject  can  be  looked  for.  Some  principles 
have  been  the  subject  of  conversation,  but  not  of  determination ;  e.  g.,  all 
appointments  to  civil  offices  during  pleasure,  made  after  the  event  of  the 
election  was  certainly  known  to  Mr.  Adams,  are  considered  as  nullities. 
I  do  not  view  the  persons  appointed  as  even  candidates  for  the  office,  but 
make  others  without  noticing  or  notifying  them.  Mr.  Adams's  best  friends 
have  agreed  this  is  right.  2.  Officers  who  have  been  guilty  of  official 
malconduct  are  subjects  of  removal.  3.  Good  men,  to  whom  there  is  no 
objection  but  a  difference  of  political  principle,  practised  on  only  as  far  as 
the  right  of  a  private  citizen  will  justify,  are  not  proper  subjects  of  re- 
moval, except  in  the  cases  of  attorneys  and  marshals.  The  courts  being  so 
decidedly  federal  and  irremovable,  it  is  believed  that  republican  attorneys 
and  marshals,  being  the  doors  of  entry  into  the  courts,  are  indispensably 
necessary  as  a  shield  to  the  republican  part  of  our  fellow-citizens,  which, 
I  believe,  is  the  main  body  of  the  people.  These  principles  are  yet  to  be 
considered  of,  and  I  sketch  them  to  you  in  confidence." 

To  Elbridge  Gerry,  March  28  :  "  Mr.  Adams's  last  appointments,  when 
he  knew  he  was  naming  counsellors  and  aids  for  me,  and  not  for  himself, 
I  set  aside,  as  far  depends  on  me.  Officers  who  have  been  guilty  of  gross 
abuses  of  office,  such  as  marshals  packing  juries,  &c.,  I  shall  now  re- 
move, as  my  predecessor  ought  in  justice  to  have  done.  The  instances 
will  be  few,  and  governed  by  strict  rule,  and  not  party  passion.  The  right 
of  opinion  shall  suffer  no  invasion  from  me.  Those  who  have  acted  well 
have  nothing  to  fear,  however  they  may  have  differed  from  me  in  opinion." 

To  Gideon  Granger.  May  3,  1801  :  "  A  new  subject  of  congratulation 
has  arisen.  I  mean  the  regeneration  of  Rhode  Island.  I  hope  it  is  the 
beginning  of  that  resurrection  of  the  genuine  spirit  of  New  England 
which  rises  for  life  eternal.  According  to  natural  order,  Vermont  will 
emerge  next,  because  least,  after  Rhode  Island,  under  the  yoke  of  hieroc- 
racy.  I  have  never  dreamed  that  all  opposition  was  to  cease.  The  cler- 
gy, who  have  missed  their  union  with  the  state,  the  Anglemen,  who  have 
missed  their  union  with  England,  and  the  political  adventurers,  who  have 
lost  the  chance  of  swindling  and  plunder  in  the  waste  of  public  money, 
will  never  cease  to  bawl  on  the  breaking  up  of  their  sanctuary.  But 
among  the  people  the  schism  is  healed,  and  with  tender  treatment  the 
wound  will  not  reopen.  Their  quondam  leaders  have  been  astounded 
with  the  suddenness  of  the  desertion :  and  their  silence  and  appearance 
of  acquiescence  have  proceeded  not  from  a  thought  of  joining  us,  but  the 
uncertainty  what  ground  to  take.  The  very  first  acts  of  the  administra- 


'J28  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

tion,  the  nominations,  have  accordingly  furnished  something  to  yelp  on  ; 
and  all  our  subsequent  acts  will  furnish  them  fresh  matter,  because  there 
is  nothing  against  which  human  ingenuity  will  not  be  able  to  find  some- 
thing to  say." 

To  Nathaniel  Macon,  May  14  : — 

"  Now  to  answer  your  particulars,  seriatim. 

"  Levees  are  done  away  with. 

"  The  first  communication  to  the  next  Congress  will  be,  like  all  subse- 
quent ones,  by  message,  to  which  no  answer  will  be  expected. 

"  The  diplomatic  establishment  in  Europe  will  be  reduced  to  three 
ministers. 

"  The  compensation  to  collectors  depends  on  you,  and  not  on  me. 

"  The  army  is  undergoing  a  chaste  reformation. 

"  The  navy  will  be  reduced  to  the  legal  establishment  by  the  last  of  this 
month. 

"  Agencies  in  every  department  will  be  revised. 

"  We  shall  push  you  to  the  uttermost  in  economizing. 

"  A  very  early  recommendation  had  been  given  to  the  postmaster-gen- 
eral, to  employ  no  printer,  foreigner,  or  revolutionary  tory,  in  any  of  his 
offices.  This  department  is  still  untouched. 

"  The  arrival  of  Mr.  Gallatin,  yesterday,  completed  the  organization  of 
our  administration." 

To  Levi  Lincoln,  July  11  :  "The  consolidation  of  our  fellow-citizens 
in  general,  is  the  great  object  we  ought  to  keep  in  view ;  and  that  being 
once  obtained,  while  we  associate  with  us  in  affairs,  to  a  certain  degree, 
the  federal  sect  of  republicans,  we  must  strip  of  all  the  means  of  influ- 
ence the  Essex  junto,  and  their  associate  monocrats  in  every  part  of  the 
Union.-  The  former  differ  from  us  only  in  the  shades  of  power  to  be 
given  to  the  executive,  being,  with  us,  attached  to  republican  government. 
The  latter  wish  to  sap  the  republic  by  fraud,  if  they  can  not  destroy  it  by 
force,  and  to  erect  an  English  monarchy  in  its  place.  We  are  proceed- 
ing gradually  in  the  regeneration  of  offices,  and  introducing  republicans 
to  some  share  in  them.  I  do  not  know  that  it  will  be  pushed  further  than 
was  settled  before  you  went  away,  except  as  to  Essex  men.  I  must  ask 
you  to  make  out  a  list  of  those  in  office  in  yours  and  the  neighboring 
states,  and  to  furnish  me  with  it." 

To  the  same,  August  26  :  "I  had  foreseen,  years  ago,  that  the  first  re- 
publican president  who  should  come  into  office  after  all  the  places  in  the 
government  had  been  exclusively  occupied  by  federalists,  would  have  a 
dreadful  operation  to  perform.  That  the  republicans  would  consent  to 
a  continuation  of  everything  in  federal  hands,  was  not  to  be  expected,  be- 
cause neither  just  nor  politic.  On  him,  then,  was  to  devolve  the  office  of 
an  executioner,  that  of  lopping  off.  I  can  not  say  that  it  has  worked 
harder  than  I  expected.  You  know  the  moderation  of  our  views  in  this 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  229 

business,  and  that  we  all  concurred  in  them.  We  determined  to  proceed 
with  deliberation.  This  produced  impatience  in  the  republicans,  and  a 
belief  we  meant  to  do  nothing.  Some  occasion  of  public  explanation  was 
eagerly  desired,  when  the  New  Haven  remonstrance  offered  us  that  occa- 
sion. The  answer  was  meant  as  an  explanation  to  our  friends.  It  has 
had  on  them,  everywhere,  the  most  wholesome  effect.  Appearances  of 
schismatizing  from  us  have  been  entirely  done  away.  I  own  I  expected 
it  would  check  the  current  with  which  the  republican  federalists  were  re- 
turning to  their  brethren,  the  republicans.  I  extremely  lamented  this  ef- 
fect. For  the  moment  which  should  convince  me  that  a  healing  of  the 
nation  into  one,  is  impracticable,  would  be  the  last  moment  of  my  wishing 
to  remain  where  I  am.  (Of  the  monarchical  federalists  I  have  no  ex- 
pectations. They  are  incurables,  to  be  taken  care  of  in  a  mad-house,  if 
necessary,  and  on  motives  of  charity.)  I  am  much  pleased,  therefore, 
with  your  information  that  the  republican  federalists  are  still  coming  in  to 
the  desired  union.  I  am  satisfied  that  the  heaping  of  abuse  on  me  per- 
sonally, has  been  with  the  design  and  the  hope  of  provoking  me  to  make 
a  general  sweep  of  all  federalists  out  of  office.  But  as  I  have  carried  no 
passion  into  the  execution  of  this  disagreeable  duty,  I  shall  suffer  none  to 
be  excited.  The  clamor  which  has  been  raised  will  not  provoke  me  to 
remove  one  more,  nor  deter  me  from  removing  one  less,  than  if  not  a  word 
had  been  said  on  the  subject.  In  the  course  of  the  summer,  all  which  is 
necessary  will  be  done ;  and  we  may  hope  that,  this  cause  of  offence  be- 
ing at  an  end,  the  measures  we  shall  pursue  and  propose  for  the  ameli- 
oration of  the  public  affairs,  will  be  so  confessedly  salutary  as  to  unite  all 
men  not  monarchists  in  principle. 

"  We  have  considerable  hopes  of  republican  senators  from  South  Caro- 
lina, Maryland,  and  Delaware,  and  some  as  to  Vermont.     In  any  event' 
we  are  secure  of  a  majority  in  the  senate ;  and  consequently  that  there 
will  be  a  concert  of  action  between  the  legislature  and  executive.     The 
removal  of  excrescences  from  the  judiciary  is  the  universal  demand." 

The  seventh  Congress  assembled  at  Washington,  on  the  7th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1801.  In  the  senate,  Aaron  Burr,  vice-president,  presiding,  political 
parties  were  nearly  equally  divided,  at  first,  but  eventually  there  was  a 
majority  in  favor  of  the  administration.  Abraham  Baldwin  (democrat)  was 
elected  president  pro  tern.  The  majority  of  the  house  of  representatives 
was  also  democratic,  and  Nathaniel  Macon,  a  distinguished  friend  of  Mr 
Jefferson,  from  North  Carolina,  was  elected  speaker.  This  session  of 
Congress  continued  till  the  3d  of  May,  1802 — 138  days.  The  custom 
which  had  been  established  by  General  Washington,  for  the  president  to 
deliver  in  person  his  address  to  Congress,  after  the  opening  of  the  session, 
was  discontinued  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  transmitted  his  communication  by 
message.  In  this  change  made  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  he  appears  to  have  had 
in  view  the  convenience  of  Congress,  the  economy  of  their  time,  their 


230  ADMINISTRATION    OF 


JEFFERSON. 


relief  from  the  embarrassment  of  immediate  answers  on  subjects  not  yet 
fully  before  them,  and  the  more  republican  form  of  this  method  of  ad- 
dressing the  national  legislature,  than  that  by  speeches.  In  these  respects 
its  advantages  were  deemed  so  apparent,  that  the  communication  with 
Congress,  by  message,  has  been  invariably  adopted  on  every  subsequent 
occasion. 

The  suggestions  of  the  president  for  the  revision  of  measures  of  the 
federalists,  among  others,  for  the  repeal  of  internal  taxes,  the  reduction 
of  the  diplomatic  corps,  the  hauling  up  of  the  navy,  the  abolition  of  cer- 
tain offices,  and  revision  of  the  judiciary,  were  taken  into  consideration 
by  Congress.  A  bill  was  passed  to  repeal  the  recent  law  establishing  cir- 
cuit courts,  by  which  the  judges  who  had  been  appointed  by  Mr.  Adams 
were  expelled  from  office.  In  the  house  of  representatives  the  two 
great  champions  in  debate  on  this  bill  were  James  A.  Bayard  and  William 
B.  Giles.  The  former  contended  that  Congress  had  not  the  power  to  de- 
prive the  judges  of  their  stations,  by  the  indirect  course  of  repealing  the 
law  under  which  they  were  appointed.  In  the  senate  the  two  principal 
speakers  were  Gouverneur  Morris  and  Stephens  T.  Mason.  The  leading 
arguments  in  favor  of  the  repeal  were,  that  the  new  courts  were  useless, 
and  that  there  was  no  constitutional  objection  to  abolishing  them.  By  the 
opponents  of  the  administration,  an  act  repealing  any  part  of  the  judiciary 
system  was  considered  ominous  to  the  independence  of  the  judicial  de- 
partment, but  as  no  attempt  was  made  to  demolish  the  supreme  court,  by 
altering  the  constitution,  and  as  the  new  circuit  courts  might  be  dispensed 
with,  without  much  inconvenience  to  the  public,  the  apprehensions  of  the 
federalists  on  this  subject  gradually  subsided. 

The  other  most  important  acts  of  this  session,  were,  the  apportionment 
of  representation  by  the  census  of  1800,  the  ratio  being  continued  at  one 
representative  for  33,000  inhabitants  ;  for  protecting  American  commerce 
and  seamen  against  Tripolitan  cruisers  which  had  previously  captured 
our  vessels ;  for  fixing  the  military  peace  establishment,  which  provided 
for  the  continuance  only  of  one  regiment  of  artillery,  two  regiments  of  in- 
fantry, and  a  corps  of  engineers  to  be  stationed  at  West  Point,  on  the  Hud- 
son river,  and  to  constitute  a  military  academy  at  that  place  ;  for  regula- 
ting trade  and  intercourse  with  the  Indian  tribes,  and  for  the  preservation 
of  peace  on  the  frontiers ;  for  discontinuing  the  several  acts  laying  inter- 
nal taxes  on  stills,  distilled  spirits,  refined  sugars,  carriages,  stamped  pa- 
per, and  licenses  to  retailers  and  for  sales  at  auction  ;  for  establishing  a 
uniform  system  of  naturalization,  and  repealing  former  laws  on  the  subject 
(the  time  of  residence  of  aliens  in  the  United  States  was  reduced  to  five 
years,  in  conformity  with  the  suggestion  of  President  Jefferson,  instead 
of  fourteen  years,  as  required  by  the  act  of  1798)  ;  for  redeeming  the 
public  debt,  by  which  it  was  provided  to  appropriate  annually  seven  mil- 
lions and  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  the  sinking  fund  ;  for  author- 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  231 

izing  the  people  of  the  eastern  division  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the 
Ohio  river  (Ohio),  to  form  a  constitution  and  state  government,  and  for  ad- 
mitting such  state  into  the  Union ;  authorizing  the  erection  of  certain 
lighthouses ;  and  for  altering  and  establishing  certain  postroads,  and  for 
the  more  secure  carriage  of  the  mail.  The  act  passed  in  1799,  to  aug- 
ment the  salaries  of  certain  officers  of  government,  was  revived,  and  con- 
tinued in  force  for  two  years. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  discontinue  the  mint  establishment,  on  account 
of  the  great  expense  attending  it,  but  the  senate  did  not  concur  in  the  bill  for 
that  purpose  which  passed  the  house.  A  proposition  for  abolishing  the  navy 
department,  and  placing  the  concerns  of  the  navy  under  the  direction  of  the 
secretary  of  war  also  failed  at  this  session.  The  disbanding  of  the  pro- 
visional army,  which  had  been  ordered  by  the  preceding  Congress,  opera- 
ted to  reduce  very  considerably  the  national  expenses.  But  the  act  now 
passed  to  provide  for  the  redemption  of  the  public  debt,  was  only  nominal 
in  its  operations ;  new  loans  were  effected,  and  the  reduction  of  the  debt 
by  the  act  was  only  in  theory,  as  the  appropriations  for  expenses  for  1802 
were  more  than  equal  to  the  receipts  of  the  previous  year. 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  party  now  in  power,  to  attach  odium  to  their 
opponents  for  the  measures  of  preceding  administrations,  and  to  impress 
upon  the  public  mind  the  idea  that  they  were  more  anxious  than  their 
predecessors  to  secure  the  liberty  and  to  lessen  the  burdens  of  the  people. 
But,  in  many  important  particulars,  the  course  pursued  by  former  admin- 
istrations, was  still  followed ;  the  democratic  party  being  satisfied  with 
the  possession  of  the  control  of  the  appointing  power  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment, and  with  the  repeal  of  such  prominent  federal  measures  as  they 
deemed  unpopular.  They  were  not,  therefore,  anxious  to  suggest  new 
measures  of  a  positive  character. 

The  report  of  the  new  secretary  of  the  treasury  stated  that  the  accounts 
of  his  federal  predecessor  in  that  department,  also  of  the  state,  war,  and 
navy  departments,  were  correct ;  no  delinquencies  having  occurred. 

At  the  second  session  of  the  same  Congress,  which  lasted  from  the  6th 
of  December,  1802,  to  the  3d  of  March,  1803,  no  changes  in  the  general 
policy  of  the  administration  being  proposed  by  the  president,  but  few  acts 
of  general  interest  were  passed  ;  the  most  important  was  a  law  to  pre- 
vent the  importation  of  negroes,  mulattoes,  or  other  persons  of  color  (not 
being  natives,  citizens,  or  seamen  of  the  United  States,  or  seamen,  natives 
of  countries  beyond  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope),  into  any  port  of  the  United 
States  within  a  state  which  had  prohibited  by  law  the  admission  of  any 
such  negro  or  person  of  color,  under  penalty  of  one  thousand  dollars  and 
the  forfeiture  of  the  vessel  in  which  such  person  was  imported.  The 
time  had  not  then  arrived  when  the  importation  of  slaves  was  prohibited 
by  the  constitution,  and  this  law  was  passed  in  conformity  to  the  laws  of 
certain  states  which  had  been  passed  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  slaves 


232  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

Another  important  act  of  this  Congress,  was  one  which  authorized  the 
president  to  call  upon  the  executives  of  such  of  the  states  as  he  might 
deem  expedient,  for  a  detachment  of  militia,  not  exceeding  eighty  thou- 
sand, or  to  accept  the  services  of  any  corps  of  volunteers,  in  lieu  of  rnili- 
tia,  for  a  term  of  twelve  months.  Twenty-five  thousand  dollars  were,  by 
the  same  act,  appropriated  for  the  erection  of  arsenals  on  the  western 
waters. 

There  was  at  this  time  much  apprehension  of  a  war  with  Spain,  which 
induced  Congress  to  take  the  measures  of  precaution  abovementioned. 
The  disputes  with  the  Spanish  government  respecting  the  southwestern 
boundary  line  of  the  United  States,  and  the  right  of  navigating  the  Mis- 
sissippi, had  often  caused  difficulties  between  the  people  of  the  west  and 
southwest  and  the  Spanish  authorities  and  inhabitants  of  the  Spanish  ter- 
ritories. These  affairs  assumed  a  new  aspect  by  the  intelligence  received 
in  the  United  States  in  the  spring  of  1802,  that  Spain,  by  a  secret  treaty, 
in  October,  1800,  had  ceded  Louisiana  to  France.  By  a  treaty  with 
Spain,  in  1 795,  that  government  had  granted  to  the  United  States  the  right 
of  deposite  at  New  Orleans  for  three  years,  after  which  the  privilege  was 
either  to  be  continued,  or  an  equivalent  place  assigned  on  another  part  of 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  In  October,  1802,  the  Spanish  intendant 
declared,  by  proclamation,  that  the  right  of  deposite  at  New  Orleans  no 
longer  existed. 

This  measure  caused  much  excitement  among  the  people  of  the  west- 
ern states  and  territories  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Congress  was 
beset  from  all  quarters  with  complaints  and  statements  of  grievances. 
The  excitement  increased  as  soon  as  the  petitioners  heard  the  news  of 
the  cession  to  France,  and,  according  to  the  generally-received  opinion, 
the  suspension  had  only  taken  place  in  consequence  of  the  demand  of  the 
French  government.  The  Spaniards,  nevertheless,  considered  themselves 
masters  of  Louisiana,  so  long  as  the  formalities  of  the  cession  to  France 
were  not  fulfilled.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  between  Spain  and  France, 
Louisiana  "  was  to  be  delivered  up  in  its  present  state"  to  the  French. 
This  present  state  was  believed  to  be  the  exclusion  of  the  Americans 
from  the  port  of  New  Orleans.  Americans  drew  from  this  circumstance 
the  inference  that  the  Spanish  intendant  had  not  acted  without  orders,  that 
the  prohibition  had  been  concerted  between  the  two  powers,  to  enforce 
which  an  army  was  then  expected  from  France. 

Mr.  Jefferson  had  information  of  the  cession  of  Louisiana  to  France, 
early  in  1 802,  and  wrote  Mr.  Livingston,  United  States  minister  to  France,  in 
April,  1802,  giving  his  views  on  the  subject.  It  was  understood  that  the 
Floridas  either  were  included  in  the  cession  of  Louisiana,  or  would  be 
added  to  it,  a  supposition  which  proved  to  be  incorrect.  The  views  of  the 
president,  as  stated  to  Mr.  Livingston,  were,  that  if  France  took  posses- 
sion of  New  Orleans  the  United  States  must  become  allies  of  Great 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  233 

Britain  and  antagonists  of  France.  He  then  suggests,  however,  that  if 
France  considers  Louisiana  as  indispensable  to  her  interests,  she  may 
still  cede  to  the  United  States  the  island  of  New  Orleans  and  the  Flori- 
das.  That  this  cession  would,  in  a  great  degree,  remove  the  causes  of 
irritation,  and  at  any  time  prevent  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  arrange- 
ments with  Great  Britain. 

The  cession  of  Louisiana  to  France,  was  first  communicated  to  Con- 
gress by  the  president,  in  his  annual  message,  in  December,  1802,  in 
which  the  subject  is  briefly  noticed.  It  was,  however,  soon  seized  upon 
by  the  opponents  of  the  administration,  and  resolutions  were  offered  by 
Mr.  Griswold,  of  Connecticut,  in  the  house,  calling  upon  the  president  for 
information  respecting  the  cession  of  Louisiana ;  and  in  the  senate,  by 
Mr.  Ross,  of  Pennsylvania,  seconded  by  Gouverneur  Morris,  of  New 
York,  authorizing  the  p."3sident  to  take  possession  of  such  places  in  or 
near  New  Orleans  as  he  deemed  fit,  and  to  call  into  service  the  militia  of 
the  adjoining  states  with  the  forces  of  the  nation. 

These  resolutions  were  superseded  by  others,  but  the  right  of  naviga- 
ting the  Mississippi  was  asserted  by  both  houses,  and  a  place  of  deposite 
insisted  on. 

The  president  seemed  to  think  that  it  was  the  object  of  the  federal 
party  in  Congress  to  force  the  country  into  a  war  with  Spain,  "  in  order 
to  derange  our  finances,"  and  if  that  could  not  be  done,  "  to  attach  the 
western  country  to  them,  as  their  best  friends,  and  thus  get  again  into 
power."  With  a  view  of  carrying  his  pacific  policy  into  effect,  he,  on 
the  10th  of  January,  1803,  appointed  James  Monroe,  minister  plenipoten- 
tiary to  France,  to  act  with  Mr.  Livingston  in  the  purchase  of  New  Or- 
leans and  the  Floridas.  The  nomination  of  Mr.  Monroe  was  confirmed 
by  the  senate,  and  Congress  appropriated,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
two  millions  of  dollars  for  the  objects  of  the  mission. 

The  instructions  to  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Livingston  only  asked  for  the 
cession  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans  and  the  Floridas  ;  that  the  course  of 
the  Mississippi  should  be  divided  by  a  line  that  would  put  New  Orleans 
within  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  thus  securing  the  free  navigation 
of  the  river.  Projects  for  the  cession  of  the  entire  colony  of  Louisiana, 
were  at  that  time  neither  popular,  nor,  if  entertained  by  any,  were  they  the 
subjects  of  much  discussion. 

Mr.  Livingston,  the  American  minister  at  Paris,  was  persuaded  that  the 
United  States  would  never  possess  New  Orleans  by  treaty,  and  that  it 
ought  to  be  taken  by  force.  Mr.  Monroe  sailed  from  New  York  on  the 
8th  of  March,  1803,  but  as  the  object  t)f  his  mission  was  kept  secret,  the 
public  apprehension  was  not  quieted. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  then  first  consul  of  France.  He  supposed, 
when  informed  of  the  instructions  to  Monroe  and  Livingston,  that  those 
ministers  were  authorized,  if  necessary,  to  enter  into  more  extended  stip. 


234  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

ulations  in  relation  to  the  projected  acquisition.  Europe  was  then  enjoy- 
ing a  momentary  respite  after  the  wars  and  revolutions  she  had  undergone. 
But  another  war  was  about  breaking  out  between  France  and  England. 

The  Marquis  de  Marbois  was  directed  by  Napoleon  to  negotiate  with 
the  American  ministers.  "  Irresolution  and  deliberation,"  said  the  first 
consul,  "  are  no  longer  in  season.  I  renounce  Louisiana.  It  is  not 
only  New  Orleans  that  I  will  cede ;  it  is  the  whole  colony,  without  any 
reservation.  I  know  the  price  of  what  I  abandon,  and  I  have  sufficiently 
proved  the  importance  that  I  attach  to  this  province,  since  my  first  diplo- 
matic act  with  Spain  had  for  its  object  the  recovery  of  it.  I  renounce  it 
with  the  greatest  regret.  To  attempt  to  retain  it  would  be  folly.  I  direct 
you  to  negotiate  this  affair  with  the  envoys  of  the  United  States.  Do  not 
even  wait  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Monroe :  have  an  interview  this  very  day 
with  Mr.  Livingston.  But  I  require  a  great  deal  of  money  for  this  war, 
and  I  would  not  like  to  commence  with  new  contributions.  If  I  should 
regulate  my  terms,  according  to  the  value  of  these  vast  regions  to  the 
United  States,  the  indemnity  would  have  no  limits.  I  will  be  moderate, 
in  consideration  of  the  necessity  in  which  I  am  of  making  a  sale.  But 
keep  this  to  yourself.  I  want  fifty  millions  [francs],  and  for  less  than  that 
sum  I  will  not  treat ;  I  would  rather  make  a  desperate  attempt  to  keep 
those  fine  countries.  To-morrow  you  shall  have  full  powers.  Mr.  Mon- 
roe is  on  the  point  of  arriving.  To  this  minister  the  president  must  have 
given  secret,  instructions,  more  extensive  than  the  ostensible  authorization 
of  Congress,  for  the  stipulation  of  the  payments  to  be  made.  Neither  this 
minister  nor  his  colleague  is  prepared  for  a  decision  which  goes  infinitely 
beyond  anything  that  they  are  about  to  ask  of  us.  Begin  by  making  them 
the  overture  without  any  subterfuge.  You  will  acquaint  me,  day  by  day, 
hour  by  hour,  of  your  progress.  The  cabinet  of  London  is  informed  of 
the  measures  adopted  at  Washington,  but  it  can  have  no  suspicion  of  those 
which  I  am  now  taking.  Observe  the  greatest  secresy,  and  recommend 
it  to  the  American  ministers  ;  they  have  not  a  less  interest  than  yourself 
in  conforming  to  this  counsel.  You  will  correspond  with  M.  de  Talley- 
rand, who  alone  knows  my  intentions.  If  I  attended  to  his  advice,  France 
would  confine  her  ambition  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and  would  only 
make  war  to  protect  any  dismemberment  of  her  possessions.  But  he  also 
admits  that  the  cession  of  Louisiana  is  not  a  dismemberment  of  France. 
Keep  him  informed  of  the  progress  of  this  affair." 

The  conferences  began  the  same  day,  between  Mr.  Livingston  and  M. 
Barbe  Marbois,  to  whom  the  first  consul  confided  this  negotiation.  But 
the  American  minister  had  not  the  necessary  powers.  He  had  resided  at 
Paris  about  two  years.  The  first  object  of  his  mission  had  been  indem- 
nities claimed  by  his  countrymen  for  prizes  made  by  the  French  during 
peace.  The  vague  answers,  and  even  the  expectations  that  had  been  held 
out  to  him,  had  been  attended  with  no  result.  Having,  therefore,  become 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  235 

distrustful,  Mr.  Livingston  feared  that  the  overtures  relating  to  Louisiana 
were  only  an  artifice  to  gain  time.  He  received,  without  putting  entire 
confidence  in  it,  the  overture  which  was  made  to  him  by  Marbois,  of  a 
cession  of  the  whole  province.  However,  after  some  discussion  on  a  sum 
that  was  vaguely  brought  forward,  he  refused  to  go  beyond  thirty  millions 
of  francs,  saving  an  augmentation  of  this  price  by  the  amount  of  the  in- 
demnity to  be  given  for  the  prizes  taken  from  the  Americans  in  time  of 
peace.  He  was,  indeed,  unwilling  to  agree  upon  so  high  a  price,  unless 
the  stipulation  was  accompanied  by  a  clause  of  not  making  any  payments 
till  after  the  ratification  by  Congress.* 

These  preliminary  discussions  were  scarcely  entered  upon,  when  infor- 
mation was  received  of  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Monroe  at  Havre.  Mr.  Liv- 
ingston, who,  Marbois  says,  was  always  inclined  to  feel  distrust,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  many  deceptions  that  had  been  previously  practised  upon 
him,  wrote  to  Mr.  Monroe  on  the  10th  of  April,  to  whom  he  says:  "I 
congratulate  you  on  your  safe  arrival.  We  have  long  and  anxiously 
waited  for  you.  God  grant  that  your  mission  may  answer  your  and  the 
public  expectation.  War  may  do  something  for  us,  nothing  else  would. 
I  have  paved  the  way  for  you,  and  if  you  could  add  to  my  memoirs  an 
assurance  that  we  were  now  in  possession  of  New  Orleans,  we  should  do 
well." 

Mr.  Monroe  arrived  at  Paris  on  the  12th  of  April,  1803.  "I  wish," 
said  Mr.  Livingston  to  him,  "  that  the  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Ross,  in 
the  senate,  had  been  adopted.  Only  force  can  give  us  New  Orleans.  We 
must  employ  force.  Let  us  first  get  possession  of  the  country,  and  nego- 
tiate afterward."  Mr.  Monroe,  anxious,  though  not  discouraged,  began 
his  conferences  the  next  day,  with  M.  de  Marbois.  The  powers  of  which 
he  (Monroe)  was  the  bearer,  were  common  to  him  and  Mr.  Livingston. 
The  French  and  American  ministers  had  an  equal  interest  in  not  allowing 
the  negotiation  to  linger ;  it  had  at  last  a  central  point,  and  made  rapid 
progress.  The  first  difficulties  were  smoothed  by  a  rare  circumstance. 
The  plenipotentiaries,  having  been  long  acquainted,  were  disposed  to  treat 
one  another  with  mutual  confidence.  Marbois  had  been  engaged  for  thir- 
ty-five years  in  public  affairs  of  great  importance.  He  had,  during  the 
whole  war  of  the  American  revolution,  resided  near  the  Congress.  The 
affairs  of  America  had  long  been  familiar  to  him,  and  two  years  and  a 
half  of  exile  to  Sinnamari  had  made  him  still  better  acquainted  with  the 
wants  and  general  condition  of  the  French  colonies. 

The  three  negotiators  had  seen  the  origin  of  the  republic  of  the  United 
States,  and  for  a  long  time  back  their  respective  duties  had  established 
between  them  an  intercourse  on  public  affairs,  and  an  intimacy  which  does 
not  always  exist  between  foreign  envoys  and  the  ministers  of  the  powers 
to  whom  they  are  sent.  This  good  understanding  of  the  plenipotentiaries 
•  Marbois's  History  of  Louisiana. 


236  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

did  not  prevent  their  considering  it  a  duty  to  treat,  on  both  sides,  for  the 
conditions  most  advantageous  to  their  respective  countries. 

Mr.  Monroe  did  not  hear  without  surprise  the  first  overtures  that  wore 
frankly  made  by  M.  de  Marbois.  Instead  of  the  cession  of  a  town  and 
its  inconsiderable  territory,  a  vast  portion  of  Amelica  was  offered  to  the 
United  States.  They  only  asked  for  the  mere  right  of  navigating  the 
Mississippi,  and  their  sovereignty  was  about  to  be  extended  over  the  lar- 
gest rivers  of  the  world.  They  passed  over  an  interior  frontier  to  carry 
their  limits  to  the  great  Pacific  ocean. 

Deliberation  succeeded  to  astonishment.  The  two  joint  plenipotentia- 
ries, without  asking  an  opportunity  for  concerting  measures  out  of  the 
presence  of  the  French  negotiator,  immediately  entered  on  explanations, 
and  the  conferences  rapidly  succeeded  one  another. 

The  negotiation  had  three  objects :  First,  the  cession,  then  the  price, 
and  finally,  the  indemnity  due  for  captures  by  the  French  of  American 
vessels  and  cargoes.  The  subject  of  the  cession  was  first  considered. 
The  full  powers  of  the  American  plenipotentiaries  only  extended  to  an 
arrangement  respecting  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  including  New 
Orleans.  It  was  impossible  for  them  to  have  recourse  to  their  govern- 
ment for  more  ample  instructions.  Hostilities  were  on  the  eve  of  com- 
mencing between  France  and  England.  The  American  envoys  had  not 
to  reflect  long  to  discover  that  the  circumstances  in  which  France  was 
placed,  were  the  most  fortunate  for  their  country. 

M.  de  Marbois,  from  whose  history  of  the  cession  of  Louisiana  we  have 
taken  the  above  particulars,  then  goes  on  to  state,  that  the  American  min- 
isters having  assumed  the  responsibility  of  treating  for  the  purchase  of  the 
entire  colony,  instead  of  a  part  only  of  the  same,  the  terms  were  soon 
agreed  upon  between  the  negotiators. 

The  assent  of  Spain  to  this  negotiation  was  deemed  necessary,  as  that 
power  had  reserved,  by  the  treaty  of  October  1,  1800,  a  right  of  prefer- 
ence, in  case  of  cession  by  France.  But  the  delays  which  would  have 
been  occasioned  by  sending  from  Paris  to  Madrid,  with  the  usual  tardi- 
ness in  the  deliberations  of  the  Spanish  cabinet,  would  have  led  to  a  total 
failure  of  the  negotiation.  The  treaty  was,  therefore,  not  communicated 
to  the  Spanish  ministry  till  after  its  conclusion.  They  complained  bitterly 
of  the  little  regard  that  had  been  paid  to  a  right  that  was  reserved  to 
Spain,  and  for  nearly  a  year  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  from  that  court  an 
approbation  of  the  treaty.  Finally,  on  the  10th  of  February,  1 804,  Don  Pe- 
dro Cavallos,  the  Spanish  minister,  wrote  to  Mr.  Pinckney,  minister  of  the 
United  States,  that  "  his  catholic  majesty  had  thought  fit  to  renounce  his 
opposition  to  the  alienation  of  Louisiana  made  by  France,  notwithstanding 
the  solid  reasons  on  which  it  is  founded :  thereby  giving  a  new  proof  of 
his  benevolence  and  friendship  to  the  United  States." 

Two  important  conventions  signed  the  same  day  by  the  American  and 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  237 

French  negotiators,  were  annexed  to  the  treaty,  as  well  as  referred  to  in 
it.  The  first  related  to  the  payment  of  the  price  of  the  cession.  The  first 
consul  [Bonaparte],  supposing  that  he  carried  his  valuation  very  high,  had 
said  that  he  calculated  on  fifty  millions  of  francs.  The  French  plenipo- 
tentiary [Marbois],  without  entering  into  any  explanation  with  him,  con- 
sidered this  estimate  a  good  deal  too  low,  and,  as  soon  as  the  price  be- 
came the  subject  of  conference,  stated  that  it  was  fixed  at  eighty  millions, 
and  that  it  would  be  useless  to  propose  a  reduction. 

The  American  plenipotentiaries  could  not  have  foreseen  that  the 
negotiation  would  become  so  important,  and  they  were  without  special 
powers  to  consent  to  pay  the  price  that  was  demanded.  "  Our  fellow-cit- 
izens," said  Mr.  Livingston,  "  have  an  extreme  aversion  to  public  debts ; 
how  could  we,  without  incurring  their  displeasure,  burden  them  with  the 
enormous  charge  of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  ?" 

M.-de  Marbois,  on  his  part,  insisted  upon  the  first  demand  of  eighty 
millions,  and  said,  that  for  the  United  States,  this  was  a  sum  very  much 
below  the  true  value  of  these  immense  territories. 

The  two  plenipotentiaries  finally  acquiesced,  on  condition  that  twenty 
millions  out  of  the  eighty  should  be  employed  in  a  manner  settled  by  a 
special  convention.  This  became  the  third  instrument  in  the  negotiation. 
The  cession  of  Louisiana  afforded  the  means  of  realizing  promises  made 
by  the  French  government,  that  had  been  long  illusory,  namely,  to  pay  the 
claims  of  Americans  arising  from  requisitions,  seizures,  and  captures  of 
ships,  made  in  time  of  peace.  The  American  negotiators  consented  to 
pay  eighty  millions  of  francs  for  Louisiana,  on  condition  that  twenty  mill- 
ions of  this  sum  should  be  assigned  to  the  payment  of  what  was  due  by 
France  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

The  payment  of  the  sixty  millions  of  francs  to  the  French  government 
was  made  through  Messrs.  Hope  and  Labouchere,  of  Amsterdam,  and 
Barings,  of  London,  as  no  French  banker  was  willing  to  become  the  me- 
dium of  so  considerable  a  pecuniary  transaction.  The  terms  agreed  on, 
as  well  for  the  payment  of  what  was  due  to  the  French  treasury,  as  for  the 
indemnity  to  the  American  merchants,  were  punctually  observed.  For  the 
payment  of  the  sixty  millions,  it  was  agreed  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  was  to  create  a  stock  of  eleven  millions  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars,  bearing  an  interest  of  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  pay- 
able half-yearly  in  London,  Amsterdam,  or  Paris  ;  the  principal  of  the 
said  stock  to  be  reimbursed  at  the  treasury  of  the  United  States  in  annual 
payments  of  not  less  than  three  millions  of  dollars  each  ;  of  which  the  first 
payment  was  to  commence  fifteen  years  after  the  date  of  the  exchange  of 
ratifications  ;  the  stock  to  be  transferred  to  the  government  of  France,  or 
their  agents,  in  three  months  after  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  the 
treaty,  and  after  Louisiana  should  be  taken  possession  of  by  the  United 
States. 


238  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

The  treaty  was  concluded  on  the  30th  of  April,  1803,  and  the  respective 
instruments  which,  were  drawn  up  in  French  and  English,  were  signed 
by  the  three  ministers  four  days  afterward.  Two  months  had  not  then 
elapsed  since  Mr.  Monroe  had  sailed  from  New  York  for  France.  As 
soon  as  they  had  signed  the  important  papers,  the  negotiators  rose  and 
shook  hands,  when  Mr.  Livingston,  expressing  the  general  satisfaction, 
said :  "  We  have  lived  long,  but  this  is  the  noblest  work  of  our  whole 
lives.  The  treaty  which  we  have  just  signed  has  not  been  obtained  by 
art,  or  dictated  by  force  ;  equally  advantageous  to  the  two  contracting  par- 
ties, it  will  change  vast  solitudes  into  flourishing  districts.  From  this 
day  the  United  States  take  their  place  among  the  powers  of  the  first 
rank ;  the  English  lose  all  exclusive  influence  in  the  affairs  of  America/' 

The  first  consul  had  followed  with  a  lively  interest  the  progress  of  this 
negotiation.  It  will  be  recollected  that  he  had  mentioned  fifty  millions  as 
the  price  which  he  would  put  on  the  cession  ;  and  it  may  well  be  believed 
that  he  did  not  expect  to  obtain  so  large  a  sum.  He  learned  that  eighty 
millions  had  been  agreed  on ;  but  that  they  were  reduced  to  sixty,  by  the 
stipulation  for  American  claims  on  France.  To  this  he  at  first  objected,  but 
being  brought  to  recollect  that  he  had  consented  to  a  much  smaller  sum, 
he  said  to  Marbois  :  "  It  is  true,  the  negotiation  does  not  leave  me  any- 
thing to  desire :  sixty  millions  for  an  occupation  that  will  not,  perhaps, 
last  for  a  day !  I  would  that  France  should  enjoy  this  unexpected  capital, 
and  that  it  may  be  employed  in  works  beneficial  to  her  marine.  This  ac- 
cession of  territory  strengthens  for  ever  the  power  of  the  United  States  ; 
and  I  have  just  given  to  England  a  maritime  rival  that  will  sooner  or  later 
humble  her  pride." 

Hostilities  commenced  between  France  and  England  on  the  22d  of 
May,  1803,  by  the  capture  of  some  French  merchant- vessels.  On  the 
same  day,  Bonaparte  gave  his  ratification  to  the  treaty  of  cession  of  Lou- 
isiana, without  waiting  for  that  of  the  United  States.  It  was  important 
that  the  accomplishment  of  this  formality  on  the  part  of  France,  should 
not  leave  any  ground  for  considering  the  colony  as  still  French.  The  rati- 
fications, and  their  exchange,  it  was  presumed,  could  experience  no  delay 
at  Washington  ;  and  after  these  proceedings,  and  the  delivery  of  posses- 
sion to  the  United  States,  any  attempt  of  the  English  on  Louisiana  would 
have  been  directed  against  a  province  of  the  American  union. 

The  treaty  was  received  in  the  United  States  in  July,  and  was  ratified 
by  the  senate  on  the  20th  of  October,  1803,  by  24  votes  to  7.  It  was 
opposed  by  the  federal  party  generally,  and  principally  on  two  grounds, 
namely.  First,  that  the  territory  of  the  United  States  was  already  abundantly 
sufficient  for  one  government  of  a  republican  character,  and  that  that  there 
were  immense  tracts  of  wild  lands  to  be  filled  up  east  of  the  Mississippi ; 
secondly,  that  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  was  unconstitutional ;  and  that 
if  the  provisions  and  plain  meaning  of  the  national  compact  were  violated 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  239 

or  disregarded,  it  would  prove  a  most  injurious  precedent.  The  govern- 
ment, it  was  said,  might  as  well  purchase  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  Mexico, 
or  Cuba.  "  There  were,"  says  Bradford,  "  probably  some  party  prejudices 
operating  to  produce  or  reiterate  these  objections,  and  to  represent  the  act 
as  at  once  arbitrary  and  unconstitutional.  The  purchase  was  long  a  topic 
of  dispute  between  the  friends  and  the  opponents  of  the  administration." 
Some  of  the  leading  federalists,  of  enlarged  views,  however,  approved  of 
the  measure.  Among  these  may  be  named  Gouverneur  Morris,  whose 
opinions  on  this  subject  have  been  confirmed  by  the  national  expe- 
rience. 

The  area  of  the  country  thus  ceded,  according  to  the  claims  of  France, 
and  the  estimate  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  exceeded  a  million  of  square  miles ; 
but  all,  except  a  very  small  proportion  of  it,  was  occupied  by  savages,  its 
natural  proprietors.  Its  inhabitants  were  principally  French,  and  de- 
scendants of  French,  with  a  few  Spanish  Creoles,  Americans,  English, 
and  Germans.  The  whole  number  amounted  to  80,000,  or  90,000  inhab- 
itants, including  about  40,000  slaves. 

The  preceding  statements  confirm  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Tucker,  in  his 
life  of  Jefferson  :  "  The  American  ministers,  instead  of  merely  purchasing 
New  Orleans  and  the  Floridas,  as  had  been  the  first  and  main  object  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  were  able  to  effect  a  purchase  of  all  Louisiana,  equal  in 
extent  to  the  whole  previous  territory  of  the  United  States.  They  owed 
their  good  fortune  to  the  war  which  Was  so  suddenly  renewed  between 
France  and  England,  when  the  government  of  France,  convinced  that  the 
possession  of  Louisiana  would  soon  be  wrested  from  her  by  the  superior 
naval  power  of  England,  readily  consented  to  make  sale  of  it  to  a  third 
power,  and  the  rather,  as  the  pur  chase -money  was  particularly  acceptable 
to  France  at  that  time.  If  fortune  had  a  full  share  of  agency  in  this  ac- 
quisition, it  is  no  small  praise  to  the  administration  that  they  had  foreseen 
the  probability  of  the  result,  and  had  promptly  and  skilfully  availed  them- 
selves of  the  occasion  so  as  best  to  secure  and  promote  the  aggrandize- 
ment of  their  country." 

Mr.  Jefferson  did  not  think  that  the  constitution  authorized  this  addition 
to  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and  he  considered  that  it  would  be 
necessary  to  obtain  a  special  amendment  for  that  purpose.  In  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Breckenridge,  he  remarks  :  "  The  constitution  has  made  no  provision 
for  our  holding  foreign  territory,  still  less  for  incorporating  foreign  nations 
into  our  Union.  The  executive,  in  seizing  the  fugitive  occurrence  which 
so  much  advances  the  good  of  their  country,  have  done  an  act  beyond  the 
constitution.  The  legislature,  in  casting  behind  them  metaphysical  subtle- 
ties, and  risking  themselves  like  faithful  servants,  must  ratify  and  pay  for 
it,  and  throw  themselves  on  their  country  for  doing  for  them  unau- 
thorized, what  we  know  they  would  have  done  for  themselves,  had  they 
been  in  a  situation  to  do  it.  But  we  shall  not  be  disavowed  by  (he  nation, 


240  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

and  their  act  of  indemnity  will  confirm  and  not  weaken  the  constitution, 
by  more  strongly  marking  out  its  lines." 

The  contemplated  amendment  to  the  constitution,  or  "  act  of  indemni- 
ty," as  Mr.  Jefferson  calls  it,  never  took  place.  The  treaty  received  the 
sanction  of  the  government  in  its  different  branches,  and  the  measure  was 
so  generally  acquiesced  in  by  the  people,  that  after  a  time  it  ceased  to  be 
a  disputed  question,  either  of  constitutionality  or  expediency. 

Mr.  Jefferson  suggested  that  the  less  that  was  said  about  any  constitu- 
tional difficulty,  the  better ;  and  that  it  was  desirable  for  Congress  to  do 
what  was  necessary  in  silence.  This  caution  was  probably  dictated  from 
an  apprehension  of  the  effect  of  such  discussions  in  France,  the  govern- 
ment of  which,  as  the  American  ministers  were  informed,  showed  a  dis- 
position to  declare  the  treaty  void,  if  any  pretext  were  furnished  by  the 
United  States. 

The  president,  with  a  view  to  provide  for  carrying  the  Louisiana  treaty 
into  effect,  called  Congress  together  on  the  17th  of  October,  1803,  about 
three  weeks  earlier  than  the  day  that  had  been  previously  fixed  by  the 
preceding  Congress,  when  they  adjourned  in  March,  1803. 

This  was  the  eighth  Congress,  and  there  was  a  large  democratic  ma- 
jority in  both  branches.  Nathaniel  Macon,  of  North  Carolina  was  again 
chosen  speaker  of  the  house. 

The  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  senate  on  the  20th  of  October,  by  a  vote 
of  24  to  7,  and  on  the  22d  it  was  officially  communicated  to  both  houses, 
that  they  might  provide  for  its  execution.  An  act  of  Congress  was 
passed  within  fourteen  days  of  the  time  of  assembling,  making  provision 
for  the  occupation  and  temporary  government  of  Louisiana,  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  president ;  and  eleven  millions  of  dollars  were  appropriated 
as  the  purchase  money — the  -remaining  four  millions  being  reserved  for 
the  indemnity  of  American  citizens  who  had  sustained  losses  by  French 
spoliations  on  our  commerce.  The  general  resolution  for  carrying 
the  treaty  into  effect,  was  adopted  in  the  house  of  representatives  by  a 
vote  of  90  to  25  ;  and  the  resolutions  for  a  provincial  government  and  for 
the  appropriation  required  for  the  purchase,  were  passed  without  a 
division. 

At  an  early  day  of  this  session  of  Congress,  an  amendment  to  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  was  proposed,  relative  to  the  election  of 
president  and  vice-president,  so  as  to  designate  which  person  was  voted 
for  as  president,  and  which  as  vice-president ;  instead  of  the  original  ar- 
ticle, which  required  the  electors  to  vote  for  two  persons  for  these  offices, 
of  whom  the  one  who  had  the  highest  number  of  votes  was  to  be  presi- 
dent. The  amendment  was  proposed  by  the  republicans,  to  provide  against 
the  disappointment  which  had  threatened  them  at  the  election  in  1801,  and 
which  had  caused  so  much  bitterness  of  feeling.  The  federalists  opposed 
the  amendment  as  an  unwise  departure  from  the  spirit  and  design  of  the 


ADMINISTRATION    07    JEFFERSON.  241 

constitution,  which  was,  that  two  persons,  fully  qualified  for  the  office  of 
chief  magistrate,  should  be  voted  for,  without  a  specific  and  exclusive 
designation  of  one  to  the  presidency  ;  and  thus  in  case  of  the  death  of 
one,  the  other,  who  would  succeed,  would  be  equal  to  the  discharge  of 
the  high  trust.  «But  the  political  friends  of  the  president  were  resolved  to 
prevent  the  recurrence  of  a  similar  difficulty  with  that  which  had  haz- 
arded the  choice  of  Mr.  Jefferson  in  1801.  They  also  urged  in  favor  of 
the  proposed  alteration  of  the  constitution  that  it  was  more  simple,  direct, 
and  proper,  to  designate  which  candidate  was  intended  to  be  president,  by 
the  votes  of  the  electors. 

The  amendment  was  agreed  to,  by  the  votes  of  two  thirds  of  the  mem- 
bers of  both  branches  of  Congress,  and  within  the  year  1 804  it  was 
ratified  by  the  legislatures  of  three  fourths  of  the  several  states,  as  re- 
quired by  the  constitution.  Thirteen  states  were  in  favor  of  it,  and  three 
states  only,  namely,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Delaware,  disap- 
proved of  the  change.  This  amendment,  which  forms  the  12th  article  of 
the  amendments  to  the  constitution,  was  announced  by  the  secretary  of 
state,  in  a  public  notice  dated  the  25th  of  September,  1804,  as  having 
been  duly  adopted  and  ratified. 

At  this  session  of  Congress  the  salaries  of  the  principal  officers  of  the 
government  were  raised  nearly  twenty  per  cent.  Additional  duties  were 
imposed  on  imports  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  naval  establishment  then 
required  in  the  Mediterranean  to  protect  American  commerce  from  the 
piratical  cruisers  of  Tripoli.  The  United  States  navy  employed  in  that 
sea  was  small  in  force,  but  effectual  in  checking  the  operations  of  the 
pirates  of  that  quarter.  The  American  officers  and  men  gained  much 
reputation  by  their  valor  and  good  conduct  in  the  contest  with  Tripoli. 

An  additional  law  was  passed  by  Congress  on  the  subject  of  the  natu- 
ralization of  aliens,  and  the  time  of  residence  required  previous  to  their 
becoming  citizens  was  placed  on  its  original  footing  of  five  years,  instead 
of  fourteen.  The  federalists  opposed  this  law,  as  they  deemed  it  unreason- 
able to  admit  foreigners  to  all  the  rights  of  those  born  and  educated  in  the 
United  States,  until  they  had  resided  a  longer  time  in  this  country,  while 
they  were  readily  allowed  protection  and  equal  justice.  By  a  law  passed 
in  March,  1804^,  respecting  Louisiana,  two  separate  governments  were 
established  in  that  territory,  to  be  organized  as  the  president  might 
direct. 

Judge  Pickering,  of  the  district  court  of  the  United  States  for  New 
Hampshire,  was  impeached  before  the  senate  by  the  house  of  representa- 
tives at  this  session.  The  charges  against  him  being  proved,  showing  his 
unfitness  for  conducting  the  business  of  the  court,  in  consequence  of  occa- 
sional intoxication,  he  was  found  guilty,  and  dismissed  from  office.  The 
"house  of  representatives  also  decided  to  prepare  articles  of  impeachment 

against  Judge  Chase,  of  Maryland,  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
VOL.   I.— 10 


242  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

States,  and  against  Judge  Peters,  of  Pennsylvania,  of  the  United  States 
district  court.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  draw  up  articles  in  form, 
but  the  subject  was  postponed  to  the  next  session. 

The  friends  of  the  judiciary  system  and  of  the  independence  of  the 
courts,  were  alarmed  at  these  proceedings,  which  they  thought  indicated 
a  disposition  in  the  democratic  party  to  seek  occasions  to  attack  the  judges 
and  render  them  odious  to  the  people.  Judge  Peters  was  charged  with 
arbitrary  and  illegal  conduct,  and  the  facts  alleged  were  considered  fully 
proved,  but  his  intended  impeachment  was  not  further  prosecuted.  The 
charges  against  Judge  Chase  were  for  similar  oppressive  and  arbitrary 
conduct  in  the  trial  of  a  person  indicted  for  treason,  and  for  displaying  ma- 
lignant and  party  feelings  on  several  occasions,  particularly  in  the  trial  of 
a  person  in  Virginia,  under  the  sedition  act.  The  trial  before  the  senate, 
at  the  next  session,  on  this  impeachment,  resulted  in  the  acquittal  of  the 
judge. 

The  bankrupt  law  which  had  been  enacted  under  Mr.  Adams's  adminis- 
tration, was  repealed  at  the  first  session  of  the  eighth  Congress,  at  the  in- 
stance, it  is  believed,  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  certainly  with  his  hearty  con- 
currence, as  we  are  informed  by  his  biographer,  Mr.  Tucker.  As  this 
law  authorized  a  majority  of  the  creditors  to  discharge  a  bankrupt  trader 
from  all  his  preceding  debts,  it  was  regarded  by  many  of  the  other  classes 
of  the  people  as  an  invidious  privilege  to  the  mercantile  community ;  es- 
pecially in  the  southern  states,  where  the  agricultural  pursuits  are  pre- 
dominant. It  was,  for  this  and  other  reasons,  not  viewed  with  favor  by  a 
large  portion  of  the  people,  although  many  approved  of  the  law,  which 
they  considered  necessary  in  a  commercial  nation  like  the  United  States. 
The  question  on  the  repeal  was  carried  in  the  house  of  representatives  by 
99  votes  to  13.  On  the  27th  of  March,  1804,  Congress  adjourned,  after  a 
session  of  163  days. 

President  Jefferson  had,  in  a  confidential  message  to  Congress,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1803,  recommended  an  appropriation  for  defraying  the  expense  of 
an  exploring  expedition  across  the  continent  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  which 
appropriation  was  made,  and  the  enterprise  was  placed  under  the  direction 
of  Captains  Lewis  and  Clarke.  This  suggestion  was  made  before  the 
acquisition  of  Louisiana  by  the  United  States,  and  it  had  long  been  a  fa- 
vorite object  with  Mr.  Jefferson  to  explore  this  part  of  North  America. 
Before  the  expedition  was  ready  to  start,  however,  the  treaty  with  France 
had  been  ratified.  The  exploring  party  consisted  of  thirty  individ- 
uals, including  the  two  leaders,  arid  left  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi 
for  the  Pacific  on  the  14th  of  May,  1804.  Mr.  Jefferson  himself  pre- 
pared the  instructions  for  Captain  Lewis,  which  were  drawn  up  with 
much  wisdom  and  forecast.  The  expedition  was  eminently  successful  in 
geographical  discoveries,  and  furnished  the  first  particular  information  re- 
specting the  extensive  country  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  243 

ocean.  The  exploring  party  was  absent  on  this  service  about  two  years 
and  three  months. 

The  difficulties  with  Spain  had  been  of  long  continuance,  and  related 
principally  to  claims  to  territory  on  the  Mississippi,  and  numerous  spolia- 
tions by  Spain  on  American  commerce.  Some  of  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  were  in  favor  of  a  war  with  Spain  at  this  period,  but  pacific 
counsels  prevailed.  The  objections  Spain  had  made  to  the  Louisiana 
treaty  had  been  withdrawn,  but  new  difficulties  arose  in  attempts  to  nego- 
tiate a  treaty  respecting  the  boundaries  and  other  matters  in  dispute.* 

The  presidential  election  coming  on  in  1 804,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  nomi- 
nated for  re-election,  and  George  Clinton,  of  New  York  was  placed  on 
the  ticket  with  him  as  a  candidate  for  vice-president,  in  place  of  Colonel 
Burr,  who  had  lost  the  confidence  of  the  democratic  party,  which  had 
elected  him  in  1801 .  The  federalists  nominated  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinck- 
ney,  of  South  Carolina,  for  President,  and  Rufus  King,  of  New  York,  for 
vice-president.  The  result  showed  the  great  popularity  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
administration;  the  republican  candidates  receiving  162  votes,  and  the 
federal  candidates  but  14. 

The  war  with  Tripoli  was  brought  to  a  close  by  the  vigor  and  energy 
displayed  by  the  American  squadron  in  the  Mediterranean ;  five  frigates 
having  been  sent  to  that  quarter  in  1804,  under  the  command  of  Com- 
modore Preble,  who  soon  brought  the  bey  to  terms,  and  peace  was 
restored. 

The  second  session  of  the  eighth  Congress  commenced  on  the  5th  of 
November,  1 804,  and  terminated  with  the  expiration  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  first 
term,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1805.  The  public  debt  had  been  increased  by 
the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  and  the  Mediterranean  fund,  or  extra  duties 
on  imports,  was  continued,  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war  with  Tripoli. 
For  the  defence  of  the  American  seacoast,  the  president  recommended 
the  gunboat  system,  which  in  fact  had  been  commenced  in  1803,  by  an 
act  of  Congress  authorizing  a  certain  number  of  gunboats  to  be  built. 
More  of  these  vessels  were  now  advised  by  the  president,  as  the  cheap- 
est and  most  effectual  means  of  defence  for  the  harbors  of  the  United 
States.  Congress,  neither  fulfilling  the  wishes  of  the  executive,  nor  alto- 
gether resisting  them,  gave  Mr.  Jefferson  the  means  of  partially  trying  his 
favorite  scheme,  by  the  appropriation  of  sixty  thousand  dollars. 

The  sufficiency  of  this  species  of  naval  defence  occasioned  a  good 
deal  of  discussion  at  this  time,  between  the  opponents  and  the  supporters 
of  the  administration.  A  navy  had  been  vehemently  opposed  by  the  re- 
publican party  during  Mr.  Adams's  presidency,  as  altogether  unsuited  to 
the  means  of  the  United  States,  as  inadequate  to  its  defence,  and  more 
injurious  to  their  commerce  by  involving  the  country  in  war,  than  by  any 
protection  it  could  afford.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  insults  to  which  our 

•  Bradford. 


244  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

merchant  ships  and  seamen  were  exposed  on  the  ocean,  made  the  com- 
mercial states  call  aloud  for  some  measure  of  protection.  It  is  probable 
that  these  circumstances  had  an  influence  in  recommending  this  cheap 
marine,  which  promised  some  defence  to  our  harbors  and  coasts,  and 
which  at  the  same  time  did  not  subject  the  party  in  power  to  the 
charge  of  .inconsistency.  But  the  scheme  was  vehemently  assailed  by 
the  adversaries  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  every  form  of  argument  and  ridi- 
cule, and  was  triumphantly  adduced  as  a  further  proof  that  he  was  not 
a  practical  statesman.  The  officers  of  the  navy  were  believed  to  be,  with 
scarcely  an  exception,  opposed  to  the  system  of  gunboats,  especially  those 
who  were  assigned  to  this  service.  To  stem  the  current  of  public  opin- 
ion, which  set  so  strong  against  these  gunboats,  and  to  turn  it  into  their 
favor,  Mr.  Jefferson  prevailed  on  Thomas  Paine  to  become  their  advocate 
through  the  newspapers.  He  set  about  it  with  his  wonted  self-confidence, 
but  in  spite  of  his  logic,  the  public,  pinning  its  faith  on  experienced  men, 
remained  incredulous,  and  when,  soon  afterward,  many  of  the  new  marine 
were  driven  ashore  in  a  tempest,  or  were  otherwise  destroyed,  no  one 
seemed  to  regard  their  loss  as  a  misfortune  ;  and  the  officers  of  the  navy 
did  not  affect  to  conceal  their  satisfaction  ;  nor  has  any  attempt  been  since 
made  to  replace  them.* 

During  this  session  of  Congress  there  was  far  less  of  free  and  inde- 
pendent discussion  on  the  measures  proposed  by  the  friends  of  the  admin- 
istration, than  had  been  previously  practised  in  both  branches  of  the 
national  legislature.  It  appeared  that  on  the  most  important  subjects,  the 
course  adopted  by  the  majority  was  the  effect  of  caucus  arrangement,  or, 
in  other  words,  had  been  previously  agreed  upon  at  meetings  of  the  dem- 
ocratic members  held  in  private.  Thus  the  legislation  of  Congress  was 
constantly  swayed  by  party  feelings  and  pledges,  rather  than  according  to 
sound  reason  or  personal  conviction.  Two  important  laws  were  passed 
at  this  session,  intended  to  prevent  the  hostile  and  predatory  acts  of  per- 
sons on  board  of  foreign  vessels  in  the  harbors  and  ports  of  the  United 
States ;  and  to  regulate  the  clearance  of  armed  'American  merchant 
vessels.f 

The  second  presidential  term  of  Mr.  Jefferson  commenced  on  the  4th 
of  March,  1805.  On  that  occasion  he  delivered  an  inaugural  address  be- 
fore the  members  of  Congress  and  other  citizens.  He  reminds  them  of 
the  declarations,  when  he  entered  on  the  office  of  president  four  years 
before,  of  the  principles  on  which  he  should  administer  the  government, 
and  that  his  conscience  told  him  he  had  acted  up  to  them,  according  to 
their  fair  import.  He  adverts  to  the  liberal  principles  pursued  in  our  for- 
eign relations,  and  their  success.  "  We  are  firmly  convinced,"  he  says, 
"  and  we  act  on  that  conviction,  that  with  nations,  as  well  as  individuals 
our  interests,  soundly  calculated,  will  ever  be  found  inseparable  from  our 
•  Tucker's  Life  of  Jefferson.  f  Bradford. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  245 

moral  duties."  He  speaks  with  exultation  of  the  reduction  of  taxes  and 
suppression  of  unnecessary  offices,  and  yet  with  a  revenue,  which  is 
levied  on  foreign  luxuries,  and  paid  by  wealthy  consumers,  is  sufficient  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  government,  to  fulfil  contracts  with  other  gov- 
ernments and  the  Indians,  and  to  afford  a  surplus  sufficient  to  redeem  the 
public  debt  within  a  short  period.  That  the  revenue,  when  thus  libera- 
ted, may  by  a  just  repartition  among  the  states,  and  a  correspondent 
amendment  to  the  constitution,  be  applied,  in  time  of  peace,  to  "  rivers,  ca- 
nals, roads,  arts,  manufactures,  education,  and  other  great  objects,  in  each 
state,  and  in  time  of  war,  it  may  meet  all  the  annual  expenditure  within 
the  year.  He  suggests  that  the  newly-acquired  territory  will  pay  for 
itself  before  we  are  called  upon  to  pay  the  purchase  money.  He  notices 
and  answers  the  objection  that  our  territory  has  thereby  been  too  much 
enlarged.  He  speaks  of  the  condition  of  the  Indian  tribes  as  impo- 
sing new  duties  both  on  our  justice  and  humanity — says  that  now  being 
reduced  within  limits  too  narrow  for  the  hunter's  state,  they  should  be 
taught  agriculture  and  the  domestic  arts,  and  thus  be  prepared  for  civil- 
ized society  ;  that  their  own  prejudices  present  great  obstacles  to  this 
change,  for  they  too  "  have  their  anti-philosophers,"  who  dread  refor- 
mation. 

In  presenting  the  foregoing  outline  of  his  administration,  he  disclaims 
arrogating  to  himself  the  merit  of  the  measures  which,  he  says,  is  due 
to  the  character  of  his  fellow-citizens,  their  representatives  in  Congress, 
and  his  associates  in  the  executive  department.  Adverting  to  the  viru- 
lence of  the  press  against  him,  he  says  that  the  punishment  of  the  offend- 
ers had  been  left  altogether  to  the  public  indignation ;  that  the  experi- 
ment thus  made  whether  "  freedom  of  discussion,  unaided  by  power,  was 
not  sufficient  for  the  protection  and  propagation  of  truth,  had  proved  suc- 
cessful ;"  that  our  fellow-citizens,  when  called  to  decide  the  question  by 
their  suffrage,  "  had  pronounced  their  verdict,  honorable  to  those  who  had 
served  them,  and  consolatory  to  the  friend  of  man,  who  believes  he  may 
be  intrusted  with  his  own  affairs."  He  disclaims  making  any  objec- 
tions to  the  laws  of  the  states  against  defamatory  publications,  which 
he  thinks  may  exercise  a  salutary  coercion  ;  and  in  allusion  to  the  sedi- 
tion laws,  says  that  they  draw  the  only  definite  line  between  the  ines- 
timable liberty  of  the  press  and  its  demoralizing  licentiousness.  "  If,"  he 
remarks,  "  there  is  any  impropriety  which  the  state  laws  can  not  reach, 
the  defect  may  be  supplied  by  the  censorship  of  public  opinion."  He 
congratulates  the  country  on  the  union  of  sentiment  lately  manifested,  and 
anticipates  that  those  who  have  not  yet  rallied  to  the  same  point,  have  an 
increasing  disposition  to  do  so ;  in  the  meantime,  forbearance  is  inculca- 
ted. He  speaks  with  confidence  of  the  principles  which  will  govern  him 
in  his  future  administration.  He  is  sensible  of  no  passion  which  could 
"  seduce  him  knowingly  from  the  path  oi  justice,  hut  being  liable  to  err. 


246  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

from  the  weakness  of  human  judgment,  he  should  need  their  continued 
indulgence,  and  not  the  less  for  his  increasing  years." 

In.the  election  for  members  of  Congress,  the  preponderance  of  the 
democratic  party  was  not  as  great  as  in  the  election  of  president.  Of  142 
members  of  the  house  of  representatives,  about  40  were  federalists,  and 
subsequent  events  caused  the  latter  to  be  occasionally  joined  by  a  section 
of  dissatisfied  republicans ;  still  the  administration  was  enabled  generally 
to  sustain  its  measures  by  a  majority  of  both  houses. 

The  ninth  Congress  assembled  on  the  2d  of  December,  1805,  when 
Mr.  Macon,  of  North  Carolina,  was  for  the  third  time  elected  speaker 
Three  days  after  the  annual  message  of  the  president  was  communicated 
to  Congress,  he  sent  in  a  confidential  message  on  the  subject  of  our  rela- 
tions with  Spain,  the  controversies  with  that  power  still  remaining  unset- 
tled. This  message  was  referred  to  a  select  committee,  of  which  Mr. 
John  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  was  chairman,  and  by  the  proceedings  on 
this  subject,  it  soon  became  evident  that  Mr.  Randolph,  who  had  been  con- 
sidered a  leader  in  the  ranks  of  the  democratic  party  in  the  house,  was  no 
longer  to  be  relied  on  as  a  supporter  of  the  administration. 

The  cause  of  this  gentleman's  defection  and  opposition  (as  we  are  in- 
formed by  Mr.  Tucker,  in  his  life  of  Jefferson),  was  his  displeasure  at  the 
refusal  of  the  president  to  appoint  him  minister  to  England ;  an  office  un- 
solicited by  Mr.  Randolph  himself,  but  applied  for  by  some  of  the  Virginia 
delegation  in  Congress,  who  urged  the  executive  to  give  him  the  appoint- 
ment. When  the  application  and  rejection  were  made  known  to  Mr. 
Randolph,  he  was  deeply  offended,  and  was  soon  found  in  the  ranks  of 
the  opposition,  the  public  referring  his  change  to  his  resentment. 

On  the  3d  of  January,  1 806,  the  select  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Ran- 
dolph was  chairman,  made  a  report  declaring  that  the  aggressions  of 
Spain  afforded  ample  cause  of  war,  but  that  peace  was  the  policy  and  in- 
terest of  the  United  States,  and  they  hoped  that  Spain  would  find  motives 
for  fulfilling  her  engagements,  and  preserving  her  friendly  relations  with 
the  United  States.  Yet,  as  their  territory  had  been  insulted,  the  commit- 
tee submitted  a  resolution — that  such  a  number  of  troops  as  the  president 
should  deem  sufficient  to  protect  the  southern  frontier,  be  immediately 
raised. 

On  the  same  day  a  resolution  was  submitted  by  Mr.  Bidwell,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, a  prominent  democratic  member — that  an  appropriation  be 
made  for  the  purpose  of  defraying  any  extraordinary  expenses  that  might 
be  incurred  in  the  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  foreign  na- 
tions, to  be  borrowed  and  applied  under  the  direction  of  the  president. 

The  first  resolution  was  deemed  by  the  administration  and  its  friends, 
likely  to  involve  the  nation  in  a  war  with  Spain,  and  eventually  with 
France  ;  and  the  second  was  suggested  as  the  means  of  preventing  such 
a  result,  by  enabling  the  president  to  purchase  Florida.  After  a  warm 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  247 

debate  in  secret  session,  until  the  llth  of  January,  the  first  resolution,  for 
raising  troops,  was  rejected,  by  a  vote  of  72  against  it  to  58  in  its  favor. 
The  minority  was  made  up  of  the  federal  members,  and  some  fifteen  or 
twenty  democrats. 

Mr.  Bidwell's  resolution,  respecting  the  appropriation  for  the  purchase 
of  Florida,  finally  passed,  after  much  debate,  and  the  sum  appropriated 
was  two  millions  of  dollars. 

The  secret  debate  continued  to  the  6th  of  February,  during  which  the 
minority  so  far  prevailed  as  to  obtain  a  declaration  of  opinion  that  "  an  ex- 
change of  territory  between  the  United  States  and  Spain  would  be  the 
most  advantageous  mode  of  settling  the  existing  differences  about  their 
respective  boundaries,"  to  which  arrangement  it  was  asserted  the  presi- 
dent was  opposed.  The  vote,  however,  in  favor  of  the  resolution,  was 
80  to  52. 

The  course  of  Mr.  Randolph,  who  carried  a  few  of  the  republican 
party  with  him,  created,  at  first,  a  sudden  alarm  and  confusion  among 
those  who  remained  firm  in  the  administration  ranks.  They,  however, 
soon  rallied,  and  continued  in  unbroken  phalanx  for  the  remainder  of  Mr. 
Jefferson's  term.  The  opposition,  however,  reinforced  by  the  acquisition 
of  Mr.  Randolph  and  his  friends,  assailed  the  administration  at  every 
point,  and  often  created  embarrassment,  when  they  were  unable  to  pro- 
duce defeat. 

The  interruptions  to  American  commerce  by  Great  Britain,  on  the 
ground  that  a  neutral  can  not  carry  on  a  trade  in  time  of  war  which  is  not 
permitted  to  it  in  peace,  had  excited  great  feeling  throughout  all  the  com- 
mercial states ;  and  most  of  the  principal  towns  had  memorialized  Con- 
gress or  the  executive  on  the  subject.  The  continued  impressment  of 
American  seamen  afforded  a  further  cause  of  complaint.  The  president 
having,  on  the  17th  of  January,  sent  a  message  to  Congress  on  these  sub- 
jects, with  the  memorials  received  by  the  executive,  various  propositions 
were  submitted  relative  thereto,  in  the  house  of  representatives.  On  the 
17th  of  March,  the  house  agreed  to  the  policy  of  prohibiting  the  importa- 
tion of  specific  articles  of  British  growth  or  manufacture,  by  a  vote  of  87 
to  35,  the  federalists  generally  voting  in  the  minority.  The  bill  laying 
this  prohibition  passed  the  house  on  the  2Sth  of  March,  by  a  vote 
of  93  to  32 — federalists,  with  Mr.  Randolph  and  two  or  three  of  his 
friends,  constituting  the  minority.  On  the  15th  of  April  it  passed  the 
senate,  by  a  vote  of  19  to  9.  The  prohibition  was  to  take  effect  on  the 
1  Mh  day  of  November. 

A  bill  was  also  passed  interdicting  all  intercourse  with  the  French  part 
of  the  island  of  Hayti,  which  had  been  revolutionized  by  the  blacks.  The 
sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  for  forti- 
fying the  ports  and  harbors  of  the  United  States,  and  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  building  gunboats. 


248  ADMINISTRATION    OP  JEFFERSON. 

The  other  important  measures  were  of  a  domestic  character.  Of  these 
the  first  in  importance  as  a  precedent  and  as  a  measure  of  utility,  was  the 
act  for  the  construction  of  a  national  road  from  Cumberland,  in  Maryland, 
to  the  state  of  Ohio,  which  passed  on  the  24th  of  March,  1806,  by  a  vote 
of  66  to  50.  It  was  opposed  on  the  constitutional  ground  that  the  power 
of  making  roads  was  not  given  to  Congress  ;  but  to  obviate  this  objection, 
the  consent  of  the  states  through  whose  territories  the  road  was  to  pass  (Ma- 
ryland, Virginia,  and  Ohio)  was  first  required.  Yet  if  Congress  had  not 
the  power  of  making  roads,  as  was  contended,  the  consent  of  these  states 
could  not  give  it.*  The  bill  passed,  however,  with  the  approval  of  Presi- 
dent Jefferson,  but  the  question  continued  to  be  long  afterward  a  subject 
of  controversy  between  those  who  were  severally  disposed  to  a  strict, 
and  a  liberal  construction  of  the  constitution. 

Congress  adjourned  on  the  2 1st  of  April,  after  a  most  animated  and  con- 
tentious session,  the  house  of  representatives  having  been  the  scene  of 
constant  bickering  between  the  three  parties  into  which  it  was  divided, 
owing  to  the  schism  in  the  republican  or  democratic  party,  already  re- 
ferred to.  Those  democrats  who  acted  with  Mr.  Randolph,  differed  from 
the  administration  on  some  leading  points  of  foreign  policy,  but  while 
they  voted  with  the  federalists  on  these  questions,  and  on  some  collateral 
points,  they  took  especial  care  not  to  be  considered  by  the  nation  as  being 
merged  in  the  federal  party,  not  only  by  their  general  declarations,  but 
by  their  votes  on  all  questions  not  involving  the  policy  of  the  administra- 
tion, on  which  occasions  they  concurred  with  the  republicans.  This  party 
consisted  principally  of  members  from  Virginia,  and  were  all  personally 
intimate  with  Mr.  Randolph.  This  same  party  afterward  received  a  great 
accession  of  strength  in  Virginia,  by  bringing  forward  Mr.  Monroe  as  a 
candidate  for  the  presidency,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Madison,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  reconciliation  of  these  gentlemen,  by  the  good  offices  of  Mr. 
Jefferson,  that  its  ranks  were  broken  as  a  party,  and  that  some  of  the 
scattered  fragments  united  with  the  federalists,  in  opposition  to  the  war 
and  all  the  leading  measures  of  the  administration  which  preceded  it.f 

Immediately  after  the  decision  of  Congress  to  appropriate  two  millions 
of  dollars  for  the  purchase  of  Florida,  the  president  appointed  General 
Armstrong,  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  Bowdoin,  of  Massachusetts,  joint  com- 
missioners to  effect,  if  practicable,  a  treaty,  and  an  amicable  settlement  at 
Paris  of  all  matters  of  dispute  with  Spain  ;  the  affairs  of  that  power  be- 
ing then  closely  connected  with  those  of  France.  The  negotiation  re- 
specting the  purchase  of  Florida  having  failed,  the  money  appropriated 
for  that  purpose  was  never  drawn  from  the  treasury.  The  Hornet  sloop- 
of-war  was  despatched  to  France  with  letters  of  credit,  to  be  used,  if 
wanted,  by  the  American  ministers  at  Paris,  for  the  purchase  of  Florida, 
which  gave  rise  to  a  report  in  the  United  States,  that  two  millions  in  specie 
•  Tucker's  Life  of  Jefferson.  t  Ibid. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  249 

were  carried  to  France  in  that  vessel,  and  actually  paid  to  Bonaparte, 
without  any  consideration  whatever.  There  was  a  want  of  cordiality  be- 
tween the  two  American  ministers  at  Paris,  Messrs.  Bowdoin  and  Arm- 
strong, which  gradually  ripened  into  an  open  collision.  Mr.  Monroe  (who 
had,  after  negotiating  the  Louisiana  treaty  with  France,  in  1803,  been  ap- 
pointed minister  to  Great  Britain,  to  succeed  Mr.  Rufus  King)  was  called 
upon,  in  1805,  to  join  Mr.  Charles  Pinckney,  the  resident  minister  at 
Madrid,  for  the  purpose  of  settling  with  Spain  the  disputed  question  of 
the  boundaries  of  Louisiana.  After  spending  five  months  with  his  col- 
league, Mr.  Pinckney,  at  Madrid,  in  unavailing  efforts  to  settle  the  dis- 
putes with  Spain,  Mr.  Monroe  returned  to  London  in  June,  1805.  In 
May,  1806,  Mr.  William  Pinkney,  of  Maryland,  was  associated  with  Mr. 
Monroe  in  the  negotiation  then  in  progress  with  Great  Britain. 

In  his  private  correspondence  with  Mr.  Monroe  at  this  time,  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson expressed  a  desire  for  a  permanent  peace  with  England.  Mr.  Fox, 
the  leader  of  the  whig  party,  being  then  a  member  of  the  British  cabinet, 
Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  Mr.  Monroe  as  follows  :  "  The  late  change  in  the 
ministry  I  consider  as  insuring  us  a  just  settlement  of  our  differences,  and 
we  ask  no  more.  In  Mr.  Fox,  personally,  I  have  more  confidence  than 
in  any  man  in  England,  and  it  is  founded  in  what,  through  unquestionable 
channels,  I  have  had  opportunities  of  knowing  of  his  honesty  and  good 
sense.  While  he  shall  be  in  the  administration,  my  reliance  on  that  gov- 
ernment will  be  solid.  We  had  committed  ourselves  in  a  line  of  proceed- 
ing adapted  to  meet  Mr.  Pitt's  policy  and  hostility,  before  we  heard  of  his 
death  [alluding  to  the  non-importation  law],  which  self-respect  did  not 
permit  us  to  abandon  afterward.  It  ought  not  to  be  viewed  by  the  minis- 
try as  looking  toward  them  at  all,  but  merely  as  the  consequences  of  the 
measures  of  their  predecessors,  which  their  nation  has  called  on  them  to 
correct.  I  hope,  therefore,  they  will  come  to  just  arrangements.  No  two 
countries  upon  earth  have  so  many  points  of  common  interest  and  friend- 
ship ;  and  their  rulers  must  be  great  bunglers  indeed,  if,  with  such  dispo- 
sitions, they  break  them  asunder.  The  only  rivalry  that  can  arise  is  on 
the  ocean.  We  ask  for  peace  and  justice  from  all  nations,  and  we  will 
remain  uprightly  neutral  in  fact,  though  leaning  in  belief  to  the  opinion 
that  an  English  ascendency  on  the  ocean  is  safer  for  us  than  that  of 
France." 

In  the  year  1806,  the  public  mind  was  much  excited  by  the  expedition 
of  Colonel  Burr  in  the  western  country,  which  was  supposed  to  have  had 
for  its  object  the  dissevering  of  the  Union  and  the  establishment  of  an  in- 
dependent government  west  of  the  Allegany  mountains.  But  the  circum- 
stances which  were  disclosed  at  his  trial  seemed  rather  to  indicate  an 
expedition  against  the  Spanish  provinces  of  Mexico  and  adjoining  territo- 
ries. Burr  was  arrested  near  Fort  Stoddard,  on  the  banks  of  the  Toin- 
bigbee  river,  then  in  the  Mississippi  territory,  in  February,  1807,  and 


250  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

thence  conducted  as  a  prisoner  to  Richmond,  Virginia,  where  he  was  in- 
dicted by  the  grand  jury,  for  high  treason,  in  June  following.  He  was 
put  on  trial,  before  Judges  Marshall  and  Gilpin,  and  acquitted  in  August 
of  the  same  year.  The  verdict  was,  "  We  of  the  jury  say,  that  Aaron 
Burr  is  not  proved  to  be  guilty  under  this  indictment,  by  any  evidence 
submitted  to  us.  We  therefore  find  him  not  guilty."  Burr  was  tried  at 
the  same  court  on  an  indictment  for  misdemeanor,  and  acquitted. 

The  second  session  of  the  9th  Congress  lasted  from  the  first  of  Decem- 
ber, 1806,  to  the  3d  of  March,  1807.  The  president  informed  the  house 
that  the  negotiation  with  Great  Britain  was  proceeding  in  a  spirit  of  ac- 
commodation, since  the  delay  occasioned  by  the  death  of  the  British  min- 
ister (Mr.  Fox)  charged  with  that  duty.  He  mentioned  that  the  Amer- 
ican ministers  at  London  (Monroe  and  Pinkney)  had  suggested  that  a 
temporary  suspension  of  the  non-importation  act  would  have  a  happy  ef- 
fect on  the  course  of  the  negotiation.  In  pursuance  of  this  recommenda- 
tion, a  bill  was  passed  in  the  house  on  the  6th  of  December,  with  only 
five  dissentients,  to  suspend  the  act  to  the  1st  of  July,  and  amended  in  the 
senate  so  as  to  authorize  the  president  to  suspend  it  to  the  second  Mon- 
day in  December  succeeding. 

An  appropriation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  was  voted 
by  the  house  for  building  thirty  gunboats — ayes  68,  noes  36.  In  con- 
formity with  the  recommendation  of  the  president,  a  law  was  passed  to 
prohibit  the  African  slave-trade  after  the  1st  of  January,  1808.  The  tax 
on  salt  was  repealed,  and  the  extra  duties  for  the  Mediterranean  fund  were 
continued.  Congress  also  made  a  liberal  compensation  to  Captains  Lewis 
and  Clarke  and  their  companions,  in  donations  of  land,  for  their  services 
in  the  important  expedition  across  the  Rocky  mountains  to  the  Pacific. 

In  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  Mr.  Fox,  while  in  the 
cabinet,  but  a  short  time  before  his  death,  was  prevented  by  indisposition 
from  taking  part,  and  before  it  had  made  much  progress  the  nation  was 
called  upon  to  mourn  for  his  decease.  As  Mr.  Jefferson  anticipated  a 
complete  change  of  ministry  from  this  event,  with  his  hopes  of  a  success- 
ful negotiation  greatly  moderated,  he  thought  it  prudent  to  give  more  ex- 
plicit instructions  to  the  American  envoys.  They  were  therefore  in- 
formed of  his  views  on  the  subjects  of  impressments,  neutral  commerce, 
blockades,  East  and  West  India  trade,  and  indemnification ;  and  they 
were  instructed  not  to  enter  into  any  treaty  which  did  not  provide  some 
security  against  the  impressment  of  American  seamen.  These  despatches 
were,  however,  too  late.  They  were  dated  the  3d  of  February,  1807,  and 
a  treaty  was  signed  in  London  on  the  31st  of  December  preceding,  by 
Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  on 
the  part  of  Great  Britain  by  Lords  Holland  and  Aukland. 

The  day  before  Congress  rose,  the  president  received  from  Mr.  Erskine, 
the  British  minister  at  Washington,  a  copy  of  the  treaty,  and  it  fell  so  far 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  251 

short  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  just  claims  of  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  of  his  instructions,  that  he  decided  at  once  on  not  submitting  it  to 
the  senate,  but  to  try  the  effect  of  further  negotiation.  Besides  other  ob- 
jections, there  were  two  that  were  insuperable.  These  were,  that  the 
treaty  contained  no  provision  whatever  on  the  subject  of  impressment 
and  because  it  was  accompanied  by  a  note  from  the  British  ministers,  by 
which  the  British  government  reserved  to  itself  the  right  of  releasing 
itself  from  the  stipulations  in  favor  of  neutral  rights,  if  the  United  States 
submitted  to  the  Berlin  decree,  or  other  invasion  of  those  rights  by  France, 

The  treaty  consisted  of  twenty-six  articles,  and  confirmed  the  perma- 
nent and  unexpired  articles  in  Mr.  Jay's  treaty  of  1794.  On  the  subject 
of  the  rights  of  neutrals,  and  some  other  points,  the  two  treaties  were 
substantially  the  same.  One  of  the  new  features  in  the  treaty  of  1806, 
was,  that  Great  Britain  consented  that  the  United  States  should  have  a 
circuitous  trade  with  the  colonies  of  her  enemies  during  the  existing  hos- 
tilities. This  treaty  was  more  favorable  to  the  United  States  than  that  of 
1794,  in  some  respects,  and  less  advantageous  in  limiting  the  trade  to  the 
British  colonies  in  India  to  direct  voyages,  and  in  providing  no  compen- 
sation for  illegal  captures.  Mr.  Tucker,  in  his  life  of  Jefferson,  remarks, 
that  as  a  treaty  of  navigation  and  commerce  it  was  not  better  than  that  ne- 
gotiated by  Mr.  Jay ;  and  that  Mr.  Jefferson  could  not,  with  any  regard 
either  to  the  equal  rights  of  his  country,  or  to  his  own  consistency,  have 
given  it  the  sanction  of  his  approbation,  even  had  it  been  free  from  the 
two  insuperable  objections  that  have  been  mentioned. 

The  course  of  the  president,  in  rejecting  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain, 
was  soon  publicly  known,  and  caused  great  excitement  throughout  the  na- 
tion. The  commercial  community  particularly,  regretted  the  rejection  of 
the  treaty,  and  the  federal  party  were  loud  in  their  denunciations  of  the 
president,  on  public  occasions,  in  conversation,  and  through  the  opposition 
press.  It  was  insisted  that  the  president  ought  to  have  laid  the  treaty  be- 
fore the  senate  ;  and  if  they  approved,  to  adopt  it,  as  it  was,  or  to  propose 
some  modification  of  it,  as  was  done  in  the  case  of  the  treaty  made  with 
France  in  1801.  The  American  envoys,  Monroe  and  Pinkney,  had 
signed  the  treaty,  and  they  were  the  political  friends  of  the  president ;  and 
it  was  believed  that  one  more  favorable  could  not  be  obtained  ;  that  it  was 
to  be  preferred  to  open  war,  or  entire  non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain, 
for  which  some  then  contended,  as  the  best  policy.  A  rejection  of  the 
treaty,  it  was  feared,  might  lead  to  immediate  hostilities,  and  a  system 
of  non-intercourse  would  greatly  diminish  American  commerce  and  navi- 
gation, and  also  provoke  Great  Britain  to  retaliate  by  increased  depreda- 
tions, under  color  of  exercising  her  belligerent  rights,  as  necessary  to  her 
own  safety  against  the  naval  policy  of  France,  her  powerful  rival  and 
enemy. 

The  democratic  party  fully  justified  the  president.     They  insisted  that 


252  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

the  advice  of  the  senate  could  not  bind  him,  and  ought  not  to  prevail 
against  his  opinion.  That  it  was  a  matter  of  discretion  and  prerogative 
with  him  to  submit  it  to  the  senate  or  not ;  that  if  in  great  doubt  himself, 
he  might  lay  the  subject  before  that  body,  and  if  they  advised  to  its  adop- 
tion, to  give  it  his  consent,  and  place  the  responsibility  on  them.  This 
might  have  been  the  most  prudent  course  ;  but  if  he  was  decidedly  op- 
posed to  the  treaty,  as  injurious  and  dishonorable,  he  ought,  as  chief  magis- 
trate, to  have  the  power  to  withhold  it.  The  adoption  of  the  treaty  with- 
out the  additional  note  or  article  of  the  British  ministers,  would  have  been 
more  consistent  with  good  policy,  in  a  neutral  government,  as  that  of  the 
United  States  then  was  ;  and  would  have  manifested  a  sincere  desire  to 
conciliate  Great  Britain,  whose  good  will  toward  America  was  highly  im- 
portant. The  rejection  of  the  treaty  had  an  unfavorable  effect  on  the 
British  government  and  their  naval  commanders.  They  thought  they  saw 
in  it  an  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  the  president  to  conciliate  that  nation, 
or  to  preserve  friendly  relations  between  the  two  countries.* 

The  American  ministers  who  negotiated  the  treaty  with  England,  com- 
plained of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  received,  as  they  considered  it 
highly  advantageous  to  this  country,  particularly  with  regard  to  two  points 
of  dispute,  namely,  the  rights  of  neutrals  and.  the  practice  of  blockade 
adopted  by  England.  On  the  third  point  in  dispute,  that  the  American 
flag  should  protect  all  who  sailed  under  it,  England,  her  ministers  said, 
could  not  concede  this  without  abandoning  her  maritime  force ;  and  while 
this  point  was  a  sine  qua  non  no  adjustment  with  her  could  be  effected. 
Yet  Pinkney  and  Monroe  obtained  assurances  from  the  British  ministry, 
though  not  in  the  form  of  a  treaty,  which  they  deemed  satisfactory.  It 
was  expressly  offered  by  the  British  government,  when  it  asserted  a  right 
to  take  its  own  subjects  wherever  found,  after  requesting  their  surrender 
of  the  commander  of  the  vessel  to  which  they  then  belonged,  that  its 
ships-of-war  should  give  up  any  American  citizens  on  board,  on  request 
and  proof  that  they  were  such. 

There  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  the  refusal  to  ratify  the  treaty  with 
Great  Britain  negotiated  by  Monroe  and  Pinkney,  was  a  primary  cause 
of  the  embargo  and  other  restrictive  measures  which  soon  after  followed, 
and  finally  led  to  the  war  of  1812. 

The  change  of  ministry  in  England,  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Fox,  placed 
Mr.  Canning  in  the  cabinet,  as  secretary  for  foreign  affairs.  In  their  in- 
terviews with  Mr.  Canning,  after  they  were  informed  of  the  president's  re- 
jection of  the  treaty,  the  American  ministers  were  soon  satisfied  that  there 
was  little  probability  of  a  more  successful  negotiation.  In  conformity  with 
instructions  received  from  Mr.  Madison,  secretary  of  state,  Messrs.  Mon- 
roe and  Pinkney  addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Canning,  on  the  24th  of  July, 
1807,  proposing  a  renewal  of  the  negotiation,  and  submitted  to  him  the 

•  Bradford. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  253 

alterations  they  proposed  in  the  rejected  treaty.  The  attack  on  the  Ches- 
apeake frigate  caused  a  suspension  of  correspondence,  so  that  Mr.  Can- 
ning did  not  reply  to  the  American  ministers  until  the  22d  of  October, 
when,  after  justifying  the  reservation  made  of  the  right  to  retaliate  the 
French  decrees,  and  insisting  that  the  subject  of  the  "  impressment  of 
British  seamen  from  merchant  vessels"  formed  no  part  in  the  treaty,  and 
was  entitled  only  to  a  separate  and  subsequent  discussion,  he  protests,  in 
behalf  of  his  government,  "  against  a  practice,  altogether  unusual  in  the 
political  transactions  of  states,  by  which  the  American  government  as- 
sumes to  itself  the  privilege  of  revising  and  altering  agreements  concluded 
and  signed  in  its  behalf  by  its  agents  duly  authorized  for  that  purpose ;  of 
retaining  so  much  of  those  agreements  as  may  be  favorable  to  its  own 
views ;  and  of  rejecting  such  stipulations,  or  parts  of  stipulations,  as  are 
conceived  to  be  not  sufficiently  beneficial  to  America."  He  therefore  in- 
forms the  American  ministers  that  the  proposal  "  for  proceeding  to  nego- 
tiate anew,  upon  the  basis  of  a  treaty  already  solemnly  concluded  and 
signed,  is  wholly  inadmissible."* 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe,  Mr.  Jefferson  remarked,  if  the  treaty  could 
not  be  made  more  acceptable,  the  next  best  thing  was  to  let  the  negotia- 
tion die  away  insensibly,  and  in  the  meantime,  to  agree  informally  that 
both  parties  should  act  on  the  principles  of  the  treaty,  so  as  to  preserve  a 
friendly  understanding.  He  adds,  that  as'  soon  as  Mr.  Monroe  sees  the 
amendment  of  the  treaty  is  desperate,  he  can  follow  his  desire  of  return- 
ing home.  Mr.  Monroe  therefore  returned  to  the  United  States  at  the 
close  of  the  year  1807. 

At  this  time  the  British  maintained  a  squadron  which  cruised  along  the 
coast  of  the  United  States,  under  pretence  of  enforcing  belligerent  rights. 
Vessels-of-war  belonging  to  France  and  to  England  might  come  into  the 
ports  of  the  United  States.  Those  of  France  came,  and  those  of  England 
came  to  seek  them.  Five  seamen  had  deserted  from  the  British  sloop-of- 
war  Halifax,  in  March,  1807,  and  enlisted  on  board  the  United  States 
frigate  Chesapeake,  then  lying  in  Hampton  Roads,  and  commanded  by 
Captain  Barron.  Four  separate  demands  were  made  for  these  men,  but 
without  success  ;  one  on  Lieut.  Sinclair,  of  the  Chesapeake  ;  one  by  the 
British  consul,  on  the  mayor  of  Norfolk ;  one  on  Captain  Decatur ;  and 
one  by  the  British  minister,  on  the  secretary  of  state.  The  Chesapeake 
sailed  with  these  five  men  on  board,  but  while  going  down  the  bay,  all 
but  one  deserted  and  got  on  shore. 

On  the  23d  of  June,  when  at  sea,  not  far  from  the  capes  of  Virginia,  the 
Chesapeake  was  met  by  the  British  ship  Leopard,  of  fifty  guns,  com- 
manded by  Captain  Humphreys.  The  Chesapeake  carried  forty-four  guns. 
Humphreys  sent  his  boat  with  a  note  to  Barron,  informing  him  that  his 
commanding  officer,  Admiral  Berkeley,  had  directed  him  to  take  any  Brit- 

•  Tucker. 


254  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

ish  deserters  on  board  the  Chesapeake,  by  force  if  necessary,  and  to  allow 
on  his  part  of  a  search  for  American  deserters.  Captain  Barron  refused 
permission  to  search,  and  stated  that  he  had  instructed  his  recruiting  offi- 
cer not  to  enlist  British  subjects,  and  that  he  had  no  knowledge  that  any 
were  on  board.  On  this  answer  being  received,  the  Leopard  fired  into 
the  Chesapeake,  and  the  latter  being  taken  by  surprise,  and  unprepared 
for  action,  did  not  return  the  fire,  and  immediately  struck  her  flag.  A 
boat  from  the  Leopard  having  been  then  sent  to  the  Chesapeake,  the  Amer- 
ican officers  tendered  their  swords  to  the  British  officer  commanding,  but 
he  declined  receiving  them,  demanded  the  muster-roll  of  the  ship,  and 
having  taken  off  four  men,  whom  he  claimed  as  British  subjects,  left  the 
Chesapeake,  which  then  returned  to  Hampton  Roads.  Three  of  these 
men  had  previously  entered  the  British  service,  but  were  Americans  by 
birth,  and  had  been  formally  demanded  at  Washington.* 

This  was  a  gross  outrage  on  the  part  of  the  British  commander,  what- 
ever the  provocation  may  have  been,  because  the  universally-acknowl- 
edged principle  is,  that  a  national  ship  at  sea  and  the  territory  of  its  na- 
tion are  alike  inviolable.  The  British  government  so  understood  this  mat- 
ter, and  disavowed  the  act  of  its  officer,  and  offered  a  proper  and  honora- 
ble reparation,  which  was  finally  accepted  before  the  war,  and  therefore 
this  did  not  make  one  of  the  causes  which  led  to  that  calamity.! 

This  affair  of  the  Chesapeake  excited  the  indignation  of  the  whole 
country  ;  both  parties  cordially  united  in  a  desire  that  the  honor  of  the 
country  should  be  avenged.  Many  were  anxious  for  a  declaration  of  war 
with  England,  but  the  president  preferred  a  pacific  course,  and  determined 
to  give  Great  Britain  an  opportunity  of  disavowal  and  reparation.  This 
course  proved  a  wise  one,  as  the  affair  was  finally  amicably  settled,  after 
a  somewhat  tedious  negotiation. 

The  French  emperor,  Napoleon,  was  at  this  period  in  the  full  tide  of 
success  and  conquest,  having  subdued  and  brought  under  his  control  a 
large  part  of  continental  Europe.  But  the  English  navy  had  nearly 
destroyed  the  French  power  at  sea.  The  battle  of  Trafalgar  annihilated 
the  united  fleets  of  France  and  Spain ;  and  all  the  principal  ports  of 
the  French  empire,  with  a  long  extent  of  seacoast,  were  held  in  vigorous 
blockade  by  the  British  squadrons. 

To  retaliate  on  the  British,  the  Emperor  Napoleon  devised  a  new  plan 
of  attack,  which  he  called  the  Continental  System.  The  object  of  this 
scheme  was  to  cut  off  all  intercourse  between  the  continent  of  Europe 
and  Great  Britain,  and  thus  weaken  England  by  destroying  this  portion  of 
her  commerce. 

On  the  21st  of  November,  1806,  Napoleon,  having  defeated  the  Prus- 
sians, and  entered  Berlin,  the  capital  of  that  kingdom,  issued  from  the 
royal  palace  of  that  city  his  celebrated  Berlin  decree ;  by  which  he  de- 
•  Tucker.  t  Sullivan. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  |  255 

clared  the  British  isles  in  a  state  of  blockade ;  and,  consequently,  that 
every  American  or  other  neutral  vessel  going  to,  or  coming  from,  these 
isles,  was  subject  to  capture.  The  same  decree  provided  that  all  mer- 
chandise belonging, to. England,  or  coming  from  its  manufactories,  or  colo- 
nies, although  belonging  to  neutrals,  should  be  lawful  prize  on  land.  This 
provision  was  carried  into  effect. 

General  Armstrong,  American  minister  at  Paris,  regarded  the  Berlin 
decree  at  first  as  inapplicable  to  American  commerce,  on  account  of  the 
treaty  then  existing  between  the  United  States  and  France,  but  in  Oc- 
tobwr,  1807,  in  answer  to  his  inquiry  as  to  the  effect  of  the  decree 
the  French  minister  of  foreign  relations  informed  him  of  his  mistake 
The  condemnation  of  American  vessels  commenced  in  November  fol- 
lowing. 

The  British  government,  in  retaliation  of  Napoleon's  Berlin  decree,  is- 
sued their  famous  orders  in  council,  dated  November  11,  1807.  By  these 
orders,  all  direct  trade  from  America  to  any  part  of  Europe  at  war  with 
Great  Britain,  or  which  excluded  the  British  flag,  was  totally  prohibited. 
Goods,  however,  were  allowed  to  be  landed  in  England,  and,  after  paying 
duties,  might  be  re-exported  to  Europe.  On  the  17th  of  December  suc- 
ceeding, the  orders  in  council  were  followed  by  the  Milan  decree  of  Na- 
poleon, which  declared  that  every  vessel  that  should  submit  to  be  searched 
by  a  British  man-of-war,  or  which  should  touch  at  a  British  port,  or  should 
pay  any  impost  whatever  to  the  British  government,  should  be  denation- 
alized, and  subject  to  seizure  and  condemnation. 

These  edicts  of  the  two  belligerent  powers  were,  of  course,  destructive 
to  the  principal  part  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States.  Amer- 
ican vessels  trading  directly  with  French  ports  were  liable  to  capture  by 
British  cruisers ;  and  if  they  touched  at  a  British  port,  they  were  confis- 
cated on  arriving  in  France.  The  British  orders  in  council  operated  with 
the  most  severity  on  American  commerce,  as  through  their  powerful  navy 
the  English  possessed  the  means  of  enforcing  them. 

The  critical  situation  of  our  foreign  relations  induced  the  president  to 
call  the  tenth  Congress  together  on  the  25th  of  October,  1807.  The  dem- 
ocratic majority  continued  large  in  both  branches.  Joseph  B.  Varnum,  a 
friend  of  the  administration  from  Massachusetts,  was  chosen  speaker  of 
the  house  of  representatives. 

In  consequence  of  the  hostile  edicts  of  France  and  England,  the  presi- 
dent, in  a  confidential  special  message,  on  the  18th  of  December,  recom- 
mended to  Congress  the  passage  of  an  act  laying  an  embargo  on  all  ves- 
sels of  the  United  States.  The  message  did  not  allude  to  the  British  or- 
der in  council,  although  Mr.  Tucker  informs  us  in  his  life  of  Jefferson, 
on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Madison,  then  secretary  of  state,  that  the  govern- 
ment had  received  information,  through  an  authentic  private  channel,  that 
the  British  ministry  had  issued  an  order  against  neutral  commerce,  in  re- 


256  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

taliation  of  the  Berlin  decree  ;  which  information  was  confirmed  by  a 
ministerial  English  newspaper  received  at  the  same  time. 

The  subject  was  immediately  discussed  in  both  houses  of  Congress,  in 
secret  session  ;  and  a  bill  laying  an  embargo  was  passed  on  the  22d  of 
December,  1807,  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  by  a  vote  of  82  to  44.  A  sim- 
ilar bill  had  passed  the  senate  on  the  very  day  the  subject  was  introduced, 
by  a  vote  of  22  to  6.  According  to  this  bill,  all  American  vessels  were 
prohibited  from  sailing  for  foreign  ports ;  all  foreign  vessels  from  taking 
out  cargoes ;  and  all  coasting  vessels  were  required  to  give  bond  to  land 
their  cargoes  in  the  United  States. 

The  embargo  was  violently  opposed  by  the  federal  party  and  their  few 
democratic  associates  in  Congress.  It  was  also  extremely  unpopular 
among  a  large  portion  of-the  people,  particularly  in  the  states  most  inter- 
ested in  commerce  and  navigation. 

The  federalists  throughout  the  United  states,  denounced  the  restrictive 
measures  of  the  administration,  but  the  democratic  party  generally  ap- 
proved of  and  sustained  them.  There  were,  however,  some  exceptions 
even  among  that  party ;  and  in  the  city  of  New  York  a  public  meeting 
was  held,  soon  after  the  passage  of  the  embargo  act  by  Congress,  at  which 
De  Witt  Clinton,  then  a  leading  democrat  in  the  state  of  New  York, 
presided ;  and  at  this  meeting  resolutions  were  adopted  disapproving  of 
the  embargo.  The  American  Citizen,  a  democratic  paper  published  in 
that  city  by  James  Cheetham,  came  out  decidedly  against  the  measure. 
Mr.  Clinton  shortly  afterward  renounced  his  opposition,  and  sustained  this 
and  other  measures  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration. 

Those  who  opposed  the  embargo  policy  believed  it  would  prove  una- 
vailing in  its  influence  to  induce  the  British  ministry  to  adjust  existing 
disputes  with  the  United  States ;  another  objection  to  the  embargo  was, 
that  the  act  contained  no  provision  for  limiting  it  to  a  definite  period.  An 
embargo  had  been  laid  by  the  continental  Congress  early  in  the  war  of  the 
revolution,  and  again  in  1794,  during  the  administration  of  Washington  ;  but 
these  were  limited  to  thirty  or  sixty  days.  The  act  of  1807  was  unlimited 
as  to  the  term  of  its  operation,  and  it  could  not  be  repealed  by  a  majority  vote 
of  Congress,  as  the  act  of  repeal  would  be  subject  to  the  president's  veto, 
after  which  a  two-third  vote  would  be  necessary  in  Congress.  If  it  were 
intended  as  a  measure  of  annoyance  and  injury  to  a  foreign  nation,  it  was 
putting  it  in  the  power  of  the  president  to  make  war ;  and  if  it  were  de- 
signed chiefly  as  a  means  of  safety,  ;•;  was  said,  the  merchants  were  the 
best  judges  as  to  the  risks  and  the  dangers.  And  there  was  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  the  measure  had  been  recommended  and  adopted  at  the  secret 
instance  of  the  French  emperor,  who  sought  to  destroy  the  commerce  of 
Great  Britain ;  and  who  insisted  on  the  co-operation  of  the  United  States, 
directly  or  indirectly,  in  his  plans  to  subjugate  his  enemy.  The  letters 
of  the  American  envoys  in  Paris,  afterward  published,  stated  various  con- 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  257 

vefsations  and  facts  which  showed  that  the  emperor  expected  an  embargo 
would  be  laid  by  the  American  government,  and  that  it  would  meet  his 
approbation.  Napoleon  had  said  that  there  should  be  no  neutrals;  that 
the  United  States  should  be  decided  friends,  or  he  must  treat  them  as  en- 
emies. And  he  predicted  in  October  that  an  embargo  would  be  laid  in 
America,  which  was  done  in  December  following.  Mr.  Jefferson  used 
the  following  language  in  a  confidential  letter  to  the  American  minister  in 
Paris,  in  October,  1808  :  "  Bonaparte  does  not  wish  us  to  go  to  war  with 
England  ;  knowing  we  have  not  ships  sufficient  to  carry  on  such  a  war. 
And  to  submit  to  pay  England  the  tribute  on  our  coirmerce,  which  she 
demands  by  her  orders  in  council,  would  be  to  aid  her  in  the  war  against 
France,  and  would  give  the  emperor  just  ground  to  declare  war  on  us." 

Notwithstanding  the  difficulties  in  which  American  commerce  was  in- 
volved by  the  conduct  of  both  England  and  France,  it  was  the  opinion  of 
men  entitled  to  respect  and  confidence  for  their  good  judgment,  that  nego- 
tiations conducted  in  a  proper  spirit  would  have  prevented  the  difficulties 
and  evils  which  occurred  to  the  United  States ;  and  that  more  decision 
and  firmness  would  have  prevented  war  and  preserved  commercial  pros- 
perity. In  France,  the  American  envoys  expressed  surprise  that  some 
resentment  was  not  manifested  against  the  French  government  by  that  of 
the  United  States.  And  the  American  ministers  in  England  expressly 
declared,  that  a  treaty  might  have  been  made  with  that  government  which, 
if  not  in  all  respects  such  as  was  desired,  might  have  been  accepted  with- 
without  injury  or  dishonor  to  the  United  States.* 

The  embargo  question,  and  subjects  connected  with  it,  occupied  much 
of  the  time  of  this  session  of  Congress,  which  closed  on  the  25th  of  April, 
1808.  The  president,  on  the  2d  of  February,  communicated  to  Congress 
the  British  orders  in  council  of  the  llth  of  November,  and  on  the  17th  of 
March  he  sent  to  that  body  the  Milan  decree  of  Napoleon.  Spain  issued 
similar  decrees  soon  after  the  latter. 

The  committee  of  Congress  to  whom  these  and  other  documents  were 
referred,  made  a  report  on  the  16th  of  April,  recommending  for  the  pres- 
ent a  continuance  of  the  embargo,  but  that  the  president  have  power  to 
suspend  it  until  the  next  session  of  Congress.  A  law  was  therefore 
passed  authorizing  the  executive  to  suspend  the  embargo  act  in  the  event 
of  a  peace  in  Europe,  or  of  favorable  changes  in  the  measures  of  the  bel- 
ligerents affecting  neutral  commerce. 

Some  measures  of  defence  were  adopted  by  Congress ;  such  as  the 
erection  and  repair  of  fortifications  OH  the  seacoast,  and  for  building  and 
manning  a  large  number  of  gunboats ;  for  raising  eight  additional  regi- 
ments of  troops ;  for  detaching  one  hundred  thousand  of  the  militia  for 
service,  if  required,  and  for  arming  the  whole  body  of  the  militia  in  the 
United  States. 

•  Bradford. 
VOL.  I. — 17 


258  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

While  Congress  was  in  session.  Mr.  Rose,  a  special  minister  from 
England,  arrived  at  Norfolk  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  adjusting  the  affair 
of  the  frigate  Chesapeake.  On  arriving  at  Washington  he  opened  a  cor- 
respondence with  Mr.  Madison,  secretary  of  state,  but  as  the  British  envoy 
required,  in  conformity  to  his  instructions,  that  the  president's  proclama- 
tion interdicting  British  vessels-of-war  from  the  harbors  of  the  United 
States,  should  be  withdrawn  before  entering  on  the  subject  of  reparation 
— and  this  being  refused  by  our  government,  the  negotiation  was  broken 
off.  Mr.  Rose,  therefore,  embarked  for  England  about  the  last  of  March, 
in  the  same  frigate  which  brought  him  out. 

This  correspondence  created  a  new  theme  for  discussion  between  the 
two  political  parties  of  the  nation ;  the  federalists  thought  the  administra- 
tion wrong  in  not  revoking  the  proclamation,  while  the  democrats  justified 
the  president  and  secretary  of  state  in  the  course  adopted.  The  federal- 
ists also  asserted  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was  indulging  his  ancient  animosity 
against  England,  and  furthering  the  views  of  France,  and  that  the  em- 
bargo was  recommended  to  the  party  in  power  chiefly  by  its  operating 
more  injuriously  on  England  than  on  her  enemies. 

The  operation  of  the  embargo  law,  although  the  measure  was  sustained  by 
a  majority  of  the  American  people,  was  the  occasion  of  great  distress,  par- 
ticularly among  the  commercial  community,  throuighout  the  United  States, 
and  put  the  patriotism  and  firmness  of  all  to  a  severe  test.  Dependent  as  we 
were  on  foreign  markets  for  the  sale  of  our  redundant  products,  now  that 
we  were  not  permitted  to  export  them,  they  fell  to  half  their  wonted  price, 
and  even  less.  To  many  of  the  producers  they  did  not  repay  the  cost  of 
production.  The  supply  of  foreign  merchandise,  too,  which  habit  had  made 
necessary,  and  of  which  there  was  no  domestic  supply,  or  an  insufficient 
one,  being  cut  off,  its  price  rose  proportionally  high,  and  thus  the  expen- 
ses of  the  agricultural  classes  increased  in  the  same  proportion  that  their 
means  of  defraying  them  diminished.  It  bore  still  harder  on  the  sailors 
and  ship-owners,  who  were  thrown  entirely  out  of  employment — and  here 
the  pressure  was  most  severely  felt  in  the  states  that  were  most  addicted 
to  navigation.  It  is  true  it  operated  as  a  bounty  on  manufactures,  by  ma- 
king them  scarcer  and  dearer,  but  this  at  first  benefited  but  a  small  pro- 
portion of  the  community. 

The  embargo  was  also  severely  felt  by  the  belligerents,  and  especially 
by  England.  The  United  States  were  the  most  extensive  and  profitable 
of  all  the  customers  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  loss  of  our  trade  must  be 
grievously  felt  by  her  manufacturers.  Thus  it  was  a  trial  between  the 
two  nations,  England  and  the  United  States,  who  could  suffer  longest.  In 
this  contest,  however,  we  lay  under  a  disadvantage  ;  for,  in  the  first  place, 
we  deprived  Great  Britain  of  the  trade  of  only  one  nation,  while  we  de- 
prived ourselves  of  the  trade  of  all ;  and  in  the  next,  our  adversaries  could 
procure  cotton  from  Brazil,  Egypt,  and  the  East  Indies,  tobacco  from  South 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  259 

America,  naval  stores  from  Sweden,  lumber  from  Nova  Scotia,  and  grain 
from  the  Baltic,  though  at  a  greater  cost ;  but  we,  exporting  nothing, 
were  unable  to  import  the  woollens,  linens,  silks,  hardware,  and  pottery, 
to  which  we  were  accustomed  and  which  we  had  not  yet  learned  to  make.* 

Another  disadvantage  (noticed  by  the  same  writer)  attending  this  pol- 
icy, was  the  change  of  trade  from  the  United  States,  by  being  forced 
into  new  channels.  Thus  it  was  long  after  the  peace  before  the  West 
Indies  furnished  as  extensive  a  market  for  American  products  as  before 
the  embargo.  Whatever  were  the  hazards  of  capture,  from  the  edicts  of 
the  bell  ;erents,  they  could  be  fairly  estimated  by  the  merchants,  and  to 
prohibi  -hem  from  employing  their  capital  in  this  way  was  to  withhold  from 
them  v  profit  within  their  reach,  and  was  an  injury,  not  only  to  them,  but 
to  th'-  whole  class  of  their  customers,  whether  producers  or  consumers. 
It  w  s  further  injurious  in  increasing  the  profits  of  illicit  trade,  and,  con- 
sequently, the  temptations  to  engage  in  violations  of  the  embargo  law, 
and  smuggling,  to  the  injury  of  patriotic  merchants  and  the  benefit  of 
those  who  disregarded  the  laws. 

The  violent  opposition  to  this  measure  of  the  administration,  gradually 
weakened  the  democratic  party  and  strengthened  the  federalists,  particu- 
larly in  the  middle  and  eastern  states.  Still  the  administration  were  enabled 
to  sustain  themselves  with  a  majority  of  the  people.  In  reference  to  the 
operation  of  the  embargo,  Mr.  Jefferson  remarks,  in  a  letter  to  Doctor 
Leib  on  the  23d  of  June,  1808  :  "  The  federalists  are  now  playing  a  game 
of  the  most  mischievous  tendency,  without,  perhaps,  being  themselves 
aware  of  it.  They  are  endeavoring  to  convince  England  that  we  suffer 
more  by  the  embargo  than  they  do,  and  that,  if  they  will  but  hold  out 
awhile,  we  must  abandon  it.  It  is  true,  the  time  will  come  when  we 
must  abandon  it.  But  if  this  is  before  the  repeal  of  the  orders  in  coun- 
cil, we  must  abandon  it  only  for  a  state  of  war.  The  day  is  not  distant 
when  that  will  be  preferable  to  a  longer  continuance  of  the  embargo.  But 
we  can  never  remove  that,  and  let  our  vessels  go  out  and  be  taken  under 
these  orders,  without  making  reprisal.  I  think  that  in  two  or  three  month? 
we  shall  know  what  will  be  the  issue." 

While  the  nation  was  greatly  agitated  by  the  condition  of  the  country, 
in  view  of  the  critical  state  of  our  foreign  relations,  the  presidential  elec- 
tion came  on.  There  was  some  division  among  the  democrats  in  Virginia 
with  regard  to  a  successor  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  president  of  the  United 
States.  It  had  been  understood  generally  by  the  party  that  Mr.  Madison 
would  be  selected,  but  Mr.  Monroe's  claims  were  strongly  pressed  by  his- 
personal  friends,  among  whom  was  John  Randolph.  On  the  23d  of  Jan- 
uary, 1808,  soon  after  Mr.  Monroe's  return  from  England,  the  friends  of 
each  candidate  tried  their  strength  at  a  caucus  of  the  members  of  the  legis- 
lature of  Virginia,  when  134  declared  in  favor  of  Mr.  Madison,  and  47 

•  Tucker. 


260  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

for  Nir.  monroe.  A  caucus  of  the  democratic  members  of  Congress  was 
held  at  Washington  on  the  same  night,  when  Mr.  Madison  received  83 
votes,  Mr.  Monroe  3,  and  George  Clinton  3.  Mr.  Madison  was  therefore 
nominated  for  president ;  at  the  same  time,  George  Clinton  was  nominated 
for  re-election  as  vice-president. 

When  the  election  came  on,  James  Madison  received  122  electoral 
votes  for  president,  and  George  Clinton  113  votes  for  vice-president.  The 
federal  candidates,  Charles  C.  Pinckney  for  president,  and  Rufus  King 
for  vice-president,  received  each  47  votes.  Of  the  democratic  votes,  6 
were  given  to  George  Clinton  for  president ;  and  for  vice-president.  9  were 
given  to  John  Langdon,  3  to  James  Madison,  and  3  to  James  Monroe. 
The  states  which  supported  the  federal  candidates  were  New  Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  and  Delaware  ;  also 
two  districts  in  Maryland,  and  three  in  North  Carolina. 

General  Armstrong,  the  American  minister  at  Paris,  in  1808,  in  pursu- 
ance of  his  instructions,  remonstrated  with  M.  Champagny,  the  French 
minister  of  foreign  relations,  against  the  condemnations  of  American  ves- 
sels and  cargoes  under  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees,  which  he  showed 
to  be  clear  infractions  of  the  treaty  of  1800.  To  the  several  remonstran- 
ces made  by  the  American  minister  against  the  captures  and  burning  of 
American  property,  no  answer  was  given  by  the  French  government. 

Mr.  Madison,  secretary  of  state,  wrote  to  General  Armstrong  on  the 
29th  of  May,  1 808,  to  inform  him  of  the  power  given  to  the  president  to 
suspend  the  embargo,  and  requested  him  to  inform  the  French  government 
that  the  effect  of  revoking  her  decrees  would  be  to  compel  Great  Britain 
to  follow  her  example,  or  to  be  at  war  with  the  United  Stales ;  and  on  the 
other  hand,  should  Great  Britain  revoke  her  orders  in  council,  France 
could  not  persist  in  her  decrees  without  forcing  a  contest  with  the  United 
States. 

Thus,  instead  of  a  suspension  of  the  embargo,  as  to  France,  on  repeal- 
ing her  decrees,  it  was  supposed  that  a  sufficient  inducement  might  be 
presented  in  other  considerations.  War  with  Great  Britain  was,  in  short, 
indicated  as  the  consequence  of  such  repeal.  This  offer  was  unnoticed 
by  the  French  minister. 

Mr.  Pinkney,  the  American  minister  in  London,  in  writing  to  Mr.  Can- 
ning, the  British  minister,  as  instructed,  stated  explicitly,  that  on  Great 
Britain  rescinding  her  orders  in  relation  to  the  United  States,  they  would 
open  their  trade  with  her,  and  keep  it  shut  to  her  enemy,  if  he  failed  also 
to  rescind  his  decrees.  This  offer  was  unhesitatingly  rejected.  Mr. 
Canning,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Pinkney,  in  September,  1808,  said,  that  as  the 
application  made  to  the  French  government  by  the  United  States  had  not 
met  with  a  favorable  reception,  his  majesty  (the  king  of  England)  could 
not  change  his  course.  That  he  saw  nothing  in  the  embargo  to  induce 
the  change.  If  it  were  regarded  as  a  measure  of  hostility,  it  was  mani- 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  261 

festly  unjust  toward  him.  The  redress  should  be  first  made  by  the  party 
originating  the  wrong.  He  professes  every  disposition  to  be  on  amicable 
terms  with  the  United  States  ;  says  the  depression  of  other  countries  is 
not  desired  by  his  nation ;  that  the  prosperity  of  America  is  essentially 
that  of  Great  Britain,  and  her  strength  and  power  are  not  for  herself,  but 
for  the  world.  That  when  a  readjustment  of  the  present  differences  should 
take  place,  both  nations  would  better  appreciate  the  value  of  each  other's 
friendship. 

The  correspondence  betwen  Mr.  Pinkney  and  Mr.  Canning,  extending 
through  a  series  of  letters,  was  unsatisfactory,  and  led  to  no  result.  The 
letters  of  the  British  minister  are  more  remarkable  for  a  display  of  wit 
and  sarcasm,  than  for  those  qualities  which  might  be  expected  to  distin- 
guish a  practical  statesman  of  the  admitted  talents  of  Mr.  Canning. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  1808,  Congress  assembled,  at  the  time  ap- 
pointed at  the  last  session,  and  on  the  8th  Mr.  Jefferson  sent  to  both 
houses  his  last  annual  message. 

The  subject  of  the  foreign  relations  was,  on  the  llth  of  November,  re- 
ferred to  a  committee  of  the  house  of  representatives,  who,  on  the  22d, 
made  a  report,  concluding  with  three  resolutions  submitted  for  the  consid- 
eration of  the  house  :  1st.  That  the  United  States  could  not,  without  a 
sacrifice  of  their  rights,  honor,  and  independence,  submit  to  the  late  edicts 
of  Great  Britain  and  France.  2d.  That  it  was  expedient  to  prohibit  the 
admission  of  either  the  ships  or  merchandise  of  those  belligerents  into  the 
ports  of  the  United  States.  3d.  That  the  country  ought  to  be  immediately 
placed  in  a  state  of  defence. 

After  a  protracted  debate,  the  first  two  resolutions  were  passed,  by 
three  fourths  of  the  votes,  and  the  last  unanimously. 

A  similar  debate  on  the  same  subject,  in  the  senate,  was  introduced  by 
a  motion  to  repeal  the  embargo  law.  The  motion  was  supported  by  its 
mover,  Mr.  Hillhouse,  of  Connecticut,  and  by  Messrs.  Pickering  and 
Lloyd,  of  Massachusetts,  and  White,  of  Delaware.  It  was  opposed  by 
Messrs.  Pope,  of  Kentucky,  Smith,  of  Maryland,  Crawford,  of  Georgia, 
and  Moore  and  Giles,  of  Virginia.  The  question  on  the  resolution  was 
taken  on  the  2d  of  December,  when  it  appeared  that  there  were  but  six 
votes  in  its  favor,  to  twenty-five  against  it. 

In  pursuance  of  the  third  resolution  adopted  by  the  house,  the  sum  of 
four  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  to  forti- 
fications, principally  at  New  York  ;  four  frigates  were  ordered  to  be 
equipped  in  addition  to  the  naval  force  already  in  service  ;  three  thousand 
six  hundred  seamen  to  be  enlisted,  in  addition  to  those  already  in  service, 
and  an  addition  was  made  to  the  marine  corps. 

While  the  report  which  earnestly  urged  the  impolicy  of  repealing 
the  embargo  act  was  adopted  by  so  large  a  majority,  the  greater  part  even 
of  the  friends  of  the  administration  had  no  expectation  that  it  would  be 


262  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

continued  many  months  longer.  Some  thought  it  ought  to  be  repealed  in 
the  spring,  but  none  were  desirous  of  extending  it  further  than  the  1st  of 
September.  Looking  forward  to  the  change  of  policy,  various  expedients 
connected  with  the  repeal  were  proposed,  but  neither  of  these  propositions 
according  with  the  views  of  a  large  majority,  they  were  all  postponed  on 
he  10th  of  February,  by  65  votes  to  55.* 

In  the  meanwhile  the  embargo  was  pressing  with  increasing  severity  on 
every  class  of  the  community,  whether  producers  or  consumers,  and  this 
pressure  drove  the  people  of  New  England,  where  the  embargo  was  most 
felt,  to  a  point  of  disaffection  which  had  never  before  been  witnessed  in 
the  United  States.  Many,  therefore,  entertained  strong  hopes  that  some 
course  would  be  taken  during  the  present  session,  by  which  the  industry 
and  enterprise  of  the  country  might  be  again  put  into  activity,  its  vessels 
be  once  more  suffered  to  venture  on  the  ocean,  and  perhaps  be  permitted 
to  arm  in  their  own  defence,  if  not  to  make  reprisals.  Among  the  many 
objections  to  the  embargo,  there  was  one  which  operated  strongly  on  its 
friends,  and  that  was  the  frequency  with  which  it  was  violated.  There 
were  also  many  cases  in  which  the  law  was  clandestinely  evaded.  The 
majority  of  Congress  who  were  willing  to  try  it  longer,  rather  than  resort 
to  war,  passed  a  law  during  this  session,  which  armed  the  executive  with 
new  powers  for  enforcing  it. 

The  administration  and  the  majority  who  supported  it  were,  before  Con- 
gress rose,  turned  from  the  purpose  of  trying  the  embargo  a  few  months 
longer,  from  fear  of  the  growing  disaffection  of  the  New  England  states. 

It  has  appeared  by  subsequent  disclosures,  that  in  the  month  of  Febru- 
ary, Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  had  supported  the  administration  in  the 
embargo  and  other  measures  of  policy,  ever  since  the  affair  of  the  Ches- 
apeake, and  who,  finding  his  course  was  not  approved  by  the  legislature 
of  Massachusetts,  had  resigned  his  seat  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States, 
made  to  the  president  a  communication  to  the  following  effect,  namely  : 
that  from  information  received  by  him,  and  which  might  be  relied  on,  it 
was  the  determination  of  the  ruling  party  in  Massachusetts,  and  even 
New  England  (federalists),  if  the  embargo  was  persisted  in,  no  longer  to 
submit  to  it,  bul-to  separate  themselves  from  the  Union ;  at  least  until  the 
existing  obstacles  to  commerce  were  removed ;  that  the  plan  was  already 
digested,  and  that  such  was  the  pressure  of  the  embargo  on  the  commu- 
nity, that  they  would  be  supported  by  the  people. 

The  danger  thus  threatening  the  Union  was  deemed  paramount  to  all 
other  considerations,  and  the  president,  with  his  cabinet,  concluded  that  it 
would  be  better,  to  modify  their  interdiction  of  commerce  in  such  a  way 
that,  while  employment  was  afforded  to  American  vessels,  Great  Britain 
and  France  should  still  feel  the  loss  of  American  commerce.  Congress 
accordingly  passed  a  law  for  repealing  the  embargo  after  the  15th  of  March 

•  Tucker. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSOX.  263 

as  to  all  nations  except  France  and  Great  Britain,  and  interdicting  with 
them  all  commercial  intercourse  whatever,  whether  by  exporting  or  im- 
porting, either  directly  or  circuitously.  This  measure  has  always  since 
gone  under  the  name  of  the  non-intercourse  law.  It  passed  the  house  of 
representatives  on  the  27th  of  February,  by  81  votes  to  40,  and  became  a 
law  on  the  1st  of  March,  1809.  The  repeal  of  the  embargo  took  effect  on 
the  15th  of  the  same  month. 

It  is  not  known  whether  the  information  thus  communicated  by  Mr. 
Adams  was  entirely  accurate,*  but  that  the  growing  discontents  of  the 
country  made  some  change  expedient,  would  seem  to  be  very  reasonable. 
In  most  of  the  state  legislatures  of  New  England  there  was  a  systematic 
purpose  to  defeat  the  measures  of  the  general  government,  especially  in 

*  The  following  statement  was  authorized  by  Mr.  Adams,  and  published  in  the  National 
Intelligencer  of  October  21,  1828,  and  repnblished  in  Niles's  Register,  vol.  xxxv.,  p.  138  : — 

"  At  the  session  of  Congress  which  commenced  in  November,  ^808,  Mr.  Adams  was  a  pri- 
vate citizen,  residing  at  Boston.  The  embargo  was  still  in  force,  operating  with  extreme 
pressure  upon  the  interests  of  the  people,  and  was  viewed  as  a  most  effective  instrument  by 
the  party  prevailing  in  the  state  against  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  The  people 
were  constantly  instigated  to  forcible  resistance  against  it,  and  juries  after  juries  acquitted  the 
violators  of  it,  upon  the  ground  that  it  was  unconstitutional,  assumed  in  the  face  of  a  solemn 
decision  of  the  district  court  of  the  United  States.  A  separation  of  the  Union  was  openly 
stimulated  in  the  public  prints,  and  a  convention  of  delegates  of  the  New  England  states,  to 
meet  at  New  Haven,  was  intended  and  proposed. 

"  Mr.  Giles,  and  several  other  members  of  Congress,  during  this  session,  wrote  to  Mr.  Ad- 
ams confidential  letters,  informing  him  of  the  various  measures  proposed  as  reinforcements  or 
substitutes  for  the  embargo,  and  soliciting  his  opinions  upon  the  subject  He  answered  these 
letters  with  frankness,  and  in  confidence.  He  earnestly  recommended  the  substitution  of  the 
non-intercourse  for  the  embargo  ;  and,  in  giving  his  reasons  for  this  preference,  was  necessa- 
rily led  to  enlarge  npon  the  views  and  purposes  of  certain  leaders  of  the  party  which  had  the 
management  of  the  state  legislature  in  their  hands.  He  urged  that  a  continuance  of  the  em- 
bargo much  longer  would  certainly  be  met  by  forcible  resistance,  supported  by  the  legislature, 
and  probably  by  the  judiciary  of  the  state.  That  to  quell  that  resistance,  if  force  should  be 
resorted  to  by  the  government,  it  would  produce  a  civil  war  ;  and  that  in  that  event,  he  had 
no  doubt  the  leaders  of  the  party  would  secure  the  co  operation  with  them  of  Great  Britain. 
That  their  object  was,  and  had  been  for  several  years,  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  the  es-  '; 
tablishment  of  a  separate  confederation,  be  knew  from  unequivocal  evidence,  although  not  (_ 
proveable  in  a  court  of  law ;  and  that,  in  the  case  of  a  civil  war,  the  aid  of  Great  Britain  to  ef-  • 
feet  that  purpose  would  be  as  surely  resorted  to,  as  it  would  be  indispensably  necessary  to  the 
design.  That  these  letters  to  Mr.  Giles  were  by  him  communicated  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  Mr.  Ad- 
ams believes.  He  believes,  likewise,  that  other  letters  from  him  to  other  members  of  Con- 
gress, written  during  the  same  session  and  upon  the  same  subject,  were  also  communicated  to 
him.  In  one  of  the  letters  to  Mr.  Giles  he  repeated  an  assurance  which  he  had  verbally  given 
him  during  the  preceding  session  of  Congress,  that  he  had  for  his  support  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  ad- 
ministration no  personal  or  interested  motive,  and  no  favor  to  ask  of  him  whatever." 

On  being  called  upon  in  November,  1828,  by  Hon.  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  William  Prescott, 
William  Sullivan,  and  other  leading  federalists  of  Massachusetts,  to  furnish  his  proofs  relative 
to  the  charges  made  by  him  of  a  design  by  the  leaders  of  the  federal  party  in  Massachusetts  to 
effect  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  in  1808,  Mr.  Adams  declined  to  do  so  at  that  time,  but  intima- 
ted that  at  gome  future  day  a  sense  of  duty  might  reqn>e  him  to  disclose  the  evidence  which 
he  possessed  on  the  subject  The  correspondence  was  published  in  Niles's  Register,  vol.  xxxv. 
In  their  letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  Messrs.  Otis  and  others  declare,  that  "  they  have  never  known 
nor  suspected  the  p«rty  which  prevailed  in  Massachusetts  in  1808,  or  any  other  party  in  this 
•tale,  ever  entertained  the  detign  to  produce  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  or  the  establishment 
of  a  separate  confederation." 


264  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON. 

preventing  the  execution  of  the  law  last  enacted  for  enforcing  the  embar- 
go. In  Connecticut  a  law  was  passed  to  prevent  those  searches  in  pri- 
vate houses,  which  the  act  of  Congress  authorized  under  particular  cir- 
cumstances.* 

The  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson  terminated  on  the  3d  of  March, 
1809.  He  received  addresses  from  the  legislatures  of  the  states  of  Ver- 
mont, New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Georgia,  and  from  the 
senate  of  New  York,  and  the  house  of  delegates  of  Virginia,  to  serve  a 
third  term,  but  he  chose  to  decline  being  again  a  candidate,  offering  as  a 
reason  a  desire  to  conform  to  the  precedent  made  by  General  Washing- 
ton. In  his  correspondence  with  his  friends  at  the  time,  he  expressed 
his  gratification  at  being  enabled  to  retire  to  private  life.  After  waiting 
to  witness  the  inauguration  of  his  successor,  he  left  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment for  his  favorite  seat  of  Monticello. 

At  the  period  when  Mr.  Jefferson  resigned  the  reins  of  government  into 
the  hands  of  his  chosen  friend,  Mr.  Madison,  the  country  was  involved  in 
gloom  and  despondency.  A  report  of  a  committee  of  the  legislature  of 
Massachusetts,  in  January,  1 809,  drew  the  following  picture  of  the  stale 
of  the  country  at  that  time  : — 

"  Our  agriculture  is  discouraged.  The  fisheries  abandoned.  Naviga- 
tion forbidden.  Our  commerce  at  home  restrained,  if  not  annihilated. 
Our  commerce  abroad  cut  off.  Our  navy  sold,  dismantled,  or  degraded  to 
the  service  of  cutters  or  gunboats.  -The  revenue  extinguished.  The 
course  of  justice  interrupted.  And  the  nation  weakened  by  internal  ani- 
mosities and  divisions,  at  the  moment  when  it  is  unnecessarily  and  im- 
providently  exposed  to  war  with  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Spain." 

Such  were  the  views  of  the  opponents  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administra- 
tion, when  it  was  about  to  close.  The  principal  benefits  accomplished  by 
him  and  his  cabinet,  during  the  eight  years  while  the  power  of  the  gov- 
ernment was  in  their  hands,  as  claimed  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
were,  first,  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  by  which  more  than  a  million  of 
square  miles  were  added  to  the  national  domain,  and  the  free  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  secured  ;  which  also  settled  a  troublesome  and  threat- 
ening controversy  with  Spain,  and  removed  the  powerful  and  dangerous 
neighborhood  of  France  ;  second,  the  surveys  of  the  coast  and  the  exploring 
expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clarke,  which  added  greatly  to  the  geographical 
knowledge  of  the  country  ;  third,  the  administration  had  done  much  to 
advance  the  Indians  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  had  obtained  their 
voluntary  relinquishment  of  their  title  to  ninety-six  millions  of  acres ;  it 
had  also  the  merit  of  compelling  the  Barbary  powers  to  respect  the  flag 
of  the  United  States. 

It  is  also  claimed  for  Mr.  Jefferson,  by  his  friends,  as  stated  by  his 
biographer,  Professor  Tucker,  that  he  gave  a  practical  illustration  of  the 

•  Tucker. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JEFFERSON.  265 

great  political  maxims  from  which  our  civil  institutions  take  their  shape 
and  derive  their  force  ;  that  government  was  instituted  for  the  benefit  of 
the  governed,  and,  consequently,  that  its  power  is  not  a  property  in  those 
who  administer  it,  but  a  trust  for  the  public  good ;  that  as  power  is  grate- 
ful in  itself,  and  its  exercise  always  more  or  less  conflicts  with  the  inter- 
ests or  wishes  of  others,  it  should  be  as  sparingly  delegated  and  as  for- 
bearingly  exerted  as  is  consistent  with  the  great  purposes  of  peace  and 
security. 

In  conformity  with  these  maxims  (the  same  writer  remarks),  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson made  no  attempt,  and  exhibited  no  desire  to  enlarge  the  powers  of 
the  executive,  and  never  exercised  them  for  the  benefit  of  himself  or  of 
his  family. 

The  biographer  of  Mr.  Jefferson  has  not  thought  proper  to  define,  in 
the  partialities  of  his  friendship,  the  improvements,  if  any,  which  that 
president  introduced,  in  administering  the  government,  on  the  system  and 
views  of  General  Washington,  nor  has  he  stated  in  what  respects  the  ad- 
ministration of  Washington,  and  his  constructions  of  the  constitution  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  framers,  was  not  a  safe  model  for  his  successors. 
A  recent  impartial  writer,  in  drawing  a  parallel  between  Washington  and 
Jefferson,  remarks  as  follows.  It  is  from  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  published  in  Philadelphia,  by  J.  G.  Russell,  1844  :  — 

"  The  superiority  of  Washington's  statesmanship  seems  to  be  shown  in 
he  peculiar  adaptation  of  his  policy  to  the  special  object  of  the  federal 
constitution,  which  was  the  vigor  and  efficiency  of  the  government,  in 
contradistinction  to  the  laxity  of  principle  and  looseness  of  the  parts  in 
the  old  confederacy.  Let  us  suppose  that  Mr.  Jefferson  had  been  cho- 
sen to  carry  into  practice  the  first  experiment  of  the  government,  instead 
of  Washington,  and  that  he  had  applied  his  system  of  state-rights  and  pop- 
ular interference  to  the  new  machine  which  the  federal  convention  had 
just  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  executive.  Is  it  not  self-evident  that,  for 
want  of  vigor  and  energy,  the  constitution  would  have  crumbled  to  pieces 
in  his  hands,  and  left  him  in  possession  only  of  the  fragments  of  the  old 
confederacy  ?  For  that  is  certainly  the  true  system  of  the  government 
which  fulfils  its  great  ends  ;  and  that,  of  course,  must  be  the  spurious  doc- 
trine which  baffles  and  defeats  the  object  had  in  view  by  those  who  framed 
it.  The  difference  in  the  crisis,  and  the  remote  stages  of  the  two  admin- 
istrations can  not  affect  this  principle.  A  government  of  laws  must  have 
the  principle  of  energy  and  coercion  ;  and  it  was  the  concentration  of  this 
energy  in  a  federal  government  which  the  convention  gave,  and  which,  to 
carry  out  into  perfection,  induced  the  Washington  policy.  It  does  ap- 
pear, therefore,  that  Mr.  Jefferson's  was  anomalous  and  not  congenial  to 
the  constitution,  but  a  policy  formed  in  accordance  with  the  constant  and 
living^ current _of .popular  opinion  ;  a  policy  for  the  people,  not JJQrJhe  con- 
stitution ;  a  policy  framed  to  gain  popularity,  not  to  cement,  fulfil,  or  con 


266  ADMINISTRATfON    OF    JEFFERSON. 

summate  the  fabric  and  purposes  of  the  government.  It  appears,  therefore, 
to  be  rather  the  policy  of  the  politician  than  the  policy  of  the  statesman,  the 
legislator,  the  lawgiver,  or  the  patriot,  who  looks  beyond  the  bounds  of  pres- 
ent praise  to  the  final  consequences  of  civilization  and  liberty.  Yet  even  this 
anomalous  policy  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  so  far  from  being  incompatible  with  hu- 
man Happiness  and  permanent  freedom,  is  admirably  calculated  to  secure 
those  objects,  provided  the  people  are  sufficiently  virtuous  to  be  governed  by 
opinion  instead  of  law.  It  implies,  in  the  people,  the  highest  perfection 
of  virtue  and  intelligence,  and,  leaving  nothing  to  coercion,  places  the 
safety  of  society  at  the  mercy  of  their  discretion,  wisdom,  prudence,  and 
virtue.  It  implies  that  power  will  be  so  honest  as  to  commit  no  usurpa- 
tion, and  that  the  people  will  be  so  virtuous  as  to  abstain  from  all  violence, 
licentiousness,  and  disorder !  but  this  is  supposing  the  very  effect  that 
government  is  intended  to  secure.^  We  have  many  declarations  under  Mr. 
Jefferson's  pen,  which  show  that  he  had  not  considered  the  scientific  prin- 
ciples of  his  system  so  profoundly  as  he  had  studied  its  impression  on  the 
minds  of  the  people ;  and  seeing  it  well  received  by  them,  he  determined 
to  adhere  to  it.  So  that  in  effect  there  was  this  difference  in  Washington 
and  Jefferson,  as  statesmen — that  the  former  rescued  the  republic  from  the 
chaos  of  the  old  confederation  to  the  coercive  government  of  the  federal 
constitution,  and  the  latter  reconducted  us  to  the  chaos  of  the  confederacy 
through  the  currents  of  popular  opinion,  ideas  of  unbounded  liberty,  im- 
plicit confidence  in  the  virtues  of  the  people,  and  an  unlimited  faith  in 
their  intelligence,  and  capacity  for  self-government." 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH 


OF 


JAMES     MADISON 


JAMES  MADISON,  the  fourth  president  of  the  United  States,  was  born  in 
Orange  county,  Virginia,  on  the  16th  of  March,  1751.  His  father  was 
James  Madison,  the  family  being  of  Welsh  descent,  and  among  the  early 
emigrants  to  Virginia.  The  subject  of  the  present  sketch  studied  the 
English,  Latin,  Greek,  French,  and  Italian  languages,  and  was  fitted  for 
college  under  the  tuition  of  Mr.  Robertson,  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Martin,  a  Jerseyman.  He  graduated  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey, 
in  1771  ;  and  afterward  remained  a  year  at  college,  pursuing  his  studies 
under  the  superintendence  of  Doctor  Witherspoon,  president  of  the  insti- 
tution. His  constitution  was  impaired  by  close  application  to  his  studies, 
and  his  health  was,  for  many  years,  feeble.  Returning  to  Virginia,  he  com- 
menced the  practice  of  the  law,  but  the  scenes  of  the  revolution  left  but 
little  opportunity  for  the  quiet  pursuits  of  private  life,  and  his  talents  being 
soon  appreciated  by  his  neighbors,  he  was  called  into  the  public  service 
at  an  early  age.  In  1776  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  general  assem- 
bly of  Virginia,  and  in  1778  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  executive  coun- 
cillors. In  the  winter  of  1779-'80  he  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
tinental Congress,  of  which  body  he  continued  an  active  and  prominent 
member  till  1784.  In  January,  1786,  the  legislature  of  Virginia  appointed 
Mr.  Madison  one  of  their  delegates  to  a  convention  of  commissioners,  or 
delegates,  from  the  several  states,  to  meet  at  Annapolis,  Maryland,  the  en- 
suing September,  to  devise  a  uniform  system  of  commercial  regulations 
which  should  be  binding  on  the  whole  confederacy,  when  ratified  by  all  the 
states.  Only  five  states  were  represented  in  this  convention,  but  the  mem- 
bers present  took  a  step  which  led  to  important  results.  They  recom- 
mended a  convention  of  delegates  from  all  the  states,  to  be  held  at  Phila- 
delphia, in  May,  1787,  to  take  into  consideration  the  situation  of  the 
United  States,  to  devise  such  further  provisions  as  should  appear  to  them 


268  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MADISON. 

necessary  to  render  the  constitution  of  the  federal  government  adequate  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  Union.  Of  that  convention,  which  framed  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Madison  was  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished members.  He  took  a  leading  part  in  the  debates  on  the  various 
plans  of  a  constitution  submitted  to  the  convention,  and  to  his  efforts  in 
maturing  the  constitution  as  finally  adopted,  the  country  is  greatly  indebt- 
ed. He  took  notes  of  the  proceedings  and  debates  of  the  convention, 
which,  since  his  death,  have  been  published,  forming  a  valuable  text-book 
for  American  statesmen. 

In  the  convention,  Mr.  Madison  generally  coincided  with  General 
Washington  and  other  members  in  their  views  in  favor  of  a  strong  national 
government.  A  paper  in  the  handwriting  of  General  Washington,  and 
found  among  the  documents  left  by  him,  contains  a  summary  of  Mr.  Mad- 
ison's opinions  on  the  subject  of  a  form  of  constitution  to  be  proposed.  It 
is  the  substance  of  a  letter  received  by  Washington  from  Mr.  Madison,  a 
short  time  previous  to  the  assembling  of  the  convention  at  Philadelphia, 
and  has  been  published  in  the  North  American  Review,  volume  xxxv.,  as 
follows : — 

"Mr.  Madison  thinks  an  individual  independence  of -the  states  utterly 
irreconcilable  with  their  aggregate  sovereignty,  and  that  a  consolidation  of 
the  whole  into  one  simple  republic  would  be  as  inexpedient  as  it  is  unat- 
tainable. He  therefore  proposes  a  middle  ground,  which  may  at  once 
support  a  due  supremacy  of  the  national  authority,  and  not  exclude  the 
local  authorities  whenever  they  can  be  subordinately  useful. 

"  As  the  groundwork,  he  proposes  that  a  change  be  made  in  the  princi- 
ple of  representation,  and  thinks  there  would  be  no  great  difficulty  in 
effecting  it. 

"  Next,  that,  in  addition  to  the  present  federal  powers,  the  national  gov- 
ernment should  be  armed  with  positive  and  complete  authority  in  all  cases 
which  require  uniformity ;  such  as  regulation  of  trade,  including  the  right 
of  taxing  both  exports  and  imports,  the  fixing  the  terms  and  forms  of  nat- 
uralization, &c. 

"  Over  and  above  this  positive  power,  a  negative  in  all  cases  whatever 
on  the  legislative  acts  of  the  states,  as  heretofore  exercised  by  the  kingly 
prerogative,  appears  to  him  absolutely  necessary,  and  to  be  the  least  pos- 
sible encroachment  on  the  state  jurisdictions.  Without  this  defensive 
power  he  conceives  that  every  positive  law  which  can  be  given  on  paper, 
will  be  evaded. 

"  This  control  over  the  laws  would  prevent  the  internal  vicissitudes  of 
state  policy,  and  the  aggressions  of  interested  majorities. 

"  The  national  supremacy  ought  also  to  be  extended,  he  thinks,  to  the 
judiciary  departments ;  the  oaths  of  the  judges  should  at  least  include  a 
fidelity  to  the  general  as  well  as  local  constitution  ;  and  that  an  appeal 
should  be  to  some  national  tribunals  in  all  cases  to  which  foreigners  or  in- 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MADISON.  269 

habitants  of  other  states  may  be  parties.  The  admiralty  jurisdictions  to 
fall  entirely  within  the  purview  of  the  national  government. 

"  The  national  supremacy  in  the  executive  departments  is  liable  to  some 
difficulty,  unless  the  officers  administering  them  could  be  made  appointa- 
ble  by  the  supreme  government.  The  militia  ought  entirely  to  be  placed, 
in  some  form  or  other,  under  the  authority  which  is  intrusted  with  the 
general  protection  and  defence. 

"  A  government  composed  of  such  extensive  powers  should  be  well  or- 
ganized and  balanced. 

"  The  legislative  department  might  be  divided  into  two  branches,  one 
of  them  chosen  every  —  years,  by  the  people  at  large,  or  by  the  legisla- 
tures ;  the  other  to  consist  of  fewer  members,  to  hold  their  places  for  a 
longer  term,  and  to  go  out  in  such  rotation  as  always  to  leave  in  office  a 
large  majority  of  old  members. 

"  Perhaps  the  negative  on  the  laws  might  be  most  conveniently  exer- 
cised by  this  branch. 

"  As  a  further  check,  a  council  of  revision,  including  the  great  ministe- 
rial officers,  might  be  superadded. 

"  A  national  executive  must  also  be  provided.  He  has  scarcely  ven- 
tured as  yet  to  form  his  own  opinion,  either  of  the  manner  in  which  it 
ought  to  be  constituted,  or  of  the  authorities  with  which  it  ought  to  be 
clothed. 

"  An  article  should  be  inserted,  expressly  guarantying  the  tranquillity 
of  the  states  against  internal  as  well  as  external  dangers. 

"  In  like  manner,  the  right  of  coercion  should  be  expressly  declared. 
With  the  resources  of  commerce  in  hand,  the  national  administration 
might  always  find  means  of  exerting  it  either  by  sea  or  land ;  but  the  dif- 
ficulty and  awkwardness  of  operating  by  force  on  the  collective  will  of  a 
state,  render  it  particularly  desirable  that  the  necessity  of  it  might  be  pre- 
cluded. Perhaps  the  negative  on  the  laws  might  create  such  a  mutual 
dependence  between  the  general  and  particular  authorities  as  to  answer ; 
or  perhaps  some  defined  objects  of  taxation  might  be  submitted  along  with 
commerce,  to  the  general  authority. 

"  To  give  a  new  system  its  proper  validity  and  energy,  a  ratification 
must  be  obtained  from  the  people,  and  not  merely  from  the  ordinary  au- 
thority of  the  legislature.  This  will  be  the  more  essential,  as  inroads  on 
the  existing  constitutions  of  the  states  will  be  unavoidable." 

The  foregoing  views  of  Mr.  Madison,  expressed  by  him  before  the  con- 
stitution was  formed,  are  highly  interesting,  as  evincing  a  remarkable  de- 
gree of  foresight  and  political  wisdom,  and  forming  the  basis  of  the  prin- 
cipal features  of  the  constitution  as  finally  adopted  by  the  convention. 

The  constitution  having  passed  the  ordeal  of  the  national  convention,  in 
September,  1787,  was  next,  by  the  recommendation  of  that  body,  submit- 
ted to  conventions  elected  by  the  people  of  the  several  states,  for  their 


270  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MADISON 

consideration.  Mr.  Madison  was  elected  a  member  of  the  convention  of 
Virginia,  chosen  for  that  purpose,  and  here  his  best  efforts  were  again 
called  into  requisition,  to  secure  the  sanction  of  his  native  state  to  a  meas- 
ure which  he  deemed  of  the  most  vital  importance  to  the  interests  of  the 
whole  Union.  In  this  state  convention  of  Virginia  were  assembled  some 
of  the  most  able  and  talented  of  her  sons,  including  many  of  the  patriots 
of  the  revolution,  and  others  renowned  for  wisdom  and  eloquence ;  but 
with  widely  discordant  views  on  the  subject  of  a  form  of  national  govern- 
ment. Among  those  who  acted  with  Mr.  Madison  in  advocating  the 
adoption  of  the  constitution,  were  John  Marshall,  Edmund  Pendleton, 
George  Wythe,  and  Edmund  Randolph  ;  while  Patrick  Henry,  James 
Monroe,  William  Grayson,  and  George  Mason,  were  among  the  oppo- 
nents. The  question  was  finally  carried  in  favor  of  adoption  by  89  votes 
to  79. 

Notwithstanding  the  triumph  of  the  federalists,  as  the  friends  of  the  con- 
stitution were  then  called,  in  the  convention  of  Virginia,  the  anti-federal- 
ists held  the  majority  in  the  legislature.  An  attempt  to  elect  Mr.  Mad- 
ison to  the  senate  of  the  United  States  was,  therefore,  unsuccessful, 
Messrs.  Grayson  and  R.  H.  Lee  being  preferred.  Mr.  Madison  was,  how- 
ever, elected  by  the  people  of  one  of  the  congressional  districts,  a  member 
of  the  house  of  representatives,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  new  Congress,  at 
New  York,  in  April,  1789.  In  that  body  he  bore  an  active  and  leading  part 
in  the  adoption  of  measures  for  the  organization  of  the  government.  He 
continued  a  distinguished  member  of  Congress  during  the  eight  years  of 
General  Washington's  administration,  which  terminated  in  March,  1797. 
He  opposed  the  funding  system,  the  national  bank,  and  other  measures  of 
the  administration  which  originated  with  Hamilton,  secretary  of  the  treas- 
ury ;  acting  generally  with  the  anti-federalists,  who  sustained  the  views  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  then  secretary  of  state  ;  notwithstanding  Madison  had  been 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  champions  of  the  constitution  previous  to  its 
adoption,  and  was  associated  with  Hamilton  and  Jay  in  the  production  of 
the  celebrated  essays  called  "  The  Federalist,"  which  had  an  important  in- 
fluence with  the  people,  in  favor  of  the  constitution. 

In  1794,  being  then  in  his  forty-third  year,  Mr.  Madison  married  Mrs. 
Dolly  Paine  Todd,  of  Philadelphia,  the  widow  of  a  lawyer  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, who  died  in  less  than  three  years  after  her  first  marriage.  This 
lady's  maiden  name  was  Paine  ;  and  her  father,  who  belonged  to  the  soci- 
ety of  Friends,  had  removed  from  Virginia  to  Philadelphia.  She  was 
about  twenty  years  younger  than  Mr.  Madison,  and  still  survives.  She 
was  always  admired  for  her  agreeable  manners,  her  fine  person,  and  tal- 
ents in  conversation.  With  an  amiable  disposition,  a  mild  and  dignified 
deportment,  few  American  ladies  have  been  more  distinguished  than  Mrs. 
Madison,  in  the  various  and  high  stations  she  has  been  called  to  occupy 
and  adorn  through  life 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MADISON.  271 

In  January,  1794,  Mr.  Madison  introduced  into  the  house  of  representa- 
tives a  series  of  resolutions  on  the  subject  of  the  commerce  of  the  United 
States  with  foreign  nations.  They  were  based  on  a  previous  report  made 
to  Congress  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  secretary  of  state,  on  the  subject  of  foreign 
relations,  and  were  probably  prepared  with  the  concurrence  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, as  a  manuscript  copy  was  found  among  his  papers.  They  were  re- 
taliatory in  their  character  toward  Great  Britain,  and  considered  favorable 
to  the  interests  of  France.  They  gave  rise  to  a  warm  debate,  parties  be- 
ing nearly  balanced  in  the  house,  but  the  subject  was  finally  postponed, 
without  definite  action. 

Mr.  Madison  continued  to  act  with  the  democratic,  or  republican  party, 
for  the  remainder  of  his  political  career,  co-operating  with  Mr.  Jefferson 
in  his  views  of  national  policy,  and  between  these  two  gentlemen  there 
existed  through  their  lives  the  warmest  personal  friendship.  In  1797, 
Mr.  Madison  retired  from  Congress,  and  in  order  to  oppose  the  adminis- 
tration of  Mr.  Adams  in  a  new  form,  he  accepted  a  seat  in  the  Virginia 
legislature,  in  1798,  where  he  made  a  report  on  the  subject  of  the  alien 
and  sedition  laws  which  had  been  passed  by  the  federal  party  in  Con- 
gress, concluding  with  a  series  of  resolutions  against  those  laws  ;  which 
resolutions  have  since  formed  a  text  for  the  doctrine  of  state-rights,  as  held 
by  the  democratic  party  of  Virginia  and  some  other  states. 

On  the  accession  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the  presidency,  in  1801,  he  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Madison  secretary  of  state,  which  office  he  held  during  the 
eight  years  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  ;  and  in  1809,  having  received 
the  nomination  and  support  of  the  democratic  party,  he  succeeded  his 
friend  and  coadjutor,  as  president  of  the  United  States.  During  his  ad- 
ministration, in  1812,  war  was  declared  by  Congress  against  Great  Brit- 
ain, to  which  measure  he  reluctantly  consented,  and  the  same  year  he  was 
re-elected  to  the  presidency.  In  his  selection  of  commissioners  to  nego- 
tiate a  treaty  of  peace,  Mr.  Madison  showed  his  anxiety  for  a  termination 
of  the  war,  by  the  appointment  of  able  men,  sincerely  desirous  of  peace, 
which  was  concluded  at  Ghent,  in  December,  1814. 

The  anxious  and  exciting  scenes  of  war  were  not  congenial  to  a  per- 
son of  the  peaceful  disposition  of  Mr.  Madison,  yet  the  duties  of  his  high 
office  were  performed  with  firmness  and  ability.  Among  the  events  of 
the  war  which  were  calculated  to  disturb  his  equanimity,  was  the  capture 
of  the  city  of  Washington,  and  the  destruction  of  the  public  buildings,  by 
the  British,  in  1814.  The  president  and  some  other  principal  officers  of 
the  government  narrowly  escaped  from  being  made  prisoners  by  the  Brit- 
ish troops ;  they,  however,  were  saved  by  a  rapid  flight. 

After  the  return  of  peace,  the  remainder  of  Mr.  Madison's  administra- 
tion was  prosperous  and  tranquil.  The  interests  of  agriculture  and  com- 
merce revived  among  the  people,  and  the  national  revenue  was  rapidly 
replenished  from  the  fruits  of  returning  prosperity.  The  manufacturing 


272  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MADISON. 

interests,  however,  languished  for  want  of  adequate  protection.  The  pres- 
ident was  favorable  to  their  encouragement.  He  changed  his  views  on 
the  subject  of  a  national  bank,  and  signed  the  bill  for  incorporating  the 
bank  of  the  United  States,  in  1816.  He  had,  in  1791,  opposed  the  bank 
then  incorporated,  as  unconstitutional,  and  in  1815  he  had  returned  to 
Congress  a  bill  incorporating  a  bank,  as  he  disapproved  of  some  of  its 
provisions ;  but  in  the  following  year  he  waived  his  objections,  and  ap- 
proved of  an  act  of  incorporation,  somewhat  modified. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1817,  Mr.  Madison's  administration  was  brought  to 
a  close,  and  he  retired  from  public  life,  being  then  sixty-six  years  of  age,  to 
his  seat  at  Montpelier,  in  Orange  county,  Virginia,  where  he  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  days.  In  1829  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  state  con- 
vention to  revise  the  constitution  of  Virginia,  and  for  several  years  he  acted 
as  visiter  and  rector  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  was  also  chosen 
president  of  an  agricultural  society  in  the  county  where  he  resided,  and 
before  this  society  he  delivered  an  address,  admirable  for  its  classical 
beauty  and  practical  knowledge. 

Having  arrived  at  a  good  old  age,  and  numbered  eighty-five  years,  the 
mortal  career  of  Mr.  Madison  was  closed  on  the  28th  of  June,  1836.  Con- 
gress and  other  public  bodies  adopted  testimonials  of  respect  for  his  memory. 
He  left  no  children. 

In  his  personal  appearance,  Mr.  Madison  was  of  small  stature,  and 
rather  protuberant  in  front.  He  had  a  calm  expression,  penetrating  blue 
eyes,  and  was  slow  and  grave  in  his  speech.  At  the  close  of  his 
presidency  he  seemed  to  be  care-worn,  with  an  appearance  of  more 
advanced  age  than  was  the  fact.  He  was  bald  on  the  top  of  his  head, 
wore  his  hair  powdered,  and  generally  dressed  in  black.  His  manner 
was  modest  and  retiring,  but  in  conversation  he  was  pleasing  and  instruc- 
tive, having  a  mind  well  stored  with  the  treasures  of  learning,  and  being 
particularly  familiar  with  the  political  world.  On  his  accession  to  the  presi- 
dency he  restored  the  custom  of  levees  at  the  presidential  mansion,  which 
had  been  abolished  by  Mr.  Jefferson.  It  was  on  the  occasion  of  these 
levees,  that  his  accomplished  lady,  by  her  polite  and  attractive  attentions 
and  manners,  shone  with  peculiar  lustre.  Mr.  Madison  was  fond  of  soci- 
ety, although  he  had  travelled  but  little ;  never  having  visited  foreign 
countries,  or  seen  much  of  the  people  and  country  over  which  he  presided. 

When  a  member  of  deliberative  bodies,  Mr.  Madison  was  an  able  de- 
bater, having  acquired  self-confidence  by  slow  degrees.  As  a  writer,  he 
has  few  equals  among  American  statesmen,  and  the  style  of  his  public 
documents  and  his  correspondence  has  always  been  much  admired.  _He 
was  at  the  time  of  his  death,  the  last  surviving  signer  of  the  constitution, 
and  the  part  he  bore  in  framing  that  instrument,  his  subsequent  advo- 
cacy of  it,  by  his  writings,  with  his  adherence  to  its  provisions,  obtained 
ror  him  the  title  of  "  Father  of  the  Constitution." 


MADISON'S 

ADDRESSES  AND  MESSAGES. 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 
MARCH  4,  1809. 

UNWILLING  to  depart  from  examples  of  the  most  revered  authority,  I 
avail  myself  of  the  occasion  now  presented,  to  express  the  profound  im- 
pression made  on  me  by  the  call  of  my  country  to  the  station,  to  the  duties 
of  which  I  am  about  to  pledge  myself  by  the  most  solemn  of  sanctions. 
So  distinguished  a  mark  of  confidence,  proceeding  from  the  deliberate  and 
tranquil  suffrage  of  a  free  and  virtuous  nation,  would  under  any  circum- 
stances have  commanded  my  gratitude  and  devotion,  as  well  as  filled  me 
with  an  awful  sense  of  the  trust  to  be  assumed.  Under  the  various  cir- 
cumstances which  give  peculiar  solemnity  to  the  existing  period,  I  feel 
that  both  the  honor  and  the  responsibility  allotted  to  me  are  inexpressibly 
enhanced. 

The  present  situation  of  the  world  is  indeed  without  a  parallel,  and  that 
of  our  own  country  full  of  difficulties.  The  pressure  of  these  too  is  the 
more  severely  felt,  because  they  have  fallen  upon  us  at  a  moment  when  the 
national  prosperity  being  at  a  height  not  before  attained,  the  contrast  re- 
sulting from  the  change  has  been  rendered  the  more  striking.  Under  the 
benign  influence  of  our  republican  institutions,  and  the  maintenance  of 
peace  with  all  nations,  while  so  many  of  them  were  engaged  in  bloody 
and  wasteful  wars,  the  fruits  of  a  just  policy  were  enjoyed  in  an  unrivalled 
growth  of  our  faculties  and  resources.  Proofs  of  this  were  seen  in  the 
improvements  of  agriculture  ;  in  the  successful  enterprises  of  commerce  ; 
in  the  progress  of  manufactures  and  useful  arts  ;  in  the  increase  of  the 
public  revenue,  and  the  use  made  of  it  in  reducing  the  public  debt ;  and  in 
the  valuable  works  and  establishments  everywhere  multiplying  over  the 
face  of  our  land. 

It  is  a  precious  reflection  that  the  transition  from  this  prosperous  con- 
dition of  our  country  to  the  scene  which  has  for  some  time  been  distressing 
us,  is  not  chargeable  on  any  unwarrantable  •views,  nor  as  I  trust  on  any 
involuntary  errors  in  the  public  councils.  Indulging  no  passions  which 
trespass  on  the  rights  or  repose  of  other  nations,  it  has  been  the  true  glory 
of  the  United  States  to  cultivate  peace  by  observing  justice,  and  to  entitle 
themselves  to  the  respect  of  the  nations  at  war  by  fulfilling  their  neutral 
obligations  with  the  most  scrupulous  impartiality.  If  there  be  candor  in 
the  world,  the  truth  of  these  assertions  will  not  be  questioned  ,  posterity 
at  least  wiil  do  justice  to  them. 
VOL.  I.— 18 


•274  MADISON'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

This  unexceptionable  course  could  not  avail  against  th-.  injustice  and 
violence  of  the  belligerent  powers.  In  their  rage  agains'  ^ach  other,  or 
impelled  by  more  direct  motives,  principles  of  retaliation  hk/e  been  intro- 
duced, equally  contrary  to  universal  reason  and  acknowledged  law.  How 
long  their  arbitrary  edicts  will  be  continued  in  spite  of  the  demonstrations 
that  not  even  a  pretext  for  them  has  been  given  by  the  United  States,  and 
of  the  fair  and  liberal  attempt  to  induce  revocation  of  them  cau  not  be  an- 
ticipated. Assuring  myself  that  under  every  vicissitude  the  determined 
spirit  and  united  councils  of  the  nation  will  be  safeguards  to  its  honor  and 
its  essential  interests,  I  repair  to  the  post  assigned  me,  with  no  ovher  dis- 
couragement than  what  springs  from  my  own  inadequacy  to  its  high 
duties.  If  I  do  not  sink  under  the  weight  of  this  deep  conviction,  it  is 
because  I  find  some  support  in  a  consciousnes^  of  the  purposes,  and  a 
confidence  in  the  principles,  which  I  bring  with  me  into  this  arduous 
service. 

To -cherish  peace  and  friendly  intercourse  with  all  nations  having  cor 
respondent  dispositions  ;  to  maintain  sincere  neutrality  toward  belligerent 
nations ;  to  prefer  in  all  cases  amicable  discussion  and  reasonable  accom- 
modation of  differences  to  a  decision  of  them  by  an  appeal  to  anus  ;  to 
exclude  foreign  intrigues  and  foreign  partialities,  so  degrading  to  all 
countries  and  so  baneful  to  free  ones  ;  to  foster  a  spirit  of  independence 
too  just  to  invade  the  rights  of  others,  too  proud  to  surrender  our  own,  too 
liberal  to  indulge  unworthy  prejudices  ourselves,  and  too  elevated  not  to 
look  down  upon  them  in  others ;  to  hold  the  union  of  the  states  as  the 
basis  of  their  peace  and  happiness  ;  to  support  the  constitution,  which  is 
the  cement  of  the  union,  as  well  in  its  limitations  as  in  its  authorities ;  to 
respect  the  rights  and  authorities  reserved  to  the  states  and  to  the  people, 
as  equally  incorporated  with,  and  essential  to  the  success  of,  the  general 
system  ;  to  avoid  the  slightest  interference  with  the  rights  of  conscience 
or  the  functions  of  religion,  so  wisely  exempted  from  civil  jurisdiction  ; 
to  preserve  in  their  full  energy  the  other  salutary  provisions  in  behalf  of 
private  and  personal  rights,  and  of  the  freedom  of  the  press ;  to  observe 
economy  in  public  expenditures  ;  to  liberate  the  public  resources  by  an 
honorable  discharge  of  the  public  debts  ;  to  keep  within  the  requisite 
limits  a  standing  military  force,  always  remembering  that  an  armed  and 
trained  militia  is  the  firmest  bulwark  of  republics — that  without  standing 
armies  their  liberty  can  never  be  in  danger,  nor  with  large  ones  safe ;  to 
promote  by  authorized  means,  improvements  friendly  to  agriculture,  to 
manufactures,  and  to  external  as  well  as  internal  commerce  ;v  to  favor  in 
like  manner  the  advancement  of  science  and  the  diffusion  of  information 
as  the  best  aliment  to  true  liberty  ;  to  carry  on  the  benevolent  plans  which 
have  been  so  meritoriously  applied  to  the  conversion  of  our  aboriginal 
neighbors  from  the  degradation  and  wretchedness  of  savage  life  to  a  par- 
ticipation of  the  improvements  of  which  the  human  mind  and  manners 
are  susceptible  in  a  civilized  state  ;  as  far  as  sentiments  and  intentions 
such  as  these  can  aid  the  fulfilment  of  my  duty,  they  will  be  a  resource 
which  can  not  fail  me. 

,  It  is  my  good  fortune,  moreover,  to  have  the  path  in  which  I  am  to  tread 
lighted  by  examples  of  illustrious  services,  successfully  rendered  in  the 
most  trying  difficulties  by  those  who  have  marched  before  me.  Of  those 
of  my  immediate  predecessor  it  might  least  become  me  here  to  speak.  I 
may,  however,  be  pardoned  for  not  suppressing  the  sympathy  with  which 
my  heart  is  full,  in  the  rich  reward  he  enjoys  in  the  benedictions  of  a 


MADISON'S  MESSAGE — SPECIAL  SESSION.  275 

beloved  country,  gratefully  bestowed  for  exalted  talents,  zealously  devoted, 
through  a  long  career,  to  the  advancement  of  its  highest  interest  and  hap- 
piness. 

But  the  source  to  which  I  look  for  the  aids  which  alone  can  supply  my 
deficiencies,  is  in  the  well-tried  intelligence  and  virtue  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  and  in  the  counsels  of  those  representing  them  in  the  other  de- 
partments associated  in  the  care  of  the  national  interests.  In  these  my 
confidence  will  under  every  difficulty  be  placed,  next  to  that  in  which  we 
have  all  been  encouraged  to  feel  in  the  guardianship  and  guidance  of  that 
Almighty  Being  whose  power  regulates  the  destiny  of  nations,  whose 
blessings  have  been  so  conspicuously  dispensed  to  this  rising  republic, 
and  to  whom  we  are  bound  to  address  our  devout  gratitude  for  the  past, 
as  well  as  our  fervent  supplications  and  best  hopes  for  the  future. 


SPECIAL    SESSION.  —  MESSAGE. 
MAY  23,  1809. 

Fellow-  Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

ON  this  first  occasion  of  meeting  you,  it  affords  me  much  satisfaction  to 
be  able  to  communicate  the  commencement  of  a  favorable  change  in  our 
foreign  relations  ;  the  critical  state  of  which  induced  a  session  of  Con- 
gress at  this  early  period. 

In  consequence  of  the  provisions  of  the  act  interdicting  commercial  in- 
tercourse with  Great  Britain  and  France,  our  ministers  at  London  and 
Paris  were  without  delay  instructed  to  let  it  be  understood  by  the  French 
and  British  governments,  that  the  authority  vested  in  the  executive  to 
renew  commercial  intercourse  with  their  respective  nations  would  be  ex- 
ercised in  the  case  specified  by  that  act. 

Soon  after  these  instructions  were  despatched,  it  was  found  that  the 
British  government,  anticipating  from  early  proceedings  of  Congress  at 
their  last  session,  the  state  of  our  laws  which  has  been  the  effect  of 
placing  the  two  belligerent  powers  on  a  footing  of  equal  restrictions,  and 
relying  on  the  conciliatory  disposition  of  the  United  States,  had  transmit- 
ted to  their  legation  here,  provisional  instructions,  not  only  to  offer  satis- 
faction for  the  attack  on  the  frigate  Chesapeake,  and  to  make  known  the 
determination  of  his  Britannic  majesty  to  send  an  envoy  extraordinary 
with  powers  to  conclude  a  treaty  on  all  the  points  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, but  moreover  to  signify  his  willingness,  in  the  meantime,  to  withdraw 
his  orders  in  council,  in  the  persuasion  that  the  intercourse  with  Great 
Britain  would  be  renewed  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 

These  steps  of  the  British  government  led  to  the  correspondence  and 
ihe  proclamation  now  laid  before  you,  by  virtue  of  which  the  commerce 
aetween  the  two  countries  will  be  renewable  after  the  10th  day  of  June 
»ext. 

While  I  take  pleasure  in  doing  justice  to  the  councils  of  his  Britannic 
majesty,  which,  no  longer  adhering  to  the  policy  which  made  an  abandon- 
ment by  France  of  her  decree  a  pre-requisite  to  a  revocation  of  the  Brit- 
ish orders,  have  substituted  the  amicable  course  which  has  issued  thus 
happily,  I  can  not  do  less  than  refer  to  the  proposal  heretofore  made  on 


270  MADISON'S  MESSAGE — SPECIAL  SESSION. 

the  part  of  the  United  States,  embracing  a  like  restoration  of  the  sus- 
pended commerce,  as  a  proof  of  the  spirit  of  accommodation  which  has 
at  no  time  been  intermitted,  and  to  the  result  which  now  calls  for  our  con- 
gratulations, as  corroborating  the  principles  by  which  the  public  councils 
have  been  guided  during  a  period  of  the  most  trying  embarrassments. 

The  discontinuance  of  the  British  orders,  as  they  respect  the  United 
States,  having  been  thus  arranged,  a  communication  of  the  event  has  been 
forwarded  in  one  of  our  public  vessels  to  our  minister  plenipotentiary  at 
Paris,  with  instructions  to  avail  himself  of  the  important  addition  thereby 
made  to  the  considerations  which  press  on  the  justice  of  the  French  gov- 
ernment a  revocation  of  its  decrees,  or  such  a  modification  of  them  as 
that  they  shall  cease  to  violate  the  neutral  commerce  of  the  United  States. 

The  revision  of  our  commercial  laws,  proper  to  adapt  them  to  the  ar- 
rangement which  has  taken  place  with  Great  Britain,  will  doubtless  en- 
gage the  early  attention  of  Congress.  It  will  be  worthy,  at  the  same  time, 
of  their  just  and  provident  care,  to  make  such  further  alterations  in  the 
laws  as  will  more  especially  protect  and  foster  the  several  branches  of 
manufacture  which  have  been  recently  instituted  or  extended  by  the  laud- 
able exertions  of  our  citizens. 

Under  the  existing  aspect  of  our  affairs,  I  have  thought  it  not  incon- 
sistent with  a  just  precaution,  to  have  the  gun-boats,  with  the  exception 
of  those  at  New  Orleans,  placed  in  a  situation  incurring  no  expense  be- 
yond that  requisite  for  their  preservation  and  conveniency  for  future  ser- 
vice, and  to  have  the  crews  of  those  at  New  Orleans  reduced  to  the  num- 
ber required  for  their  navigation  and  safety. 

I  have  thought,  also,  that  our  citizens,  detached  in  quotas  of  militia 
amounting  to  one  hundred  thousand,  under  the  act  of  March,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eight,  might  not  improperly  be  relieved  from  the  state 
in  which  they  were  held  for  immediate  service.  A  discharge  of  them 
has  been  accordingly  directed. 

The  progress  made  in  raising  and  organizing  the  additional  military 
force,  for  which  provision  was  made  by  the  act  of  April,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eight,  together  with  the  disposition  of  the  troops,  will 
appear  by  a  report  which  the  secretary  of  war  is  preparing,  and  which 
will  be  laid  before  you. 

Of  the  additional  frigates  required  by  an  act  of  the  last  session  to  be 
fitted  for  actual  service,  two  are  in  readiness,  one  nearly  so,  and  the  fourth 
is  expected  to  be  ready  in  the  month  of  July.  A  report  which  the  secre- 
tary of  the  navy  is  preparing  on  the  subject,  to  be  laid  before  Congress, 
will  show,  at  the  same  time,  the  progress  made  in  officering  and  manning 
these  ships.  It  will  show,  also,  the  degree  in  which  the  provisions  of 
the  act  relating  to  the  other  public  armed  ships  have  been  carried  into 
execution. 

It  will  rest  with  the  judgment  of  Congress  to  decide  how  far  the  change 
in  our  external  prospect  may  authorize  any  modification  of  the  laws  rela- 
ting to  the  army  and  navy  establishments. 

The  works  of  defence  for  our  seaport  towns  and  harbors  have  proceeded 
with  as  much  activity  as  the  season  of  the  year  and  other  circumstances 
would  admit.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to  state  that  the  appropriations 
hitherto  made  being  found  to  be  deficient,  a  further  provision  will  claim 
the  early  consideration  of  Congress. 

The  whole  of  the  eight  per  cent,  stock  remaining  due  by  the  United 
States,  amounting  to  five  millions  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  had 


FIRST    ANNUAL    MESSAGE  277 

been  reimbursed  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1808.  And  on  the  first  day 
of  April  last  the  sum  in  the  treasury  exceeded  nine  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars.  This,  togeihei  with  the  receipts  of  the  current  year  on  account 
of  former  revenue  bonds,  will  probably  be  nearly,  if  not  altogether  suf- 
ficient to  defray  tiie  expenses  of  the  year.  But  the  suspension  of  exports, 
and  the  consequent  decrease  of  importations  during  the  last  twelve  months, 
will  necessarily  caust;  A  great  diminution  in  the  receipts  of  the  year  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  ten.  After  that  year,  should  our  foreign  rela- 
tions be  undisturbed,  the  revenue  will  again  be  more  than  commensurate 
to  all  the  expenditures. 

Aware  of  the  inconveniences  of  a  protracted  session  at  the  present  sea- 
son of  the  year,  I  forbear  to  call  the  attention  of  the  legislature  to  any  mat- 
ters not  particularly  urgent.  It  remains,  therefore,  only  to  assure  you  of 
the  fidelity  and  alacrity  with  which  I  shall  co-operate  for  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  our  country  ;  and  to  pray  it  may  experience  a  continuance  of 
the  divine  blessings  by  which  it  has  been  so  signally  favored. 


FIRST    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
NOVEMBER  29,  1809. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : — 

AT  the  period  of  our  last  meeting  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  communi- 
cating an  adjustment  with  one  of  the  principal  belligerent  nations,  highly- 
important  in  itself,  and  still  more  so  as  presaging  a  more  extended  accom- 
modation. It  is  with  deep  concern  I  am  now  to  inform  you  that  the  fa- 
vorable prospect  has  been  overclouded  by  a  refusal  of  the  British  govern- 
ment to  abide  by  the  act  of  its  minister  plenipotentiary,  and  by  its  ensuing 
policy  toward  the  United  States,  as  seen  through  the  communications  of 
the  minister  sent  to  replace  him. 

Whatever  pleas  may  be  urged  for  a  disavowal  of  engagements  formed 
by  diplomatic  functionaries  in  cases  where  by  the  terms  of  the  engage- 
ments a  mutual  ratification  is  reserved,  or  where  notice  at  the  time  may 
have  been  given  of  a  departure  from  instructions,  or  in  extraordinary'  cases 
essentially  violating  the  principles  of  equity,  a  disavowal  could  not  have 
been  apprehended  in  a  case  where  no  such  notice  or  violation  existed, 
where  no  such  ratification  was  reserved,  and  more  especially  where,  as  is 
now  in  proof,  an  engagement  to  be  executed  without  any  such  ratification 
was  contemplated  by  the  instructions  given,  and  where  it  had,  with  good 
faith,  been  carried  into  immediate  execution  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States. 

These  considerations  not  having  restrained  the  British  government  from 
disavowing  the  arrangement  by  virtue  of  which  its  orders  in  council  were 
to  be  revoked,  and  the  event  authorizing  the  renewal  of  commercial  inter- 
course having  thus  not  taken  place,  it  necessarily  became  a  question  of 
equal  urgency  and  importance,  whether  the  act  prohibiting  that  intercourse 
was  not  to  be  considered  as  remaining  in  legal  force.  This  question  be- 
ing, after  due  deliberation,  determined  in  the  affirmative,  a  proclamation  to 
that  effect  was  issued.  It  could  not  but  happen,  however,  that  a  return  to 
this  state  of  things  from  that  which  had  followed  an  execution  of  the  ar- 
rangement by  the  United  States  would  involve  difficulties*  With  a  view 


278  MADISON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

to  diminish  these  as  much  as  possible,  the  instructions  from  the  secretary 
of  the  treasury,  now  hid  before  you,  were  transmitted  to  the  collectors  of 
the  several  ports.  If  in  pennitting  British  vessels  to  depart  without  giv- 
ing bonds  not  to  proceed  to  their  own  ports  it  should  appear  that  the  tenor 
of  legal  authority  has  not  been  strictly  pursued,  it  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the 
anxious  desire  which  was  felt  that  no  individuate  should  be  injured  by  so 
unforeseen  an  occurrence ;  and  I  rely  on  the  regard  of  Congress  for  the 
equitable  interests  of  our  own  citizens  to  adopt  whatever  further  provisions 
may  be  found  requisite  for  a  general  remission  of  penalties  involuntarily 
incurred. 

The  recall  of  the  disavowed  minister  having  been  followed  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  successor,  hopes  were  indulged  that  the  new  mission  would 
contribute  to  alleviate  the  disappointment  which  had  been  produced,  and 
to  remove  the  causes  which  had  so  long  embarrassed  the  good  understand- 
ing of  the  two  nations.  It  could  not  be  doubted  that  it  would  at  least  be 
charged  with  conciliatory  explanations  of  the  steps  which  had  been  taken, 
and  with  proposals  to  be  substituted  for  the  rejected  arrangement.  Reason- 
able and  universal  as  this  expectation  was,  it  also  has  not  been  fulfilled. 
From  the  first  official  disclosures  of  the  new  minister  it  was  found  that  he 
had  received  no  authority  to  enter  into  explanations  relative  to  either 
branch  of  the  arrangement  disavowed,  nor  any  authority  to  substitute  pro- 
posals as  to  that  branch  which  concerned  the  British  orders  in  council ; 
and  finally,  that  his  proposals  with  respect  to  the  other  branch,  the  attack 
on  the  frigate  Chesapeake,  were  founded  on  a  presumption  repeatedly  de- 
clared to  be  inadmissible  by  the  United  States,  that  the  first  step  toward 
adjustment  was  due  from  them,  the  proposals  at  the  same  time  omitted 
even  a  reference  to  the  officer  answerable  for  the  murderous  aggression, 
and  asserting  a  claim  not  less  contrary  to  the  British  laws  and  British 
practice,  than  to  the  principles  and  obligations  of  the  United  States. 

The  correspondence  between  the  department  of  state  and  this  minister 
will  show  how  unessentially  the  features  presented  in  its  commencement 
have  been  varied  in  its  progress.  It  will  show  also  that,  forgetting  the 
respect  due  to  all  governments,  he  did  not  refrain  from  imputations  on  this, 
which  required  that  no  further  communications  should  be  received  from 
him.  The  necessity  of  this  step  will  be  made  known  to  his  Britannic 
majesty  through  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  in  Lon- 
don. And  it  would  indicate  a  want  of  the  confidence  due  to  a  government 
which  so  well  understands  and  exacts  what  becomes  foreign  ministers 
near  it,  not  to  infer  that  the  misconduct  of  its  own  representative  will  be 
viewed  in  the  same  light  in  which  it  has  been  regarded  here.  The  Brit- 
ish government  will  learn  at  the  same  time  that  a  ready  attention  will  be 
given  to  communications  through  any  channel  which  may  be  substituted 
It  will  be  happy  if  the  change  in  this  respect  should  be  accompanied  by 
a  favorable  revision  of  the  unfriendly  policy  which  has  been  so  long  pur- 
sued toward  the  United  States. 

With  France,  the  other  belligerent,  whose  trespasses  on  our  commer- 
cial rights  have  long  been  the  subject  of  our  just  remonstrances,  the  pos- 
ture of  our  relations  does  not  correspond  with  the  measures  taken  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  to  effect  a  favorable  change.  The  result  of  the 
several  communications  made  to  her  government,  in  pursuance  of  the 
authorities  vested  by  Congress  in  the  executive,  is  contained  in  the  cor- 
respondence of  our  minister  at  Paris  now  laid  before  you. 

By  some  of  the  other  belligerents,  although  professing  just  and  arnica- 


MADISON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  279 

ble  dispositions,  injuries  materially  affecting  our  commerce  have  not  been 
duly  controlled  or  repressed.  In  these  cases,  the  interpositions  deemed 
proper  on  our  part  have  not  been  omitted.  But  it  well  deserves  the  con- 
sideration of  the  legislature,  how  far  both  the  safety  and  honor  of  the 
American  flag  may  be  consulted,  by  adequate  provision  against  that  collu- 
sive prostitution  of  it  by  individuals,  unworthy  of  the  American  name, 
which  has  so  much  favored  the  real  or  pretended  suspicions  under  which 
the  honest  commerce  of  their  fellow-citizens  has  suffered. 

In  relation  to  the  powers  on  the  coast  of  Barbary,  nothing  has  occurred 
which  is  not  of  a  nature  rather  to  inspire  confidence  than  distrust,  as  to  the 
continuance  of  the  existing  amity.  With  our  Indian  neighbors,  the  just 
and  benevolent  system  continued  toward  them,  has  also  preserved  peace, 
and  is  more  and  more  advancing  habits  favorable  to  their  civilization  and 
happiness. 

From  a  statement  which  will  be  made  by  the  secretary  of  war,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  fortifications  on  our  maritime  frontier  are  in  many  of  the 
ports  completed ;  affording  the  defence  which  was  contemplated,  and  that 
a  further  time  will  be  required  to  render  complete  the  works  in  the  harbor 
of  New  York,  and  in  some  other  places.  By  the  enlargement  of  the  works 
and  the  employment  of  a  greater  number  of  hands  at  the  public  armories, 
the  supply  of  small  arms  of  an  improving  quality  appears  to  be  annually 
increasing  at  a  rate  that,  with  those  made  on  private  contract,  may  be  ex- 
pected to  go  far  toward  providing  for  the  public  exigency. 

The  act  of  Congress  providing  for  the  equipment  of  our  vessels-of-\var 
having  been  fully  carried  into  execution,  I  refer  to  the  statement  of  the 
secretary  of  the  navy  for  the  information  which  may  be  proper  on  that  sub- 
ject. To  that  statement  is  added  a  view  of  the  transfers  of  appropriations 
authorized  by  the  act  of  the  session  preceding  the  last,  and  of  the  grounds 
on  which  the  transfers  were  made. 

Whatever  may  be  the  course  of  your  deliberations  on  the  subject  of  our 
military  establishments,  I  should  fail  in  my  duty  in  not  recommending  to 
your  serious  attention  the  importance  of  giving  to  our  militia,  the  great 
bulwark  of  our  security  and  resource  of  our  power,  an  organization  the 
best  adapted  to  eventual  situations  for  which  the  United  States  ought  to  be 
prepared. 

The  sums  which  had  been  previously  accumulated  in  the  treasury,  to- 
gether with  the  receipts  during  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  of  September 
last  (and  amounting  to  more  than  nine  millions  of  dollars),  have  enabled 
us  to  fulfil  all  our  engagements  and  to  defray  the  current  expenses  of  gov- 
ernment without  recurring  to  any  loan.  But  the  insecurity  of  our  com- 
merce, and  the  consequent  diminution  of  the  public  revenue  will  probably 
produce  a  deficiency  in  the  receipts  of  the  ensuing  year,  for  which,  and 
for  other  details,  I  refer  to  the  statements  which  will  be  transmitted  from 
the  treasury. 

In  the  state  which  has  been  presented  of  our  affairs  with  the  great  parties 
to  a  disastrous  and  protracted  war,  carried  on  in  a  mode  equally  injurious 
and  unjust  to  the  United  States  as  a  neutral  nation,  the  wisdom  of  the  na- 
tional legislature  will  be  again  summoned  to  the  important  decision  on  the 
alternatives  before  them.  That  these  will  be  met  in  a  spirit  worthy  the 
councils  of  a  nation  conscious  both  of  its  rectitude  and  of  its  rights,  and 
careful  as  well  of  its  honor  as  of  its  peace,  I  have  an  entire  confidence. 
And  that  the  result  will  be  stamped  by  a  unanimity  becoming  the  oc- 
casion, and  be  supported  by  every  portion  of  our  citizens  with  a  patri- 


280  MADISON  S    SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

otism  enlightened  and  invigorated  by  experience,  ought  as  little  to  bo 
doubted. 

In  the  midst  of  the  wrongs  and  vexations  experienced  from  external 
causes,  there  is  much  room  for  congratulation  on  the  prosperity  and  hap- 
piness flowing  from  our  situation  at  home.  The  blessing  of  health  has 
never  been  more  universal.  The  fruits  of  the  season,  though  in  particular 
articles  and  districts  short  of  their  usual  redundancy,  are  more  than  suffi- 
cient for  our  wants  and  our  comforts.  The  face  of  our  country  every- 
where presents  the  evidence  of  laudable  enterprise,  of  extensive  capital, 
and  of  durable  improvement.  In  a  cultivation  of  the  materials  and  the  ex- 
tension of  useful  manufactures,  more  especially  in  the  general  application 
to  household  fabrics,  we  behold  a  rapid  diminution  of  our  dependence  on 
foreign  supplies.  Nor  is  it  unworthy  of  reflection  that  this  revolution  in 
our  pursuits  and  habits  is  in  no  slight  degree  a  consequence  of  those  im- 
politic and  arbitrary  edicts  by  which  the  contending  nations,  in  endeavoring 
each  of  them  to  obstruct  our  trade  with  the  other,  have  so  far  abridged  our 
means  of  procuring  the  productions  and  manufactures  of  which  our  own 
are  now  taking  the  place. 

Recollecting  always,  that  for  every  advantage  which  may  contribute  to 
distinguish  our  lot  from  that  to  which  others  are  doomed  by  the  unhappy 
spirit  of  the  times,  we  are  indebted  to  that  Divine  Providence  whose  good- 
ness has  been  so  remarkably  extended  to  this  rising  nation,  it  becomes  us 
to  cherish  a  devout  gratitude,  and  to  implore  from  the  same  Omnipotent 
source,  a  blessing  on  the  consultations  and  measures  about  to  be  undertaken 
for  the  welfare  of  our  beloved  country. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  3,  1810. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THE  act  authorizing  a  detachment  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  from 
the  militia,  will  expire  on  the  30th  of  March  next.  Its  early  revival  is 
recommended,  in  order  that  timely  steps  may  be  taken  for  arrangements 
such  as  the  act  contemplated. 

Without  interfering  with  the  modifications  rendered  necessary  by  the 
defects  or  the  inefficacy  of  the  laws  restrictive  of  commerce  or  navigation, 
or  with  the  policy  of  disallowing  to  foreign  armed  vessels  the  use  of  our 
waters,  it  falls  within  my  duty  to  recommend  also,  that,  in  addition  to  the 
precautionary  measure  authorized  by  that  act,  and  to  the  regular  troops, 
for  completing  the  legal  establishment  of  which  enlistments  are  renewed, 
every  necessary  provision  may  be  made  for  a  volunteer  force  of  twenty 
thousand  men,  to  be  enlisted  for  a  short  period,  and  held  in  a  state  of  or- 
ganization, and  readiness  for  actual  service,  at  the  shortest  warning. 

I  submit  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  moreover,  the  expediency  of 
such  a  classification  and  organization  of  the  militia  as  will  best  insure 
prompt  and  successive  aids  from  that  source,  adequate  to  emergencies 
which  may  call  for  them. 

It  will  rest  also  with  them  to  determine,  how  far  further  provision  may 


MADISON'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  281 

> 

be  expedient  for  putting  into  actual  service,  if  necessary,  any  part  of  the 
naval  armament  not  now  employed. 

At  a  period  presenting  features  in  the  conduct  of  foreign  powers  toward 
the  United  States,  which  may  impose  upon  them  the  necessity  of  precau- 
tionary measures  involving  expense,  it  is  a  happy  consideration  that  such 
is  the  solid  state  of  the  public  credit,  that  reliance  may  be  justly  placed  on 
any  legal  provision  that  may  be  made  for  resorting  to  it,  in  a  convenient 
form,  and  to  an  adequate  amount.  • 


SECOND    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  5,  1810. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : — 

THE  embarrassments  which  have  prevailed  in  our  foreign  relations,  and 
so  much  employed  the  deliberations  of  Congress,  make  it  a  primary  duty 
in  meeting  you,  to  communicate  whatever  may  have  occurred  in  that  branch 
of  our  national  affairs. 

The  act  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  concerning  the  commercial  in- 
tercourse between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  and  France,  and 
their  dependencies,  having  invited  in  a  new  form  a  termination  of  their 
edicts  against  our  neutral  commerce,  copies  of  the  act  were  immediately 
forwarded  to  our  ministers  at  London  and  Paris,  with  a  view  that  its  ob- 
ject might  be  within  the  early  attention  of  the  French  and  British  gov- 
ernments. 

By  the  communication  received  through  our  minister  at  Paris,  it  ap- 
peared that  a  knowledge  of  the  act  by  the  French  government  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  declaration  that  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  were  revoked, 
and  would  cease  to  have  effect  on  the  first  day  of  November  ensuing. 
These  being  the  only  known  edicts  of  France  within  the  description  of 
the  act,  and  the  revocation  of  them  being  such  that  they  ceased  at  that 
date  to  violate  our  neutral  commerce,  the  fact,  as  prescribed  by  law,  was 
announced  by  a  proclamation  bearing  date  the  second  day  of  November. 

It  would  have  well  accorded  with  the  conciliatory  views  indicated  by 
this  proceeding  on  the  part  of  France,  to  have  extended  them  to  all  the 
grounds  of  just  complaint  which  now  remain  unadjusted  with  the  United 
States.  It  was  particularly  anticipated  that  as  a  further  evidence  of  just 
dispositions  toward  them,  restoration  would  have  been  immediately  made 
of  the  property  of  our  citizens  seized  under  misapplication  of  the  principle 
of  reprisals  combined  with  a  misconstruction  of  the  law  of  the  United 
States.  This  expectation  has  not  been  fulfilled. 

From  the  British  government  no  communication  on  the  subject  of  the 
act  has  been  received.  To  a  communication  from  our  minister  at  London 
of  a  revocation  by  the  French  government  of  its  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees 
it  was  answered,  that  the  British  system  would  be  relinquished  as  soon  as 
the  repeal  of  the  French  decrees  should  have  'actually  taken  effect,  and 
the  commerce  of  neutral  nations  have  been  restored  to  the  condition  in 
which  it  stood  previously  to  the  promulgation  of  those  decrees.  This 
plrdge,  although  it  does  not  necessarily  import,  does  not  exclude  the  in- 
tention of  relinquishing,  along  with  the  orders  in  council,  the  practice  of 


282  MADISON'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

those  novel  blockades  which  have  a  like  effect  of  interrupting  our  neutral 
commerce  ;  and  this  further  justice  to  the  United  States  is  the  rather  to 
be  looked  for,  inasmuch  as  the  blockades  in  question,  being  not  more  con- 
trary to  the  established  law  of  nations  than  inconsistent  with  the  rules  of 
blockade  formally  recognised  by  Great  Britain  herself,  could  have  no 
alleged  basis  other  than  the  plea  of  retaliation  alleged  as  the  basis  of  the 
orders  in  council.  Under  the  modification  of  the  original  orders  of  No- 
vember, 1807,  into  the  orders  of  April,  1809,  there  is  indeed  scarcely  a 
nominal  distinction  between  the  orders  and  the  blockades.  One  of  those 
illegitimate  blockades,  bearing  date  in  May,  1806,  having  been  expressly 
avowed  to  be  still  unrescinded,  and  to  be  in  effect  comprehended  in  the 
orders  in  council,  was  too  distinctly  brought  within  the  purview  of  the  act 
of  Congress  not  to  be  comprehended  in  the  explanation  of  the  requisites 
to  a  compliance  with  it.  The  British  government  was  accordingly  ap- 
prized by  our  minister  near  it,  that  such  was  the  light  in  which  the  sub- 
ject was  to  be  regarded. 

On  the  other  important  subjects  depending  between  the  United  States 
and  that  government,  no  progress  has  been  made  from  which  an  early  and 
satisfactory  result  can  be  relied  on. 

In  this  new  posture  of  our  relations  with  those  powers,  the  considera- 
tion of  Congress  will  be  properly  turned  to  a  removal  of  doubts  which 
may  occur  in  the  exposition,  and  of  difficulties  in  the  execution,  of  the  act 
above  cited. 

The  commerce  of  the  United  States  with  the  north  of  Europe,  hereto- 
fore much  vexed  by  licentious  cruisers,  particularly  under  the  Danish  flag, 
has  latterly  been  visited  with  fresh  and  extensive  depredations.  The 
measures  pursued  in  behalf  of  our  injured  citizens  not  having  obtained  jus- 
tice for  them,  a  further  and  more  formal  interposition  with  the  Danish  gov- 
ernment is  contemplated.  The  principles  which  have  been  maintained  by 
that  government  in  relation  to  neutral  commerce,  and  the  friendly  profes- 
sions of  his  Danish  majesty  toward  the  United  States,  are  valuable  pledges 
in  favor  of  a  successful  issue. 

Among  the  events  growing  out  of  the  state  of  the  Spanish  monarchy, 
our  attention  was  imperiously  attracted  to  the  change  developing  itself  in 
that  portion  of  West  Florida  which,  though  of  right  appertaining  to  the 
United  States,  had  remained  in  the  possession  of  Spain,  awaiting  the  re- 
sult of  negotiations  for  its  actual  delivery  to  them.  The  Spanish  authority 
was  subverted,  and  a  situation  produced  exposing  the  country  to  ulterior 
events  which  might  essentially  affect  the  rights  and  welfare  of  the  Union. 
In  such  a  conjuncture,  I  did  not  delay  the  interpositions  required  for  the 
occupancy  of  the  territory  west  pf  the  river  Perdido,  to  which  the  title  of 
the  United  States  extends,  and  to  which  the  laws  provided  for  the  territory 
of  Orleans  are  applicable.  With  this  view,  the  proclamation,  of  which  a 
copy  is  laid  before  you,  was  confided  to  the  governor  of  that  territory  to 
be  carried  into  effect.  The  legality  and  necessity  of  the  course  pursued 
assure  me  of  the  favorable  light  in  which  it  will  present  itself  to  the  legis- 
lature, and  of  the  promptitude  with  which  they  'will  supply  whatever  pro- 
visions may  be  due  to  the  essential  rights  and  equitable  interests  of  the 
people  thus  brought  into  the  bosom  of  the  American  family. 

Our  amity  with  the  powers  of  Barbary,  with  the  exception  of  a  recent 
occurrence  at  Tunis,  of  which  an  explanation  is  just  received,  appears  to 
have  been  uninterrupted  and  to  have  become  more  firmly  established. 

With  the  Indian  tribes,  also,  the  peace  and  friendship  of  the  United 


MADISON'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  283 

States  are  found  to  be  so  eligible,  that  the  general  disposition  to  preserve 
both  continues  to  gain  strength. 

I  feel  particular  satisfaction  in  remarking  that  an  interior  view  of  our 
country  presents  us  with  grateful  proofs  of  its  substantial  and  increasing 
prosperity.  To  a  thriving  agriculture,  and  the  improvements  relating  to 
it,  is  added  a  highly  interesting  extension  of  useful  manufactures,  the  com- 
bined product  of  professional  occupations  and  of  household  industry. 
Such,  indeed,  is  the  experience  of  economy,  as  well  as  of  policy,  in  these 
substitutes  for  supplies  heretofore  obtained  by  foreign  commerce,  that  in  a 
national  view  the  change  is  justly  regarded  as  of  itself  more  than  a  recom- 
pense for  those  privations  and  losses  resulting  from  foreign  injustice  which 
furnished  the  general  impulse  required  for  its  accomplishment.  How  far 
it  may  be  expedient  to  guard  the  infancy  of  this  improvement  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  labor  by  regulations  of  the  commercial  tariff,  is  a  subject  which 
can  not  fail  to  suggest  itself  to  your  patriotic  reflections. 

It  will  rest  with  the  consideration  of  Congress,  also,  whether  a  provi- 
dent as  well  as  fair  encouragement  would  not  be  given  to  our  navigation 
by  such  regulations  as  would  place  it  on  a  level  of  coinpetition  with  for- 
eign vessels,  particularly  in  transporting  the  important  and  bulky  produc- 
tions of  our  own  soil.  The  failure  of  equality  and  reciprocity  in  the  ex- 
isting regulations  on  this  subject  operates  in  our  ports  as  a  premium  to 
foreign  competitors  ;  and  the  inconvenience  must  increase  as  these  may 
be  multiplied,  under  more  favorable  circumstances,  by  the  more  than  coun- 
tervailing encouragements  now  given  them  by  the  laws  of  their  respective 
countries. 

While  it  is  universally  admitted  that  a  well-instructed  people  alone  can 
be  permanently  a  free  people,  and  while  it  is  evident  that  the  means  of 
diffusing  and  improving  useful  knowledge  form  so  small  a  proportion  of 
the  expenditures  for  national  purposes,  I  can  not  presume  it  to  be  unsea- 
sonable to  invite  your  attention  to  the  advantages  of  superadding  to  the 
means  of  education  provided  by  the  several  states  a  seminary  of  learning 
instituted  by  the  national  legislature,  within  the  limits  of  their  exclusive 
jurisdiction,  the  expense  of  which  might  be  defrayed  or  reimbursed  out  of 
the  vacant  grounds  which  have  accrued  to  the  nation  within  those  limits. 

Such  an  institution,  though  local  in  its  legal  character,  would  be  univer- 
sal in  its  beneficial  effects.  By  enlightening  the  opinions,  by  expanding 
the  patriotism,  and  by  assimilating  the  principles,  the  sentiments,  and  the 
manners  of  those  who  might  resort  to  this  temple  of  science,  to  be  redis- 
tributed in  due  time  through  every  part  of  the  community,  sources  of  jeal- 
ousy and  prejudice  would  be  diminished,  the  features  of  national  character 
would  be  multiplied,  and  greater  extent  given  to  social  harmony.  But 
above  all,  a  well-constituted  seminary,  in  the  centre  of  the  nation,  is 
recorrrfnended  by  the  consideration  that  the  additional  instruction  emana- 
ting from  it  would  contribute  not  less  to  strengthen  the  foundations  than 
to  adorn  the  structure  of  our  free  and  happy  system  of  government. 

Among  the  commercial  abuses  still  committed  under  the  American  flag, 
and  leaving  in  force  my  former  reference  to  that  subject,  it  appears  that 
American  citizens  are  instrumental  in  carrying  on  a  traffic  in  enslaved 
Africans,  equally  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  humanity  and  in  defiance  of 
those  of  their  own  country.  The  same  just  and  benevolent  motives  which 
produced  the  interdiction  in  force  against  this  criminal  conduct  will  doubt- 
less be  felt  by  Congress  in  devising  further  means  of  suppressing  the  evil. 

In  the  midst  of  uncertainties  necessarily  connected  with  the  great  in- 


284  MADISON'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

terests  of  the  United  States,  prudence  requires  a  continuance  of  our  de- 
fensive and  precautionary  arrangements.  The  secretary  of  war  and  the 
secretary  of  the  navy  will  submit  the  statements  and  estimates  which  may 
aid  Congress  in  their  ensuing  provisions  for  the  land  and  naval  forces. 
The  statements  of  the  latter  will  include  a  view  of  the  transfers  of  appro- 
priations in  the  naval  expenditures,  arid  the  grounds  on  which  they  were 
made. 

The  fortifications  for  the  defence  of  our  maritime  frontier  have  been 
prosecuted  according  to  the  plan  laid  down  in  1808.  The  works,  with 
some  exceptions,  are  completed  and  furnished  with  ordnance.  Those  for 
the  security  of  the  city  of  New  York,  though  far  advanced  toward  com- 
pletion, will  require  a  further  time  and  appropriation.  This  is  the  case 
with  a  few  others,  either  not  completed  or  in  need  of  repairs. 

The  improvements  in  quality  and  quantity,  made  in  the  manufacture  of 
cannon  and  small  arms,  both  at  the  public  armories  and  private  factories, 
warrant  additional  confidence  in  the  competency  of  these  resources  for 
supplying  the  public  exigencies. 

These  preparations  for  arming  the  militia  having  thus  far  provided  for 
one  of  the  objects  contemplated  by  the  power  vested  in  Congress  with 
respect  to  that  great  bulwark  of  the  public  safety,  it  is  for  their  considera- 
tion whether  further  provisions  are  not  requisite  for  the  other  contemplated 
objects  of  organization  and  discipline.  To  give  to  this  great  mass  of 
physical  and  moral  force  the  efficiency  which  it  merits,  and  is  capable  of 
receiving,  it  is  indispensable  that  they  should  be  instructed  and  practised 
in  the  rules  by  which  they  are  to  be  governed.  Toward  an  accomplish- 
ment of  this  important  work,  I  recommend  for  the  consideration  of  Con- 
gress the  expediency  of  instituting  a  system  which  shall  in  the  first  in- 
stance call  into  the  field,  at  the  public  expense  and  for  a  given  time,  cer- 
tain portions  of  the  commissioned  and  non-commissioned  officers.  The 
instruction  and  discipline  thus  acquired  would  gradually  diffuse  through 
the  entire  body  of  the  militia  that  practical  knowledge  and  promptitude  for 
active  service  which  are  the  great  ends  to  be  pursued.  Experience  has 
left  no  doubt  either  of  the  necessity  or  of  the  efficacy  of  competent  military 
skill  in  those  portions  of  an  army,  in  fitting  it  for  the  final  duties  which  it 
may  have  to  perform. 

The  corps  of  engineers,  with  the  military  academy,  are  entitled  to  the 
early  attention  of  Congress.  The  buildings  at  the  seat  fixed  by  law  for 
the  present  academy,  are  so  far  in  decay  as  not  to  afford  the  necessary 
accommodation.  But  a  revision  of  the  law  is  recommended,  principally 
with  a  view  to  a  more  enlarged  cultivation  and  diffusion  of  the  advantages 
of  such  institutions,  by  providing  professorships  for  all  the  necessary 
branches  of  military  instruction,  and  by  the  establishment  of  an  additional 
academy  at  the  seat  of  government  or  elsewhere.  The  means  by  which 
wars,  as  well  for  defence  as  for  offence,  are  now  carried  on,  render  these 
schools  of  the  more  scientific  operations  an  indispensable  part  of  every  ad- 
equate system.  Even  among  nations  whose  large  standing  armies  and 
frequent  wars  afford  every  other  opportunity  of  instruction,  these  estab- 
lishments are  found  to  be  indispensable  for  the  due  attainment  of  the 
branches  of  military  science  which  require  a  regular  course  of  study  and 
experiment.  In  a  government  happily  without  the  other  opportunities, 
seminaries  where  the  elementary  principles  of  the  art  of  war  can  be  taught 
without  actual  war,  and  without  the  expense  of  extensive  and  standing 
armies,  have  the  precious  advantage  of  uniting  an  essential  preparation 


MADISON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  285 

against  external  danger  with  a  scrupulous  regard  to  internal  safety.  In 
no  other  way,  probably,  can  a  provision  of  equal  efficacy  for  the  public 
defence  be  made  at  so  little  expense,  or  more  consistently  with  the  public 
liberty. 

The  receipts  into  the  treasury  during  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  of 
September  last  (and  amounting  to  more  than  eight  millions  and  a  half  of 
dollars),  have  exceeded  the  current  expenses  of  government,  including  the 
interest  on  the  public  debt.  For  the  purpose  of  reimbursing,  at  the  end  of 
the  year,  three  millions  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  the 
principal,  a  loan,  as  authorized  bylaw,  had  been  negotiated  to  that  amount, 
but  has  since  been  reduced  to  two  millions  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  ;  the  reduction  being  permitted  by  the  state  of  the  treasury, 
in  which  there  will  be  a  balance  remaining  at  the  end  of  the  year,  esti- 
mated at  two  millions  of  dollars.  For  the  probable  receipts  of  the  next 
year,  and  other  details,  I  refer  to  statements  which  will  be  transmitted 
from  the  treasury,  and  which  will  enable  you  to  judge  what  further  provis- 
ions may  be  necessary  for  the  ensuing  years. 

Reserving  for  future  occasions  in  the  course  of  the  session  whatever 
other  communications  may  claim  your  attention,  I  close  the  present  by  ex- 
pressing my  reliance,  under  the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence,  on  the  judg- 
ment and  patriotism  which  will  guide  your  measures,  at  a  period  particu- 
larly calling  for  united  councils  and  inflexible  exertions  for  the  welfare  of 
our  country,  and  by  assuring  you  of  the  fidelity  and  alacrity  with  which 
my  co-operation  will  be  afforded. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

FEBRUARY  21,  1811. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

HAVING  examined  and  considered  the  bill,  entitled,  "  An  act  incorpora- 
ting the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  the  town  of  Alexandria,  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,"  I  now  return  the '  bill  to  the  house  of  representa- 
tives, in  which  it  originated,  with  the  following  objections  : — 

Because  the  bill  exceeds  the  rightful  authority  to  which  governments 
are  limited,  by  the  essential  distinction  between  civil  and  religious  func- 
tions, and  violates,  in  particular,  the  article  of  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  declares,  that  "  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting 
a  religious  establishment."  The  bill  enacts  into,  and  establishes  by  law, 
sundry  rules  and  proceedings  relative  purely  to  the  organization  and  polity 
of  the  church  incorporated,  and  comprehending  even  the  election  and  re- 
moval of  the  minister  of  the  same  ;  so  that  no  change  could  be  made 
therein  by  the  particular  society,  or  by  the  general  church  of  which  it  is 
a  member,  and  whose  authority  it  recognises.  This  particular  church, 
therefore,  would  so  far  be  a  religious  establishment  by  law  ;  a  legal  force 
and  sanction  being  given  to  certain  articles  in  her  constitution  and  admin- 
istration. Nor  can  it  be  considered,  that  the  articles  thus  established  are 
to  be  taken  as  the  descriptive  criteria  only  of  the  corporate  identity  of  the 
society,  inasmuch  as  this  identity  must  depend  upon  other  characteristics  ; 
as  the  regulations  established  are  generally  unessential,  and  alterable  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  and  canons,  by  which  churches  of  that  denom- 


286  MADISON'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

ination  govern  themselves ;  and  as  the  injunctions  and  prohibitions  con- 
tained in  the  regulations,  would  he  enforced  by  the  general  consequences 
applicable  to  a  violation  of  them  according  to  the  local  law. 

Because  the  bill  vests  in  the  said  incorporated  church,  an  authority  to 
provide  for  the  support  of  the  poor,  and  the  education  of  the  poor  children 
of  the  same  ;  an  authority  which  being  altogether  superfluous,  if  the  pro- 
vision is  to  be  the  result  of  pious  charity,  would  be  a  precedent  for  giving 
to  religious  societies  as  such,  a  legal  agency  in  carrying  into  effect  a  pub 
lie  and  civil  duty. 


S.PECIAL    MESSAGE. 

FEBRUARY  28,  1811. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

HAVING  examined  and  considered  the  bill,  entitled,  "  An  act  for  the-re- 
lief  of  Richard  Tervin,  William  Coleman,  Edwin  Lewis,  Samuel  Mims, 
Joseph  Wilson,  and  the  Baptist  church  at  Salem  meeting-house,  in  the 
Mississippi  territory,"  I  now  return  the  same  to  the  house  of  representa- 
tives, in  which  it  originated,  with  the  following  objection  : — 

Because  the  bill,  in  reserving  a  certain  parcel  of  land  of  the  United 
States  for  the  use  of  the' said  Baptist  church,  comprises  a  principle  and 
precedent  for  the  appropriation  of  funds  of  the  United  States,  for  the  use 
and  support  of  religious  societies  ;  contrary  to  the  article  of  the  constitu- 
tion which  declares  that "  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  a  religious 
establishment." 


THIRD    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
NOVEMBER  5,  1811. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : — 

IN  calling  you  together  sooner  than  a  separation  from  your  homes  would 
otherwise  have  been  required,  I  yielded  to  considerations  drawn  from  the 
posture  of  our  foreign  affairs ;  and  in  fixing  the  present  for  the  time  of  your 
meeting,  regard  was  had  to  the  probability  of  further  developments  of  the 
policy  of  the  belligerent  powers  toward  this  country,  which  might  the 
more  unite  the  national  councils  in  the  measures  to  be  pursued.  - 

At  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  it  was  hoped  that  the  suc- 
cessive confirmations  of  the  extinction  of  the  French  decrees,  so  far  as 
they  violated  our  neutral  commerce,  would  have  induced  the  government 
of  Great  Britain  to  repeal  its  orders  in  council,  and  thereby  authorize  a 
removal  of  the  existing  obstructions  to  her  commerce  with  the  United 
States. 

Instead  of  this  reasonable  step  toward  satisfaction  and  friendship  be- 
tween the  two  nations,  the  orders  were,  at  a  moment  when  least  to  have 
been  expected,  put  into  more  rigorous  execution  ;  and  it  was  communica- 
ted through  the  British  envoy  just  arrived,  that  while  the  revocation  of  the 


MADISON'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  287 

edicts  of  France,  as  officially  made  known  to  the  British  government,  was 
denied  to  have  taken  place,  it  was  an  indispensable  condition  of  the  repeal 
of  the  British  orders  that  commerce  should  be  restored  to  a  footing  that 
would  admit  the  productions  and  manufactures  of  Great  Britain,  when 
owned  by  neutrals,  into  markets  shut  against  them  by  her  enemy ;  the 
United  States  being  given  to  understand  that,  in  the  meantime,  a  continu- 
ance of  their  non-importation  act  would  lead  to  measures  of  retaliation. 

At  a  later  date,  it  has  indeed  appeared  that  a  communication  to  the  Brit- 
ish government  of  fresh  evidence  of  the  repeal  of  the  French  decrees 
against  our  neutral  trade  was  followed  by  an  intimation  that  it  had  been 
transmitted  to  the  British  plenipotentiary  here  in  order  that  it  might  re- 
ceive full  consideration  in  the  depending  discussions.  This  communica- 
tion appears  not  to  have  been  received ;  but  the  transmission  of  it  hither, 
instead  of  founding  on  it  an  actual  repeal  of  the  orders,  or  assurances  that 
the  repeal  would  ensue,  will  not  permit  us  to  rely  on  any  effective  change 
in  the  British  cabinet.  To  be  ready  to  meet  with  cordiality  satisfactory 
proofs  of  such  a  change,  and  to  proceed  in  the  meantime  in  adapting  our 
measures  to  the  views  which  have  been  disclosed  through  that  minister, 
Avill  best  consult  our  whole  duty. 

In  the  unfriendly  spirit  of  those  disclosures,  indemnity  and  redress  for 
other  wrongs  have  continued  to  be  withheld,  and  our  coasts  and  the 
mouths  of  our  harbors  have  again  witnessed  scenes  not  less  derogatory  to 
the  dearest  of  our  national  rights  than  vexatious  to  the  regular  course  of 
our  trade. 

Among  the  occurrences  produced  by  the  conduct  of  British  ships-of-war 
hovering  on  our  coasts,  was  an  encounter  between  one  of  them  and  the 
Amercan  frigate  commanded  by  Captain  Rodgers,  rendered  unavoidable  on 
the  part  of  the  latter  by  a  fire  commenced  without  cause  by  the  former, 
whose  commander  is  therefore  alone  chargeable  with  the  blood  unfortu- 
nately shed  in  maintaining  the  honor  of  the  American  flag.  The  proceed- 
ings of  a  court  of  inquiry  requested  by  Captain  Rodgers  are  communicated, 
together  with  the  correspondence  relating  to  the  occurrence  between  the 
secretary  of  state  and  his  Britannic  majesty's  envoy.  To  these  are  added 
the  several  correspondences  which  have  passed  on  the  subject  of  the  Brit- 
ish orders  in  council,  and  to  both,  the  correspondence  relating  to  the  Flor- 
idas,  in  which  Congress  will  be  made  acquainted  with  the  interposition 
which  the  government  of  Great  Britain  has  thought  proper,  to  make 
against  the  proceedings  of  the  United  States. 

The  justness  and  fairness  which  have  been  evinced  on  the  part  of  the  " 
United  States  toward  France,  both  before  and  since  the  revocation  of  her 
decrees,  authorized  an  expectation  that  her  government  would  have  follow- 
ed up  that  measure  by  all  such  others  as  were  due  to  our  reasonable 
claims,  as  well  as  dictated  by  its  amicable  professions.  No  proof,  how- 
ever, is  yet  given  of  an  intention  to  repair  the  other  wrongs  done  to  the 
United  States,  and  particularly  to  restore  the  great  amount  of  American 
property  seized  and  condemned  under  edicts  which,  though  not  affecting 
our  neutral  relations,  and  therefore  not  entering  into  questions  between 
the  United  States  and  other  belligerents,  were  nevertheless  founded  in 
such  unjust  principles  that  the  reparation  ought  to  have  been  prompt  and 
ample. 

In  addition  to  this  and  other  demands  of  strict  right  on  that  nation,  the 
United  States  have  much  reason  to  be  dissatisfied  with  the  rigorous  and 
unexpected  restrictions  to  which  their  tr::de  with  the  French  dominions 


288  MADISON'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE 

has  been  subjected,  and  which,  if  not  discontinued,  will  require  at  east 
corresponding  restrictions  on  importations  from  France  into  the  United 
States. 

On  all  those  subjects  our  minister  plenipotentiary,  lately  sent  to  Paris, 
has  carried  with  him  the  necessary  instructions,  the  result  of  which  will 
be  communicated  to  you,  and,  by  ascertaining  the  ulterior  policy  of  the 
French  government  toward  the  United  States,  will  enable  you  to  adapt  to 
it  that  of  the  United  States  toward  France. 

Our  other  foreign  relations  remain  without  unfavorable  changes.  With 
Kussia  they  are  on  the  best  footing  of  friendship.  The  ports  of  Sweden 
have  afforded  proofs  of  friendly  dispositions  toward  our  commerce  in  the 
councils  of  that  nation  also.  And  the  information  from  our  special  minis- 
ter to  Denmark  shows  that  the  mission  had  been  attended  with  valuable 
effects  to  our  citizens,  whose  property  had  been  so  extensively  violated 
and  endangered  by  cruisers  under  the  Danish  flag. 

Under  the  ominous  indications  which  commanded  attention,  it  became 
a  duty  to  exert  the  means  committed  to  the  executive  department  in  pro- 
viding for  the  general  security.  The  works  of  defence  on  our  maritime 
frontier  have  accordingly  been  prosecuted  with  an  activity  leaving  little  to 
be  added  for  the  completion  of  the  most  important  ones  ;  and  as  particu- 
larly suited  for  co-operation  in  emergencies,  a  portion  of  the  gun-boats 
have  in  particular  harbors  been  ordered  into  use.  The  ships-of-war  be- 
fore in  commission,  with  the  addition  of  a  frigate,  have  been  chiefly  em- 
ployed as  a  cruising  guard  to  the  rights  of  our  coast ;  and  such  a  disposi- 
tion has  been  made  of  our  land  forces  as  was  thought  to  promise  the  ser- 
vices most  appropriate  and  important.  In  this  disposition  is  included  a 
force  consisting  of  regulars  and  militia,  embodied  in  the  Indiana  territory 
and  marched  toward  our  northwestern  frontier.  This  measure  was  made 
requisite  by  several  murders  and  depredations  committed  by  Indians,  but 
more  especially  by  the  menacing  preparations  and  aspect  of  a  combina- 
tion of  them  on  the  Wabash,  under  the  influence  and  direction  of  a  fanatic 
of  the  Shawanese  tribe.  With  these  exceptions,  the  Indian  tribes  re- 
tain their  peaceable  dispositions  toward  us,  and  their  usual  pursuits. 

I  must  now  add,  that  the  period  is  arrived  which  claims  from  the  legis- 
lative guardians  of  the  national  rights  a  system  of  more  ample  provisions 
for  maintaining  them.  Notwithstanding  the  scrupulous  justice,  the  pro- 
tracted moderation,  and  the  multiplied  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  to  substitute  for  the  accumulating  dangers  to  the  peace  of  the  two 
countries  all  the  mutual  advantages  of  re-established  friendship  and  con- 
fidence, we  have  seen  that  the  British  cabinet  perseveres  not  only  in  with- 
holding a  remedy  for  other  wrongs,  so  long  and  so  loudly  calling  for  it,  but 
in  the  execution,  brought  home  to  the  threshold  of  our  territory,  of  meas- 
ures which  under  existing  circumstances  have  the  character  as  well  as 
the  effect  of  war  on  our  lawful  commerce. 

With  this  evidence  of  hostile  inflexibility  in  trampling  on  rights  which 
no  independent  nation  can  relinquish,  Congress  will  feel  the  duty  of  put- 
ting the  United  States  into  an  armor  and  an  attitude  demanded  by  the  crisis, 
and  corresponding  with  the  national  spirit  and  expectations. 

I  recommend,  accordingly,  that  adequate  provision  be  made  for  filling 
the  ranks  and  prolonging  the  enlistments  of  the  regular  troops ;  for  an 
auxiliary  force  to  be  engaged  for  a  more  limited  term ;  for  the  acceptance 
of  volunteer  corps,  whose  patriotic  ardor  may  court  a  participation  in 
urgent  services  ;  for  detachments  as  they  may  be  wanted  of  other  portions 


MADISON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  289 

of  the  militia  ;  and  for  such  a  preparation  of  the  great  body  as  will  pro- 
portion its  usefulness  to  its  intrinsic  capacities.  Nor  can  the  occasion 
fail  to  remind  you  of  the  importance  of  those  military  seminaries  which  in 
every  event  will  form  a  valuable  and  frugal  part  of  our  military  establish- 
ment. 

The  manufacture  of  cannon  and  small  arms  has  proceeded  with  due 
success,  and  the  stock  and  resources  of  all  the  necessary  munitions  are 
adequate  to  emergencies.  It  will  not  be  inexpedient,  however,  for  Congress 
to  authorize  an  enlargement  of  them. 

Your  attention  will  of  course  be  drawn  to  such  provisions  on  the  subject 
of  our  naval  force  as  may  be  required  for  the  services  to  which  it  may  be 
best  adapted.  I  submit  to  Congress  the  seasonableness,  also,  of  an  author- 
ity to  augment  the  stock  of  such  materials  as  are  imperishable  in  their 
nature,  or  may  not  at  once  be  attainable. 

In  contemplating  the  scenes  which  distinguish  this  momentous  epoch, 
and  estimating  their  claims  to  our  attention,  it  is  impossible  to  overlook 
those  developing  themselves  among  the  great  communities  which  occupy 
the  southern  portion  of  our  own  hemisphere  and  extend  into  our  neighbor- 
hood. An  enlarged  philanthropy  and  an  enlighted  forecast  concur  in  im- 
posing on  the  national  councils  an  obligation  to  take  a  deep  interest  in 
their  destinies ;  to  cherish  reciprocal  sentiments  of  good  will ;  to  regard 
the  progress  of  events,  and  not  to  be  unprepared  for  whatever  order  of 
things  may  be  ultimately  established. 

Under  another  aspect  of  our  situation,  the  early  attention  of  Congress 
will  be  due  to  the  expediency  of  further  guards  against  evasions  and  in- 
fractions of  our  commercial  laws.  The  practice  of  smuggling,  which  is 
odious  everywhere,  and  particularly  criminal  in  free  governments,  where, 
the  laws  being  made  by  all  for  the  good  of  all,  a  fraud  is  committed  on  every 
individual  as  well  as  on  the  state,  attains  its  utmost  guilt  when  it  blends 
with  a  pursuit  of  ignominious  gain  a  treacherous  subserviency,  in  the  trans- 
gressors, to  a  foreign  policy  adverse  to  that  of  their  own  country.  It  is 
then  that  the  virtuous  indignation  of  the  public  should  be  enabled  to  mani- 
fest itself  through  the  regular  animadversions  of  the  most  competent  laws. 

To  secure  greater  respect  to  our  mercantile  flag,  and  to  the  honest  in- 
terest which  it  covers,  it  is  expedient  also  that  it  be  made  punishable  in 
our  citizens  to  accept  licenses  from  foreign  governments  for  a  trade  un- 
lawfully interdicted  by  them  to  other  American  citizens,  or  to  trade  under 
false  colors  or  papers  of  any  sort. 

A  prohibition  is  equally  called  for  against  the  acceptance  by  our  citi- 
zens of  special  licenses  to  be  used  in  a  trade  with  the  United  States  ;  and 
against  the  admission  into  particular  ports  of  the  United  States  of  vessels 
from  foreign  countries  authorized  to  trade  with  particular  ports  only. 

Although  other  subjects  will  press  more  immediately  on  your  delibera- 
tions, a  portion  of  them  can  not  but  be  well  bestowed  on  the  just  and  sound 
policy  of  securing  to  our  manufactures  the  success  they  have  attained, 
and  are  still  attaining,  in  some  degree,  under  the  impulse  of  causes  not 
permanent ;  and  to  our  navigation  the  fair  extent  of  which  is  at  present 
abridged  by  the  unequal  regulations  of  foreign  governments. 

Besides  the  reasonableness  of  saving  our  manufactures  from  sacrifices 
whi«h  a  change  of  circumstances  might  bring  on  them,  the  national  interest 
requires  that,  with  respect  to  such  articles  at  least  as  belong  to  our  de- 
fence and  our  primary  wants,  we  should  not  be  left  in  unnecessary  de- 
pendence on  external  supplies.  And  while  foreign  governments  adhere 

VOL.  I.— 19 


290  MADISON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

to  the  existing  discrimination  in  their  ports  against  our  navigation,  and  an 
equality  or  lesser  discrimination  is  enjoyed  by  their  navigation  in  our 
ports,  the  effect  can  not  be  mistaken,  because  it  has  been  seriously  felt  by 
our  shipping  interests  ;  and  in  proportion  as  this  takes  place,  the  advan- 
tages of  an  independent  conveyance  of  our  products  to  foreign  markets, 
and  of  a  growing  body  of  mariners  trained  by  their  occupations  for  the 
service  of  their  country  in  times  of  danger,  must  be  diminished. 

The  receipts  into  the  treasury  during  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  of 
September  last  have  exceeded  thirteen  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars,  and 
have  enabled  us  to  defray  the  current  expenses,  including  the  interest  on 
the  public  debt,  and  to  reimburse  more  than  five  millions  of  dollars  of  the 
principal,  without  recurring  to  the  loan  authorized  by  the  act  of  the  last 
session.  The  temporary  loan  obtained  in  the  latter  end  of  the  year  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  ten  has  also  been  reimbursed,  and  is  not  in- 
cluded in  that  amount. 

The  decrease  of  revenue  arising  from  the  situation  of  our  commerce 
and  the  extraordinary  expenses  which  have  and  may  become  necessary, 
must  be  taken  into  view,  in  making  commensurate  provisions  for  the  en- 
suing year.  And  I  recommend  to  your  consideration  the  propriety  of  in- 
suring a  sufficiency  of  annual  revenue,  at  least  to  defray  the  ordinary  ex- 
penses of  government,  and  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  public  debt,  in- 
cluding that  on  new  loans  which  may  be  authorized. 

I  can  not  close  this  communication  without  expressing  my  deep  sense 
of  the  crisis  in  which  you  are  assembled,  my  confidence  in  a  wise  and 
honorable  result  to  your  deliberations,  and  assurances  of  the  faithful  zeal 
with  which  my  co-operating  duties  will  be  discharged ;  invoking  at  the 
same  time  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  our  beloved  country,  and  on  all  the 
means  that  may  be  employed  in  vindicating  its  rights  and  advancing  its 
welfare. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE 
DECEMBER   12,  1811. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

I  LAY  before  Congress  two  letters  received  from  Governor  Harrison,  of 
the  Indian  territory,  reporting  the  particulars  and  the  issue  of  the  expedi- 
tion under  his  command,  of  which  notice  was  taken  in  my  communication 
of  November  5th. 

While  it  is  deeply  lamented  that  so  many  valuable  lives  have  been  lost 
in  the  action  which  took  place  on  the  seventh  ultimo,  Congress  will  see 
with  satisfaction  the  dauntless  spirit  and  fortitude  victoriously  displayed 
by  every  description  of  the  troops  engaged,  as  well  as  the  collected  firm- 
ness which  distinguished  their  commander,  on  an  occasion  requiring  the 
utmost  exertions  of  valor  and  discipline. 

It  may  reasonably  be  expected  that  the  good  effects  of  this  critical  de- 
feat and  dispersion  of  a  combination  of  savages,  which  appears  to  have 
been  spreading  to  a  greater  extent,  will  be  experienced,  not  only  in  the 
cessation  of  murders  and  depredations  committed  on  our  frontier,  but  in 
the  prevention  of  any  hostile  incursions  otherwise  to  have  been  appre- 
hended 


MADISON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  291 

The  families  of  those  brave  and  patriotic  citizens,  who  have  fallen  in 
»his  severe  conflict,  will  doubtless  engage  the  favorable  attention  of  Con- 
gress. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  23,  1811. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

I  COMMUNICATE  to  Congress  copies  of  an  act  of  the  legislature  of  New 
York  relating  to  a  canal  from  the  great  lakes  to  Hudson  river.  In  making 
the  communication,  I  consult  the  respect  due  to  that  state,  in  whose  be- 
half the  commissioners  appointed  by  the  act  have  placed  it  in  my  hands 
for  the  purpose. 

The  utility  of  canal  navigation  is  universally  admitted.  It  is  no  less 
certain  that  scarcely  any  country  offers  more  extensive  opportunities  for 
that  branch  of  improvements  than  the  United  States,  and  none,  perhaps, 
inducements  equally  persuasive  to  make  the  most  of  them.  The  particu- 
lar undertaking  contemplated  by  the  state  of  New  York,  which  marks  an 
honorable  spirit  of  enterprise  and  comprises  objects  of  national  as  well 
as  more  limited  importance,  will  recall  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the 
signal  advantages  to  be  derived  to  the  United  States  from  a  general  sys- 
tem of  internal  communication  and  conveyance,  and  suggest  to  their  con- 
sideration whatever  steps  may  be  proper  on  their  part  toward  its  intro- 
duction and  accomplishment.  As  some  of  those  advantages  have  an 
intimate  connexion  with  the  arrangements  and  exertions  for  the  general 
security,  it  is  at  a  period  calling  for  these  that  the  merits  of  such  a  sys- 
tem will  be  seen  in  the  strongest  lights. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  9,  1812. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

I  LAY  before  Congress  copies  of  certain  documents  which  remain  in  the 
department  of  state.  They  prove  that  at  a  recent  period,  while  the  United 
States,  notwithstanding  the  wrongs  sustained  by  them,  ceased  not  to  ob- 
serve the  laws  of  peace  and  neutrality  toward  Great  Britain,  and  in  the 
midst  of  amicable  professions  and  negotiations  on  the  part  of  the  British 
government,  through  its  public  minister  here,  a  secret  agent  of  that  gov- 
ernment was  employed  in  certain  states,  more  especially  at  the  seat  of 
government  in  Massachusetts,  in  fomenting  disaffection  to  the  constituted 
authorities  of  the  nation,  and  in  intrigues  with  the  disaffected,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  about  resistance  to  the  laws,  and  eventually,  in  concert 
with  a  British  force,  of  destroying  the  Union  and  forming  the  eastern  part 
thereof  into  a  political  connexion  with  Great  Britain. 

In  addition  to  the  effect  which  the  discovery  of  such  a  procedure  ought 
to  have  on  the  public  councils,  it  will  not  fail  to  render  more  dear  to  tho 


292  MADISON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

hearts  of  all  good  citizens  that  happy  union  of  these  states,  which,  under 
Divine  Providence,  is  the  guarantee  of  their  liberties,  their  safety,  their 
tranquillity,  and  their  prosperity. 


CONFIDENTIAL    MESSAGE. 
APRIL  1,  1812. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

CONSIDERING  it  as  expedient,  under  existing  circumstances  and  pros- 
pects, that  a  general  embargo  be  laid  on  all  vessels  now  in  port,  or  here- 
after arriving,  for  the  period  of  sixty  days,  I  recommend  an  immediate  pas- 
sage of  a  law  to  that  effect. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
APRIL  3,  1812. 

To   the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

HAVING  examined  and  considered  the  bill,  entitled,  "  An  act  providing 
for  the  trial  of  causes  pending  in  the  respective  district  courts  of  the 
United  States,  in  cases  of  the  absence  or  disability  of  the  judges  thereof," 
which  bill  was  presented  to  me  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  March  past,  I  now 
return  the  same  to  the  house  of  representatives,  in  which  it  originated, 
with  the  following  objections  : — 

Because  the  additional  services  imposed  by  the  bill  on  the  justices  of 
the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  are  to  be  performed  by  them  rather 
in  the  quality  of  other  judges  of  other  courts,  namely,  judges  of  the  district 
courts,  than  in  the  quality  of  justices  of  the  supreme  court.  They  are  to 
hold  the  district  courts,  and  to  do  and  perform  all  acts  relating  to  the  said 
courts,  which  are,  by  law,  required  of  the  district  judges.  The  bill,  there- 
fore, virtually  appoints,  for  the  time,  the  justices  of  the  supreme  court  to 
other  distinct  offices,  to  which,  if  compatible  with  their  original  offices, 
they  ought  to  be  appointed  by  another  than  the  legislative  authority,  in  pur- 
suance of  legislative  provisions  authorizing  the  appointments. 

Because  the  appeal  allowed  by  law,  for  the  decision  of  the  district 
courts  to  the  circuit  courts,  while  it  corroborates  the  construction  which 
regards  a  judge  of  one  court  as  clothed  with  a  new  office,  by  being  con- 
stituted a  judge  of  the  other,  submits  for  correction  erroneous  judgments, 
not  to  superior  or  other  judges,  but  to  the  erring  individual  himself,  acting 
as  sole  judge  of  the  appellate  court. 

Because  the  additional  services  to  be  required,  may,  by  distances  of 
place,  and  by  the  casualties  contemplated  by  the  bill,  become  dispropor- 
tionate to  the  strength  and  health  of  the  justices  that  are  to  perform  them. 
The  additional  services  being,  moreover,  entitled  to  no  additional  compen- 
sation, nor  the  additional  expenses  incurred  to  reimbursment.  In  this  view, 
the  bill  appears  to  be  contrary  to  equity,  as  well  as  a  precedent  to  modifi- 
cations and  extensions  on  judicial  services  encroaching  on  the  constitu- 
tional tenure  of  judicial  offices. 


MADISON'S  WAR  MESSAGE.  293 

Because,  by  referring  to  the  president  of  the  United  States  questions  of 
disability  in  the  district  judges,  and  of  the  unreasonableness  of  delaying 
the  suits  or  cases  pending  in  the  district  courts,  and  leaving  it  with  him 
in  such  cases  to  require  the  justices  of  the  supreme  court  to  perform  ad- 
ditional services,  the  bill  introduces  an  unsuitable  relation  of  members  of 
the  judiciary  department  to  a  discretionary  authority  of  the  executive  de- 
partment. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

APRIL  20,  1812. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

AMONG  the  incidents  of  the  unexampled  increase  and  expanding  inter- 
ests of  the  American  nation,  under  the  fostering  influence  of  free  institu- 
tions and  just  laws,  has  been  a  corresponding  accumulation  of  duties  of 
the  several  departments  of  the  government ;  and  this  has  been  necessarily 
the  greater  in  consequence  of  the  peculiar  state  of  our  foreign  relations, 
and  the  connexion  of  these  with  our  internal  administration. 

The  extensive  and  multiplied  preparations,  into  which  the  United  States 
are  at  length  driven  for  maintaining  their  violated  rights,  have  caused  this 
augmentation  of  business  to  press  on  the  department  of  war,  particularly, 
with  a  weight  disproportionate  to  the  powers  of  any  single  officer,  with 
no  other  aids  than  are  authorized  by  existing  laws.  With  a  view  to 
a  more  adequate  arrangement  for  the  essential  objects  of  that  depart- 
ment, I  recommend  to  an  early  consideration  of  Congress  a  provision  for 
two  subordinate  appointments  therein  ;  with  such  compensations  annexed 
as  may  be  reasonably  expected  by  citizens  duly  qualified  for  the  impor- 
tant functions  which  may  be  properly  assigned  to  them. 


CONFIDENTIAL    MESSAGE. 
JUNE  1,  1812. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  COMMUNICATE  to  Congress  certain  documents,  being  a  continuation  of 
those  heretofore  laid  before  them  on  the  subject  of  our  affairs  with  Great 
Britain. 

Without  going  back  beyond  the  renewal,  in  1803,  of  the  war  in  which 
Great  Britain  is  engaged,  and  omitting  unrepaired  wrongs  of  inferior  mag- 
nitude, the  conduct  of  our  government  presents  a  series  of  acts  hostile  to 
the  United  States  as  an  independent  and  neutral  nation. 

British  cruisers  have  been  in  the  continued  practice  of  violating  the 
American  flag  on  the  great  highway  of  nations,  and  seizing  and  carrying 
off  persons  sailing  under  it ;  not  in  the  exercise  of  a  belligerent  right 
founded  on  the  law  of  nations  against  an  enemy,  but  of  a  municipal  pre- 
rogative over  British  subjects.  British  jurisdiction  is  thus  extended  to 
neutral  vessels  in  a  situation  where  no  laws  can  operate  but  the  law  of  na- 


294  MADISON'S  WAR  MESSAGE. 

lions  and  the  laws  of  the  country  to  which  the  vessels  belong,  and  a  self- 
redress  is  assumed,  which,  if  British  subjects  were  wrongfully  detained 
and  alone  concerned,  is  that  substitution  of  force  for  a  resort  to  the  re- 
sponsible sovereign  which  falls  within  the  definition  of  war.  Could  the 
seizure  of  British  subjects  in  such  cases  be  regarded  as  within  the  exer- 
cise of  a  belligerent  right,  the  acknowledged  laws  of  war,  which  forbids 
an  article  of  captured  property  to  be  adjudged  without  a  regular  investiga- 
tion before  a  competent  tribunal,  would  imperiously  demand  the  fairest 
trial  where  the  sacred  rights  of  persons  were  at  issue.  In  place  of  such 
a  trial,  these  rights  are  subjected  to  the  will  of  every  petty  commander. 

The  practice,  hence,  is  so  far  from  affecting  British  subjects  alone,  that 
under  the  pretext  of  searching  for  these,  thousands  of  American  citizens, 
under  the  safeguard  of  national  law  and  of  their  national  flag,  have  been 
torn  from  their  country  and  everything  dear  to  them  ;  have  been  dragged 
on  board  of  ships-of-war  of  a  foreign  nation  and  exposed,  under  the  sever- 
ities of  their  discipline,  to  be  exiled  to  the  most  distant  and  deadly  climes, 
to  risk  their  lives  in  the  battles  of  their  oppressors,  and  to  be  the  melan- 
choly instruments  of  taking  away  those  of  their  own  brethren. 

Against  this  crying  enormity  which  Great  Britain  would  be  so  prompt 
to  avenge  if  committed  against  herself,  the  United  States  have  in  vain  ex- 
hausted remonstrances  and  expostulations,  and  that  no  proof  might  be 
wanting  of  their  conciliatory  disposition,  and  no  pretext  left  for  a  continuance 
of  the  practice,  the  British  government  was  formally  assured  of  the  readiness 
of  the  United  States  to  enter  into  arrangements  such  as  could  not  be  re- 
jected if  the  recovery  of  British  subjects  were  the  real  and  the  sole  object. 
The  communication  passed  without  effect. 

British  cruisers  have  been  in  the  practice  also  of  violating  the  rights 
and  peace  of  our  coasts.  They  hover  over  and  harass  our  entering  and 
departing  commerce.  To  the  most  insulting  pretensions  they  have  added 
the  most  lawless  proceedings  in  our  very  harbors,  and  have  wantonly  spilt 
American  blood  within  the  sanctuary  of  our  territorial  jurisdiction.  The 
principles  and  rules  enforced  by  that  nation,  when  a  neutral  nation,  against 
armed  vessels  of  belligerents  hovering  near  her  coasts  and  disturbing  her 
commerce,  are  well  known.  When  called  on,  nevertheless,  by  the  United 
States,  to  punish  the  greater  offences  committed  by  her  own  vessels,  her 
government  has  bestowed  on  their  commanders  additional  marks  of  honor 
and  confidence. 

Under  pretended  blockades,  without  the  presence  of  an  adequate  force 
and  sometimes  without  the  practicability  of  applying  one,  our  commerce 
has  been  plundered  in  every  sea,  the  great  staples  of  our  country  have 
been  cut  off,  from  their  legitimate,  markets,  and  a  destructive  blow  aimed 
at  our  agricultural  and  maritime  interests.  In  aggravation  of  these  preda- 
-  tory  measures,  they  have  been  considered  as  in  force  from  the  dates  of 
their  notification  ;  a  retrospective  effect  being  thus  added,  as  has  been 
done  in  other  important  cases,  to  the  unlawfulness  of  the  course  pursued. 
And  to  render  the  outrage  the  more  signal,  these  mock  blockades  have  been 
reiterated  and  enforced  in  the  face  of  official  communications  from  the 
British  government,  declaring,  as  the  true  definition  of  a  legal  blockade, 
that  "  particular  ports  must  be  actually  invested,  and  previous  warning 
given  to  vessels  bound  to  them  not  to  enter." 

Not  content  with  these  occasional  expedients  for  laying  waste  our  neu- 
tral trade,  the  cabinet  of  Great  Britain  resorted  at  length  to  the  sweeping 
system  of  blockades,  under  the  name  of  orders  in  council,  which  has  been 


MADISON'S  WAR  MESSAGE.  »       295 

moulded  and  managed  as  might  best  suit  its  political  views,  its  commer- 
cial jealousies,  or  the  avidity  of  British  cruisers. 

To  our  remonstrances  against  the  complicated  and  transcendent  injus- 
tice of  this  innovation,  the  first  reply  was,  that  the  orders  were  reluctantly 
adopted  by  Great  Britain  as  a  necessary  retaliation  on  decrees  of  her  eu- 
emy  proclaiming  a  general  blockade  of  the  British  isles,  at  a  time  when 
the  naval  force  of  that  enemy  dared  not  to  issue  from  his  own  ports.  She 
was  reminded  without  effect,  that  her  own  prior  blockades,  unsupported 
by  an  adequate  naval  force  actually  applied  and  continued,  were  a  bar  to 
this  plea ;  that  executed  edicts  against  millions  of  our  property  could  not 
be  retaliation  on  edicts  confessedly  impossible  to  be  executed  ;  that  retal- 
iation, to  be  just  should  fall  on  the  party  setting  the  guilty  example,  not 
on  an  innocent  party  which  was  not  even  chargeable  with  an  acquies- 
cence in  it. 

When .  deprived  of  this  flimsy  veil  for  a  prohibition  of  our  trade  with 
her  enemy,  by  the  repeal  of  his  prohibition  of  our  trade  with  Great  Brit- 
ain, her  cabinet,  instead  of  a  corresponding  repeal,  or  a  practical  discon- 
tinuance of  its  orders,  formally  avowed  a  determination  to  persist  in  them 
against  the  United  States,  until  the  markets  of  her  enemy  should  be  laid 
open  to  British  products,  thus  asserting  an  obligation  on  a  neutral  power 
to  require  one  belligerent  to  encourage  by  its  internal  regulations  the 
trade  of  another  belligerent,  contradicting  her  own  practice  toward  all  na- 
tions, in  peace  as  well  as  in  war,  and  betraying  the  insincerity  of  those 
professions  which  inculcated  a  belief  that,  having  resorted  to  her  orders 
with  regret,  she  was  anxious  to  find  an  occasion  for  putting  an  end  to  them. 

Abandoning  still  more  all  respect  for  the  neutral  rights  of  the  United 
States,  and  for  its  own  consistency,  the  British  gpvernment  now  demands, 
as  pre-requisites  to  a  repeal  of  its  orders  as  they  relate  to  the  United 
States,  that  a  formality  should  be  observed  in  the  repeal  of  the  French 
decrees,  nowise  necessary  to  their  termination,  nor  exemplified  by  British 
usage  ;  and  that  the  French  repeal,  besides  including  that  portion  of  the 
decrees  which  operate  within  a  territorial  jurisdiction  as  well  as  that 
which  operates  on  the  high  seas  against  the  commerce  of  the  United 
States  should  not  be  a  single  and  special  repeal  in  relation  to  the  United 
States,  but  should  be  extended  to  whatever  other  neutral  nations,  uncon- 
nected with  them,  may  be  affected  by  those  decrees.  And  as  an  addi- 
tional insult  they  are  called  on  for  a  formal  disavowal  of  conditions  and 
pretensions  advanced  by  the  French  government,  for  which  the  United 
States  are  so  far  from  having  made  themselves  responsible,  that,  in  official 
explanations  which  have  been  published  to  the  world,  and  in  a  correspond- 
ence of  the  American  minister  at  London  with  the  British  minister  of 
foreign  affairs,  such  a  responsibility  was  explicitly  and  emphatically  dis- 
claimed. 

It  has  become,  indeed,  sufficiently  certain,  that  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States  is  to  be  sacrificed,  not  as  interfering  with  the  belligerent 
rights  of  Great  Britain  ;  not  as  supplying  the  wants  of  her  enemies,  which 
she  herself  supplies ;  but  as  interfering  with  the  monopoly  which  she 
covets  for  her  own  commerce  and  navigation.  She  carries  on  a  war 
against  the  lawful  commerce  of  a  friend  that  she  may  the  better  carry  on 
a  commerce  with  an  enemy — a  commerce  polluted  by  the  forgeries  and 
perjuries  which  are  for  the  most  part  the  only  passports  by  which  it  can 
succeed. 

Anxious  to  make  every  experiment  short  of  the  last  resort  of  injured 


296  MADISON'S  WAR  MESSAGE. 

nations,  the  United  States  have  withheld  from  Great  Britain,  under  suc- 
cessive modifications,  the  benefits  of  a  free  intercourse  with  her  market, 
the  loss  of  which  could  not  but  outweigh  the  profits  accruing  from  her 
restrictions  of  our  commerce  with  other  nations.  And  to  entitle  these  ex- 
periments to  the  more  favorable  consideration,  they  were  so  framed  as  to 
enable  her  to  place  her  adversary  under  the  exclusive  operation  of  them. 
To  these  appeals  her  government  has  been  equally  inflexible,  as  if  willing 
to  make  sacrifices  of  every  sort  rather  than  to  yield  to  the  claims  of  jus- 
tice or  renounce  the  errors  of  a  false  pride.  Nay,  so  far  were  the  at- 
tempts carried  to  overcome  the  attachment  of  the  British  cabinet  to  its 
unjust  edicts,  that  it  received  every  encouragement  within  the  compe- 
tency of  the  executive  branch  of  our  government  to  expect  that  a  repeal 
of  them  would  be  followed  by  a  war  between  the  United  States  and 
France,  unless  the  French  edicts  should  also  be  repealed.  Even  this 
communication,  although  silencing  for  ever  the  plea  of  a  disposition  in  the 
United  States  to  acquiesce  in  those  edicts,  originally  the  sole  plea  for 
them,  received  no  attention. 

If  no  other  proof  existed  of  a  pre-determination  of  the  British  govern- 
ment against  a  repeal  of  its  orders,  it  might  be  found  in  the  correspond- 
ence of  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States,  at  London,  and 
the  British  secretary  of  foreign  affairs  in  1810,  on  the  question  whether 
the  blockade  of  May,  1806,  was  considered  as  in  force  or  as  not  in  force. 
It  had  been  ascertained  that  the  French  government,  which  urged  this 
blockade  as  the  ground  of  its  Berlin  decree,  was  willing  in  the  event  oi 
its  removal  to  repeal  that  decree ;  which  being  followed  by  alternate  re- 
peals of  the  other  offensive  edicts,  might  abolish  the  whole  system  on 
both  sides.  This  inviting  opportunity  for  accomplishing  an  object  so  im- 
portant to  the  United  States,  and  professed,  so  often,  to  be  the  desire  ot 
both  the  belligerents,  was  made  known  to  the  British  government.  As 
that  government  admits  that  an  actual  application  of  an  adequate  force  is 
necessary  to  the  existence  of  legal  blockade,  and  it  was  notorious  that  it 
such  a  force  had  ever  been  applied  its  long  discontinuance  had  annulled 
the  blockade  in  question,  there  could  be  no  sufficient  objection  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain  to  a  formal  revocation  of  it,  and  no  imaginable  objec- 
tion to  a  declaration  of  the  fact  that  the  blockade  did  not  exist.  The 
declaration  would  have  been  consistent  with  her  avowed  principles  ol 
blockade  ;  and  would  have  enabled  the  United  States  to  demand  from 
France  the  pledged  repeal  of  her  decrees,  either  with  success,  in  which 
case  the  way  would  have  been  opened  for  a  general  repeal  of  the  bellige- 
rent edicts  ;  or  without  success,  in  which  case  the  United  States  would 
have  been  justified  in  turning  their  measures  exclusively  against  France. 
The  British  government  would,  however,  neither  rescind  the  blockade,  noi 
declare  its  non-existence  ;  nor  permit  its  non-existence  to  be  inferred  and 
affirmed  by  the  American  plenipotentiary.  On  the  contrary,  by  represent- 
ing the  blockade  to  be  comprehended  in  the  orders  in  council,  the  United 
States  were  compelled  so  to  regard  it,  in  their  subsequent  proceedings. 

There  was  a  period  when  a  favorable  change  in  the  policy  of  the  Brit- 
ish cabinet  was  justly  considered  as  established.  The  minister  plenipo- 
tentiary of  his  Britannic  majesty  here,  proposed  an  adjustment  of  the 
differences  more  immediately  endangering  the  harmony  of  the  two  coun- 
tries. The  proposition  was  accepted  with  the  promptitude  and  cordiality 
corresponding  with  the  invariable  professions  of  this  government.  A 
foundation  appeared  to  be  laid  for  a  sincere  and  lasting  reconciliation. 


MADISON'S  WAR  MESSAGE.  297 

The  prospect,  however,  quickly  vanished.  The  whole  proceeding  was 
-disavowed  by  the  British  government,  without  any  explanations  which 
could  at  that  time  repress  the  belief  that  the  disavowal  proceeded  from 
a  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  commercial  rights  and  prosperity  of  the  United 
States.  And  it  has  since  come  into  proof  that  at  the  very  moment  when 
the  public  minister  was  holding  the  language  of  friendship,  and  inspiring 
confidence  in  the  sincerity  of  the  negotiation  with  which  he  was  charged, 
a  secret  agent  of  his  government  was  employed  in  intrigues,  having  for 
their  object  a  subversion  of  our  government  and  a  dismemberment  of  our 
happy  union. 

In  reviewing  the  conduct  of  Great  Britain  toward  the  United  States, 
our  attention  is  necessarily  drawn  to  the  warfare  just  renewed  by  the  sav- 
ages on  one  of  our  extensive  frontiers — a  warfare  which  is  known  to 
spare  neither  age  nor  sex,  and  to  be  distinguished  by  features  peculiarly 
shocking  to  humanity.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  activity  and  com- 
binations which  have  been  for  some  time  developing  themselves  among 
tribes  in  constant  intercourse  with  British  traders  and  garrisons,  without 
connecting  their  hostility  with  that  influence,  and  without  recollecting  the 
authenticated  examples  of  such  interpositions  heretofore  furnished  by  the 
officers  and  agents  of  that  government. 

Such  is  the  spectacle  of  injuries  and  indignities  which  have  been  heaped 
on  our  country  ;  and  such  the  crisis  which  its  unexampled  forbearance  and 
conciliatory  efforts  have  not  been  able  to  avert.  It  might  at  least  have 
been  expected  that  an  enlightened  nation,  if  less  urged  by  moral  obliga- 
tions or  invited  by  friendly  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
would  have  found,  in  its  true  interest  alone,  a  sufficient  motive  to  respect 
their  rights  and  their  tranquillity  on  the  high  seas  ;  that  an  enlarged  pol- 
icy would  have  favored  that  free  and  general  circulation  of  commerce  in 
which  the  British  nation  is  at  all  times  interested,  and  which  in  times  of 
war  is  the  best  alleviation  of  its  calamities  to  herself,  as  well  as  to  other 
belligerents  ;  and  more  especially  that  the  British  cabinet  would  not,  for 
the  sake  of  a  precarious  and  surreptitious  intercourse  with  hostile  markets, 
have  persevered  in  a  course  of  measures  which  necessarily  put  at  hazard 
the  invaluable  market  of  a  great  and  growing  country,  disposed  to  culti- 
vate the  mutual  advantages  of  an  active  commerce. 

Other  counsels  have  prevailed.  Our  moderation  and  conciliation  have 
had  no  other  effect  than  to  encourage  perseverance  and  to  enlarge  preten- 
sions. We  behold  our  seafaring  citizens  still  the  daily  victims  of  lawless 
violence,  committed  on  the  great  and  common  highway  of  nations,  even 
within  sight  of  the  country  which,  owes  them  protection.  We  behold  our 
vessels,  freighted  with  the  products  of  our  soil  and  industry,  or  returning 
with  the  honest  proceeds  of  them,  wrested  from  their  lawful  destinations, 
confiscated  by  prize  courts,  no  longer  the  organs  of  public  law,  but  the  in- 
struments of  arbitrary  edicts,  and  their  unfortunate  crews  dispersed  and 
lost,  or  forced  or  inveigled  in  British  ports  into  British  fleets,  while  ar- 
guments are  employed  in  support  of  these  aggressions,  which  have  no 
foundation  but  in  a  principle  equally  supporting  a  claim  to  regulate  our 
external  commerce  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

We  behold,  in  fine,  on  the  side  of  Great  Britain,  a  state  of  war  against 
the  United  States ;  and  on  the  side  of  the  United  States,  a  state  of  peace 
toward  Great  Britain. 

Whether  the  United  States  shall  continue  passive  under  these  progres- 
sive usurpations  and  these  accumulating  wrongs,  or,  opposing  force  to 


208  MADISON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

force  in  defence  of  their  national  rights,  shall  commit  a  just  cause  into  the 
hands  of  the  Almighty  Disposer  of  events,  avoiding  all  connexions  wlu'ch 
might  entangle  it  in  the  contests  or  views  of  other  powers,  and  preserving 
a  constant  readiness  to  concur  in  an  honorable  re-establishment  of  peace 
and  friendship,  is  a  solemn  question  which  the  constitution  wisely  con- 
fides to  the  legislative  department  of  the  government.  In  recommending 
it  to  their  early  deliberations,  I  am  happy  in  the  assurance  that  the  decis- 
ion will  be  worthy  the  enlightened  and  patriotic  councils  of  a  virtuous, 
free,  and  a  powerful  nation. 

Having  presented  this  view  of  the  relations  of  the  United  States  with 
Great  Britain,  and  of  the  solemn  alternative  growing  out  of  them,  1  pro- 
ceed to  remark  that  the  communications  last  made  to  Congress  on  the 
subject  of  our  relations  with  France  will  have  shown,  that  since  the  revo- 
cation of  her  decrees,  as  they  violated  the  neutral  rights  of  the  United 
States,  her  government  has  authorized  illegal  captures  by  its  privateers 
and  public  ships,  and  that  other  outrages  have  been  practised  on  our  ves- 
sels and  our  citizens.  It  will  have  been  seen,  also,  that  no  indemnity 
had  been  provided,  or  satisfactorily  pledged,  for  the  extensive  spoliations 
committed  under  the  violent  and  retrospective  orders  "of  the  French  gov- 
ernment against  the  property  of  our  citizens  seized  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  France.  I  abstain,  at  this  time,  from  recommending  to  the  considera- 
tion of  Congress  definitive  measures  with  respect  to  that  nation,  in  the 
expectation  that  the  result  of  unclosed  discussions  between  our  minister 
plenipotentiary  at  Paris  and  the  French  government  will  speedily  enable 
Congress  to  decide  with  greater  advantage  on  the  course  due  to  the  rights, 
the  interests,  and  the  honor  of  our  country. 


FOURTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

NOVEMBER  4,  1812. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

ON  our  present  meeting  it  is  my  first  duty  to  invite  your  attention  to  the 
providential  favors  which  our  country  has  experienced  in  the  unusual  de- 
gree of  health  dispensed  to  its  inhabitants,  and  in  the  rich  abundance 
with  which  the  earth  has  rewarded  the  labors  bestowed  on  it.  In  the 
successful  cultivation  of  other  branches  of  industry,  and  in  the  progress  of 
general  improvement  favorable  to  the  national  prosperity,  there  is  just  oc- 
casion also  for  our  mutual  congratulations  and  thankfulness. 

With  these  blessings  are  necessarily  mingled  the  pressures  and  vicis- 
situdes incident  to  the  state  of  war  into  which  the  United  States  have 
been  forced  by  the  perseverance  of  a  foreign  power  in  its  system  of  in- 
justice and  aggression. 

Previous  to  its  declaration,  it  was  deemed  proper,  as  a  nieasure  of  pre- 
caution and  forecast,  that  a  considerable  force  should  be  placed  in  the 
Michigan  territory  with  a  general  view  to  its  security,  and,  in  the  event  of 
war,  to  such  operations  in  the  uppermost  Canada  as  would  intercept  the 
hostile  influence  of  Great  Britain  over  the  savages,  obtain  the  command  of 
the  lake  on  which  that  part  of  Canada  borders,  and  maintain  co-operating 
relations  with  such  forces  as  might  be  most  conveniently  employed  against 


MADISON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  299 

other  parts.  Brigadier-General  Hull  was  charged  with  this  provisional  ser- 
vice, having  under  his  command  a  body  of  troops  composed  of  regulars  and 
volunteers  from  the  state  of  Ohio.  Having  reached  his  destination  after 
his  knowledge  of  the  war,  and  possessing  discretionary  authority  to  act  of- 
fensively, he  passed  into  the  neighboring  territory  of  the  enemy  with  the 
prospect  of  easy  and  victorious  progress.  The  expedition,  nevertheless, 
terminated  unfortunately,  not  only  in  a  retreat  to  the  town  and  fort  of  De- 
troit, but  in  the  surrender  of  both,  and  of  the  gallant  corps  commanded  by 
that  officer  The  causes  of  this  painful  reverse  will  be  investigated  by 
a  military  tribunal. 

A  distinguishing  feature  in  the  operations  which  preceded  and  followed 
this  adverse  event,  is  the  use  made  by  the  enemy  of  the  merciless  sav- 
ages under  their  influence.  While  the  benevolent  policy  of  the  United 
States  invariably  recommended  peace  and  promoted  civilization  among 
that  wretched  portion  of  the  human  race,  and  was  making  exertions  to 
dissuade  them  from  taking  either  side  in  the  war,  the  enemy  had  not 
scrupled  to  call  to  his  aid  their  ruthless  ferocity,  armed  with  the  horrors 
of  those  instruments  of  carnage  and  torture  which  are  known  to  spare 
neither  age  nor  sex.  In  this  outrage  against  the  laws  of  honorable  war,  and 
against  the  feelings  sacred  to  humanity,  the  British  commanders  can  not 
resort  to  a  plea  of  retaliation,  for  it  is  committed  in  the  face  of  our  exam- 
ple. They  can  not  mitigate  it  by  calling  it  a  self-defence  against  men  in 
arms,  for  it  embraces  the  most  shocking  butcheries  of  defenceless  fami- 
lies. Nor  can  it  be  pretended  that  they  are  not  answerable  for  the  atro- 
cities perpetrated,  since  the  savages  are  employed  with  a  knowledge,  and 
even  with  menaces,  that  their  fury  could  not  be  controlled.  Such  is  the 
spectacle  which  the  deputed  authorities  of  a  nation  boasting  its  religion 
and  morality  have  not  been  restrained  from  presenting  to  an  enlightened 
age. 

The  misfortune  at  Detroit  was  not,  however,  without  a  consoling  effect. 
It  was  followed  by  signal  ,proof  that  the  national  spirit  rises  according 
to  the  pressure  on  it.  The  loss  of  an  important  post,  and  the  brave  men 
surrendered  with  it,  inspired  everywhere  new  ardor  and  determination. 
In  the  states  and  districts  least  remote,  it  was  no  sooner  known,  than 
every  citizen  was  ready  to  fly  with  his  arms  at  once  to  protect  his  breth- 
ren against  the  blood-thirsty  savages  let  loose  by  the  enemy  on  an  exten- 
sive frontier,  and  to  convert  a  partial  calamity  into  a  source  of  invigorated 
efforts.  This  patriotic  zeal,  which  it  was  necessary  rather  to  limit  than 
excite,  has  embodied  an  ample  force  from  the  states  of  Kentucky  and 
Ohio,  and  from  parts  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  It  is  placed,  with 
the  addition  of  a  few  regulars,  under  the  command  of  Brigadier-General 
Harrison,  who  possesses  the  entire  confidence  of  his  fellow-soldiers, 
among  whom  are  citizens,  some  of  them  volunteers  in  the  ranks,  not  less 
distinguished  by  their  political  stations  than  by  their  personal  merits.  The 
greater  portion  of  this  force  is  proceeding  on  its  destination  toward  the  Mich- 
igan territory,  having  succeeded  in  relieving  an  important  frontier  post, 
and  in  several  incidental  operations  against  hostile  tribes  of  savages, 
rendered  indispensable  by  the  subserviency  into  which  they  had  been  se- 
duced by  the  enemy — a  seduction  the  more  cruel  as  it  could  not  fail  to 
impose  a  necessity  of  precautionary  severities  against  those  who  yielded 
to  it. 

At  a  recent  date,  an  attack  was  made  on  a  post  of  tho  enemy  near 
Niagara,  by  a  detachment  of  the  regular  and  other  forces  under  the  com- 


300  MADISON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

mand  of  Major-General  Van  Rensselaer,  of  the  militia  of  the  state  of  New 
York.  The  attack,  it  appears,  was  ordered  in  compliance  with  the  ardor 
of  the  troops,  who  executed  it  with  distinguished  gallantry  and  were  for  a 
time  victorious  ;  but  not  receiving  the  expected  support,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  yield  to  reinforcements  of  British  regulars  and  savages.  Our 
loss  has  been  considerable  and  is  to  be  deeply  lamented.  That  of  the 
enemy,  less  ascertained,  will  be  the  more  felt,  as  it  includes  among  the 
killed  the  commanding  general,  who  was  also  the  governor  of  the  prov- 
ince, and  was  sustained  by  veteran  troops  from  unexperienced  soldiers 
who  must  daily  improve  in  the  duties  of  the  field. 

Our  expectation  of  gaining  the  command  of  the  lakes  by  the  invasion 
of  Canada  from  Detroit  having  been  disappointed,  measures  were  instant- 
ly taken  to  provide  on  them  a  naval  force  superior  to  that  of  the  enemy. 
From  the  talents  and  activity  of  the  officer  charged  with  this  object,  every- 
thing that  can  be  done  may  be  expected.  Should  the  present  season  not 
admit  of  complete  success,  the  progress  made  will  insure  for  the  next  a 
naval  ascendency  where  it  is  essential  to  our  permanent  peace  with,  and 
control  over,  the  savages. 

Among  the  incidents  to  the  measures  of  the  war,  I  am  constrained  to 
advert  to  the  refusal  of  the  governors  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
to  furnish  the  required  detachments  of  militia  toward  the  defence  of  the 
maritime  frontier.  The  refusal  was  founded  on  a  novel  and  unfortunate 
exposition  of  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  relating  to  the  militia.  The 
correspondences  which  will  be  laid  before  you  contain  the  requisite  in- 
formation on  the  subject.  It  is  obvious  that  if  the  authority  of  the  United 
States  to  call  into  service  and  command  the  militia  for  the  public  de- 
fence can  be  thus  frustrated,  even  in  a  state  of  declared  war,  and  of 
course  under  apprehensions  of  invasion  preceding  war,  they  are  not  one 
nation  for  the  purpose  most  of  all  requiring  it,  and  that  the  public  safety 
may  have  no  other  resource  than  in  those  large  and  permanent  military  es- 
tablishments which  are  forbidden  by  the  principles  of  our  free  govern- 
ment, and  against  the  necessity  of  which  the  militia  were  meant  to  be  a 
constitutional  bulwark. 

On  the  coasts  and  on  the  ocean  the  war  had  been  as  successful  as 
circumstances  inseparable  from  its  early  stages  could  promise.  Our  pub- 
lic ships  and  private  cruisers,  by  their  activity,  and,  where  there  was  oc- 
casion, by  their  intrepidity,  have  made  the  enemy  sensible  of  the  differ- 
ence between  a  reciprocity  of  captures  and  the  long  confinement  of  them 
to  their  side.  Our  trade,  with  little  exception,  has  safely  reached  our 
ports,  having  been  much  favored  in  it  by  the  course  pursued  by  a  squad- 
ron of  our  frigates  under  the  command  of  Commodore  Rodgers.  Arid  in 
the  instance  in  which  skill  and  bravery  were  more  particularly  tried  with 
those  of  the  enemy,  the  American  flag  had  an  auspicious  triumph.  The 
frigate  Constitution,  commanded  by  Captain  Hull,  after  a  close  and  short 
engagement,  completely  disabled  and  captured  a  British  frigate,  gaining- 
for  that  officer  and  all  on  board  "a  praise  which  can  not  be  too  liberally 
bestowed,  not  merely  for  the  victory  actually  achieved,  but  for  that  prompt 
and  cool  exertion  of  commanding  talents  which,  giving  to  courage  its 
character,  and  to  the  force  applied  its  full  effect,  proved  that  more  could 
have  been  done  in  a  contest  requiring  more. 

Anxious  to  abridge  the  evils  from  which  a  state  of  war  can  not  be  ex- 
empt, I  lost  no  time  after  it  was  declared  in  conveying  to  the  British 
government  the  terms  on  which  its  progress  might  be  arrested,  without 


MADISON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  301 

awaiting  the  delays  of  a  formal  and  final  pacification  ;  and  our  charge  d'af- 
faires at  London  was  at  the  same  time  authorized  to  agree  to  an  armis- 
tice founded  upon  them.  These  terms  required  that  the  orders  in  council 
should  be  repealed  as  they  affected  the  United  States,  without  a  revival 
of  blockades  violating  acknowledged  rules,  and  that  there  should  be  an 
immediate  discharge  of  American  seamen  from  British  ships,  and  a  stop 
to  impressment  from  American  ships,  with  an  understanding  that  an  ex- 
clusion of  the  seamen  of  each  nation  from  the  ships  of  the  other  should 
be  stipulated ;  and  that  the  armistice  should  be  improved  into  a  defini- 
tive and  comprehensive  adjustment  of  depending  controversies.  Although 
a  repeal  of  the  orders  susceptible  of  explanations  meeting  the  views  of 
this  government  had  taken  place  before  this  pacific  advance  was  com- 
municated to  that  of  Great  Britain,  the  advance  was  declined,  from  an 
avowed  repugnance  to  a  suspension  of  the  practice  of  impressments 
during  the  armistice,  and  without  any  intimation  that  the  arrangement 
proposed  with  respect  to  seamen  would  be  accepted.  Whether  the  sub- 
sequent communications  from  this  government,  affording  an  occasion  for 
reconsidering  the  subject  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  will  be  viewed  in 
a  more  favorable  light  or  received  in  a  more  accommodating  spirit,  remains 
to  be  known.  It  would  be  unwise  to  relax  our  measures,  in  any  respect, 
on  a  presumption  of  such  a  result. 

The  documents  from  the  department  of  state,  which  relate  to  this  sub- 
ject, will  give  a  view  also  of  the  propositions  for  an  armistice  which  have 
been  received  here,  one  of  them  from  the  authorities  at  Halifax  and  in 
Canada,  the  other  from  the  British  government  itself  through  Admiral 
Warren,  and  of  the  grounds  on  which  neither  of  them  could  be  accepted. 

Our  affairs  with  France  retain  the  posture  which  they  held  at  my  last 
communications  to  you.  Notwithstanding  the  authorized  expectations  of 
an  early  as  well  as  favorable  issue  to  the  discussions  on  foot,  these  have 
been  procrastinated  to  the  latest  date.  The  only  intervening  occurrence 
meriting  attention  is  the  promulgation  of  a  French  decree  purporting  to  be 
a  definitive  repeal  of  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees.  This  proceeding, 
although  made  the  ground  of  the  repeal  of  the  British  orders  in  council,  is 
rendered  by  the  time  and  manner  of  it  liable  to  many  objections. 

The  final  communications  from  our  special  minister  to  Denmark  afford 
further  proofs  of  the  good  effects  of  his  mission,  and  of  the  amicable  dis- 
position of  the  Danish  government.  From  Russia  we  have  the  satisfac- 
tion to  receive  assurances  of  continued  friendship,  and  that  it  will  not  be 
affected  by  the  rupture  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain. 
Sweden  also  professes  sentiments  favorable  to  the  subsisting  harmony. 

With  the  Barbary  powers,  excepting  that  of  Algiers,  our  affairs  remain 
on  the  ordinary  footing.  The  consul-general  residing  with  that  regency 
has  suddenly  and  without  cause  been  banished,  together  with  all  the 
American  citizens  found  there.  Whether  this  was  the  transitory  effect  of 
capricious  despotism  or  the  first  act  of  pre-determined  hostility  is  not 
ascertained.  Precautions  were  taken  by  the  consul  on  the  latter  suppo- 
sition. 

The  Indian  tribes  not  under  foreign  instigations  remain  at  peace,  and 
receive  the  civilizing  attentions  which  have  proved  so  beneficial  to  them. 

With  a  view  to  that  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  to  which  our  na- 
tional faculties  are  adequate,  the  attention  of  Congress  will  be  particularly 
drawn  to  the  insufficiency  of  existing  provisions  for  filling  up  the  military 
establishment.  Such  is  the  happy  condition  of  our  country,  arising  from 


302  MADISON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAOB. 

the  facility  of  subsistence  and  the  high  wages  for  every  species  of  occu- 
pation, that  notwithstanding  the  augmented  inducements  provided  at  the 
last  session,  a  partial  success  only  has  attended  the  recruiting  service. 
The  deficiency  has  been  necessarily  supplied  during  the  campaign  by 
other  than  regular  troops,  with  all  the  inconveniences  and  expense  inci- 
dent to  them.  The  remedy  lies  in  establishing  more  favorably  for  the 
private  soldier  the  proportion  between  his  recompense  and  the  term  of  his 
enlistment,  and  it  is  a  subject  which  can  not  too  soon  or  too  seriously  be 
taken  into  consideration. 

The  same  insufficiency  has  been  experienced  in  the  provisions  for  vol- 
unteers made  by  an  act  of  the  last  session.  The  recompense  for  the  ser- 
vice required  in  this  case  is  still  less  attractive  than  in  the  other ;  and  al- 
though patriotism  alone  has  sent  into  the  field  some  valuable  corps  of  that 
description,  those  alone  who  can  afford  the  sacrifice  can  be  reasonably 
expected  to  yield  to  that  impulse. 

It  will  merit  ^consideration,  also,  whether,  as  auxiliary  to  the  security  of 
our  frontiers,  corps  may  not  be  advantageously  organized,  with  a  restric- 
tion of  their  services  to  particular  districts  convenient  to  them  ;  and 
whether  the  local  and  occasional  services  of  mariners  and  others  in  the 
seaport  towns,  under  a  similar  organization,  would  not  be  a  provident  ad- 
dition to  the  means  of  their  defence. 

I  recommend  a  provision  for  an  increase  of  the  general  officers  of  tht 
army,  the  deficiency  of  which  has  been  illustrated  by  the  number  and  dis 
tance  of  separate  commands,  which  the  course  of  the  war  and  the  advan 
tage  of  the  service  have  required. 

And  I  can  not  press  too  strongly  on  the  earliest  attention  of  the  legis- 
lature the  importance  of  the  re-organization  of  the  staff  establishment,  with 
a  view  to  render  more  distinct  and  definite  the  relations  aud  responsibili- 
ties of  its  several  departments.  That  there  is  room  for  improvements 
which  will  materially  promote  both  economy  and  success  in  what  apper- 
tains to  the  army  and  the  war,  is  equally  inculcated  by  the  examples  of 
other  countries  and  by  the  experience  of  our  own. 

A  revision  of  the  militia  laws,  for  the  purpose  vof  rendering  them  more 
systematic  and  better  adapting  them  to  emergencies  of  the  war,  is  at  this 
time  particularly  desirable. 

Of  the  additional  ships  authorized  to  be  fitted  for  service,  two  will  be 
shortly  ready  to  sail,  a  third  is  under  repair,  and  delay  will  be  avoided  in 
the  repair  of  the  residue.  Of  the  appropriations  for  the  purchase  of  ma- 
terials for  ship-building  the  greater  part  has  been  applied  to  that  object,  and 
the  purchase  will  be  continued  with  the  balance. 

The  enterprising  spirit  which  has  characterized  our  naval  force  and  its 
success,  both  in  restraining  insults  and  depredations  on  our  coasts  and  in 
reprisals  on  the  enemy,  will  not  fail  to  recommend  an  enlargement  of  it. 

There  being  reason  to  believe  that  the  act  prohibiting  the  acceptance  of 
British  licenses  is  not  a  sufficient  guard  against  the  use  of  them,  for  pur- 
poses favorable  to  the  interests  and  views  of  the  enemy,  further  provisions 
on  that  subject  are  highly  important.  Nor  is  it  less  so,  that  penal  enact- 
ments should  be  provided  for  cases  of  corrupt  and  perfidious  intercourse 
with  the  enemy,  not  amounting  to  treason  nor  yet  embraced  by  any  statu- 
tory provisions. 

A  considerable  number  of  American  vessels  which  were  in  England 
when  the  revocation  of  the  orders  in  council  took  place,  were  laden  with 
British  manufactures  under  an  erroneous  impression  that  the  non-importa- 


MADISON'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  303 

lion  act  would  immediately  cease  to  operate,  and  have  arrived  in  the 
United  States.  It  did  not  appear  proper  to  exercise,  on  unforeseen  cases 
of  such  magnitude,  the  ordinary  powers  vested  in  the  treasury  department 
to  mitigate  forfeitures,  without  previously  affording  to  Congress  an  oppor- 
tunity of  making  on  the  subject  such  provisions  as  they  may  think  proper. 
In  their  decision  they  will  doubtless  equally  consult  what  is  due  to  equi- 
table considerations  and  to  the  public  interest. 

The  receipts  into  the  treasury  during  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  of 
September  last,  have  exceeded  sixteen  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars,  which 
have  been  sufficient  to  defray  all  the  demands  on  the  treasury  to  that  day, 
including  a  necessary  reimbursement  of  near  three  millions  of  the  principal 
of  the  public  debt.  In  these  receipts  is  included  a  sum  of  near  five  mil- 
lions eight  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  received  on  account  of  the 
loans  authorized  by  the  acts  of  the  last  session  ;  the  whole  sum  actually 
obtained  on  loans  amounts  to  eleven  millions  of  dollars,  the  residue  of 
which,  being  receivable  subsequent  to  the  30th  of  September  last,  will, 
together  with  the  current  revenue,  enable  us  to  defray  all  the  expenses  of 
this  year. 

The  duties  on  the  late  unexpected  importations  of  British  manufactures 
will  render  the  revenue  of  the  ensuing  year  more  productive  than  cou)d 
have  been  anticipated. 

The  situation  of  our  country,  fellow-citizens,  is  not  without  its  difficulties, 
though  it  abounds  in  animating  considerations,  of  which  the  view  here 
presented  of  our  pecuniary  resources  is  an  example.  With  more  than 
one  nation  we  have  serious  and  unsettled  controversies ;  and  with  one, 
powerful  in  the  means  and  habits  of  war,  we  are  at  war.  The  spirit  and 
strength  of  the  nation  are  nevertheless  equal  to  the  support  of  all  its  rights, 
and  to  carry  it  through  all  its  trials.  They  can  be  met  in  that  confidence. 
Above  all,  we  have  the  inestimable  consolation  of  knowing  that  the  war 
in  which  we  are  actually  engaged  is  a  war  neither  of  ambition  nor  of  vain 
glory ;  that  it  is  waged,  not  in  violation  of  the  rights  of  others  but  in  the 
maintenance  of  our  own  ;  'hat  it  was'  preceded  by  a  patience  without  ex- 
ample, under  wrongs  accumulating  without  end  ;  and  that  it  was  finally 
not  declared  until  every  hope  of  averting  it  was  extinguished  by  the  trans- 
fer of  the  British  sceptre  into  new  hands  clinging  to  former  councils,  and 
until  declarations  were  reiterated  to  the  last  hour,  through  the  British  en- 
voy here,  that  the  hostile  edicts  against  our  commercial  rights  and  our 
maritime  independence  would  not  be  revoked ;  nay,  that  they  could  not 
be  revoked  without  violating  the  obligations  of  Great  Britain  to  other 
powers,  as  well  as  to  her  own  interest.  To  have  shrunk  under  such  cir- 
cumstances from  manly  resistance,  would  have  been  a  degradation  blast- 
ing our  best  and  proudest  hopes ;  it  would  have  struck  us  from  the  high 
rank  where  the  virtuous  struggles  of  our  fathers  had  placed  us,  and  have 
betrayed  the  magnificent  legacy  which  we  hold  in  trust  for  future  genera- 
tions. It  would  have  acknowledged,  that  on  the  element  which  forms 
three  fourths  of  the  globe  we  inhabit,  and  where  all  independent  nations 
have  equal  and  common  rights,  the  American  people  were  not  an  inde- 
pendent people,  but  colonists  and  vassals.  It  was  at  this  moment  and 
with  such  an  alternative  that  war  was  chosen.  The  nation  felt  the  neces- 
sity of  it,  and  called  for  it.  The  appeal  was  accordingly  made,  in  a  just 
cause,  to  the  just  and  all-powerful  Being  who  holds  in  his  hand  the  chain 
of  events  and  the  destiny  of  nations.  It  remains  only,  that  faithful  to  our- 
selves, entangled  in  no  connexions  with  the  views  of  other  powers,  and 


304  MADISON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

ever  ready  to  accept  peace  from  the  hand  of  justice,  we  prosecute  the  *var 
with  united  counsels  and  with  the  ample  faculties  of  the  nation,  until 
peace  be  so  obtained,  and  as  the  only  means,  under  tho  divine  blessing,  of 
speedily  obtaining  it. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
NOVEMBER  6,  1812. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

THE  bill,  entitled,  "  An  act  supplementary  to  the  acts  heretofore  passed 
on  the  subject  of  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,"  which  passed  the  two 
houses  at  the  last  session  of  Congress,  having  appeared  to  me  liable  to 
abuse  by  aliens  having  no  real  purpose  of  effectuating  a  naturalization, 
and  therefore  not  been  signed  ;  and  having  been  presented  at  an  hour  too 
near  the  close  of  the  session  to  be  returned  with  objections  for  reconsid- 
eration, the  bill  failed  to  become  a  law.  I  recommend  that  provisions  be 
now  made  in  favor  of  aliens  entitled  to  the  contemplated  benefit,  under 
such  regulations  as  will  prevent  advantage  being  taken  of  it  for  improper 
purposes. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  12,  1812. 

To  the    Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  TRANSMIT  to  Congress  copies  of  a  letter  to  the  secretary  of  the  navy 
from  Captain  Decatur  of  the  frigate  United  States,  reporting  his  combat 
and  capture  of  the  British  frigate  Macedonian.  Too  much  praise  can  not 
be  bestowed  on  that  officer  and  his  companions  on  board,  for  the  con- 
summate skill  and  conspicuous  valor  by  which  this  trophy  has  been  added 
to  the  naval  arms  of  the  United  States. 

I  transmit  also  a  letter  from  Captain  Jones,  who  commanded  the  sloop- 
of-war  Wasp,  reporting  his  capture  of  the  British  sloop-of-war  Frolic,  after 
a  close  action,  in  which  other  brilliant  titles  will  be  seen  to  the  public  ad- 
miration and  praise. 

A  nation,  feeling  what  it  owes  to  itself  and  to  its  citizens,  could  never 
abandon  to  arbitrary  violence  on  the  ocean  a  class  of  them  which  give 
such  examples  of  capacity  and  courage  in  defending  their  rights  on  that 
element ;  examples  which  ought  to  impress  on  the  enemy,  however  brave 
and  powerful,  preference  of  justice  and  peace  to  hostility  against  a  coun- 
try whose  prosperous  career  may  be  accelerated  but  can  not  be  prevented 
by  the  assaults  made  on  it. 


MADISON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  305 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE 
FEBRUARY  22,  1813. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  LAY  before  Congress  a  letter,  with  accompanying  documents,  from 
Captain  Bainbridge,  now  commanding  the  United  States  frigate  the  Consti- 
tution, reporting  his  capture  and  destruction  of  the  British  frigate  the  Java. 
The  circumstances  and  the  issue  of  this  combat  afford  another  example  of 
the  professional  skill  and  heroic  spirit  which  prevail  in  our  naval  service. 
The  signal  display  of  both  by  Captain  Bainbridge,  his  officers,  and  crew, 
command  the  highest  praise. 

This  being  a  second  instance  in  which  the  condition  of  the  captured 
ship,  by  rendering  it  impossible  to  get  her  into  port,  has  barred  a  contem- 
plated reward  of  successful  valor,  1  recommend  to  the  consideration  of 
Congress  the  equity  and  propriety  of  a  general  provision,  allowing  in  such 
cases,  both  past  and  future,  a  fair  proportion  of  the  value  which  would 
accrue  to  the  captors  on  the  safe  arrival  and  sale  of  the  prize. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  24,  1813. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  LAY  before  Congress  copies  of  a  proclamation  of  the  British  lieutenant- 
governor  of  the  island  of  Bermuda,  which  has  appeared  under  circum- 
stances leaving  no  doubt  of  its  authenticity.  It  recites  a  British  order  in 
council  of  the  26th  of  October  last,  providing  for  the  supply  of  the  British 
West  Indies  and  other  colonial  possessions,  by  a  trade  under  special 
licenses  ;  and  is  accompanied  by  a  circular  instruction  to  the  colonial-  gov- 
ernors, which  confines  licensed  importations  from  ports  of  the  United 
States  to  the  ports  of  the  eastern  states  exclusively. 

The  government  of  Great  Britain  has  already  introduced  into  her  com- 
merce during  war,  a  system  which,  at  once  violating  the  rights  of  other 
nations  and  resting  on  a  mass  of  perjury  and  forgery  unknown  to  other 
times,  was  making  an  unfortunate  progress  in  undermining  those  princi- 
ples of  morality  and  religion  which  are  the  best  foundation  of  national 
happiness. 

The  policy  now  proclaimed  to  the  world  introduces  into  her  modes  of 
warfare  a  system  equally  distinguished  by  the  deformity  of  its  features  and 
the  depravity  of  its  character ;  having  for  its  object  to  dissolve  the  ties  of 
allegiance  and  the  sentiments  of  loyalty  in  the  adversary  nation,  and  to 
seduce  and  separate  its  component  parts  the  one  from  the  other. 

The  general  tendency  of  these  demoralizing  and  disorganizing  contri- 
vances will  be  reprobated  by  the  civilized  and  Christian  world,  and  the 
insulting  attempt  on  the  virtue,  the  honor,  the  patriotism,  and  the  fidelity 
of  our  brethren  of  the  eastern  states,  will  not  fail  to  call  forth  all  their  in- 
dignation and  resentment,  and  to  attach  more  and  more  all  the  states  to 
that  happy  union  and  constitution  against  which  such  insidious  and  ma- 
lignant artifices  are  directed. 

VOL.  1.— 20 


306  MADISON'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

The  better  to  guard,  nevertheless,  against  the  effect  of  individual  cupid- 
ity and  treachery,  and  to  turn  the  corrupt  projects  of  the  enemy  against 
himself,  I  recommend  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  the  expediency 
of  an  effectual  prohibition  of  any  trade  whatever  by  citizens  or  inhabitants 
of  the  United  States  under  special  licenses,  whether  relating  to  persons  or 
ports,  and  in  aid  thereof  a  prohibition  of  all  exportations  from  the  United 
States  in  foreign  bottoms,  few  of  which  are  actually  employed,  while  mul- 
tiplying counterfeits  of  their  flags  and  papers  are  covering  and  encour- 
aging the  navigation  of  the  enemy. 


SECOND    INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 
MARCH  4,  1813. 

ABOUT  to  add  the  solemnity  of  an  oath  to  the  obligations  imposed  by  a 
second  call  to  the  station  in  which  my  country  has  heretofore  placed  me, 
I  find,  in  the  presence  of  this  assembly,  an  opportunity  of  publicly  repeat- 
ing my  profound  sense  of  so  distinguished  a  confidence,  and  of  the  respon- 
sibility united  with  it.  The  impressions  on  me  are  strengthened  by  such 
an  evidence,  that  my  faithful  endeavors  to  discharge  my  arduous  duties 
have  been  favorably  estimated ;  and  by  a  consideration  of  the  momentous 
period  at  which  the  trust  has  been  renewed.  From  the  weight  and  mag- 
nitude now  belonging  to  it,  I  should  be  compelled  to  shrink,  if  I  had  less 
reliance  on  the  support  of  an  enlightened  and  generous  people,  and  felt 
less  deeply  a  conviction,  that  the  war  which  forms  so  prominent  a  feature 
in  our  situation,  is  stamped  with  that  justice  which  invites  the  smiles  of 
Heaven  on  the  means  of  conducting  it  to  a  successful  termination. 

May  we  no^  cherish  this  sentiment  without  presumption,  when  we  re- 
flect on  the  characteristics  by  which  this  war  is  distinguished  ? 

It  was  not  declared  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  until  it  had  been 
long  made  on  them,  in  reality,  though  not  in  name ;  until  arguments  and 
expostulations  had  been  exhausted ;  until  a  positive  declaration  had  been 
received  that  the  wrongs  provoking  it  would  not  be  discontinued ;  nor 
until  this  appeal  could  no  longer  be  delayed,  without  breaking  down  the 
spirit  of  the  nation,  destroying  all  confidence  in  itself  and  its  political  in- 
stitutions ;  and  either  perpetuating  a  state  of  disgraceful  suffering,  or  re- 
gaining by  more  costly  sacrifices,  and  more  severe  struggles,  our  lost  rank 
and  respect  among  independent  powers. 

On  the  issue  of  the  war  are  staked  our  national  sovereignty  on  the  high 
seas,  and  security  of  an  important  class  of  citizens,  whose  occupations  give 
the  proper  value  to  those  of  every  other  class.  Not  to  contend  for  such  a 
stake,  is  to  surrender  our  equality  with  other  powers,  on  the  element  com- 
mon to  all ;  and  to  violate  the  sacred  title  which  every  member  of  the  so- 
ciety has  to  its  protection,  I  need  not  call  into  view  the  unlawfulness  of 
the  practice,  by  which  our  mariners  are  forced,  at  the  will  of  every  cruis- 
ing officer,  from  their  own  vessels  into  foreign  ones,  nor  paint  the  outra- 
ges inseparable  from  it.  The  proofs  are  in  the  records  of  each  succes- 
sive administration  of  our  government ;  and  the  cruel  sufferings  of  that  por- 
tion of  the  American  people  have  found  their  way  to  every  man's  bosom 
not  dead  to  the  sympathies  of  human  nature. 

As  the  war  was  just  in  its  origin,  and  necessary  and  noble  in  its  objects, 
we  can  reflect  with  a  proud  satisfaction,  that  in  carrying  it  on,  no  principle 
of  justice  or  honor,  no  usage  of  civilized  nations,  no  precept  of  courtesy 


MADISON  S    SECOND    INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  307 

or  humanity,  have  been  infringed.  The  war  has  been  \yaged  on  our  part, 
with  scrupulous  regard  to  all  these  relations,  and  in  a  spirit  of  liberality 
which  was  never  surpassed. 

How  little  has  been  the  effect  of  this  example  on  the  conduct  of  the 
enemy ! 

They  have  retained  as  prisoners-of-war,  citizens  of  the  United  States 
not  liable  to  be  so  considered  under  the  usages  of  war. 

They  have  refused  to  consider  as  prisoners-of-war,  and  threatened  to 
punish  as  traitors  and  deserters,  persons  emigrating  without  restraint  to 
the  United  States ;  incorporated  by  naturalization  into  our  political  fam- 
ily, and  righting  under  the  authority  of  their  adopted  country,  in  open  and 
honorable  war,  for  the  maintenance  of  its  rights  and  safety.  Such  is  the 
avowed  purpose  of  a  government,  which  is  in  the  practice  of  naturalizing, 
by  thousands,  citizens  of  other  countries,  and  not  only  of  permitting,  but 
compelling  them  to  fight  its  battles  against  their  native  country. 

They  have  not,  it  is  true,  taken  into  their  own  hands  the  hatchet  and  the 
knife,  devoted  to  indiscriminate  massacre,  but  they  have  let  loose  the  sav- 
age, armed  with  these  cruel  instruments ;  have  allured  them  into  their 
service,  and  carried  them  to  battle  by  their  sides,  eager  to  glut  their  sav- 
age thirst  with  the  blood  of  the  vanquished,  and  to  finish  the  work  of  tor- 
ture and  death  on  maimed  and  defenceless  captives.  And  what  was  never 
before  seen,  British  commanders  have  extorted  victory  over  the  uncon- 
querable valor  of  our  troops,  by  presenting  to  the  sympathy  of  their  chief, 
captives  awaiting  massacre  from  their  savage  associates.  And  now  we  find 
them,  in  further  contempt  of  the  honorable  modes  of  warfare,  supplying 
the  place  of  a  conquering  force  by  attempts  to  disorganize  our  political  so- 
ciety, to  dismember  our  confederated  republic.  Happily,  like  others,  these 
will  recoil  on  the  authors ;  but  they  mark  the  degenerate  councils  from 
which  they  emanate,  and  if  they  did  not  belong  to  a  series  of  unexampled 
inconsistencies,  might  excite  the  greater  wonder,  as  proceeding  from  a 
government  which  founded  the  very  war  in  which  it  has  been  so  long  en- 
gaged, against  the  disorganizing  and  insurrectional  policy  of  its  adversary. 
To  render  the  justice  of  the  war  on  our  part  the  more  conspicuous,  the 
reluctance  to  commence  it  was  followed  by  the  earliest  and  strongest  mani- 
festations of  a  disposition  to  arrest  its  progress.  The  sword  was  scarcely 
out  of  the  scabbard  before  the  enemy  was  apprized  of  the  reasonable  terms 
on  which  it  should  be  resheathed.  Still  more  precise  advances  were  re- 
peated, and  have  been  received  jn  a  spirit  forbidding  every  reliance  not 
placed  on  the  military  resources  of  the  nation. 

These  resources  are  amply  sufficient  to  bring  the  war  to  an  honorable 
issue.  Our  nation  is,  in  number,  more  than  half  that  of  the  British  isles. 
It  is  composed  of  a  brave,  a  free,  a  virtuous,  and  an  independent  people. 
Our  country  abounds  in  the  necessaries,  the  arts,  and  the  comforts  of  life. 
A  general  prosperity  is  visible  in  the  public  countenance.  The  means 
employed  by  the  British  cabinet  to  undermine  it,  have  recoiled  on  them- 
selves ;  have  given  to  our  national  faculties  a  rapid  development ;  and 
draining  or  diverting  the  precious  metals  from  British  circulation  and  Brit- 
ish vaults,  have  poured  them  into  those  of  the  United  States.  It  is  a  pro- 
pitious consideration,  that  an  unavoidable  war  should  have  found  this  sea- 
sonable facility  for  the  contributions  required  to  support  it.  When  the 
public  voice  called  for  war,  all  knew,  and  still  know,  that  without  them  it 
could  not  be  carried  on,  through  the  period  it  might  last ;  and  the  patriot- 
ism, the  good  sense,  and  the  manly  spirit  of  our  fellow-citizens,  are 


308  MADISON'S  MESSAGE. — SPECIAL  SESSION. 

pledges  for  the  cheerfulness  with  which  they  will  bear  each  his  share  of  the 
common  burden.  To  render  the  war  short,  and  its  success  sure,  animated 
and  systematic  exertions  alone  are  necessary  ;  and  the  success  of  our  arms 
now  may  long  preserve  our  country  from  the  necessity  of  another  resort  to 
them.  Already  have  the  gallant  exploits  of  our  naval  heroes  proved  to 
the  world  our  inherent  capacity  to  maintain  our  rights  on  one  element.  If 
the  reputation  of  our  arms  has  been  thrown  under  clouds  on  the  other, 
presaging  flashes  of  heroic  enterprise  assure  us  that  nothing  is  wanting  to 
correspondent  triumphs  there  also,  but  the  discipline  and  habits  which  are 
in  daily  progress. 


SPECIAL    SESSIO  N.— M  E  S  S  A  G  E . 
MAY  25,  1813. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

AT  an  early  day  after  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  an  offer 
was  formally  communicated  from  his  imperial  majesty  the  emperor  of 
Russia,  of  his  mediation,  as  the  common  friend  of  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  a  peace  between  them.  The 
high  character  of  the  emperor  Alexander  being  a  satisfactory  pledge  for 
the  sincerity  and  impartiality  of  his  offer,  it  was  immediately  accepted ; 
and  as  a  further  proof  of  the  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
to  meet  their  adversary  in  honorable  experiments  for  terminating  the  war, 
it  was  determined  to  avoid  intermediate  delays,  incident  to  the  distance  of 
the  parties,  by  a  definitive  provision  for  the  contemplated  negotiation. 
Three  of  our  eminent  citizens  were  accordingly  commissioned,  with  the 
requisite  powers  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace  with  persons  clothed  with 
like  powers  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain.  They  are  authorized  also  to 
enter  into  such  conventional  regulations  of  the  commerce  between  the 
two  countries  as  may  be  mutually  advantageous.  The  two  envoys  who 
were  in  the  United  States  at  the  time  of  their  appointment  have  proceeded 
to  join  their  colleague  already  at  St.  Petersburgh. 

The  envoys  have  received  another  commission,  authorizing  them  to 
conclude  with  Russia  a  treaty  of  commerce,  with  a  view  to  strengthen  the 
amicable  relations  and  improve  the  beneficial  intercourse  between  the  two 
countries. 

The  issue  of  this  friendly  interposition  of  the  Russian  emperor,  and  this 
pacific  manifestation  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  time  only  can  decide 
That  the  sentiments  of  Great  Britain  toward  that  sovereign  will  have  pro- 
duced an  acceptance  of  his  offered  mediation  must  be  presumed.  That 
no  adequate  motives  exist  to  prefer  a  continuance  of  war  with  the  United 
States  to  the  terms  on  which  they  are  willing  to  close  it,  is  certain.  The 
British  cabinet  also  must  be  sensible,  that,  with  respect  to  the  important 
question  of  impressment  on  which  the  war  so  essentially  turns,  a  search 
for  or  seizure  of  British  persons  or  property  on  board  neutral  vessels,  on 
the  high  seas,  is  not  a  belligerent  right  derived  from  the  law  of  nations ; 
and  it  is  obvious  that  no  visit  or  search,  or  use  of  force  for  any  purpose, 
on  board  the  vessels  of  one  independent  power  on  the  high  seas,  can  in 
war  or  peace  be  sanctioned  by  the  laws  or  authority  of  another  power. 
It  is  equally  obvious,  that  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  to  each  state  its 
seafaring  members,  by  excluding  them  from  the  vessels  of  the  other, 


MADISON'S  MESSAGE. — SPECIAL  SESSION.  309 

the  mode  heretofore  proposed  by  the  United  States  and  now  exacted  by 
them  as  an  article  of  municipal  policy,  can  not  for  a  moment  be  com- 
pared with  the  mode  practised  by  Great  Britain  without  a  conviction  of 
its  title  to  preference,  inasmuch  as  the  latter  leaves  the  discrimination  be- 
tween the  mariners  of  the  two  nations  to  officers  exposed  by  unavoidable 
bias  as  well  as  by  a  defect  of  evidence  to  a  wrong  decision,  under  cir- 
cumstances precluding,  for  the  most  part,  the  enforcement  of  controlling 
penalties,  and  where  a  wrong  decision,  besides  the  irreparable  violation 
of  the  sacred  rights  of  persons,  might  frustrate  the  plans  and  profits  of 
entire  voyages  ;  whereas  the  mode  assumed  by  the  United  States  guards, 
with  studied  fairness  and  efficacy,  against  errors  in  such  cases,  and 
avoids  the  effect  of  casual  errors  on  the  safety  of  navigation  and  the  suc- 
cess of  mercantile  expeditions. 

If  the  reasonableness  of  expectations  drawn  from,  these  considerations 
could  guaranty  their  fulfilment,  a  just  peace  would  not  be  distant.  But  it 
becomes  the  wisdom  of  the  national  legislature  to  keep  in  mind  the  true 
policy,  or  rather  the  indispensable  obligation,  of  adapting  its  measures  to 
the  supposition  that  the  only  course  to  that  happy  event  is  in  the  vigorous 
employment  of  the  resources  of  war.  And  painful  as  the  reflection  is, 
this  duty  is  particularly  enforced  by  the  spirit  and  manner  in  which  the 
war  continues  to  be  waged  by  the  enemy,  who,  uninfluenced  by  the  un- 
varied examples  of  humanity  set  them,  are  adding  to  the  savage  fury  of 
it  on  one  frontier  a  system  of  plunder  and  conflagration  on  the  other, 
equally  forbidden  by  respect  for  national  character  and  by  the  established 
rules  of  civilized  warfare. 

As  an  encouragement  to  perseverance  and  invigorated  exertions  to  bung 
the  contest  to  a  happy  result,  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  being  able  to  appeal 
\o  the  auspicious  progress  of  our  arms  both  by  land  and  on  the  water. 

In  continuation  of  the  brilliant  achievements  of  our  infant  navy,  a  sif.-nal 
triumph  has  been  gained  by  Captain  Lawrence  and  his  companions  in  the 
Hornet  sloop-of-war,  which  destroyed  a  British  sloop-of-war  with  a  ceier- 
ity  so  unexampled,  and  with  a  slaughter  of  the  enemy  so  disproportionate 
to  the  loss  in  the  Hornet,  as  to  claim  for  the  conquerors  the  highest  praise, 
and  the  full  recompense  provided  by  Congress  in  the  preceding  cases. 
Our  public  ships-of-war  in  general,  as  well  as  the  private  armed  vessels, 
have  continued  also  their  activity  and  success  against  the  commerce  of  the 
enemy,  and  by  their  vigilance  and  address  have  greatly  frustrated  the  ef- 
forts of  the  hostile  squadrons  distributed  along  our  coasts  to  intercept  them 
in  returning  into  port  and  resuming  their  cruises. 

The  augmentation  of  our  naval  force,  as  authorized  at  the  last  session 
of  Congress,  is  in  progress.  On  the  lakes  our  superiority  is  near  at 
hand  where  it  is  not  already  established. 

The  events  of  the  campaign,  so  far  as  they  are  known  to  us,  furnish 
matter  of  congratulation,  and  show  that  under  a  wise  organization  and  efli- 
cient  direction  the  army  is  destined  to  a  glory  not  less  brilliant  than  that 
which  already  encircles  the  navy.  The  attack  and  capture  of  York  is  in 
that  quarter  a  presage  of  future  and  greater  victories,  while  on  the  west- 
ern frontier,  the  issue  of  the  late  siege  of  Fort  Meigs  leaves  us  nothing  to 
regret  but  a  single  act  of  inconsiderate  valor. 

The  provisions  last  made  for  filling  the  ranks  and  enlarging  the  staff  of 
the  army  have  had  the  best  effects.  It  will  be  for  the  consideration  of 
Congress,  whether  other  provision,  depending  on  their  authority,  may  not 
still  further  improve  the  military  establishment  and  the  means  of  defence. 


310  MADISON'S  MESSAGE  — SPECIAL  SESSION. 

The  sudden  death  of  the  distinguished  citizen  who  represented  the 
United  States  in  France,  without  any  special  arrangement  by  him  for  such 
a  contingency,  has  left  us  without  the  expected  sequel  to  his  last  commu- 
nications ,  nor  has  the  French  government  taken  any  measures  for  bring- 
ing the  depending  negotiations  to  a  conclusion  through  its  representative 
in  the  United  States.  This  failure  adds  to  delays  before  so  unreasonably 
spun  out.  A  successor  to  our  deceased  minister  has  been  appointed  and 
is  ready  to  proceed  on  his  mission.  The  course  which  he  will  pursue  in 
fulfilling  it  is  that  prescribed  by  a  steady  regard  to  the  true  interests  of 
the  United  States,  which  equally  avoids  an  abandonment  of  their  just  de- 
mands and  a  connexion  of  their  fortunes  with  the  systems  of  other  powers. 

The  receipts  in  the  treasury,  from  the  1st  of  October  to  the  31st  day  of 
March  last,  including  the  sums  received  on  account  of  treasury -notes,  and 
of  the  loans  authorized  by  the  acts  of  the  last  and  the  preceding  session 
of  Congress,  have  amounted  to  fifteen  millions  four  hundred  and  twelve 
thousand  dollars.  The  expenditures  during  the  same  period  amounted  to 
fifteen  millions  nine  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  left  in  the 
treasury,  on  the  first  of  April,  the  sum  of  one  million  eight  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  thousand  dollars.  The  loan  of  sixteen  millions  of  dollars, 
authorized  by  the  act  of  the  8th  of  February  last,  has  been  contracted  for. 
Of  that  sum  more  than  a  million  of  dollars  has  been  paid  into  the  treasury 
prior  to  the  1st  of  April,  and  formed  a  part  of  the  receipts  as  above  stated. 
The  remainder  of  that  loan,  amounting  to  near  fifteen  millions  of  dollars, 
with  the  sum  of  five  millions  of  dollars  authorized  to  be  issued  in  treasury- 
notes,  and  the  estimated  receipts  from  the  customs  and  the  sales  of  public 
lands,  amounting  to  nine  millions  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and 
making,  in  the  whole,  twenty-nine  millions  three  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars to  be  received  during  the  last  nine  months  of  the  present  year,  will 
be  necessary  to  meet  the  expenditures  already  authorized  and  the  engage- 
ments contracted  in  relation  to  public  debt.  These  engagements  amount 
during  that  period  to  ten  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which, 
with  near  one  million  for  the  civil,  miscellaneous,  and  diplomatic  ex- 
penses, both  foreign  and  domestic,  and  seventeen  millions  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars  for  the  military  and  naval  expenditures,  including  the 
ehips-of-war  building  and  to  be  built,  will  leave  a  sum  in  the  treasury  at 
the  end  of  the  present  year  equal  to  that  on  the  first  of  April  last.  A  part 
of  this  sum  may  be  considered  as  a  resource  for  defraying  any  extraordi- 
nary expenses  already  authorized  by  law  beyond  the  sums  above  estima- 
ted, and  a  further  resource  for  any  emergency  may  be  found  in  the  sum 
of  one  million  of  dollars,  the  loan  of  which  to  the  United  States  has  been 
authorized  by  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  but  which  has  not  yet  been 
brought  into  effect. 

This  view  of  our  finances,  while  it  shows  that  due  provision  has  been 
made  for  the  expenses  of  the  current  year,  shows  at  the  same  time,  by  the 
limited  amount  of  the  actual  revenue  and  the  dependence  on  loans,  the  ne- 
cessity of  providing  more  adequately  for  the  future  supplies  of  the  treasury. 
This  can  be  best  done  by  a  well-digested  system  of  internal  revenue,  in 
aid  of  existing  sources,  which  will  have  the  effect,  both  of  abridging  the 
amount  of  necessary  loans,  and  on  that  account,  as  well  as  by  placing  the 
public  credit  on  a  more  satisfactory  basis,  of  improving  the  terms  on  which 
loans  may  be  obtained.  The  loan  of  sixteen  millions  was  not  contracted 
for  at  a  less  interest  than  about  seven  and  a  half  per  cent.,  and,  although 
other  causes  may  have  had  an  agency,  it  can  not  be  doubted  that  with  the 


MADISON'S  CONFIDENTIAL  MESSAGE.  311 

advantage  of  a  more  extended  and  less  precarious  revenue,  a  lower  rate 
of  interest  might  have  sufficed.  A  longer  postponement  of  this  advantage 
could  not  fail  to  have  a  still  greater  influence  on  future  loans. 

In  recommending  to  the  national  legislature  this  resort  to  additional 
taxes,  I  feel  great  satisfaction  in  the  assurance  that  our  constituents,  who 
have  already  displayed  so  much  zeal  and  firmness  in  the  cause  of  their 
country,  will  cheerfully  give  any  other  proof  of  their  patriotism  which  it 
calls  for.  Happily  no  people,  with  local  and  transitory  exceptions  never 
to  be  wholly  avoided,  are  more  able  than  the  people  of  the  United  States 
to  spare  for  the  public  wants  a  portion  of  their  private  means,  whether 
regard  be  had  to  the  ordinary  profits  of  industry  or  the  ordinary  price  of 
subsistence  in  our  country  compared  with  those  in  any  other.  And  in  no 
case  could  stronger  reasons  be  felt  for  yielding  the  requisite  contributions. 
By  rendering  the  public  resources  certain,  and  commensurate  to  the  public 
exigences,  the  constituted  authorities  will  be  able  to  prosecute  the  war 
the  more  rapidly  to  our  proper  issue  ;  every  hostile  hope  founded  on  a  cal- 
culated failure  of  its  resources  will  be  cut  off,  and  by  adding  to  the  evi- 
dence of  bravery  and  skill  on  combats  on  the  ocean  and  the  land,  and 
alacrity  in  supplying  the  treasure  necessary  to  give  them  their  fullest 
effects,  and  demonstrating  to  the  world  the  public  energy  which  our  polit- 
ical institutions  combine,  with  the  personal  liberty  distinguishing  them,  the 
best  security  will  be  provided  against  future  enterprises  on  the  rights  of 
the  peace  of  the  nation. 

The  contest  in  which  the  United  States  are  engaged  appeals  for  its 
support  to  every  motive  that  can  animate  an  uncorrupted  and  enlightened 
people  :  to  the  love  of  country  ;  to  the  pride  of  liberty ;  to  an  emulation 
of  the  glorious  founders  of  their  independence  by  a  successful  vindication 
of  its  violated  attributes ;  to  the  gratitude  and  sympathy  which  demand 
security  from  the  most  degraded  wrongs  of  a  class  of  citizens  who  have 
proved  themselves  so  worthy  the  protection  of  their  country  by  their  heroic 
zeal  in  its  defence ;  and  finally,  to  the  sacred  obligation  of  transmuting 
entire  to  future  generations  that  precious  patrimony  of  national  rights  and 
independence  which  is  held  in  trust  by  the  present,  from  the  goodueoS  of 
Divine  Providence. 

Being  aware  of  the  inconveniences  to  which  a  protracted  session  at 
this  season  would  be  liable,  I  limit  the  present  communication  to  oL;ects 
of  primary  importance.  In  special  messages  which  may  ensue,  r,  gard 
will  be  had  to  the  same  consideration. 


CONFIDENTIAL    MESSAGE. 
JULY  20,  1813. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THERE  being  sufficient  reason  to  infer  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  en- 
emy to  combine  with  the  blockade  of  our  ports  special  licenses  to  neutral 
vessels  or  to  British  vessels  in  neutral  disguises,  whereby  they  may 
draw  from  our  country  the  precise  kind  and  quantity  of  exports  essential 
to  their  wants,  while  its  general  commerce  remains  obstructed,  keeping 
in  view  also  the  insidious  discrimination  between  the  different  ports  of 
the  United  States  ;  and  as  such  a  system,  if  not  counteracted,  will  have 


312  MADISON'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

the  effect  of  diminishing  very  materially  the  pressure  of  the  war  on  the 
enemy,  and  encouraging  a  perseverance  in  it,  at  the  same  time  that  it  will 
leave  the  general  commerce  of  the  United  States  under  all  the  pressure 
the  enemy  can  impose,  thus  subjecting  the  whole  to  British  regulation 
in  subserviency  to  British  monopoly,  I  recommend  to  the  consideration  of 
Congress  the  expediency  of  an  immediate  and  effectual  prohibition  of  ex- 
ports limited  to  a  convenient  day  in  their  next  session,  and  removable  in 
the  meantime,  in  the  event  of  a  cessation  of  the  blockade  of  our  ports. 


FIFTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE 
DECEMBER  7,  1813. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : — 

IN  meeting  you  at  the  present  interesting  conjuncture,  it  would  have 
been  highly  satisfactory  if  I  could  have  communicated  a  favorable  result 
to  the  mission  charged  with  negotiations  for  restoring  peace.  It  was  a 
just  expectation,  from  the  respect  due  to  the  distinguished  sovereign  who 
had  invited  them  by  his  offer  of  mediation,  from  the  readiness  with  which 
the  invitation  was  accepted  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  from  the 
pledge  to  be  found  in  an  act  of  their  legislature  for  the  liberality  which 
their  plenipotentiaries  would  carry  into  the  negotiations,  that  no  time 
would  be  lost  by  the  British  government  in  embracing  the  experiment 
for  hastening  a  stop  to  the  effusion  of  blood.  A  prompt  and  cordial  ac- 
ceptance of  the  mediation  on  that  side  was  the  less  to  be  doubted,  as  it 
was  of  a  nature  not  to  submit  rights  or  pretensions  on  either  side  to  the 
decision  of  an  umpire,  but  to  afford  merely  an  opportunity,  honorable  and 
desirable  to  both  for  discussing,  and  if  possible  adjusting  them  for  the 
interest  of  both. 

The  British  cabinet,  either  mistaking  our  desire  of  peace  for  a  dread 
of  British  power,  or  misled  by  other  fallacious  calculations,  has  disap- 
pointed this  reasonable  anticipation.  No  communications  from  our  en- 
voys having  reached  us,  no  information  on  the  subject  has  been  received 
from  that  source.  But  it  is  known  that  the  mediation  was  declined  in 
the  first  instance,  and  there  is  no  evidence,  notwithstanding  the  lapse  ot 
time,  that  a  change  of  disposition  in  the  British  councils  has  taken  place 
or  is  to  be  expected. 

Under  such  circumstances,  a  nation  proud  of  its  rights  and  conscious  of 
its  strength  has  no  choice  but  an  exertion  of  the  one  in  support  of  the  other. 

To  this  determination  the  best  encouragement  is  derived  from  the  suc- 
cess with  which  it  has  pleased  the  Almighty  to  bless  our  arms  both  on  the 
land  and  on  the  water. 

While  proofs  have  been  continued  of  the  enterprise  and  skill  of  our 
cruisers,  public  and  private,  on  the  ocean,  and  a  new  trophy  gained  in  the 
capture  of  a  British  by  an  American  vessel-of-war,  after  an  action  giving 
celebrity  to  the  name  of  the  victorious  commander,  the  great  inland  waters 
on  which  the  enemy  were  also  to  be  encountered  have  presented  achieve- 
ments of  our  naval  arms  as  brilliant  in  their  character  as  they  have  been 
important  in  their  consequences. 

On  Lake  Erie,  the  squadron  under  the  command  of  Captain  Perry  hav- 
ing met  the  British  squadron  of  a  superior  force,  a  sanguinary  conflict 


MADISON'S  FIFTH   ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  313 

ended  in  the  capture  of  the  whole.  The  conduct  of  that  officer,  adroit  a^ 
it  was  daring,  and  which  was  so  well  seconded  by  his  comrades,  justly 
entitles  them  to  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of  their  country,  and  will 
fill  an  early  page  in  its  naval  annals,  with  a  victory  never  surpassed 
in  lustre,  however  much  it  may  have  heea  in  magnitude. 

On  Lake  Ontario,  the  caution  of  the  British  commander,  favored  by 
contingencies,  frustrated  the  efforts  of  the  American  commander  to  bring 
on  a  decisive  action.  Captain  Chauncey  was  able,  however,  to  establish 
an  ascendency  on  that  important  theatre,  and  to  prove  by  the  manner  in 
which  he  effected  everything  possible  that  opportunities  only  were  want- 
ed for  a  more  shining  display  of  his  own  talents  and  the  gallantry  of 
those  under  his  command. 

The  success  on  Lake  Erie  having  opened  a  passage  to  the  territory  of 
the  enemy,  the  officer  commanding  the  northwestern  army  transferred  the 
war  thither,  and  rapidly  pursuing  the  hostile  troops,  fleeing  with  their  sav- 
age associates,  forced  a  general  action  which  quickly  terminated  in  the 
capture  of  the  British  and  dispersion  of  the  savage  force. 

This  result  is  signally  honorable  to  Major-General  Harrison,  by  whose 
military  talents  it  was  prepared  ;  to  Colonel  Johnson  and  his  mounted 
volunteers,  whose  impetuous  onset  gave  a  decisive  blow  to  the  ranks  of 
the  enemy ;  and  to  the  spirit  of  the  volunteer  militia  equally  brave  and 
patriotic,  who  bore  an  interesting  part  in  the  scene ;  more  especially  to 
the  chief  magistrate  of  Kentucky  at  the  head  of  them,  whose  heroism  sig- 
nalized in  the  war  which  established  the  independence  of  his  country, 
sought  at  an  advanced  age  a  share  in  hardships  and  battles  for  maintain- 
ing its  rights  and  its  safety. 

The  effect  of  these  successes  has  been  to  rescue  the  inhabitants  of 
Michigan  from  their  oppressions,  aggravated  by  gross  infractions  of  the 
capitulation  which  subjected  them  to  a  foreign  power  ;  to  alienate  the  sav- 
ages of  numerous  tribes  from  the  enemy,  by  whom  they  were  disappoint- 
ed and  abandoned  ;  and  to  relieve  an  extensive  region  of  country  from  a 
merciless  warfare  which  desolated  its  frontiers  and  imposed  on  its  citi- 
zens the  most  harassing  services. 

In  consequence  of  our  naval  superiority  on  Lake  Ontario,  and  the  op- 
portunity afforded  by  it  for  concentrating  our  forces  by  water,  operations 
which  had  been  provisionally  planned  were  set  on  foot  against  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  enemy  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  Such,  however,  was  the 
delay  produced  in  the  first  instance  by  adverse  weather  of  unusual  violence 
and  continuance,  and  such  the  circumstances  attending  the  final  movement 
of  the  army,  that  the  prospect  at  one  time  so  favorable  was  not  realized. 

The  cruelty  of  the  enemy  in  enlisting  the  savages  into  a  war  with  a 
nation  desirous  of  mutual  emulation  in  mitigating  its  calamities,  has  not 
been  confined  to  any  one  quarter.  Wherever  they  could  be  turned  against 
us  no  exertions  to  effect  it  have  been  spared.  On  our  southwestern  bor- 
der, the  Creek  tribes,  who  yielding  to  our  persevering  endeavors  were 
gradually  acquiring  more  civilized  habits,  became  the  unfortunate  victims 
of  seduction.  A  war  in  that  quarter  has  been  the  consequence,  infuriated 
by  a  bloody  fanaticism  recently  propagated  among  them.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  crush  such  a  war  before  it  could  spread  among  the  contiguous 
tribes,  and  before  it  could  favor  enterprises  of  the  enemy  into  that  vicinity. 
With  tliis  view,  a  force  was  called  into  the  service  of  the  United  States 
from  the  states  of  Georgia  and  Tennessee,  which,  with  the  nearest  regu- 
lar troops,  and  other  corps  from  the  Mississippi  territory,  might  not  only 


314  MADISON  8    FIFTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

chastise  the  savages  into  present  peace  but  make  a  lasting  impression  on 
their  fears. 

The  progress  of  the  expedition,  as  far  as  is  yet  known,  corresponds 
with  the  martial  zeal  with  which  it  was  espoused,  and  the  best  hopes  of 
a  satisfactory  issue  are  authorized  by  the  complete  success  with  which  a 
well-planned  enterprise  was  executed  against  a  body  of  hostile  savages 
by  a  detachment  of  the  volunteer  militia  of  Tennessee,  under  the  gallant 
command  of  General  Coffee  ;  and  by  a  still  more  important  victory  over  a 
large  body  of  them,  gained  under  the  immediate  command  of  Major-Gene- 
ral  Jackson,  an  officer  equally  distinguished  for  his  patriotism  and  military 
talents. 

The  systematic  perseverance  of  the  enemy  in  courting  the  aid  of  the 
savages  in  all  quarters,  had  the  natural  effect  of  kindling  their  ordinary 
propensity  to  war  into  a  passion  which,  even  among  those  best  disposed 
toward  the  United  States,  was  ready,  if  not  employed  on  our  side,  to  be 
turned  against  us.  A  departure  from  our  protracted  forbearance  to  accept 
the  services  tendered  by  them,  has  thus  been  forced  upon  us.  But  in 
yielding  to  it,  the  retaliation  has  been  mitigated  as  much  as  possible  both 
in  its  extent  and  in  its  character,  stopping  far  short  of  the  example  of  the 
enemy,  who  owe  the  advantages  they  have  occasionally  gained  in  battle 
chiefly  to  the  number  of  their  savage  associates  ;  and  who  have  not  con- 
trolled them  either  from  their  usual  practice  of  indiscriminate  massacre 
on  defenceless  inhabitants,  or  from  scenes  of  carnage  without  a  parallel, 
on  prisoners  to  the  British  arms,  guarded  by  all  the  laws  of  humanity  and 
of  honorable  war.  For  these  enormities  the  enemy  are  equally  responsi- 
ble, whether  with  the  power  to  prevent  them  they  want  the  will,  or  with 
the  knowledge  of  a  want  of  power  they  still  avail  themselves  of  such 
instruments. 

In  other  respects  the  enemy  are  pursuing  a  course  which  threatens  con- 
sequences most  afflicting  to  humanity. 

A  standing  law  of  Great  Britain  naturalizes,  as  is  well  known,  all  aliens 
complying  with  conditions  limited  to  a  shorter  period  than  those  required 
by  the  United  States  ;  and  naturalized  subjects  are  in  war  employed  by 
her  government  in  common  with  native  subjects.  -  In  a  contiguous  British 
province,  regulations  promulgated  since  the  commencement  of  the  war 
compel  citizens  of  the  United  States  being  there  under  certain  circum- 
stances to  bear  arms,  while  of  the  native  emigrants  from  the  United  States 
who  compose  much  of  the  population  of  the  province,  a  number  have 
actually  borne  arms  against  the  United  States  within  their  limits,  some  of 
whom,  after  having  done  so,  have  become  prisoners-of-war  and  are  now  in 
our  possession.  The  British  commander  in  that  province,  nevertheless, 
with  the  sanction  as  appears  of  his  government,  thought  proper  to  select 
from  American  prisoners-of-war.  and  send  to  Great  Britain  for  trial  as 
criminals,  a  number  of  individuals  who  had  emigrated  from  the  British 
dominions  long  prior  to  the  state  of  war  between  the  two  nations,  who  had 
incorporated  themselves  into  our  political  society  in  the  modes  recognised 
by  the  law  and  practice  of  Great  Britain,  and  who  were  made  prisoners-of- 
war  under  the  banners  of  their  adopted  country,  fighting  for  its  rights  and 
its  safety. 

The  protection  due  to  these  citizens  requiring  an  effectual  interposition 
in  their  behalf,  a  like  number  of  British  prisoners-of-war  were  put  into 
confinement,  with  a  notification  that  they  wonld  experience  whatever  vio- 
lence might  be  committed  on  the  American  prisoners-of-war  sent  to  Great 
Britain. 


MADISON'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  315 

It  was  hoped  that  this  necessary  consequence  of  the  step  unadvisedly 
taken  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  would  have  led  her  government  to  re- 
flect on  the  inconsistencies  of  its  conduct,  and  that  a  sympathy  with  the 
British,  if  not  with  the  American  sufferers,  would  have  arrested  the  cruel 
career  opened  by  its  example. 

This  was  unhappily  not  the  case.  In  violation  both  of  consistency  and 
of  humanity,  American  officers  and  non-commissioned  officers,  in  double 
the  number  of  the  British  soldiers  confined  here,  were  ordered  into  close 
confinement,  with  formal  notice  that  in  the  event  of  a  retaliation  for  the 
death  which  might  be  inflicted  on  the  prisoners-of-war  sent  to  Great 
Britain  for  trial,  the  officers  so  confined  would  be  put  to  death  also.  It 
was  notified  at  the  same  time  that  the  commanders  of  the  British  fleets 
and  armies  on  our  coasts  are  instructed,  in  the  same  event,  to  proceed 
with  a  destructive  severity  against  our  towns  and  their  inhabitants. 

That  no  doubt  might  be  left  with  the  enemy  of  our  adherence  to  the 
retaliatory  resort  imposed  on  us,  a  corresponding  number  of  British  offi- 
cers, prisoners-of-war  in  our  hands,  were  immediately  put  into  close  con- 
finement, to  abide  the  fate  of  those  confined  by  the  enemy ;  and  the  Brit- 
ish government  has  been  apprized  of  the  determination  of  this  government 
to  retaliate  any  other  proceedings  against  us  contrary  to  the  legitimate 
modes  of  warfare. 

It  is  as  fortunate  for  the  United  States  that  they  have  it  in  their  power 
to  meet  the  enemy  in  this  deplorable  contest,  as  it  is  honorable  to  them 
that  they  do  not  join  in  it  but  under  the  most  imperious  obligations,  and 
with  the  humane  purpose  of  effectuating  a  return  to  the  established  usages 
of  war. 

The  views  of  the  French  government  on  the  subjects  which  have  been 
so  long  committed  to  negotiation  have  received  no  elucidation  since  the 
close  of  your  late  session.  The  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  United 
States  at  Paris  had  not  been  enabled  by  proper  opportunities  to  press  the 
object  of  his  mission  as  prescribed  by  his  instructions. 

The  militia  being  always  to  be  regarded  as  the  great  bulwark  of  de- 
fence and  security  for  free  states,  and  the  constitution  having  wisely  com- 
mitted to  the  national  authority  a  use  of  that  force,  as  the  best  provision 
against  an  unsafe  military  establishment,  as  well  as  a  resource  peculiarly 
adapted  to  a  country  having  the  extent  and  the  exposure  of  the  United 
States,  I  recommend  to  Congress  a  revision  of  the  militia  laws  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  more  effectually  the  services  of  all  detachments  called 
into  the  employment,  and  placed  under  the  government  of  the  United  States. 

It  will  deserve  the  consideration  of  Congress,  also,  whether  among 
other  improvements  in  the  militia  laws  justice  does  not  require  a  regula- 
tion, under  due  precautions,  for  defraying  the  expense  incident  to  the 
first  assembling  as  well  as  the  subsequent  movements  of  the  detachments 
called  into  the  national  service. 

To  give  our  vessels-of-war,  public  and  private,  the  requisite  advan- 
tage in  their  cruises,  it  is  of  much  importance  that  they  should  have,  both 
for  themselves  and  their  prizes,  the  use  of  the  ports  and  markets  of  friend- 
ly powers.  With  this  view,  I  recommend  to  Congress  the  expediency  of 
such  legal  provisions  as  may  supply  the  defects  or  remove  the  doubts  of 
the  executive  authority,  to  allow  to  the  cruisers  of  other  powers  at  war 
with  the  enemies  of  the  United  States  such  use  of  the  American  ports  as 
may  correspond  with  the  privileges  allowed  by  such  powers  to  American 
cruisers 


316  MADISON'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MKSSAGE. 

During  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  of  September  last,  the  receipts  into 
the  treasury  have  exceeded  thirty-seven  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars,  of 
which  near  twenty-four  millions  were  the  produce  of  loans.  After  meet- 
ing all  the  demands  for  the  public  service,  there  remained  in  the  treasury 
on  that  day  near  seven  millions  of  dollars.  Under  the  authority  contained 
in  the  act  of  the  2d  of  August  last,  for  borrowing  seven  millions  and  a 
half  of  dollars,  that  sum  has  been  obtained  on  terms  more  favorable  to 
the  United  States  than  those  of  the  preceding  loan  made  during  the  pres- 
ent year.  Further  sums,  to  a  considerable  amount  will  be  necessary  to 
be  obtained  in  the  same  way  during  the  ensuing  year,  and  from  the  in- 
creased capital  of  the  country,  from  the  fidelity  with  which  the  public 
engagements  have  been  kept,  and  the  public  credit  maintained,  it  may  be 
expected  on  good  grounds  that  the  necessary  pecuniary  supplies  will  not 
be  wanting. 

The  expenses  of  the  current  year,  from  the  multiplied  operations  falling 
within  it,  have,  necessarily  been  extensive.  But,  on  a  just  estimate  of 
the  campaign  in  which  the  mass  of  them  has  been  incurred,  the  cost  will 
not  be  found  disproportionate  to  the  advantages  which  have  been  gained. 
The  campaign  has,  indeed,  in  its  latter  stages  in  one  quarter,  been  less 
favorable  than  was  expected  ;  but  in  addition  to  the  importance  of  our 
naval  success,  the  progress  of  the  campaign  has  been  filled  with  inci- 
dents highly  honorable  to  the  American  arms. 

The  attacks  of  the  enemy  on  Craney  Island,  on  Fort  Meigs,  on  Sack- 
ett's  Harbor,  and  on  Sandusky,  have  been  vigorously  and  successfully  re- 
pulsed ;  nor  have  they  in  any  case  succeeded  on  either  frontier,  except 
when  directed  against  the  peaceable  dwellings  of  individuals  or  villages 
unprepared  or  undefended. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  movements  of  the  American  army  have  been 
followed  by  the  reduction  of  York,  and  of  Forts  George,  Erie,  and  Mai- 
den ;  by  the  recovery  of  Detroit  and  the  extinction  of  the  Indian  war  in 
the  west ;  and  by  the  occupancy  or  command  of  a  large  portion  of  Upper 
Canada.  Battles  have  also  been  fought  on  the  borders  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence, which,  though  not  accomplishing  their  entire  objects,  reflect  honor 
on  the  discipline  and  prowess  of  our  soldiery,  the  best  auguries  of  eventual 
victory.  In  the  same  scale  are  to  be  placed  the  late  successes  in  the 
south,  over  one  of  the  most  powerful,  which  had  become  one  of  the  most 
hostile  also,  of  the  Indian  tribes. 

It  would  be  improper  to  close  this  communication  without  expressing 
a  thankfulness  in  which  all  ought  to  unite,  for  the  numerous  blessings 
with  which  our  beloved  country  continues  to  be  favored  ;  for  the  abun- 
dance which  overspreads  our  land,  and  the  prevailing  health  of  its  inhab- 
itants ;  for  the  preservation  of  our  internal  tranquillity,  and  the  stability 
of  our  free  institutions ;  and  above  all,  for  the  light  of  divine  truth  and 
the  protection  of  every  man's  conscience  in  the  enjoyment  of  it.  And 
although  among  our  blessings  we  can  not  number  an  exemption  from  the 
evils  of  war,  yet  these  will  never  be  regarded  as  the  greatest  of  evils  by 
the  friends  of  liberty  and  of  the  rights  of  nations.  Our  country  has  before 
preferred  them  to  the  degraded  condition  which  was  the  alternative  when 
the  sword  was  drawn  in  the  cause  which  gave  birth  to  our  national  inde- 
pendence ;  and  none  who  contemplate  the  magnitude  and  feel  the  value 
of  that  glorious  event  will  shrink  from  a  struggle  to  maintain  the  high 
and  happy  ground  on  which  it  placed  the  American  people. 

With  all  good  citizens  the  justice  and  necessity  of  resisting  wrongs 


MADISON'S  CONFIDENTIAL  MESSAGE.  317 

and  usurpations  no  longer  to  be  borne  will  sufficiently  outweigh,  the  pri- 
vations and  sacrifices  inseparable  from  a  state  of  war.  But  it  is  a  reflec- 
tion, moreover,  peculiarly  consoling,  that  while  wars  are  generally  aggra- 
vated by  their  baneful  effects  on  the  internal  improvements  and  permanent 
prosperity  of  the  nations  engaged  in  them,  such  is  the  favored  situa- 
tion of  the  United  States,  that  the  calamities  of  the  contest  into  which 
they  have  been  compelled  to  enter  are  mitigated  by  improvements  and 
advantages  of  which  the  contest  itself  is  the  source. 

If  the  war  has  increased  the  interruptions  of  our  commerce,  it  has  at 
the  same  time  cherished  and  multiplied  our  manufactures  so  as  to  make 
us  independent  of  all  other  countries  for  the  more  essential  branches  for 
which  we  ought  to  be  dependent  on  none  ;  and  is  even  rapidly  giving 
them  an  extent  which  will  create  additional  staples  in  our  future  inter- 
course with  foreign  markets. 

If  much  treasure  has  been  expended,  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  it 
has  been  applied  to  objects  durable  in  their  value  and  necessary  to  our 
permanent  safety. 

If  the  war  has  exposed  us  to  increased  spoliations  on  the  ocean,  and 
to  predatory  incursions  on  the  land,  it  has  developed  the  national  means 
of  retaliating  the  former,  and  of  providing  protection  against  the  latter, 
demonstrating  to  all  that  every  blow  aimed  at  our  maritime  independence 
is  an  impulse  accelerating  the  growth  of  our  maritime  power. 

By  diffusing  through  the  mass  of  the  nation  the  elements  of  military 
discipline  and  instruction  ;  by  augmenting  and  distributing  warlike  prepa- 
rations applicable  to  future  use  ;  by  evincing  the  zeal  and  valor  with 
which  they  will  be  employed  and  the  cheerfulness  with  which  every 
necessary  burden  will  be  borne,  a  greater  respect  for  our  rights  and  a 
longer  duration  of  our  future  peace  are  promised  than  could  be  expected 
without  these  proofs  of  the  national  character  and  resources. 

The  war  has  proved,  moreover,  that  our  free  government,  like  other 
free  governments,  though  slow  in  its  early  movements,  acquires  in  its 
progress  a  force  proportioned  to  its  freedom,  and  that  the  union  of  these 
states,  the  guardian  of  the  freedom  and  safety  of  all  and  of  each,  is 
strengthened  by  every  occasion  that  puts  it  to  the  test. 

In  fine,  the  war,  with  all  its  vicissitudes,  is  illustrating  the  capacity  and 
the  destiny  of  the  United  States  to  be  a  great,  a  flourishing,  and  a  power- 
ful nation,  worthy  of  the  friendship  which  it  is  disposed  to  cultivate  with 
all  others,  and  authorized  by  its  own  example  to  require  from  all  an  ob- 
servance of  the  laws  of  justice  and  reciprocity.  Beyond  these,  their 
claims  have  never  extended,  and  in  contending  for  these  we  behold  a  sub- 
ject for  our  congratulations  in  the  daily  testimonies  of  increasing  harmony 
throughout  the  nation,  and  may  humbly  repose  our  trust  in  the  smiles  of 
Heaven  on  so  righteous  a  cause. 


CONFIDENTIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  9,  1813. 

To  the    Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THE  tendency  of  our  commercial  and  navigation  laws  in  their  present 
•tale  to  favor  the  enemy  and  thereby  prolong  the  war,  is  more  and  more 


318  MADISON  S    SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

developed  by  experience.  Supplies  of  the  most  essential  kind  find  their 
way,  not  only  to  British  ports  and  British  armies  at  a  distance,  but  the 
armies  in  our  neighborhood,  with  which  our  own  are  contending,  derive 
from  our  ports  and  outlets  a  subsistence  attainable  with  difficulty,  if  at  all, 
from  other  sources.  Even  the  fleets  and  troops  infesting  our  coasts  and 
waters  are  by  like  supplies  accommodated  and  encouraged  in  their  pred- 
atory and  incursive  warfare. 

Abuses  having  a  like  tendency  take  place  in  our  import  trade.  British 
fabrics  and  products  find  their  way  into  our  ports  under  the  name  and 
from  the  ports  of  other  countries,  and  often  in  British  vessels  disguised  as 
neutrals  by  false  colors  and  papers. 

To  these  abuses,  it  may  be  added  that  illegal  importations  are  openly 
made,  with  advantage-  to  the  violators  of  the  law,  produced  by  the  under- 
valuations or  other  circumstances  involved  in  the  course  of  the  judicial 
proceedings  against  them. 

It  is  found,  also,  that  the  practice  of  ransoming  is  a  cover  for  collusive 
captures,  and  a  channel  for  intelligence  advantageous  to  the  enemy. 

To  remedy,  as  much  as  possible,  these  evils,  I  recommend — 

That  an  effectual  embargo  on  exports  be  immediately  enacted. 

That  all  articles  known  to  be  derived,  either  not  at  all  or  in  an  imma- 
.erial  degree  only,  from  the  productions  of  any  other  country  than  Great 
Britain,  and  particularly  the  extensive  articles  made  of  wool  and  cotton 
materials,  and  ardent  spirits  made  from  the  cane,  be  expressly  and  abso- 
lutely prohibited,  from  whatever  port  or  place,  or  in  whatever  vessels  the 
same  may  be  brought  into  the  United  States ;  and.  that  all  violations  of 
the  non-importation  act  be  subjected  to  adequate  penalties. 

That  among  the  proofs  of  the  neutral  and  national  character  of  foreign 
vessels  it  be  required  that  the  masters  and  supercargoes,  and  three  fourths 
at  least  of  the  crew,  be  citizens  or  subjects  of  the  country  under  whose 
flag  the  vessels  sail. 

That  all  persons  concerned  in  collusive  captures  by  the  enemy,  or  in 
ransoming  vessels  or  their  cargoes  from  the  enemy,  be  subjected  to  ade- 
quate penalties. 

To  shorten  as  much  as  possible  the  duration  of  the  war,  it  is  indispensa- 
ble that  the  enemy  should  feel  all  the  pressure  that  can  be  given  to  it, 
and  the  restraints  having  that  tendency  will  be  borne  with  the  greater  cheer- 
fulness by  all  good  citizens,  as  the  restraints  will  affect  those  most  who 
are  most  ready  to  sacrifice  the  interests  of  their  country  in  pursuit  of 
their  own. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  26,  1814. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

IT  has  appeared  that  at  the  recovery  of  the  Michigan  territory  from 
the  temporary  possession  of  the  enemy,  the  inhabitants  thereof  were  left 
in  so  destitute  and  distressed  a  condition  as  to  require  from  the  public 
stores  certain  supplies  essential  to  their  subsistence  which  have  been 
prolonged  under  the  same  necessity  which  called  for  them. 


MADISON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  319 

The  deplorable  situation  of  the  savages,  thrown  by  the  same  event  on 
the  mercy  and  humanity  of  the  American  commander  at  Detroit,  drew 
from  the  same  source  the  means  of  saving  them  from  perishing  by  fam- 
ine ;  and  in  other  places  the  appeals  made  by  the  wants  and  sufferings 
of  that  unhappy  description  of  people  have  been  equally  imperious. 

The  necessity  imposed  by  the  conduct  of  the  enemy  in  relation  to  the 
savages,  of  admitting  their  co-operation  in  some  instances  with  our  arms, 
has  also  involved  occasional  expense  in  supplying  their  wants  ;  and  it  is 
possible  that  a  perseverance  of  the  enemy  in  their  cruel  policy  may  ren- 
der a  further  expense  for  the  like  purpose  inevitable. 

On  these  subjects  an  estimate  from  the  department  of  war  will  be  laid 
before  Congress,  and  I  recommend  a  suitable  provision  for  them. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

MARCH  31,  1814. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

TAKING  into  view  the  mutual  interest  which  the  United  States  and  the 
foreign  nations  in  amity  with  them  have  in  a  liberal  commercial  inter- 
course, and  the  extensive  changes  favorable  thereto  which  have  recently 
taken  place — taking  into  view,  also,  the  important  advantages  which  may 
otherwise  result  from  adapting  the  state  of  our  commercial  laws  to  the 
circumstances  now  existing,  I  recommend  to  the  consideration  of  Con- 
gress the  expediency  of  authorizing,  after  a  certain  day,  exportations  (spe- 
cie excepted)  from  the  United  States,  and  in  vessels  of  the  United  States, 
and  in  vessels  owned  and  navigated  by  the  subjects  of  powers  at  peace 
with  them^  and  a  repeal  of  so  much  of  our  laws  as  prohibits  the  impor- 
tation of  articles  not  the  property  of  enemies,  but  produced  or  manufac- 
tured only  within  their  dominions. 

I  recommend,  also,  as  a  more  effectual  safeguard  and  encouragement 
to  our  growing  manufactures,  that  the  additional  duties  on  imports  which 
are  to  expire  at  the  end  of  one  year  after  a  peace  with  Great  Britain, 
be  prolonged  to  the  end  of  two  years  after  that  event ;  and  that,  in  favor 
of  our  moneyed  institutions,  the  exportation  of  specie  be  prohibited 
throughout  the  same  period. 


SIXTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
SEPTEMBER  20,  1814. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  early  day  which  had  been  fixed  for  your  ses- 
sion of  the  present  year,  I  was  induced  to  call  you  together  still  sooner, 
as  well  that  any  inadequacy  in  the  existing  provisions  for  the  wants  of  the 
treasury  might  be  supplied,  as  that  no  delay  might  happen  in  providing 
for  the  result  of  the  negotiations  on  foot  with  (Jrcat  liritain,  whether  it 


320  MADISON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

should  require  arrangements  adapted  to  a  return  of  peace,  or  further  and 
more  effective  provisions  for  prosecuting  the  war. 

That  result  is  not  yet  known.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  the  repeal  of  the 
order  in  council  and  the  general  pacification  in  Europe,  which  withdrew 
the  occasion  on  which  impressments  from  American  vessels  were  prac- 
tised, suggest  expectations  that  peace  and  amity  may  be  re-established,  we 
are  compelled,  on  the  other  hand,  by  the  refusal  of  the  British  government 
to  accept  the  offered  mediation  of  the  emperor  of  Russia,  by  the  delays 
in  giving  effect  to  its  own  proposal  of  a  direct  negotiation,  and  above  all, 
by  the  principles  and  manner  in  which  the  war  is  now  avowedly  carried 
on,  to  infer  that  a  spirit  of  hostility  is  indulged,  more  violent  than  ever, 
against  the  rights  and  prosperity  of  this  country. 

This  increased  violence  is  best  explained  by  the  two  important  circum- 
stances, that  the  great  contest  in  Europe  for  an  equilibrium  guarantying  all 
its  states  against  the  ambition  of  any,  has  been  closed  without  any  check 
on  the  overbearing  power  of  Great  Britain  on  the  ocean  ;  and  that  it  has 
left  in  her  hands  disposable  armaments,  with  which,  forgetting  the  diffi- 
culties of  a  remote  war  with  a  free  people,  and  yielding  to  the  intoxica- 
tion of  success,  with  the  example  of  a  great  victim  to  it  before  her  eyes, 
she  cherishes  hopes  of  still  further  aggrandizing  a  power  already  formi- 
dable in  its  abuses  to  the  tranquillity  of  the  civilized  and  commercial  world. 

But  whatever  may  have  inspired  the  enemy  with  these  more  violent 
purposes,  the  public  councils  of  a  nation  more  able  to  maintain  than  it  was 
to  acquire  its  independence,  and  with  a  devotion  to  it  rendered  more  ar- 
dent by  the  experience  of  its  blessings,  can  never  deliberate  but  on  the 
means  most  effectual  for  defeating  the  extravagant  views  or  unwarrantable 
passions  with  which  alone  the  war  can  now  be  pursued  against  us. 

In  the  events  of  the  present  campaign,  the  enemy  with  all  his  augment- 
ed means  and  wanton  use  of  them  has  little  ground  for  exultation,  unless 
he  can  feel  it  in  the  success  of  his  recent  enterprises  against  this  metropo- 
lis and  the  neighboring  town  of  Alexandria,  from  both  of  which  his  re- 
treats were  as  precipitate  as  his  attempts  were  bold  and  fortunate.  In 
his  other  incursions  on  our  Atlantic  frontier,  his  progress,  often  checked 
and  chastised  by  the  martial  spirit  of  the  neighboring  citizens,  has  had 
more  effect  in  distressing  individuals  and  in  dishonoring  his  arms  than  in 
promoting  any  object  of  legitimate  warfare.  And  in  the  two  instances 
mentioned,  however  deeply  to  be  regretted  on  our  part,  he  will  find  in  his 
transient  success,  which  interrupted  for  a  moment  only  the  ordinary  pub- 
lic business  at  the  seat  of  government,  no  compensation  for  the  loss  of 
character  with  the  world,  by  his  violations  of  private  property  and  by  his 
destruction  of  public  edifices  protected  as  monuments  of  the  arts  by  the 
laws  of  civilized  warfare. 

On  our  side  we  can  appeal  to  a  series  of  achievements  which  have 
given  new  lustre  to  the  American  arms.  Besides  the  brilliant  incidents 
in  the  minor  operations  of  the  campaign,  the  splendid  victories  gained  on 
the  Canadian  side  of  the  Niagara  by  the  American  forces  under  Major- 
General  Brown,  and  Brigadiers  Scott  and  Gaines,  have  gained  for  these 
heroes,  and  their  emulating  companions,  the  most  unfading  laurels,  and 
having  triumphanily  tested  the  progressive  discipline  of  the  American 
soldiery,  have  taught  the  enemy  that  the  longer  he  protracts  his  hostile 
efforts  the  more  certain  and  decisive  will  be  his  final  discomfiture. 

On  our  southern  border  victory  has  continued  also  to  follow  the  Amer 
lean  standard.     The  bold  and  skilful  operations  of  Major-General  Jackson, 


MADISON  S    SIXTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

conducting  troops  drawn  from  the  militia  of  the  states  least  distant,  partic- 
ularly of  Tennessee,  have  subdued  the  principal  tribes  of  hostile  savages, 
and  by  .establishing  a  peace  with  them,  preceded  by  recent  and  exemplary 
chastisement,  has  best  guarded  against  the  mischief  of  their  co-operation 
with  the  British  enterprises  which  may  be  planned  against  that  quarter  of 
our  country.  Important  tribes  of  Indians  on  our  northwestern  frontier 
have  also  acceded  to  stipulations  which  bind  them  to  the  interests  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  consider  our  enemy  as  theirs  also. 

In  the  recent  attempt  of  the  enemy  on  the  city  of  Baltimore,  defended 
by  militia  and  volunteers,  aided  by  a  small  body  of  regulars  and  seamen, 
ho  was  received  with  a  spirit  which  produced  a  rapid  retreat  to  his  ships, 
T»  hile  a  concurrent  attack  by  a  large  fleet  was  successfully  resisted  by  the 
steady  and  well-directed  fire  from  the  fort  and  batteries  opposed  to  it. 

In  another  recent  attack  by  a  powerful  force  on  our  troops  at  Plattsburg, 
of  which  regulars  made  a  part  only,  the  enemy,  after  a  perseverance  for 
many  hours,  was  finally  compelled  to  seek  safety  in  a  hasty  retreat,  with 
our  gallant  bands  pressing  upon  him. 

On  the  lakes,  so  much  contested  throughout  the  war,  the  great  exer- 
tions for  the  command  made  on  our  part  have  been  well  repaid.  On  Lake 
Ontario  our  squadron  is  now,  and  has  been  for  some  time,  in  a  condition 
to  confine  that  of  the  enemy  to  his  own  port,  and  to  favor  the  operations 
of  our  land  forces  on  that  frontier. 

A  part  of  the  squadron  on  Lake  Erie  has  been  extended  into  Lake  Hu- 
ron, and  has  produced  the  advantage  of  displaying  our  command  on  that 
lake  also.  One  object  of  the  expedition  was  the  reduction  of  Mackinaw, 
which  failed  with  the  loss  of  a  few  brave  men,  among  whom  was  an  offi- 
cer justly  distinguished  for  his  gallant  exploits.  The  expedition,  ably 
conducted  by  both  the  land  and  the  naval  commanders,  was  otherwise 
higaly  valuable  in  its  effects. 

On  Lake  Champlain,  where  our  superiority  had  for  some  time  been 
undisputed,  the  British  squadron  lately  came  into  action  with  the  Ameri- 
can, commanded  by  Captain  Macdonough.  It  issued  in  the  capture  of  the 
whole  of  the  enemy's  ships.  The  best  praise  for  this  officer  and  his  in- 
trepid comrades  is  in  the  likeness  of  his  triumph  to  the  illustrious  victory 
which  immortalized  another  officer,  and  established  at  a  critical  moment 
our  command  of  another  lake. 

On  the  ocean  the  pride  of  our  naval  arms  has  been  amply  supported.  A 
second  frigate  has  indeed  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  but  the  loss 
is  hidden  in  the  blaze  of  heroism  with  which  she  was  defended.  Captain 
Porter,  who  commanded  her,  and  whose  previous  career  had  been  distin- 
guished by  daring  enterprise  and  by  fertility  of  genius,  maintained  a  san- 
guinary contest  against  two  ships,  one  of  them  superior  to  his  own,  and 
under  other  severe  disadvantages,  till  humanity  tore  down  the  colors  which 
valor  had  nailed  to  the  mast.  This  officer  and  his  brave  comrades  have 
added  much  to  the  rising  glory  of  the  American  flag,  and  have  merited  all 
the  effusions  of  gratitude  which  the  country  is  ever  ready  to  bestow  on 
the  champions  of  its  rights  and  of  its  safety. 

Two  smaller  vessels-of-war  have  also  become  prizes  to  the  enemy,  but 
by  a  superiority  of  force  which  sufficiently  vindicates  the  reputations  of 
their  commanders  ;  while  two  others,  one  commanded  by  Captain  War- 
rington,  the  other  by  Captain  Blakely,  have  captured  British  ships  of  the 
same  class,  with  a  gallantry  and  good  conduct  which  entitle  them  and 
their  companions  to  a  just  share  in  the  praise  of  their  country. 

VOL.  1.— 21 


322  MADISON'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

In  spite  of  the  naval  force  of  the  enemy  accumulated  on  our  coast,  our 
private  cruisers  also  have  not  ceased  to  annoy  his  commerce  and  to  bring 
their  rich  prizes  into  our  ports  ;  contributing  thus,  with  other  proofs,  to 
demonstrate  the  incompetency  and  illegality  of  a  blockade,  the  proclama- 
tion of  which  is  made  the  pretext  for  vexing  and  discouraging  the  com- 
merce of  neutral  powers  with  the  United  States. 

To  meet  the  extended  and  diversified  warfare  adopted  by  the  enemy, 
great  bodies  of  militia  have  been  taken  into  service  for  the  public  defence 
and  great  expenses  incurred.  That  the  defence  everywhere  may  be  both 
more  convenient  and  more  economical,  Congress  will  see  the  necessity  of 
immediate  measures  for  filling  the  ranks  of  the  regular  army,  and  of  en- 
larging the  provision  for  special  corps,  mounted  and  unmounted,  to  be 
engaged  for  longer  periods  of  service  than  are  due  from  the  militia.  I 
earnestly  renew,  at  the  same  time,  a  recommendation  of  such  changes  in 
the  system  of  the  militia,  as,  by  classing  and  disciplining  for  the  most 
prompt  and  active  service  the  portions  most  capable  of  it,  will  give  to  that 
great  resource  for  the  public  safety  all  the  requisite  energy  and  efficiency. 

The  moneys  received  into  the  treasury  during  the  nine  months  ending 
on  the  30th  day  of  June  last,  amounted  to  thirty-two  millions  of  dollars,  of 
which  near  eleven  millions  were  the  proceeds  of  the  public  revenue,  and 
the  remainder  derived  from  loans.  The  disbursements  for  public  expendi- 
tures during  the  same  period  exceeded  thirty-four  millions  of  dollars,  and 
left  in  the  treasury,  on  the  first  day  of  July,  near  five  millions  of  dollars. 
The  demands  during  the  remainder  of  the  present  year,  already  authorized 
by  Congress,  and  the  expenses  incident  to  an  extension  of  the  operations 
of  the  war,  will  render  it  necessary  that  large  sums  should  be  provided  to 
meet  them. 

From  this  view  of  the  national  affairs,  Congress  will  be  urged  to  take 
up,  without  delay,  as  well  the  subject  of  pecuniary  supplies  as  that  of 
military  force,  and  on  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  extent  and  character 
which  the  war  has  assumed.  It  is  not  to  be  disguised  that  the  situation 
of  our  country  calls  for  its  greatest  efforts.  Our  enemy  is  powerful  in 
men  and  money,,  on  the  land  and  on  the  water.  Availing  himself  of  for- 
tuitous advantages,  he  is  aiming  with  his  undivided  force  a  deadly  blow 
to  our  growing  prosperity,  perhaps  at  our  national  existence.  He  has 
avowed  his  purpose  of  trampling  on  the  usages  of  civilized  warfare,  and 
given  earnests  of  it  in  the  plunder  and  wanton  destruction  of  private  prop- 
erty. In  his  pride  of  maritime  dominion,  and  in  his  thirst  of  commercial 
monopoly,  he  strikes  with  peculiar  animosity  at  the  progress  of  our  navi- 
gation and  our  manufactures.  His  barbarous  policy  has  not  even  spared 
those  monuments  of  the  arts  and  models  of  taste  with  which  our  country 
had  enriched  and  embellished  its  infant  metropolis.  From  such  an  ad- 
versary, hostility  in  its  greatest  force  and  worst  forms  may  be  looked  for. 
The  American  people  will  face  it  with  the  undaunted  spirit  which  in  their 
revolutionary  struggle  defeated  his  unrighteous  projects.  -  His  threats,  and 
his  barbarities,  instead  of  dismay,  will  kindle  in  every  bosom  an  indigna- 
tion not  to  be  extinguished  but  in  the  disaster  and  expulsion  of  such  cruel 
invaders.  In  providing  the  means  necessary,  the  national  legislature  will 
not  distrust  the  heroic  and  enlightened  patriotism  of  its  constituents. 
They  will  cheerfully  and  proudly  bear  every  burden  of  every  kind  which 
the  safety  and  honor  of  the  nation  demand.  We  have  seen  them  every- 
where paying  their  taxes, direct  and  indirect,  with  the  greatest  promptness 
and  alacrity.  We  see  them  rushing  with  enthusiasm  to  the  scenes  where 


MADISON'S  BANK  MESSAGE.  323 

danger  and  duty  call.     In  offering  their  blood  they  gave  the  surest  pledge 
that  no  other  tribute  will  be  withheld. 

Having  forborne  to  declare  war  until  to  other  aggressions  had  been 
added  the  capture  of  nearly  a  thousand  American  vessels,  and  the  impress- 
ment of  thousands  of  American  seafaring  citizens,  and  until  a  final  declar- 
ation had  been  made  by  the  government  of  Great  Britain  that  her  hostile 
orders  against  our  commerce  would  not  be  revoked  but  on  conditions  as 
impossible  as  unjust,  while  it  was  known  that  these  orders  would  not  other- 
wise cease  but  with  a  war  which  had  lasted, nearly  twenty  years,  and  which 
according  to  appearances  at  that  time,  might  last  as  many  more ;  having 
manifested,  on  every  occasion  and  in  every  proper  mode,  a  sincere  desire 
to  arrest  the  effusion  of  blood  and  meet  our  enemy  on  the  ground  of  jus- 
tice and  reconciliation,  our  beloved  country,  in  still  opposing  to  his  perse- 
vering hostility  all  its  energies,  with  an  undiminished  disposition  toward 
peace  and  friendship  on  honorable  terms,  must  carry  with  it  the  good 
wishes  of  the  impartial  world,  and  the  best  hopes  of  support  from  an  om- 
nipotent and  kind  Providence. 


BANK    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  30,  1815. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  : — 

HAVING  bestowed  on  the  bill  entitled,  "  An  act  to  incorporate  the  sub- 
scribers to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  of  America,"  that  full  considera- 
tion which  is  due  to  the  great  importance  of  the  subject,  and  dictated  by 
the  respect  which  I  feel  for  the  two  houses  of  Congress,  I  am  constrain- 
ed, by  a  deep  and  solemn  conviction  that  the  bill  ought  not  to  become  a 
law,  to  return  it  to  the  senate,  in  which  it  originated,  with  my  objections 
to  the  same. 

Waiving  the  question  of  the  constitutional  authority  of  the  legislature  to 
establish  an  incorporated  bank,  as  being  precluded  in  my  judgment  by 
repeated  recognitions  under  varied  circumstances,  of  the  validity  of  sucn 
an  institution  in  acts  of  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  branches  of 
the  government,  accompanied  by  indications,  in  different  modes,  of  a  con- 
currence of  the  general  will  of  the  nation,  the  proposed  bank  does  not  ap- 
pear to  be  calculated  to  answer  the  purposes  of  reviving  the  public  credit, 
of  providing  a  national  medium  of  circulation,  and  of  aiding  the  treasury 
by  facilitating  the  indispensable  anticipations  of  the  revenue,  and  by 
affording  to  the  public  more  durable  loans. 

1 .  The  capital  of  the  bank  is  to  be  compounded  of  specie,  of  public 
stock,  and  of  the  treasury-notes  convertible  into  stock,  with  a  certain  pro- 
portion of  each  of  which  every  subscriber  is  to  furnish  himself. 

The  amount  of  the  stock  to  be  subscribed  will  not,  it  is  believed,  be 
sufficient  to  produce,  in  favor  of  the  public  credit,  any  considerable  or 
lasting  elevation  of  the  market  price,  while  this  may  be  occasionally  de- 
pressed by  the  bank  itself,  if  it  should  carry  into  the  market  the  allowed 
proportion  of  its  capital,  consisting  of  public  stock,  in  order  to  procure 
specie,  which  it  may  find  its  account  in  procuring  with  some  sacrifice  on 
the  part  of  its  capital. 


324  MADISON'S  BANK  MESSAGE. 

Nor  will  any  adequate  advantage  arise  to  the  public  credit  from  the 
subscription  of  treasury-notes.  The  actual  issue  of  these  notes  nearly 
equals  at  present,  and  will  soon  exceed,  the  amount  to  be  subscribed  to 
the  bank.  The  direct  effect  of  this  operation  is  simply  to  convert  fifteen 
millions  of  treasury-notes  into  fifteen  millions  of  six  per  cent,  stock,  with 
the  collateral  effect  of  promoting  an  additional  demand  for  treasury-notes 
beyond  what  might  be  otherwise  negotiable. 

Public  credit  might  indeed  be  expected  to  derive  advantage  from  the 
establishment  of  a  national  bank,  without  regard  to  the  formation  of  its 
capital,  if  the  full  aid  and  co-operation  of  the  institution  were  secured  to 
the  government  during  the  war,  and  during  the  period  of  its  fiscal  em- 
barrassments. But  the  bank  proposed  will  be  free  from  all  legal  obliga- 
tion to  co-operate  with  the  public  measures,  and  whatever  might  be  the 
patriotic  disposition  of  its  directors  to  contribute  to  the  removal  of  those 
embarrassments,  and  to  invigorate  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  fidelity  to 
the  pecuniary  and  general  interest  of  the  institution,  according  to  their 
estimation  of  it,  might  oblige  them  to  decline  a  connexion  of  their  opera- 
tions with  those  of  the  national  treasury,  during  the  continuance  of  the 
war  and  the  difficulties  incident  to  it.  Temporary  sacrifices  of  interest, 
though  overbalanced  by  the  future  and  permanent  profits  of  the  charter, 
not  being  requirable  of  right  in  behalf  of  the  public,  might  not  be 
gratuitously  made,  and  the  bank  would  reap  the  full  benefit  of  the  grant 
while  the  public  would  lose  the  equivalent  expected  from  it.  For  it  must 
be  kept  in  view,  that  the  sole  inducement  to  such  a  grant  on  the  part  of 
the  public  would  be  the  prospect  of  substantial  aids  to  its  pecuniary 
means  at  the  present  crisis  and  during  the  sequel  of  the  war.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  the  stock  of  the  bank  will,  on  the  return  of  peace,  if  not  soon- 
er, rise  in  the  market  to  a  value  which,  if  the  bank  w-ere  established  in 
period  of  peace,  would  authorize  and  obtain  for  the  public  a  bonus  to  a 
very  large  amount.  In  lieu  of  such  a  bonus,  the  government  is  fairly  en- 
titled to,  and  ought  not  to  relinquish  or  risk  the  needful  services  of  the 
bank  under  the  pressing  circumstances  of  war. 

2.  The  bank,  as  proposed  to.  be  constituted, 'can  not  be  relied  on  du- 
ring the  war  to  provide  a  circulating  medium,  nor  to  furnish  loans  or  an- 
ticipations of  the  public  revenue. 

Without  a  medium  the  taxes  can  not  be  collected,  and  in  the  absence 
of  specie  the  medium  understood  to  be  the  best  substituted  is  that  of 
notes  issued  by  a  national  bank.  The  proposed  bank  will  commence  and 
conduct  its  operations  under  an  obligation  to  pay  its  notes  in  specie,  or 
to  be  subject  to  the  loss  of  its  charter.  Without  such  an  obligation,  the 
notes  of  the  bank,  though  not  exchangeable  for  specie,  yet  resting  on  good 
pledges  and  performing  the  uses  of  specie  in  the  payment  of  taxes,  and 
in  other  public  transactions,  would,  as  experience  has  ascertained,  qualify 
the  bank  to  supply  at  once  a  circulating  medium  and  pecuniary  aids  to 
ihe  government.  Under  the  fetters  imposed  by  the  bill  it  is-  manifest, 
that  during  the  actual  state  of  things,  and  probably  during  the  war,  the 
period  particularly  requiring  such  a  medium  and  such  a  resource  for  loans 
and  advances  to  the  goveniment,  notes  for  which  the  bank  would  be  com- 
•pellable  to  give  specie  in  exchange  could  not  be  kept  in  circulation.  The 
tnost  the  bank  could  effect,  and  the  most  it  would  be  expected  to  aim  at, 
would  be  to  keep  the  institution  alive  by  limited  and  local  transactions 
which,  with  the  interest  on  the  public  stock  in  the  bank,  might  yield  a 
dividend  sufficient  for  the  purpose  until  a  change  from  war  to  peace  should 


MADISON'S   SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  325 

enable  it,  by  a  flow  of  specie  into  its  vaults  and  a  removal  of  the  exter- 
nal demand  for  it,  to  derive  its  contemplated  emoluments  from  a  safe  and 
full  extension  of  its  operations. 

On  the  whole,  when  it  is  considered  that  the  proposed  establishment 
will  enjoy  the  monopoly  of  the  profits  of  a  national  bank  for  a  period  of 
twenty  years ;  that  the  monopolized  profits  will  be  continually  growing 
with  die  progress  of  the  national  population  and  wealth ;  that  the  nation 
will,  during  the  same  period,  be  dependent  on  the  notes  of  the  bank  for 
that  species  of  circulating  medium,  whenever  the  precious  metals  may  be 
wanted,  and  at  all  times  for  so  much  thereof  as  may  be  an  eligible  substi- 
tute for  a  specie  medium ;  and  that  the  extensive  employment  of  the  notes 
in  the  collection  of  the  augmented  taxes  will,  moreover,  enable  the  bank 
greatly  to  extend  its  profitable  issues  of  them,  without  the  expense  of 
specie  capital  to  support  their  circulation,  it  is  as  reasonable  as  it  is  requi- 
site that  the  government,  in  return  for  these  extraordinary  concessions  to 
the  bank,  should  have  a  greater  security  for  attaining  the  public  objects 
of  the  institution  than  is  presented  in  the  bill,  and  particularly  for  every 
practicable  accommodation,  both  in  the  temporary  advances  necessary  to 
anticipate  the  taxes,  and  in  those  more  durable  loans  which  are  .equally 
necessary  to  diminish  the  resort  to  taxes. 

In  discharging  this  painful  duty  of  stating  objections  to  a  measure 
which  has  undergone  the  deliberations  and  received  the  sanction  of  the 
two  houses  of  the  national  legislature,  1  console  myself  with  the  reflec- 
tion, that  if  they  have  not  the  weight  which  I  attach  to  them  they  can  be 
constitutionally  overruled,  and  with  a  confidence  that  in  a  contrary  event 
the  wisdom  of  Congress  will  hasten  to  substitute  a  more  commensurate 
and  certain  provision  for  the  public  exigencies. 


,  SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

FEBRUARY  20,  18lb. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  LAY  before  Congress  copies  of  the  treaty  of  peace  and  amity  between 
the  United  States  and  his  Britannic  majesty,  which  was  signed  by  the 
commissioners  of  both  parties  at  Ghent,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1814, 
and  the  ratifications  of  which  have  been  duly  exchanged. 

While  performing  this  act,  I  congratulate  you  and  our  constituents  upon 
an  event  which  is  highly  honorable  to  the  nation,  and  terminates  with  pe- 
culiar felicity  a  campaign  signalized  by  the  most  brilliant  successes. 

The  late  war,  although  reluctantly  declared  by  Congress,  had  become 
a  necessary  resort  to  assert  the  rights  and  independence  of  the  nation. 
It  has  been  waged  with  a  success  which  is  the  natural  result  of  the  wis- 
dom of  the  legislative  councils,  of  the  patriotism  of  the  people,  of  the 
public  spirit  of  the  militia,  and  of  the  valor  of  the  military  and  naval  forces 
of  the  country.  Peace,  at  all  times  a  blessing,  is  peculiarly  welcome 
therefore  at  a  period  when  the  causes  for  the  war  have  ceased  to  operate ; 
when  the  government  has  demonstrated  the  efficiency  of  its  powers  of  de- 
fence ;  and  when  the  nation  can  review  its  conduct  without  regret  and 
without  reproach. 


326  MADISON'S  SPECIAL   MESSAGE. 

I  recommend  to  your  care  and  beneficence  the  gallant  men  whose 
achievements  in  every  department  of  the  military  service,  on  the  land  and 
on  the  water,  have  so  essentially  contributed  to  the  honor  of  the  Ameri- 
can name,  and  to  the  restoration  of  peace.  The  feelings  of  conscious 
patriotism  and  worth  will  animate  such  men  under  every  change  of  for- 
tune and  pursuit,  but  their  country  performs  a  duty  to  itself  when  it  be- 
stows those  testimonials  of  approbation  and  applause  which  are  at  once 
the  reward  and  the  incentive  to  great  actions. 

The  reduction  of  the  public  expenditures  to  the  demands  of  a  peace 
establishment  will  doubtless  engage  the  immediate  attention  of  Congress. 
There  are,  however,  important  considerations  which  forbid  a  sudden  and 
general  revocation  of  the  measures  that  have  been  produced  by  the  war. 
Experience  has  taught  us  that  neither  the  pacific  dispositions  of  the 
American  people,  nor  the  pacific  character  of  their  political  institutions, 
can  altogether  exempt  them  from  that  strife  which  appears,  beyond  the 
ordinary  lot  of  nations,  to  be  incident  to  the  actual  period  of  the  world  ; 
and  the  same  faithful  monitor  demonstrates  that  a  certain  degree  of  prepa- 
ration for  war  is  not  only  indispensable  to  avert  disasters  in  the  onset,  but 
affords  also  the  best  security  for  the  continuance  of  peace.  The  wisdom 
of  Congress  will  therefore,  I  am  confident,  provide  for  the  maintenance  of 
an  adequate  regular  force  ;  for  the  gradual  advancement  of  the  naval  es- 
tablishment ;  for  improving  all  the  means  of  harbor  defence  ;  for  adding 
discipline  to  the  distinguished  bravery  of  the  militia ;  and  for  cultivating 
the  military  art  in  its  essential  branches,  under  the  liberal  patronage  of 
government. 

The  resources  of  our  country  were  at  all  times  competent  to  the  attain- 
ment of  every  national  object,  but  they  will  now  be  enriched  and  invigo- 
rated by  the  activity  which  peace  will  introduce  into  all  the  means  of 
domestic  enterprise  and  labor.  The  provision  that  has  been  made  for  the 
public  creditors  during  the  present  session  of  Congress  must  have  a  de- 
cisive effect  in  the  establishment  of  the  public  credit  both  at  home  and 
abroad.  The  reviving  interests  of  commerce  will  claim  the  legislative 
attention  at  the  earliest  opportunity,  and  such  regulations  will,  I  trust,  be 
seasonably  devised  as  shall  secure  to  the  United  States  their  just  propor- 
tion of  the  navigation  of  the  world.  The  most  liberal  policy  toward  other 
nations,  if  met  by  corresponding  dispositions,  will  in  this  respect  be  found 
the  most  beneficial  policy  toward  ourselves.  But  there  is  no  subject  that 
can  enter  with  greater  force  and  merit  into  the  deliberations  of  Congress, 
than  a  consideration  of  the  means  to  preserve  and  promote  the  manufac- 
tures which  have  sprung  into  existence,  and  attained  an  unparalleled  ma- 
turity throughout  the  United  States  during  the  period  of  the  European 
wars.  This  source  of  national  independence  and  wealth  I  anxiously 
recommend,  therefore,  to  the  prompt  and  constant  guardianship  of  Con- 
gress. 

The  termination  of  the  legislative  sessions  will  soon  separate  you,  fel- 
low-citizens, from  each  other,  and  restore  you  to  your  constituents.  I 
pray  you  to  bear  with  you  the  expressions  of  my  sanguine  hope  that  the 
peace  which  has  been  just  declared  will  not  only  be  the  foundation  of  the 
most  friendly  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
but  that  it  will  also  be  productive  of  happiness  and  harmony  in  every  sec- 
tion of  our  beloved  country.  The  influence  of  your  precepts  and  exam- 
ple must  be  everywhere  powerful ;  and  while  we  accord  in  grateful  ac- 
knowledgments for  the  protection  which  Providence  has  bestowed  upon 


MADISON'S   SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  327 

us,  let  us  never  cease  to  inculcate  obedience  to  the  laws  and  fidelity  to 
the  Union  as  constituting  the  palladium  of  the  national  independence  and 
prosperity. 


SPECIAL-MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  25,  1815. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

PEACE  having  happily  taken  place  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  it  is  desirable  to  guard  against  incidents  which  during  the 
periods  of  war  in  Europe  might  tend  to  interrupt  it  ;  and  it  is  believed, 
in  particular,  that  the  navigation  of  American  vessels  exclusively  by 
American  seamen,  either  natives  or  such  as  are  already  naturalized, 
would  not  only  conduce  to  the  attainment  of  that  object,  but  also  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  our  seamen,  and  consequently  to  render  our  com- 
merce and  navigation  independent  of  the  service  of  foreigners,  who  might 
be  recalled  by  their  governments  under  circumstances  the  most  inconve- 
nient to  the  United  States.  I  recommend  the  subject,  therefore,  to  the 
consideration  of  Congress,  and  in  deciding  upon  it  I  am  persuaded  that 
they  will  sufficiently  estimate  the  policy  of  manifesting  to  the  world  a 
desire  on  all  occasions  to  cultivate  harmony  with  other  nations,  by  any 
reasonable  accommodations  which  do  not  impair  the  enjoyment  of  any  of 
the  essential  rights  of  a  free  and  independent  people.  The  example  on 
the  part  of  the  American  government  will  merit,  and  may  be  expected  to 
receive,  a  reciprocal  attention  from  all  the  friendly  powers  of  Europe. 


CONFIDENTIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  23,  1815. 

To  the    Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

CONGRESS  will  have  seen  by  the  communication  from  the  consul-general 
of  the  United  States  at  Algiers,  laid  before  them  on  the  17th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1812,  the  hostile  proceedings  of  the  dey  against  that  functionary. 
These  have  been  followed  by  acts  of  more  overt  and  direct  warfare  against 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  trading  in  the  Mediterranean,  some  of 
whom  are  still  detained  in  captivity,  notwithstanding  the  attempts  which 
have  been  made  to  ransom  them,  and  are  treated  with  the  rigor  usual  on 
the  coast  of  Barbary. 

The  considerations  which  rendered  it  unnecessary  and  unimportant  to 
commence  hostile  operations  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  being  now 
terminated  by  the  peace  with  Great  Britain,  which  opens  the  prospect  of 
an  active  and  valuable  trade  of  their  citizens  with'in  the  range  of  the  Al- 
geririe  cruisers,  I  recommend  to  Congress  the  expediency  of  an  act  de- 
claring the  existence  of  a  state  of  war  between  the  United  States  and  the 
dey  and  regency  of  Algiers,  and  of  such  provisions  as  may  be  requisite 
for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  it  to  a  successful  issue. 


328  MADISON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

SEVENTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  5,  1815. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

I  HAVE  the  satisfaction,  on  our  present  meeting,  of  being  able  to  commu- 
nicate to  you  the  successful  termination  of  the  war  which  had  been  com- 
menced against  the  United  States  by  the  regency  of  Algiers.  The  squad- 
ron in  advance  on  that  service,  under  Commodore  Decatur,  lost  not  a 
moment  after  its  arrival  in  the  Mediterranean  in  seeking  the  naval  force 
of  the  enemy  then  cruising  in  that  sea,  and  succeeded  in  capturing  two 
of  his  ships,,one  of  them  the  principal  ship  commanded  by  the  Algerine 
admiral.  The  high  character  of  the  American  commander  was  brilliantly 
sustained  on  the  occasion  which  brought  his  own  ship  into  close  action 
with  that  of  his  adversary,  as  was  the  accustomed  gallantry  of  all  the 
officers  and  men  actually  engaged.  Having  prepared  the  way  by  this 
demonstration  of  American  skill  and  prowess,  he  hastened  to  the  port  of 
Algiers,  where  peace  was  promptly  yielded  to  his  victorious  force.  In 
the  terms  stipulated,  the  rights  and  honor  of  the  United  States  were  par- 
ticularly consulted  by  a  perpetual  relinquishment,  on  the  part  of  the  dey, 
of  all  pretensions  to  tribute  from  them.  The  impressions  which  have 
thus  been  made,  strengthened. as  they  will  have  been  by  subsequent  trans- 
actions with  the  regency  of  Tunis  and  Tripoli,  by  the  appearance  of 
the  larger  force  which  followed  under  Commodore  Bainbridge,  the  chief 
in  command  of  the  expedition,  and  by  the  judicious  precautionary  ar- 
rangements left  by  him  in  that  quarter,  afford  reasonable  prospect  of  future 
security  for  the  valuable  portion  of  our  commerce  which  passes  within 
(he  reach  of  the  Barbary  cruisers. 

It  is  another  source  of  satisfaction,  that  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great 
Britain  has  been  succeeded  by  a  convention  on  the  subject  of  commerce 
concluded  by  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  two  countries.  In  this  result  a 
disposition  is  manifested  on  the  part  of  that  nation  corresponding  with  the 
disposition  of  the  United  States,  which  it  may  be  hoped  will  be  improved 
into  liberal  arrangements  on  other  subjects  on  which  the  parties  have  mu- 
tual interests,  or  which  might  endanger  their  future  harmony.  Congress 
will  decide  on  the  expediency  of  promoting  such  a  sequel  by  giving  effect 
to  the  measure  of  confining  the  American  navigation  to  American  seamen 
— a  measure  which,  at  the  same  time  that  it  might  have  that  conciliatory 
tendency,  would  have  the  further  advantage  of  increasing  the  independ- 
ence of  our  navigation,  and  the  resources  of  our  maritime  defence. 

In  conformity  with  the  articles  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  relating  to  the 
Indians,  as  well  as  with  a  view  to  the  tranquillity  of  our  western  and 
northwestern  frontiers,  measures  -were  taken  to  establish  an  immediate 
peace  with  the  several  tribes  who  had  been  engaged  in  hostilities  against 
the  United  States.  Such  of  them  as  were  invited  to  Detroit  acceded  readily 
to  a  renewal  of  the  former  treaties  of  friendship.  Of  the  other  tribes  whq 
were  invited  to  a  station  on  the  Mississippi,  the  greater  number  have  also 
accepted  the  peace  offered  to  them.  The  residue,  consisting  of  the  more 
distant  tribes  or  parts  of  tribes,  remain  to  be  brought  over  by  further  ex- 
planations, or  by  such  other  means  as  may  be  adapted  to  the  dispositions 
they  may  finally  disclose. 

The  Indian  tribes  within,  and  bordering  on,  our  southern  frontier,  whom 


MADISON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  329 

a  cruel  war  on  their  part  had  compelled  us  to  chastise  into  peace,  have  lat- 
terly shown  a  restlessness  which  has  called  for  preparatory  measures  for 
repressing  it,  and  for  protecting  the  commissioners  engaged  in  carrying 
the  terms  of  the  peace  into  execution. 

The  execution  of  the  act  for  fixing  the  military  peace  establishment 
has  been  attended  with  difficulties  which  even  now  can  only  be  overcome 
by  legislative  aid.  The  selection  of  officers  ;  the  payment  and  discharge 
of  the  troops  enlisted  for  the  war ;  the  payment  of  the  retained  troops, 
and  their  reunion  from  detached  and  distant  stations  ;  the  collection  and 
security  of  the  public  property,  in  the  quartermaster,  commissary,  and 
ordnance  departments ;  and  the  constant  medical  assistance  required  in 
hospitals  and  garrisons,  rendered  a  complete  execution  of  the  act  imprac- 
ticable on  the  first  of  May,  the  period  more  immediately  contemplated. 
As  soon,  however,  as  circumstances  would  permit,  and  as  far  as  it  has 
been  practicable  consistently  with  the  public  interests,  the  reduction  of 
the  army  has  been  accomplished ;  but  the  appropriations  for  its  pay,  and 
for  other  branches  of  the  military  service,  having  proved  inadequate,  the 
earliest  attention  to  that  subject  will  be  necessary ;  and  the  expediency 
of  continuing  upon  the  peace  establishment  the  staff  officers  who  have 
hitherto  been  provisionally  retained  is  also  recommended  to  the  consider- 
ation of  Congress. 

In  the  performance  of  the  executive  duty  upon  this  occasion  there  has 
not  been  wanting  a  just  sensibility  to  the  merits  of  the  American  army 
during  the  late  war ;  but  the  obvious  policy  and  design  in  fixing  an  effi- 
cient military  peace  establishment  did  not  afford  an  opportunity  to  distin- 
guish the  aged  and  infirm  on  account  of  their  past  services,  nor  the 
wounded  and  disabled  on  account  of  their  present  sufferings.  The  extent 
of  the  reduction  indeed  unavoidably  involved  the  exclusion  of  many  mer- 
itorious officers  of  every  rank  from  the  service  of  their  country  ;  and 
so  equal,  as  well  as  so  numerous,  were  the  claims  to  attention,  that  a 
decision  by  the  standard  of  comparative  merit  could  seldom  be  attained. 
Judged,  however,  in  candor,  by  a  general  standard  of  positive  merit,  the 
army  register  will,  it  is  believed,  do  honor  to  the  establishment,  while  the 
case  of  those  officers  whose  names  are  not  included  in  it  devolves  with 
the  strongest  interests  upon  the  legislative  authority,  for  such  provision  as 
shall  be  deemed  the  best  calculated  to  give  support  and  solace  to  the  vet- 
eran and  invalid,  to  display  the  beneficence,  as  well  as  the  justice  of  the 
government,  and  to  inspire  a  martial  zeal  for  the  public  service  upon  every 
future  emergency. 

Although  the  embarrassments  arising  from  the  want  of  a  uniform 
national  currency  have  not  been  diminished  since  the  adjournment  of 
Congress,  great  satisfaction  has  been  derived  in  contemplating  the  revival 
of  the  public  credit,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  public  resources.  The  re- 
ceipts into  the  treasury,  from  the  various  branches  of  revenue,  during  the 
nine  months  ending  on  the  30th  of  September  last,  have  been  estimated  at 
twelve  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars  ;  the  issues  of  treasury-notes  of  every 
denomination  during  the  same  period  amounted  to  the  sum  of  fourteen 
millions  of  dollars ;  and  there  was  also  obtained  upon  loan  during  the 
^ame  period,  a  sum  of  nine  millions  of  dollars,  of  which  the  sum  of  six 
millions  of  dollars  was  subscribed  in  cash,  and  the  sum  of  three  millions 
of  dollars  in  treasury-notes.  With  these  means  added  to  the  sum  of  one 
million  and  a  half  of  dollars,  being  the  balance  of  money  in  the  treasury 
on  the  first  of  January,  there  has  been  paid  between  the  1st  of  January  and 


330  MADISON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

the  1st  of  October,  01.  account  of  the  appropriations  of  the  preceding  and 
of  the  present  year  (exclusively  of  the  amount  of  the  treasury-notes  sub- 
scribed to  the  loan,  and  the  amount  redeemed  in  the  payment  of  duties  and 
taxes),  the  aggregate  sum  of  thirty-three  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars, 
leaving  a  balance  then  in  the  treasury  estimated  at  the  sum  of  three 
millions  of  dollars.  Independent,  however,  of  the  arrearages  due  for 
military  services  and  supplies,  it  is  presumed  that  a  further  sum  of  five 
millions  of  dollars,  including  the  interest  on  the  public  debt  payable  on 
the  first  of  January  next,  will  be  demanded  at  the  treasury  to  complete  the 
expenditures  of  the  present  year,  and  for  which  the  existing  ways  and 
means  will  sufficiently  provide. 

The  national  debt,  as  it  was  ascertained  on  the  first  of  October  last, 
amounted  in  the  whole  to  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of 
dollars,  consisting  of  the  unredeemed  balance  of  the  debt  contracted  before 
the  late  war  (thirty-nine  millions  of  dollars),  the  amount  of  the  funded  debt 
contracted  in  consequence  of  the  war  (sixty-four  millions  of  dollars),  and 
the  amount  of  the  unfunded  floating  debt  (including  the  various  issues  of 
treasury-notes),  seventeen  millions  of  dollars,  which  is  in  a  gradual  course 
of  payment.  There  will  probably  be  some  addition  to  the  public  debt 
upon  the  liquidation  of  various  claims  which  are  depending ;  and  a  con- 
ciliatory disposition  on  the  part  of  Congress  may  lead  honorably  and 
advantageously  to  an  equitable  arrangement  of  the  militia  expenses 
incurred  by  the  several  states  without  the  previous  sanction  or  authority 
of  the  government  of  the  United  States  ;  but  when  it  is  considered  that 
the  new  as  well  as  the  old  portion  of  the  debt  has  been  contracted  in  the 
assertion  of  the  national  rights  and  independence,  and  when  it  is  recollect- 
ed that  the  public  expenditures,  not  being  exclusively  bestowed  upon  sub- 
jects of  a  transient  nature,  will  long  be  visible  in  the  number  and  equip- 
ments of  the  American  navy,  in  the  military  works  for  the  defence  of  our 
harbors  and  our  frontiers,  and  the  supplies  of  our  arsenals  and  magazines, 
the  amount  will  bear  a  gratifying  comparison  with  the  objects  which  have 
been  attained,  as  well  as  with  the  resources  of  the  country. 

The  arrangement  of  the  finances  with  a  view  to  the  receipts  and  expen- 
ditures of  a  permanent  peace  establishment  will  necessarily  enter  into  the 
deliberations  of  Congress  during  the  present  session.  It  is  true  that  the 
improved  condition  of  the  public  revenue  will  not  only  afford  the  means 
of  maintaining  the  faith  of  the  government  with  its  creditors  inviolate,  and 
of  prosecuting  successfully  the  measures  of  the  most  liberal  policy,  but 
will,  also  justify  an  immediate  alleviation  of  the  burdens  imposed  by  the 
necessities  of  the  war.  It  is,  however,  essential  to  every  modification  of 
the  finances,  that  the  benefits  of  a  uniform  national  currency  should  be 
restored  to  the  community.  The  absence  of  the  precious  metals  will,  it 
is  believed,  be  a  temporary  evil,  but  until  they  can  again  be  rendered  the 
general  medium  of  exchange,  it  devolves  on  the  wisdom  of  Congress  to 
provide  a  substitute  which  shall  equally  engage  the  confidence  and  accom- 
modate the  wants  of  the  citizens  throughout  the  Union.  If  the  operation 
of  the  state  banks  can  not  produce  this  result,  the  probable  operation  of  a 
national  bank  will  merit  consideration  ;  and,  if  neither  of  these  expedients 
be  deemed  effectual,  it  may  be  necessary  to  .ascertain  the  terms  upon 
which  the  notes  of  the  government  (no  longer  required  as  an  instrument  of 
credit)  shall  be  issued  upon  motives  of  general  policy  as  a  common 
medium  of  circulation. 

Notwithstanding  the  security  for  future  repose  which  the  United  States 


MADISON'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  331 

ought  to  find  in  their  love  of  peace,  and  their  constant  respect  for  the 
rights  of  other  nations,  the  character  of  the  times  particularly  inculcates 
the  lesson  that,  whether  to  prevent  or  repel  danger,  we  ought  not  to  be 
unprepared  for  it.  This  consideration  will  sufficiently  recommend  to  Con- 
gress a  liberal  provision  for  the  immediate  extension  and  gradual  comple- 
tion of  the  works  of  defence,  both  fixed  and  floating,  on  our  maritime  fron- 
tier, and  an  adequate  provision  for  guarding  our  inland  frontier  against 
dangers  to  which  certain  portions  of  it  may  continue  to  be  exposed. 

As  an  improvement  iii  our  military  establishment,  it  will  deserve  the 
consideration  of  Congress  whether  a  corps  of  invalids  might  not  be  so 
organized  and  employed  as  at  once  to  aid  in  the  support  of  meritorious 
individuals  excluded  by  age  or  infirmities  from  the  existing  establishment, 
and  to  preserve  to  the  public  the  benefit  of  their  stationary  services  and 
of  their  exemplary  discipline.  I  recommend,  also,  an  enlargement  of  the 
military  academy  already  established,  and  the  establishment  of  others  in 
other  sections  of  the  Union.  And  I  can  not  press  too  much  on  the 
attention  of  Congress  such  a  classification  and  organization  of  the  militia 
as  will  most  effectually  render  it  the  safeguard  of  a  free  state.  If  experi- 
ence has  shown  in  the  recent  slpendid  achievements  of  militia  the  value  of 
this  resource  for  the  public  defence,  it  has  shown  also  the  importance  of 
that  skill  in  the  use  of  arms  and  that  familiarity  with  the  essential  rules  of 
discipline  which  can  not  be  expected  from  the  regulations  now  in  force. 
With  this  subject  is  intimately  connected  the  necessity  of  accommodating 
the  laws,  in  every  respect,  to  the  great  object  of  enabling  the  political 
authority  of  the  Union  to  employ  promptly  and  effectually  the  physical 
power  of  the  Union  in  the  cases  designated  by  the  constitution. 

The  signal  services  which  have  been  rendered  by  our  navy,  and  the 
capacities  it  has  developed  for  successful  co-operation  in  the  national 
defence,  will  give  to  that  portion  of  the  public  force  its  full  value  in  the 
eyes  of  Congress,  at  an  epoch  which  calls  for  the  constant  vigilance  of 
all  governments.  To  preserve  the  ships  now  in  a  sound  state,  to  com- 
plete those  already  contemplated,  to  provide  amply  the  imperishable 
materials  for  prompt  augmentations,  and  to  improve  the  existing  ar- 
rangements into  more  advantageous  establishments  for  the  construction, 
the  repairs,  and  the  security  of  vessels-of-war,  is  dictated  by  the  soundest 
policy. 

In  adjusting  the  duties  on  imports  to  the  object  of  revenue,  the  influ- 
ence of  the  tariff  on  manufactures  will  necessarily  present  itself  for  con- 
sideration. However  wise  the  theory  may  be  which  leaves  to  the  saga- 
city and  interest  of  individuals  the  application  of  their  industry  and 
lesources,  there  are  in  this,  as  in  other  cases,  exceptions  to  the  general 
idle.  Besides  the  condition  which  the  theory  itself  implies  of  a  recipro- 
cal adoption  by  other  nations,  experience  teaches  that  so  many  circum- 
stances must  occur  in  introducing  and  maturing  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments, especially  of  the  more  complicated  kinds,  that  a  country  may 
remain  long  without  them,  although  sufficiently  advanced,  and  in  some 
respects  even  peculiarly  fitted  for  carrying  them  on  with  success.  Un- 
der circumstances  giving  a  powerful  impulse  to  manufacturing  industry, 
it  has  made  among  us  a  progress,  and  exhibited  an  efficiency,  which 
justify  the  belief  that  with  a  protection  not  more  than  is  due  to  the  en- 
terprising citizens  whose  interests  are  now  at  stake,  it  will  become  at  an 
early  day  not  only  safe  against  occasional  competitions  from  abroad,  but 
a  source  of  domestic  wealth  and  even  of  external  commerce.  In  select- 


332  MADISON'S  SEVENTH   ANNUAL   MESSAGE. 

ing  the  branches  more  especially  entitled  to  the  public  patronage,  a  prefer- 
ence is  obviously  claimed  by  such  as  will  relieve  the  United  States  from 
a  dependence  on  foreign  supplies,  ever  subject  to  casual  failures,  for  arti- 
cles necessary  for  the  public  defence,  or  connected  with  the  primary 
wants  of  individuals.  It  will  be  an  additional  recommendation  of  par- 
ticular manufactures,  where  the  materials  for  them  are  extensively  drawn 
from  our  agriculture,  and  consequently  impart  and  insure  to  that  great 
fund  of  national  prosperity  and  independence  an  encouragement  which  can 
not  fail  to  be  rewarded. 

Among  the  means  of  advancing  the  public  interest,  the  occasion  is  a 
proper  one  for  recalling  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  great  importance 
of  establishing  throughout  our  country  the  roads  and  canals  which  can 
best  be  executed  under  the  national  authority.  No  objects  within  the  cir- 
cle of  political  economy  so  richly  repay  the  expense  bestowed  upon  them ; 
there  are  none,  the  utility  of  which  is  more  universally  ascertained  and 
acknowledged ;  none  that  do  more  honor  to  the  government  whose  wise 
and  enlarged  patriotism'  duly  appreciates  them.  Nor  is  there  any  country 
which  presents  a  tield  where  nature  invites  more  the  art  of  man  to  com- 
plete her  own  work  for  his  accommodation  and  benefit.  These  consider- 
ations are  strengthened,  moreover,  by  the  political  effect  of  these  facili- 
ties for  intercommunication  in  bringing  and  binding  more  closely  together 
the  various  parts  of  our  extended  confederacy.  While  the  states  individ- 
ually, with  a  laudable  enterprise  and  emulation,  avail  themselves  of  their 
local  advantages  by  new  roads,  by  navigable  canals,  and  by  improving  the 
streams  susceptible  of  navigation,  the  general  government  is  the  more 
urged  to  similar  undertakings,  requiring  a  national  jurisdiction  and  nation- 
al means,  by  the  prospect  of  thus  systematically  completing  so  inestima- 
ble a  work.  And  it^is  a  happy  reflection,  that  any  defect  of  constitu- 
tional authority  which  may  be  encountered  can  be  supplied  in  a  mode 
which  the  constitution  itself  has  providently  pointed  out. 

The  present  is  a  favorable  season  also  for  bringing  again  into  view 
the  establishment  of  a  national  seminary  of  learning  within  the  District 
of  Columbia,  and  with  means  drawn  from  the  property  therein,  subject 
to  the  authority  of  the  general  government.  Such  an  institution  claims 
the  patronage  of  Congress  as  a  monument  of  their  solicitude  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  knowledge  without  which  the  blessings  of  liberty  can  not 
be  fully  enjoyed  or  long  preserved  ;  as  a  model  instructive  in  the  forma- 
tion of  other  seminaries  ;  as  a  nursery  of  enlightened  preceptors ;  as  a 
central  resort  of  youth  and  genius  from  every  part  of  their  country,  dif- 
fusing on  their  return  examples  of  those  national  feelings,  those  liberal 
sentiments,  and  those  congenial  manners,  which  contribute  cement  to  our 
union,  and  strength  to  the  political  fabric  of  which  that  is  the  foundation. 

In  closing  this  communication  I  ought  not  to  repress  a  sensibility,  in 
which  you  will  unite,  to  the  happy  lot  of  our  country,  and  to  the  goodness 
of  a  superintending  Providence  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  it.  While 
other  portions  of  mankind  are  laboring  under  the  distresses  of  war,  or 
struggling  with  adversity  in  other  forms,  the  United  States  are  in  the  tran- 
quil enjoyment  of  prosperous  and  honorable  peace.  In  reviewing  the 
scenes  through  which  it  has  been  attained,  we  can  rejoice  in  the  proofs 
given  that  our  political  institutions,  founded  in  human  rights  and  framed 
for  their  preservation,  are  equal  to  the  severest  trials  of  war  as  well  as 
adapted  to  the  ordinary  periods  of  repose.  As  fruits  of  this  experience, 
tun!  of  the  reputation  acquired  by  the  American  arms  on  the  land  and  on 


MADISON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  333 

the  water,  the  nation  finds  itself  possessed  of  a  growing  respect  abroad, 
and  of  a  just  confidence  in  itself,  which  are  among  the  best-  pledges  for 
its  peaceful  career.  Under  other  aspects  of  our  country,  the  strongest 
features  of  its  flourishing  condition  are  seen  in  a  population  rapidly  in- 
creasing on  a  territory  as  productive  as  it  is  extensive ;  in  a  general  in- 
dustry and  fertile  ingenuity  which  find  their  ample  rewards  ;  and  in  an 
affluent  revenue  which  admits  a  reduction  of  the  public  burdens  without 
withdrawing  the  means  of  sustaining  the  public  credit,  of  gradually  dis- 
charging the  public  debt,  of  providing  for  the  necessary  defensive  and 
precautionary  establishments,  and  of  patronizing,  in  every  authorized  mode, 
undertakings  conducive  to  the  aggregate  wealth  and  individual  comfort  of 
our  citizens. 

It  remains  for  the  guardians  of  the  public  welfare  to  persevere  in  that 
justice  and  good  will  toward  other  nations  which  invite  a  return  of  these 
sentiments  toward  the  United  States  ;  to  cherish  institutions  which  guar- 
anty their  safety  and  liberties  civil  and  religious ;  and  to  combine  with  a 
liberal  system  of  foreign  commerce  an  improvement  of  the  natural  advan- 
tages, and  a  protection  and  extension  of  the  independent  resources,  of  our 
highly-favored  and  happy  country. 

In  all  measures  having  such  objects,  my  faithful  co-operation  will  be 
afforded. 


EIGHTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE 
DECEMBER  3,  1816. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

IN  reviewing  the  present  state  of  our  country,  our  attention  can  not  be 
withheld  from  the  effect  produced  from  peculiar  seasons  which  have  very 
generally  impaired  the  annual  gifts  of  the  earth  and  threaten  scarcity  in 
particular  districts.  Such,  however,  is  the  variety  of  soils,  of  climates, 
and  of  products,  within  our  extensive  limits  that  the  aggregate  resources 
of  subsistence  are  more  than  sufficient  for  the  aggregate  wants.  And  as 
far  as  an  economy  of  consumption,  more  than  usual,  may  be  necessary, 
our  thankfulness  is  due  to  Providence  for  what  is  far  more  than  a  compen- 
sation, in  the  remarkable  health  which  has  distinguished  the  present  year. 
Amid  the  advantages  which  have  succeeded  the  peace  of  Europe,  and 
that  of  the  United  States  with  Great  Britain,  in  a  general  invigoration  of 
industry  among  us,  and  in  the  extension  of  our  commerce,  the  value  of 
which  is  more  and  more  disclosing  itself  to  commercial  nations,  it  is  to 
be  regretted  that  a  depression  is  experienced  by  particular  branches  of 
our  manufactures,  and  by  a  portion  of  our  navigation.  As  the  first  pro- 
ceeds in  an  essential  degree  from  an  excess  of  imported  merchandise, 
which  carries  a  check  in  its  own  tendency,  the  cause  in  its  present  extent 
can  not  be  of  very  long  duration.  The  evil  will  not,  however,  be  viewed 
by  Congress  without  a  recollection  that  manufacturing  establishments,  if 
Buffered  to  sink  too  low,  or  languish  too  long,  may  not  revive  after  the 
causes  shall  have  ceased ;  and  that  in  the  vicissitudes  of  human  affairs 
situations  may  recur  in  which  a  dependence  on  foreign  sources  for  indis- 
pensable supplies  may  be  among  the  most  serious  embarrassments. 

The  depressed  state  of  our  navigation  is  to  be  ascribed,  in  a  material 


334  MADISON'S  EIOHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

degree,  to  its  exclusion  from  the  colonial  ports  of.  the  nation  most  exten- 
sively connected  with  us  in  commerce,  and  from  the  indirect  operation  of 
that  exclusion. 

Previous  to  the  late  convention  at  London,  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  the  relative  state  of  the  navigation  laws  of  the  two  coun- 
tries, growing  out  of  the  treaty  of  1794,  had  given  to  the  British  naviga- 
tion a  material  advantage  over  the  American  in  the  intercourse  between 
the  American  ports  and  British  ports  in  Europe.  The  convention  of 
London  equalized  the  laws  of  the  two  countries  relating  to  those  ports, 
leaving  the  intercourse  between  our  ports  and  the  ports  of  the  British  col- 
onies subject  as  before  to  the  respective  regulations  of  the  parties.  The 
British  government,  enforcing  new  regulations  which  prohibit  a  trade  be- 
tween its  colonies  and  the  United  States  in  American  vessels,  while  they 
permit  a  trade  in  British  vessels  the  American  navigation  suffers  accord- 
ingly, and  the  loss  is  augmented  by  the  advantage  which  is  given  to  the 
British  competition  over  the  American,  in  the  navigation  between  our 
ports  and  British  ports  in  Europe,  by  the  circuitous  voyages  enjoyed  by 
the  one  and  not  enjoyed  by  the  other. 

The  reasonableness  of  the  rule  of  reciprocity,  applied  to  one  branch  of 
the  commercial  intercourse,  has  been  pressed  on  our  part  as  equally  appli- 
cable to  both  branches ;  but  it  is  ascertained  that  the  British  cabinet  de- 
clines all  negotiation  on  the  subject,  with  a  disavowal,  however,  of  any 
disposition  to  view  in  an  unfriendly  light  whatever  countervailing  regula- 
tions the  United  States  may  oppose  to  the  regulations  of  which  they  com- 
plain. The  wisdom  of  the  legislature  will  decide  on  the  course  which, 
under  these  circumstances,  is  prescribed  by  a  joint  regard  to  the  amicable 
relations  between  the  two  nations,  and  to  the  just  interests  of  the  United 
States. 

I  have  the  satisfaction  to  state,  generally,  that  we  remain  in  amity  with 
foreign  powers. 

An  occurrence  has  indeed  taken  place  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  which,  if 
sanctioned  by  the  Spanish  government,  may  make  an  exception  as  to  that 
power.  According  to  the  report  of  our  naval  commander  on  that  station, 
one  of  our  public  armed  vessels  was  attacked  by  an  overpowering  force, 
under  a  Spanish  commander,  and  the  American  flag,  with  the  officers  and 
crew,  insulted  in  a  manner  calling  for  prompt  reparation.  This  has  been 
demanded.  In  the  meantime,  a  frigate  and  a  smaller  vessel-of-war  have 
been  ordered  into  that  gulf  for  the  protection  of  our  commerce.  It  would 
be  improper  to  omit  that  the  representative  of  his  catholic  majesty  in  the 
United  States  lost  no  time  in  giving  the  strongest  assurances  that  no  hos- 
tile order  could  have  emanated  from  his  government,  and  that  it  will  be  as 
ready  to  do,  as  to  expect,  whatever  the  nature  of  the  case  and  the  friendly 
relations  of  the  two  countries  shall  be  found  to  require. 

The  posture  of  our  affairs  with  Algiers,  at  the  present  moment,  is  not 
known.  The  dey,  drawing  pretexts  from  circumstances  for  which  the 
United  States  were  not  answerable,  addressed  a  letter  to  this  government, 
declaring  the  treaty  last  concluded  with  him  to  have  been  annulled  by  our 
violation  of  it,  and  presenting,  as  the  alternative,  war  or  a  renewal  of  our 
former  treaty,  which  stipulated,  among  other  things,  an  annual  tribute. 
The  answer,  with  an  explicit  declaration  that  the  United  States  preferred 
war  to  tribute,  required  his  recognition  and  observance  of  the  treaty  last 
made,  which  abolishes  tribute  and  the  slavery  of  our  captured  citizens. 
The  result  of  the  answer  has  not  been  received.  Should  he  renew  his 


MADISON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  335 

warfare  on  our  commerce,  we  rely  on  the  protection  it  will  find  in  our 
naval  force  actually  in  the  Mediterranean. 

With  the  other  Barbary  states  our  affairs  have  undergone  no  change. 

The  Indian  tribes  within  our  limits  appear  also  disposed  to  remain  at 
peace.  From  several  of  them  purchases  of  lands  have  been  made,  par- 
ticularly favorable  to  the  wishes  and  security  of  our  frontier  settlements 
as  well  as  to  the  general  interests  of  the  nation.  In  some  instances  the 
titles,  though  not  supported  by  due  proof,  and  clashing  those  of  one  tribe 
with  the  claims  of  another,  have  been  extinguished  by  double  purchases, 
the  benevolent  policy  of  the  United  States  preferring  the  augmented  ex- 
pense to  the  hazard  of  doing  injustice,  or  to  the  enforcement  of  justice 
against  a  feeble  and  untutored  people  by  means  involving  or  threatening  an 
effusion  of  blood.  I  am  happy  to  add  that  the  tranquillity  which  has  been 
restored  among  the  tribes  themselves,  as  well  as  between  them  and  our 
own  population,  will  favor  the  resumption  of  the  work  of  civilization  which 
had  made  an  encouraging  progress  among  some  tribes,  and  that  the  facil- 
ity is  increasing  for  extending  that  divided  and  individual  ownership, 
which  exists  now  in  moveable  property  only,  to  the  soil  itself;  and  of  thus 
establishing,  in  the  culture  and  improvement  of  it,  the  true  foundation  for  a 
transit  from  the  habits  of  the  savage  to  the  arts  and  comforts  of  social  life. 

As  a  subject  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  national  welfare,  I 
must  again  earnestly  recommend  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  a 
reorganization  of  the  militia,  on  a  plan  which  will  form  it  into  classes 
according  to  the  periods  of  life  more  or  less  adapted  to  military  servi- 
ce's. An  efficient  militia  is  authorized  and  contemplated  by  the  constitu- 
tion, and  required  by  the  spirit  and  safety  of  free  government.  The  pres- 
ent .organization  of  our  militia  is  universally  regarded  as  less  efficient 
than  it  ought  to  be  made,  and  no  organization  can  be  better  calculated  to 
give  to  it  its  due  force,  than  a  classification  which  will  assign  the  foremost 
place  in  the  defence  of  the  country  to  that  portion  of  its  citizens  whose 
activity  and  animation  best  enable  them  to  rally  to  its  standard.  Besides 
the  consideration  that  a  time  of  peace  is  the  time  when  the  change  can  be 
made  with  the  most  convenience  and  equity,  it  will  now  be  aided  by  the 
experience  of  a  recent  war,  in  which  the  militia  bore  so  interesting  a  part. 

Congress  will  call  to  mind  that  no  adequate  provision  has  yet  been  made 
for  the  uniformity  of  weights  and  measures  also  contemplated  by  the  con- 
stitution. The  great  utility  of  a  standard  lixed  in  its  nature,  and  founded 
on  the  easy  rule  of  decimal  proportions,  is  sufficiently  obvious.  It  led  the 
government  at  an  early  stage  to  preparatory  steps  for  introducing  it,  and  a 
completion  of  the  work  will  be  a  just  title  to  the  public  gratitude. 

The  importance  which  I  have  attached  to  the  establishment  of  a  univer- 
sity within  this  district,  on  a  scale  and  for  objects  worthy  of  the  American 
nation,  induces  me  to  renew  my  recommendation  of  it  to  the  favorable  con- 
sideration of  Congress.  And  I  particularly  invite  again  their  attention  to 
the  expediency  of  exercising  their  existing  powers,  and  where  necessary, 
of  resorting  to  the  prescribed  mode  of  enlarging  them,  in  order  to  effectu- 
ate a  comprehensive  system  of  roads  and  canals,  such  as  will  have  the 
effect  of  drawing  more  closely  together  every  part  of  our  country  by  pro- 
moting intercourse  and  improvements,  and  by  increasing  the  share  of  every 
part  in  the  common  stock  of  national  prosperity. 

Occurrences  have  taken  place  which  show  that  the  statutory  provisions 
for  the  dispensation  of  criminal  justice  are  deficient  in  relation  both  to 
places  and  to  persons,  under  the  exclusive  cognizance  of  the  national 


336  MADISON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

authority,  an  amendment  of  the  law  embracing  such  cases  will  men* 
the  earliest  attention  of  the  legislature.  It  will  be  a  seasonable  occasion, 
also,  for  inquiring  how  far  legislative  interposition  may  be  further  requisite 
in  providing  penalties  for  offences  designated  in  the  constitution  or  in  the 
statutes,  and  to  which  either  no  penalties  are  annexed  or  none  with  suffi- 
cient certainty.  And  I  submit  to  the  wisdom  of  Congress  whether  a  more 
enlarged  revisal  of  the  criminal  code  be  not  expedient,  for  the  purpose  of 
mitigating,  in  certain  cases,  penalties  which  were  adopted  into  it  antecedent 
to  experiments  and  examples  which  justify  and  recommend  a  more  lenient 
policy. 

The  United  States  having  been  the  first  to  abolish,  within  the  extent  of 
their  authority,  the  transportation  of  the  natives  of  Africa  into  slavery,  by 
prohibiting  the  introduction  of  slaves  and  by  punishing  their  citizens  par- 
ticipating in  the  traffic,  can  not  but  be  gratified  at  the  progress  made  by 
concurrent  efforts  of  other  nations  toward  a  general  suppression  of  so  great 
an  evil.  They  must  feel  at  the  same  time  the  greater  solicitude  to  give 
the  fullest  efficacy  to  their  own  regulations.  With  that  view,  the  interpo- 
sition of  Congress  appears  to  be  required  by  the  violations  and  evasions 
which  it  is  suggested  are  chargeable  on  unworthy  citizens  who  mingle  in 
the  slave-trade  under  foreign  flags  and  with  loreign  ports,  and  by  collusive 
importations  of  slaves  into  the  United  States  through  adjoining  ports  and 
territories.  I  present  the  subject  to  Congress  with  a  full  assurance  of 
their  disposition  to  apply  all  the  remedy  which  can  be  afforded  by  an 
amendment  of  the  law.  The  regulations  which  were  intended  to  guard 
against  abuses  of  a  kindred  character  in  the  trade  between  the  several 
states  ought  also  to  be  rendered  more  effectual  for  their  humane  object. 

To  these  recommendations  I  add,  for  the  consideration  of  Congress,  the 
expediency  of  a  remodification  of  the  judiciary  establishment,  and  of  an 
additional  department  in  the  executive  branch  of  the  government. 

The  first  is  called  for  by  the  accruing  business  which  necessarily  swells 
the  duties  of  the  federal  courts,  and  by  the  great  and  widening  space  within 
which  justice  is  to  be  dispensed  by  them.  The  time  seems  to  have  arrived 
which  claims  for  members  of  the  supreme  court  a  relief  from  itinerary 
fatigues,  incompatible  as  well  with  the  age  which  a  portion  of  them  will 
always  have  attained,  as  with  the  researches  and  preparations  which  are 
due  to  their  stations  and  to  the  juridical  reputation  of  their  country.  And 
considerations  equally  cogent  require  a  more  convenient  organization  of 
the  subordinate  tribunals,  which  may  be  accomplished  without  an  objec- 
tionable increase  of  the  number  or  expense  of  the  judges. 

The  extent  and  variety  of  executive  business  also  accumulating  with  the 
progress  of  our  country  and  its  growing  population,  call  for  an  additional 
department,  to  be  charged  with  duties  now  overburdening  other  depart- 
ments, and  with  such  as  have  not  been  annexed  to  any  department. 

The  course  of  experience  recommends,  as  another  improvement  in  the 
executive  establishment,  that  the  provision  for  the  station  of  attorney- 
general,  whose  residence  at  the  seat  of  government,  official  connexions 
with  it,  and  management  of  the  public  business  before  the  judiciary,  pre- 
clude an  extensive  participation  in  professional  emoluments,  be  made  more 
adequate  to  his  services  and  his  relinquishments  ;  and  that,  with  a  view  to 
his  reasonable  accommodation  and  to  a  proper  depository  of  his  official 
opinions  and  proceedings,  there  be  included  in  the  provision  the  usual 
appurtenances  to  a  public  office. 

In  directing  the  legislative  attention  to  the  state  of  the  finances,  it  is  a 


MADISON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  337 

subject  of  great  gratification  to  find  that  even  within  the  short  period  which 
has  elapsed  since  the  return  of  peace,  the  revenue  has  far  exceeded  all  the 
current  demands  upon  the  treasury,  and  that  under  any  probable  diminu- 
tion of  its  future  annual  products  which  the  vicissitudes  of  commerce  may 
occasion,  it  will  afford  an  ample  fund  for  the  effectual  and  early  extinguish- 
ment of  the  public  debt.  It  has  been  estimated  that,  during  the  year  1816, 
the  actual  receipts  of  revenue  at  the  treasury,  including  the  balance  at 
the  commencement  of  the  year,  and  excluding  the  proceeds  of  loans  and 
treasury-notes,  will  amount  to  about  the  sum  of  forty-seven  millions  of 
dollars  ;  that  during  the  same  year  the  actual  payments  at  the  treasury, 
including  the  payment  of  the  arrearages  of  the  war  department  as  well  as 
the  payment  of  a  considerable  excess  beyond  the  annual  appropriations, 
will  amount  to  about  the  sum  of  thirty-eight  millions  of  dollars  ;  and  that 
consequently,  at  the  close  of  the  year,  there  will  be  a  surplus  in  the  treasu- 
ry of  about  the  sum  of  nine  millions  of  dollars. 

The  operations  of  the  treasury  continue  to  be  obstructed  by  difficulties 
arising  from  the  condition  of  the  national  currency  ;  but  they  have  never- 
theless been  effectual  to  a  beneficial  extent  in  the  reduction  of  the  public 
debt  and  the  establishment  of  the  public  credit.  The  floating  debt  of  the 
treasury-notes  and  temporary  loans  will  soon  be  entirely  discharged.  The 
aggregate  of  the  funded  debt,  composed  of  debts  incurred  during  the  wars- 
of  1776  and  of  1812,  has  been  estimated  with  reference  to  the  1st  of  January 
next,  at  a  sum  not  exceeding  one  hundred  and  ten  millions  of  dollars 
The  ordinary  annual  expenses  of  the  government  for  the  maintenance  oi 
all  its  institutions,  civil,  military,  and  naval,  have  been  estimated  at  a  sum 
less  than  twenty  millions  of  dollars.  And  the  permanent  revenue  to  be 
derived  from  all  the  existing  sources  has  been  estimated  at  a  sum  of  abou' 
twenty-five  millions  of  dollars. 

Upon  this  general  view  of  the  subject,  it  is  obvious  that  there  is  only 
wanting  to  the  fiscal  prosperity  of  the  government  the  restoration  of  a 
uniform  medium  of  exchange.  The  resources  and  the  faith  of  the  nation 
displayed  in  the  system  which  Congress  has  established,  insure  respect 
and  confidence  at  home  and  abroad.  The  local  accumulations  of  the  rev- 
enue have  already  enabled  the  treasury  to  meet  the  public  engagements 
in  the  local  currency  of  most  of  the  states,  and  it  is  expected  that  the  same 
cause  will  produce  the  same  effect  throughout  the  Union.  But  for  the  in- 
terests of  the  community  at  large,  as  well  as  for  the  purposes  of  the  treas- 
ury, it  is  essential  that  the  nation  should  possess  a  currency  of  equal  value, 
credit,  and  use,  wherever  it  may  circulate.  The  constitution  has  intrust- 
ed Congress  exclusively  with  the  power  of  creating  and  regulating  a  cur- 
rency of  that  description,  and  the  measures  which  were  taken  during  the 
last  session,  in  execution  of  the  power,  give  every  promise  of  success. 
The  bank  of  the  United  States  has  been  organized  under  auspices  the  most 
favorable,  and  can  not  fail  to  be  an  important  auxiliary  to  those  measures. 

For  a  more  enlarged  view  of  the  public  finances,  with  a  view  of  the 
measures  pursued  by  the  treasury  department  previous  to  the  resignation 
of  the  late  secretary,  I  transmit  an  extract  from  the  last  report  of  that 
officer.  Congress  will  perceive  in  it  ample  proofs  of  the  solid  founda- 
tion on  which  the  financial  prosperity  of  the  nation  rests,  and  will  do  jus- 
tice to  the  distinguished  ability  and  successful  exertions  with  which  the 
duties  of  the  department  were  executed  during  a  period  remarkable  for  its 
difficulties  and  its  peculiar  perplexities. 

The  period  of  my  retiring  from  the  public  service  being  at  a  little  dis- 

VOL.  1.— aa 


338  MADISON'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

tance,  I  shall  find  no  occasion  more  proper  than  the  present  for  expres- 
sing to  my  fellow-citizens  my  deep  sense  of  the  continued  confidence  and 
kind  support  which  I  have  received  from  them.  My  grateful  recollection 
of  these  distinguished  marks  of  their  favorable  regard  can  never  cease, 
and  with  the  consciousness  that,  if  I  have  not  served  my  country  with 
greater  ability,  I  have  served  it  with  a  sincere  devotion,  will  accompany  me 
as  a  source  of  unfailing  gratification. 

Happily  I  shall  carry  with  me  from  the  public  theatre  other  sources, 
which  those  who  love  their  country  most  will  best  appreciate.  I  shall  be- 
hold it  blessed  with  tranquillity  and  prosperity  at  home,  and  with  peace  and 
respect  abroad.  I  can  indulge  the  proud  reflection  that  the  American  people 
have  reached,  in  safety  and  success,  their  fortieth  year  as  an  independent 
nation  ;  that  for  nearly  an  entire  generation  they  have  had  experience 
of  their  present  constitution,  the  offspring  of  their  undisturbed  deliberations 
and  of  their  free  choice  ;  that  they  have  found  it  to  bear  the  trials  of  ad- 
verse as  well  as  prosperous  circumstances  ;  to  contain  in  its  combination  of 
the  federate  and  elective  principles,  a  reconcilement  of  public  strength  with 
individual  liberty,  of  national  power  for  the  defence  of  national  rights  with 
a  security  against  wars  of  injustice,  of  ambition,  and  of  vain  glory,  in  the 
fundamental  provision  which  subjects  all  questions  of  war  to  the  will  of 
the  nation  itself,  which  is  to  pay  its  costs  and  feel  its  calamities.  Nor 
is  it  less  a  peculiar  felicity  of  this  constitution,  so  dear  to  us  all,  that  it 
is  found  to  be  capable,  without,  losing  its  vital  energies,  of  expanding  it- 
self over  a  spacious  territory  with  the  increase  and  expansion  of  the  com- 
munity for  whose  benefit  it  was  established. 

And  may  I  not  be  allowed  to  add  to  this  gratifying  spectacle,  that  I 
shall  read  in  the  character  of  the  American  people,  in  their  devotion  to 
true  liberty  and  to  the  constitution  which  is  its  palladium,  sure  presages 
that  the  destined  career  of  my  country  will  exhibit  a  government  pursu- 
ing the  public  good  as  its  sole  object,  and  regulating  its  means  by  the 
great  principles  consecrated  by  its  charter  and  by  those  moral  principles 
to  which  they  are  so  well  allied :  a  government  which  watches  over  the 
purity  of  elections,  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  the  trial  by 
jury,  and  the  equal  interdict  against  the  encroachments  and  compacts  be- 
tween religion  and  state  ;  which  maintains  inviolable  the  maxims  of  pub- 
lic faith,  the  security  of  persons  and  property,  and  encourages,  in  every 
authorized  mode,  that  general  diffusion  of  knowledge  which  guaranties 
to  public  liberty  its  permanency,  and  to  those  who  possess  the  blessing 
the  true  enjoyment  of  it :  a  government  which  avoids  intrusion  on  the  in- 
ternal repose  of  other  nations,  and  repels  them  from  its  own ;  which  does 
justice  to  all  nations  with  a  readiness  equal  to  the  firmness  with  which 
it  requires  justice  from  them ;  and  which,  while  it  refines  its  domestic 
code  from  every  ingredient  not  congenial  with  the  precepts  of  an  enlight- 
ened age,  and  the  sentiments  of  a  virtuous  people,  seeks  by  appeals  to 
reason  and  by  its  liberal  examples,  to  infuse  into  the  law  which  governs 
the  civilized  world  a  spirit  which  may  diminish  the  frequency  or  circum- 
scribe the  calamities  of  war,  and  meliorate  the  social  and  beneficent  rela- 
tions of  peace :  a  government,  in  a  word,  whose  conduct,  within  and 
without,  may  bespeak  the  most  noble  of  all  ambitions — that  of  promoting 
peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to  man. 

These  contemplations,  sweetening  the  remnant  of  my  days,  will  animate 
my  prayers  for  the  happiness  of  my  beloved  country,  and  a  perpetuity  of 
the  institutions  under  which  it  is  enjoyed. 


MADISON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  339 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

APRIL  11,  1816. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

WITH  a  view  to  the  more  convenient  arrangement  of  the  important  and 
growing  business  connected  with  the  grant  of  exclusive  rights  to  inventors 
and  authors,  I  recommend  the  establishment  of  a  distinct  office  within  the 
department  of  state,  to  be  charged  therewith,  under  a  director,  with  a  sal- 
ary adequate  to  his  services,  and  with  the  privilege  of  franking  communi- 
cations by  mail  from  and  to  the  office.  I  recommend,  also,  that  further 
restraints  be  imposed  on  the  issue  of  patents  to  wrongful  claimants,  and 
further  guards  provided  against  fraudulent  exactions  of  fees  by  persons 
possessed  of  patents. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  6,  1816. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THE  ninth  section  of  the  act  passed  at  the  last  session  of  Congress,  "  to 
authorize  the  payment  for  property  lost,  captured,  or  destroyed  by  the  en- 
emy, while  in  the  military  services  of  the  United  States,  and  for  other 
purposes,"  having  received  a  construction  giving  it  a  scope  of  great  and 
uncertain  extent,  I  thought  it  proper  that  proceedings  relative  to  claims 
under  that  part  of  the  act  should  be  suspended,  until  Congress  should  have 
an  opportunity  of  defining  more  precisely  the  cases  contemplated  by  them. 
With  that  view,  I  now  recommend  the  subject  to  their  consideration.  They 
will  have  an  opportunity,  at  the  same  time,  of  considering  how  far  other 
provisions  of  the  act  may  be  rendered  more  clear  and  precise  in  their 
import. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  26,  1816. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

IT  is  found  that  the  existing  laws  have  not  the  efficacy  necessary  to 
prevent  violations  of  the  obligations  of  the  United  States  as  a  nation  at 
peace  toward  belligerent  parties,  and  other  unlawful  acts  on  the  high  seas, 
by  armed  vessels  equipped  within  the  waters  of  the  United  States. 

With  a  view  to  maintain,  more  effectually,  the  respect  due  to  the  laws, 
to  the  character,  and  to  the  neutral  and  pacific  relations  of  the  United 
States,  I  recommend  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  the  expediency  of 
such  further  legislative  provisions  as  may  be  requisite  for  detaining  vessels 
actually  equipped,  or  in  a  course  of  equipment  with  a  warlike  force,  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  ;  or,  as  the  case  may  be,  for  obtaining 
from  the  owners  or  commanders  of  such  vessels  adequate  securities  against 


340  MADISON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

the  abuse  of  their  armaments,  with  the  exceptions  in  such  provisions  proper 
for  the  cases  of  merchant  vessels  furnished  with  the  defensive  armaments 
usual  on  distant  and  dangerous  expeditions,  and  of  a  private  commerce  in 
military  stores  permitted  by  our  laws,  and  which  the  law  of  nations  does 
not  require  the  United  States  to  prohibit. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  3,  1817. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THE  government  of  Great  Britain,  induced  by  the  posture  of  the  rela- 
tions with  the  United  States,  which  succeeded  the  conclusion  of  the  recent 
commercial  convention,  issued  an  order  on  the  17th  day  of  August,  1815, 
discontinuing  the  discriminating  duties  payable  in  British  ports  on  Ameri- 
can vessels  and  their  cargoes.  It  was  not  until  the  22d  of  December  fol- 
lowing, that  a  corresponding  discontinuance  of  discriminating  duties  on 
British  vessels  and  their  cargoes,  in  American  ports,  took  effect,  under  the 
authority  vested  in  the  executive,  by  the  act  of  March,  1816.  During  the 
period  between  those  two  dates  there  was,  consequently,  a  failure  of  reci- 
procity, or  equality,  in  the  existing  regulations  of  the  two  countries.  1 
recommend  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  the  expediency  of  paying  to 
the  British  government  the  amount  of  the  duties  remitted,  during  the  pe- 
riod in  question,  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  subject  to  a  deduction 
of  the  amount  of  whatever  discriminating  duties  may  have  commenced  in 
British  ports  after  the  signature  of  that  convention,  and  been  collected  pre- 
vious to  the  17th  of  August,  1815. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  6,  1817. 

To  the    Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

ON  comparing  the  fourth  section  of  the  act  of  Congress,  passed  March 
31,  1814,  providing  for  the  indemnification  of  certain  claimants  of  public 
lands  in  the  Mississippi  territory,  with  the  article  of  agreement  and  cession 
between  the  United  States  and  state  of  Georgia,  bearing  date  April  30, 
1802,  it  appears  that  the  engagement  entered  into  with  the  claimants  in- 
terfere with  the  rights  and  interests  secured  to  that  state.  I  recommend 
to  Congress,  that  provision  be  made  by  law  for  payments  to  the  state  of 
Georgia,  equal  to  the  amount  of  Mississippi  stock  which  shall  be  paid  into 
the  treasury,  until  the  stipulated  sum  of  one  million  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  shall  be  completed. 


ADMINISTRATION   OF  MADISON, 


ON  the  fourth  of  March,  1809,  James  Madison  was  inaugurated  as 
president  of  the  United  States.  The  oath  of  office  was  administered  to 
him  by  Chief-Justice  Marshall,  in  the  capitol,  at  Washington  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  ex-president,  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  sat  at  his  right  hand,  the 
members  of  the  late  cabinet,  many  members  of  Congress,  foreign  minis- 
ters, and  a  large  concourse  of  citizens.  He  was  dressed  in  a  plain  suit 
of  black,  and  delivered  his  inaugural  address  in  a  manner  at  once  modest 
and  dignified.  The  tone  and  sentiment  of  the  address  elicited  general 
approbation,  and  hopes  were  entertained  by  the  nation,  that  the  gloomy 
aspect  of  affairs  might  be  changed  by  the  measures  of  the  new  adminis- 
tration with  regard  to  our  foreign  relations.  These  anticipations  of  the 
people  were  doomed  to  disappointment. 

Mr.  Madison  selected  for  his  cabinet,  Robert  Smith,  of  Maryland,  as 
secretary  of  state,  William  Eustis,  of  Massachusetts,  secretary  of  war, 
Paul  Hamilton,  of  South  Carolina,  secretary  of  the  navy  ;  Mr.  Gallatin  was 
continued  as  secretary  of  the  treasury,  as  was  Cesar  A.  Rodney,  of  Dela- 
ware, attorney-general. 

The  eleventh  Congress  met  on  the  22d  of  May,  1809,  agreeably  to  a 
law  passed  by  the  previous  Congress,  in  consequence  of  the  critical  state 
of  the  nation,  and  the  apprehension  of  a  war  with  Great  Britain  or  France. 
The  democratic  ascendency  in  the  house  of  representatives  having  been 
sustained  at  the  recent  elections,  Joseph  B.  Varnum  was  re-elected 
speaker. 

At  this  session,  the  non-intercourse  act  with  Great  Britain  and  France, 
which  had  been  substituted  for  the  embargo,  by  the  last  Congress,  was 
continued,  with  some  modifications.  No  very  material  alterations  were 
made  in  the  law,  nor  was  any  other  very  important  measure  adopted  at  this 
extra  session,  which  lasted  only  about  five  weeks,  and  was  terminated  on 
the  28th  of  June. 

Mr.  Erskine,  the  Briiish  minister  at  Washington,  considering  the  non- 
intercourse  law  as  placing  Great  Britain  and  France  on  an  equality,  made 
a  communication  to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  in  April,  inform- 
ing it  that  he  was  authorized,  by  despatches  received  from  his  govern- 


342  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

ment,  to  make  reparation  for  the  Chesapeake  affair ;  also  that  an  envoy 
extraordina'ry  would  soon  be  sent  to  the  United  States  to  conclude  a 
treaty  on  all  questions  between  the  two  countries,  and  that  the  orders 
in  council  would  be  repealed  as  to  the  United  States,  on  the  president's 
renewing  the  intercourse  between  America  and  Great  Britain.  The  pres- 
ident issued  a  proclamation  to  that  effect,  on  the  19th  of  April,  stating 
the  withdrawal  of  the  British  orders  on  the  10th  of  June,  when  the 
commerce  between  the  two  countries  would  be  renewed.  But  the  British 
government  refused  to  sanction  the  overture  and  arrangement  made  by 
their  minister,  who,  they  declared,  had  exceeded  the  authority  of  his  in- 
structions ;  and  he  admitted  that  he  had  done  so,  in  a  letter  to  his  govern- 
ment, in  which  he  says,  that  "  nothing  would  have  induced  me  to  deviate, 
in  any  degree,  from  the  orders  I  had  received,  but  a  thorough  conviction 
that  by  so  doing  I  should  accomplish  the  object  which  his  majesty  had  in 
view  ;  when  by  too  strictly  adhering  to  the  letter  of  my  instructions,  I 
might  lose  the  opportunity  of  promoting  essentially  his  majesty's  interests 
and  wishes." 

The  president  thereupon  issued  a  second  proclamation,  reciting  the 
facts,  and  declaring  the  act  of  non-intercourse  to  be  revived  and  in 
full  effect.  Mr.  Erskine  was  soon  after  recalled,  and  another  envoy  ap- 
pointed in  his  stead.  This  transaction  caused  great  irritation  in  the  pub- 
lic mind  and  hostility  toward  England,  among  the  American  people,  and 
a  declaration  of  war  at  this  time  with  England,  would  probably  have  been 
popular. 

Mr.  Jackson,  the  British  envoy  who  succeeded  Mr.  Erskine,  arrived  at 
Washington  at  the  close  of  the  year  1809.  He  was  directed  to  state  the 
reasons  for  a  refusal  by  the  British  government  to  confirm  the  arrange- 
ment made  Mr.  Erskine,  and  was  authorized  to  enter  into  negotiations  for 
a  commercial  treaty.  But  far  from  displaying  the  mild  and  conciliatory 
spirit  of  his  predecessor,  he  attempted  to  vindicate  the  honor  of  his  own 
government  by  dealing  in  censures  and  criminations  upon  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  in  a  style  unusual  in  diplomatic  correspondence.  He 
insinuated  that  the  president  and  secretary  of  state  must  have  known  that 
Mr.  Erskine  had  deviated  from  his  instructions,  and  transcended  his  pow- 
ers ;  and  after  the  secretary  of  state  denied  the  charge,  he  repeated  the  in- 
sinuation, which  was  deemed  highly  improper  and  insulting  to  our  govern- 
ment. The  correspondence  between  Mr.  Jackson  and  the  secretary  of  state 
was  continued  in  the  same  angry  tone  for  several  weeks,  each  party  con- 
sidering himself  harshly  treated,  and  the  president  finally  directed  the  sec- 
retary of  state  to  receive  no  further  communication  from  the  British  envoy. 
Mr.  Jackson  therefore  left  Washington,  immediately  on  receiving  notice  to 
that  effect,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  New  York.  At  the  request  of 
the  president,  communicated  through  the  American  minister  in  London, 
Mr.  Jackson  was  recalled,  but  without  being  censured,  or  the  offer  of  any 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  343 

apology  for  his  conduct.  Nor  did  the  British  ministry  think  proper  to 
send  another  envoy  to  the  United  States  until  some  months  had  elapsed 
after  the  return  of  Mr.  Jackson  to  England. 

Mr.  Pinkney,  the  American  minister  to  Great  Britain,  was  continued  at 
that  court,  but  his  efforts  at  negotiating  proved  unavailing,  and  early  in 
1811  he  was  instructed  to  return  home.  The  British  government,  the 
same  year  appointed  Mr.  Foster  minister  to  the  United  States,  who 
effected  a  settlement  of  the  affair  of  the  Chesapeake  frigate  in  Novem- 
ber, 1811,  and  remained  at  Washington  until  the  declaration  of  war  against 
Great  Britain,  in  1812. 

Congress  again  assembled  on  the  27th  of  November,  1809,  and  con- 
tinued in  session  until  the  1st  of  May,  1810 — but  during  this  period  of 
more  than  five  months,  few  acts  of  general  importance  were  passed  ; 
among  them  were  several  respecting  the  public  lands  ;  also  laws  re- 
specting the  postoffice  establishment  and  postroads,  the  territories,  light- 
houses, compensation  to  ministers  to  foreign  countries,  consuls,  &c. ; 
providing  for  taking  the  census  in  1810;  for  payment  of  a  portion  of 
the  public  debt,  by  creating  a  new  loan,  &c.  The  non-intercourse 
with  Great  Britain  and  France  was  continued  by  a  new  act,  and  a  joint 
resolution  was  adopted  in  relation  to  the  controversy  between  the  exec- 
utive and  Francis  James  Jackson,  the  British  envoy  to  the  United  States  ; 
the  language  of  whose  official  letters  to  Mr.  Smith,  the  secretary  of 
state,  was  declared  to  be  highly  indecorous  and  insolent,  the  conduct 
of  the  executive  toward  him  approved,  and  Congress  solemnly  pledged  to 
stand  by  the  executive  government,  in  its  refusal  to  receive  any  further 
communication  from  said  Jackson,  and  to  call  into  action  the  whole  force 
of  the  nation,  if  it  should  become  necessary,  to  repel  such  insults,  and  to 
assert  and  maintain  the  rights,  the  honor,  and  interests  of  the  United 
States. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1810,  the  French  decree  of  Ramlouillet 
was  made  known,  and  alleged  by  the  emperor  Napoleon  to  have  been  is- 
sued in  retaliation  of  the  non-intercourse  act  of  the  United  States.  AH 
American  vessels  which,  since  the  20th  of  March,  1808,  had  entered 
any  French  port,  or  the  ports  of  any  French  colony,  or  of  any  coun- 
try occupied  by  the  French,  or  which  should  thereafter  enter,  were  de- 
clared forfeit,  and  were  to  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  national  treasury 
of  France.  In  addition  to  the  numerous  condemnations  under  this  decree, 
the  French  privateers  committed  various  depredations  on  American  com- 
merce. 

By  the  new  non-intercourse  act  already  referred  to,  which  was  passed 
by  Congress  in  May,  1810,  it  was  provided,  that  if  either  Great  Britain  or 
France  would  repeal  her  obnoxious  orders  or  decrees,  and  the  other  na- 
tion did  not,  within  three  months  thereafter,  repeal  hers,  that  then  inter- 
course should  be  renewed  with  the  nation  repealing  her  acts,  while  tow- 


344  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

ard  the  other  belligerent,  the  provisions  of  the  non-intercourse  act  should 
operate  and  be  in  force. 

The  French  government  were  informed  of  the  passage  of  this  act,  by 
General  Armstrong,  United  States  minister  at  Paris  ;  and  the  French  min- 
ister for  foreign  affairs,  the  duke  of  Cadore,  immediately  addressed  a  note 
to  General  Armstrong,  dated  August,  1810,  stating  that  "the  Berlin  and 
Milan  decrees,  issued  by  the  emperor,  were  revoked,  and  would  cease  to 
have  effect  after  the  first  of  November  following."  He  added  that  "  his 
government  had  adopted  this  measure  because  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  had  retraced  its  steps,  and  had  engaged  to  oppose  the  belligerent 
(Great  Britain)  which  refused  to  acknowledge  the  rights  of  neutrals.  It 
being  understood  (or  on  condition)  that  the  English  shall  revoke  their  or- 
ders in  council,  and  renounce  the  new  principles  of  blockade  which  they 
have  wished  to  establish ;  or  that  the  United  States  shall  cause  their 
rights  to  be  respected  by  the  English." 

Although  the  language  of  the  note  of  the  duke  of  Cadore  was  some- 
what equivocal  and  indefinite,  it  was  received  by  our  government  in  good 
faith,  and  the  president  issued  his  proclamation  on  the  first  of  November, 
1810,  declaring  that  the  French  decrees  were  in  fact  revoked,  and  that 
the  non-intercourse  law  would  be  revived  and  in  force  as  to  Great  Britain, 
unless  her  orders  in  council  should  be  revoked  in  three  months  after  that 
date.  Subsequent  events  served  to  prove  that  the  emperor  of  France  did 
not  intend  to  revoke  his  .decrees,  in  fact,  unless  Great  Britain  should  also 
withdraw  her  orders  affecting  neutral  commerce,  or  the  United  States 
should  declare  war  against  that  nation.  Indeed,  after  the  first  of  No- 
vember, American  vessels  and  their  cargoes  were  seized  and  held  for 
sequestration;  and  several  months  later,  in  March,  1811,  the  French 
emperor  declared,  that  "  the  decrees  of  Berlin  and  Milan  were  the 
fundamental  laws  of  his  empire."  A  new  envoy  from  France,  who  ar- 
rived in  the  United  States  about  this  time,  gave  official  notice  to  the 
administration  that  no  remuneration  would  be  made  for  the  property 
sequestered.* 

The  president,  in  the  meantime,  urged  on  the  British  government  a  revo- 
cation of  the  orders  in  council,  assuming  that  the  French  decrees  were 
repealed.  But  the  British  government  resisted  the  demand,  on  the  ground 
that  no  sufficient  evidence  was  furnished  that  the  Berlin  and  Milan  de- 
crees had  actually  been  repealed,  and  they  insisted  that  the  president's 
proclamation,  and  the  subsequent  law  of  Congress,  passed  in  March,  1811, 
interdicting  all  commercial  intercouse  with  England,  were  partial  and  un- 
just. Thus  the  unfriendly  feelings  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  were  continued  and  increased.  The  British  government  was  tena- 
cious of  the  policy  it  had  adopted  relating  to  neutrals ;  and  pleaded  that 
its  interests  rendered  it  peculiarly  necessary  to  be  pursued  at  that  time. 

•  Bradford. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  345 

American  vessels  and  their  cargoes,  therefore,  continued  to  be  seized  by 
British  cruisers,  and  condemned  in  their  admiralty  courts. 

During  the  third  session  of  the  llth  Congress,  from  the  3d  of  Decem- 
ber, 1810,  to  the  3d  of  March,  181 1,  the  subject  of  our  foreign  relations 
attracted  much  attention.  The  president's  course  toward  France,  and  his 
proclamation,  were  approved  by  Congress,  and  the  non-intercourse  act 
was  revived  against  Great  Britain.  Certain  parts  of  the  former  act  had 
been  repealed,  so  as  to  induce  mercantile  enterprise  with  Great  Britain 
and  dependencies,  but  now  the  goods  imported  from  British  dominions 
were  made  liable  to  seizure  ;  and  bonds  were  required  of  the  importers, 
to  await  a  legal  decision.  The  prices  of  British  goods  in  the  United 
States  were  then  so  high  as  to  induce  the  merchants  to  take  the  risk  of 
bonding  the  goods  for  the  full  amount  of  their  invoice  value. 

At  the  same  session  of  Congress,  the  people  of  Louisiana  were  author- 
ized to  form  a  constitution  and  state  government,  preparatory  to  being  ad- 
mitted into  the  Union. 

The  charter  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  which  institution  was  in- 
corporated in  1791,  expired,  by  limitation,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1811,  and 
a  bill  having  been  introduced  into  Congress  to  renew  the  charter,  was  in- 
definitely postponed,  in  the  house  of  representatives,  on  the  24th  of  Janu- 
ary, 181 1,  by  a  vote  of  65  to  64.  In  the  senate,  a  similar  bill  was  rejected 
by  the  casting  vote  of  the  vice-president,  George  Clinton,  on  the  5th  of 
February,  1811— .the  senate  being  equally  divided  on  the  question,  17  to 
17.  The  provisions  of  the  bill  were  said  to  have  been,  in  a  great  meas- 
ure, conformable  to  the  views  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  Mr.  Gal- 
latin. 

Mr.  Madison  and  his  cabinet  made  further  efforts  to  conciliate  the  favor, 
or  to  prevent  the  hostile  measures,  of  the  emperor  of  France.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1811,  Joel  Barlow  was  appointed  minister  to  France,  with  instruc- 
tions and  full  powers  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  that  govern- 
ment. Mr.  Barlow  was  received  with  favor  by  the  ministers  of  Napole- 
on, and  they  intimated  a  desire  to  form  a  treaty  with  the  United  States. 
But  the  policy  of  the  emperor  was  to  exclude  British  manufactures  from 
the  continent  of  Europe  ;  in  accomplishing  which,  he  believed,  the  com- 
merce of  the  United  States  must  be  restricted,  or  be  under  his  control. 
Nothing,  therefore,  was  effected  by  Mr.  Barlow,  with  regard  to  a  settle- 
ment of  our  difficulties  with  France. 

The  course  of  the  administration  with  regard  to  the  belligerent  powers, 
England  and  France,  was  much  censured  by  the  opposition  party.  A  dis- 
tinguished senator  of  that  party,  from  Connecticut,  remarked,  that  "  the 
path  for  the  administration  to  pursue  was  as  plain  as  a  turnpike — the  two 
belligerent  nations  should  have  been  treated  with  strict  impartiality  ;  an  em- 
bargo laid  for  a  short  and  limited  period  ;  permission  to  merchants  to  arm 
their  vessels,  and  such  measures  of  defence,  both  on  the  land  and  on  the 


346  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

ocean,  as  the  state  of  the  country  afforded,  and  as  would,  in  a  great  measure 
prove  efficient  for  the  purposes  of  commercial  protection  ;  and  the  mani- 
festation of  a  proper  spirit  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  nation."  The  sys- 
tem of  gunboats  merely  for  the  harbors  and  coasts  of  the  United  States. 
were  declared  by  him,  and  in  this  opinion  a  great  portion  of  the  citizens 
of  the  Atlantic  states  agreed  with  him,  to  be  but  an  apology  for  a  proper 
naval  force. 

This  protracted  period  of  commercial  interruptions  and  restrictions  was 
attended,  as  might  have  been  anticipated,  by  a  great  reduction  in  the  trade 
and  revenue  of  the  United  States.  The  exports  were  much  reduced  in 
1808,  1809,  and  1810;  and  the  imports  suffered  corresponding  depres- 
sion ;  so  that  it  became  necessary  to  resort  to  loans  to  meet  the  demands 
on  the  public  treasury. 

The  American  minister,  Mr.  Barlow,  long  remained  at  the  court  of 
France  ;  expostulating  with  its  ministers,  for  unfriendly  and  injurious  acts 
toward  the  United  States ;  and  importuning  for  justice,  and  for  some 
proofs  of  really  amicable  intentions  in  favor  of  the  American  government. 
But  no  direct  and  satisfactory  answer  was  given  to  these  repeated  appli- 
cations of  the  American  envoy.  After  several  months  of  delay  on  the 
subject,  the  emperor  was  pleased  to  decree,  that  "  so  long  as  the  British 
orders  in  council  were  unrepealed,  and  the  principles  of  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht  (1713)  with  respect  to  neutrals  were  in  operation,  his  edicts  of 
Berlin  and  Milan  must  remain  in  force,  as  to  those  nations  which  should 
suffer  their  flag  to  be  denationalized."  This  was  at  once  decisive  as  to  the 
policy  and  views  of  the  emperor,  and  as  to  the  designed  inoperativeness 
of  the  alleged  repeal  of  those  decrees,  as  stated  and  promised  in  August, 
1810.  And  when  the  British  government  was  urged  a  second  time  to 
withdraw  their  orders  in  council,  on  the  plea,  by  the  American  minister, 
that  the  French  edicts  were  repealed,  they  declared,  that  "  whenever  those 
edicts  were  absolutely  and  unconditionally  repealed  by  an  authentic  act  of 
the  French  government,  publicly  promulgated,  their  orders  would  be  re- 
voked."* 

The  congressional  elections  in  1810-'!  1,  proved  that  the  policy  of  Mr. 
Madison's  administration  was  sustained  by  a  large  majority  of  the  Ameri- 
can people ;  the  preponderance  of  the  democratic  party  being  kept  up  in 
both  branches  of  Congress.  The  twelfth  Congress  assembled  on  the  4th 
of  November,  1811,  when  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  an  ardent  supporter 
of  the  administration,  was  elected  speaker  of  the  house  of  representatives  ; 
it  being  the  first  time  in  which  he  had  taken  his  seat  in  that  body.  He 
had  previously  been  a  member  of  the  United  States  senate,  at  two  short 
sessions,  when  he  had  acquired  considerable  reputation  as  a  ready  and 
eloquent  debater,  and  exhibited  some,  of  those  traits  of  character  which 
have  since  distinguished  him  in  the  annals  of  the  country,  as  a  statesman. 

•  Bradford. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  347 

The  presence  of  Mr.  Clay  as  speaker,  and  of  Messrs.  Calhoun,  Cheves, 
and  Lowndes,  of  South  Carolina,  with  other  active  and  spirited  members 
of  the  house  of  representatives,  aided  by  William  II.  Crawford,  of  Geor- 
gia, and  a  few  others  in  the  senate,  infused  new  vigor  into  the  ranks  of 
the  supporters  of  the  administration.  It  was  soon  determined  that  inac- 
tivity and  indecision  should  no  longer  be  the  policy  of  the  democratic 
party.  For  several  years,  including  the  latter  part  of  Jefferson's  adminis- 
tration, war  with  England  had  been  contemplated  by  the  executive  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  as  a  probable  event ;  but  we  have  already 
seen  Mr.  Jefferson  carefully  avoided  war  measures,  and  Mr.  Madison  en- 
deavored to  pursue  a  similar  course.  The  non-intercourse  laws  and  other 
restrictive  measures,  it  was  perceived,  were  becoming  unpopular  with  the 
people,  a  great  portion  of  whom  were  desirous  that  this  policy  should  be 
changed.  It  was  believed  by  the  new  leaders  of  the  democratic  party  in 
Congress,  that  efficient  measures  were  now  demanded  by  the  people,  and 
that  a  war  with  Great  Britain  would  be  popular,  particularly  with  the  party 
which  sustained  the  administration. 

The  first  efforts  of  the  members  of  Congress  favorable  to  a  declaration 
of  war  with  Great  Britain,  were  directed  to  measures  preparatory  to  the 
expected  contest  with  that  powerful  nation.  The  effects  of  the  policy 
which  had  been  pursued  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  reducing  the  army  and  navy, 
were  now  severely  felt.  For  several  years  preceding  this  period,  the  mil- 
itary peace  establishment  had  stood  at  only  about  3,000  men,  and  the  navy 
consisted  at  this  time  of  only  twenty  vessels — ten  frigates,  and  ten  sloops- 
of-war  and  smaller  vessels.  The  gunboats  which  had  been  built  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  United  States,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  number, 
were  only  calculated  for  harbor  defence. 

The  policy  of  the  administration  respecting  a  standing  army  and  a  navy, 
was  now  changed,  principally  through  the  advice  and  influence  of  Mr. 
Clay,  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  Mr.  Lowndes,  notwithstanding  they  met  with 
opposition  from  many  of  their  democratic  associates.  Bills  were  passed 
for  augmenting  the  army,  by  providing  for  the  enlistment  of  twenty  thou- 
sand men  ;  also  authorizing  the  president  of  the  United  States  to  accept 
of  the  services  of  volunteers  to  the  number  of  fifty  thousand  men ;  and 
providing  for  the  more  complete  organization  of  the  army  ;  authorizing  the 
president  to  cause  the  frigates  in  ordinary  to  be  repaired,  equipped,  and 
put  into  actual  service  ;  and  appropriations  were  made  for  the  purchase 
of  timber  and  other  materials  for  building  additional  frigates.  The  presi- 
dent was  also  authorized  to  require  of  the  executives  of  the  several  states 
and  territories,  the  organizing,  arming,  and  equipment  of  their  respective 
proportions  of  one  hundred  thousand  militia,  and  to  hold  them  in  readiness 
to  march  at  a  moment's  warning ;  and  one  million  of  dollars  was  appro- 
priated toward  defraying  the  expense  of  carrying  the  act  into  effect. 

President  Madison  was,  with  much  difficulty,  brought  to  acquiesce  in 


348  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

warlike  measures  of  a  decisive  character.  He  still  hoped  that  war  might 
be  avoided,  either  by  negotiation,  or  a  continuance  of  restrictive  meas- 
ures on  commerce  with  Great  Britain.  But  he  was  soon  made  to  under- 
stand that  a  more  decided  and  energetic  action  on  the  part  of  the  national 
government,  was  determined  on,  by  the  ardent  democrats  whose  influence 
now  predominated  in  Congress.  The  first  presidential  term  of  Mr.  Mad- 
ison was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  the  nomination  of  candidates  for  presi- 
dent and  vice-president,  to  be  supported  by  the  democratic  party  at  the 
approaching  election,  was  to  be  made,  by  a  caucus  of  members  of  the 
Congress  then  in  session.  The  leading  republicans  of  the  state  of  New 
York  who  were  dissatisfied  with  Mr.  Madison's  course,  had  it  then  in  con- 
templation to  nominate  for  the  presidency,  De  Witt  Clinton,  who  was  then 
lieutenant-governor  of  that  state,  mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and 
high  in  the  confidence  of  the  party.  His  pretensions  were  sustained  by 
Gideon  Granger,  the  postmaster-general,  and  other  influential  democrats. 

In  this  state  of  things,  Mr.  Madison  was  waited  upon  by  geveral  of  the 
leading  republican  members  of  Congress,  and  informed,  in  substance,  that 
war  with  England  was  now  resolved  upon  by  the  democratic  party,  the 
supporters  of  his  administration  ;  that  the  people  would  no  longer  consent 
to  a  dilatory  and  inefficient  course,  on  the  part  of  the  national  govern- 
ment ;  that  unless  a  declaration  of  war  took  place  previous  to  the  presiden- 
tial election,  the.  success  of  the  democratic  party  might  be  endangered, 
and  the  government  thrown  into  the  hands  of  the  federalists  ;  that  unless 
Mr.  Madison  consented  to  act  with  his  friends,  and  accede  to  a  declara- 
tion of  war  with  Great  Britain,  neither  his  nomination  nor  his  re-election 
to  the  presidency  could  be  relied  on.*  Thus  situated,  Mr.  Madison  con- 
cluded to  waive  his  own  objections  to  the  course  determined  on  by  his 
political  friends,  and  to  do  all  he  could  for  the  prosecution  of  a  war  foi 
which  he  had  no  taste ;  and  he  pretended  to  no  knowledge  of  war  as  a 
science  or  profession. 

The  president  did  not  sustain  himself  with  counsellors  adapted  to  the 
occasion.  His  cabinet  consisted,  at  this  time,  of  James  Monroe,  secretary 
of  state,  who  succeeded  Robert  Smith  in  November,  1811  ;  Albert  Gal- 
latin,  secretary  of  the  treasury;  William  Eustis,  secretary  of  war;  Paul 
Hamilton,  secretary  of  the  navy ;  and  William  Pinkney,  attorney-general, 
who  succeeded  Caesar  A.  Rodney  in  that  office  in  December,  1811.  Of 
these  cabinet  officers,  Mr.  Monroe  was  the  only  one  of  military  taste  01 
experience,  and  he  had  only  performed  a  'limited  service  in  the  army  of 
the  revolution  ;  Mr.  Gallatin  was  avowedly  opposed  to  the  declaration  of 
war ;  Mr.  Eustis,  the  secretary  of  war,  knew  but  little  of  military  affairs  j 
and  the  secretary  of  the  navy  had  no  knowledge  of  naval  affairs  to  qualify 
him  for  his  position.  The  attorney-general,  Pinkney,  considered  the 

*  This  information  waa  derived,  by  a  friend  of  the  writer,  from  James  Fisk,  a  democrat* 
member  of  Congress  in  1812.  and  one  of  a  committee  who  waited  on  Mr.  Madison. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON*.  349 

declaration  of  war  premature  while  government  was  so  entirely  unpre- 
pared. The  postmaster-general,  Gideon  Granger,  not  then  a  cabinet  offi- 
cer, but  at  the  head  of  a  department  important  for  military  operations,  was 
disaffected  to  the  president,  in  party  sympathy  with  senators  and  others 
professing,  perhaps  entertaining,  inclinations  for  the  war,  but  denying  that 
with  Madison  as  leader,  it  ever  could  prosper.* 

On  the  9th  of  March,  1812,  Mr.  Madison  transmitted  to  Congress  a 
special  message,  with  certain  documents  which  had  been  communicated 
to  the  executive  by  John  Henry,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who  alleged  that  he 
had  been  employed  as  a  secret  agent  of  the  British  government,  in  the 
New  England  states.  "  in  intrigues  with  the  disaffected,  for  the  purpose 
of  bringing  about  resistance  to  the  laws,  and  eventually,  in  concert  with  a 
Britisn  force,  of  destroying  the  Union,  and  forming  the  eastern  part  thereof 
into  a  political  connexion  with  Great  Britain." 

John  Henry  was  born  a  subject  of  Great  Britain.  For  a  while  he  had 
resided  in  this  country,  and  held  a  commission  in  the  army  of  the  United 
States.  Having  left  the  service,  by  his  own  account  he  resided  some  time 
in  Vermont,  and  afterward  returned  to  his  natural  allegiance,  and  became 
a  icsident  of  Canada.  There,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1809,  if  his 
own  account  is  to  be  credited,  he  was  employed  by  Sir  James  H.  Craig, 
governor  of  Canada,  to  repair  to  Boston,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
whether  the  federal  politicians  of  the  New  England  states,  particularly 
those  of  Massachusetts,  were  desirous  of  withdrawing  from  the  Union, 
and  forming  a  close  connexion  with  Great  Britain.  Accordingly,  in  the 
month  of  February  of  that  year,  he  commenced  his  journey,  and  after 
spending  some  time  in  Vermont,  and  passing  through  New  Hampshire,  he 
reached  Boston  early  in  the  month  of  March.  Having  taken  his  station 
in  the  New  England  capital,  he  opened  his  correspondence  with  his 
employers  in  Canada.  His  first  letter  is  dated  March  5,  1809,  in  which 
he  remarked  that  it  had  not  thus  far  appeared  necessary  for  him  to  dis- 
cover to  any  person  the  object  of  his  visit ;  nor  was  it  probable  that  he 
should  find  it  necessary,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  a  knowledge  of  the 
arrangements  of  the  federal  party,  to  avow  himself  as  a  regular  authorized 
agent  of  the  British  government,  even  to  those  who  would  keep  the  se- 
cret—  that  he  had  sufficient  means  of  information  to  enable  him  to  judge 
of  the  proper  time  for  offering  the  co-operation  of  Great  Britain,  and 
opening  a  correspondence  between  the  governor-general  of  British 
America  and  disaffected  individuals  in  Massachusetts.  Accordingly,  he 
remained  unknown  at  Boston  till  the  25th  of  May  following,  when  he 
wrote  to  his  principals  at  Quebec,  that  it  would  be  unnecessary  for  him, 
in  the  existing  state  of  things,  and  unavailing  also,  to  attempt  to  carry  into 
effect  the  original  purposes  of  his  mission.  He  was  soon  recalled  from 
that  mission,  and  returned  to  Canada;  and  in  1811  was  in  England,  peti- 
'  Ingcrsoll's  History  of  the  War. 


350  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

tioning  the  British  government  for  compensation  for  his  services  abote 
mentioned.  For  some  cause  or  other,  the  ministry  declined  paying  him  ; 
but  referred  him  to  the  governor  of  Canada,  on  the  ground  that  they  had 
not  discovered  any  wish  on  the  part  of  Sir  James  Craig  that  Henry's 
claims  for  compensation  should  be  referred  to  the  mother-country,  and  be- 
cause no  allusion  was  made  to  any  kind  of  arrangement  or  agreement  that 
had  been  made  by  that  officer  with  him.* 

Mr.  Sullivan  remarks,  that  "  there  are  many  persons  who  remember 
John  Henry,  and  that  he  was  in  Boston  in  1809.  But  no  one  ever  heard 
it  suggested  that  he  was  a  British  agent.  He  was  said  to  be  engaged  in 
some  sort  of  land  speculation  ;  but  very  few  knew  or  cared  how  he  was 
employed.  He  was  a  handsome,  well-behaved  man,  and  was  received  in 
some  respectable  families." 

The  British  minister  at  Washington,  in  a  letter  to*  Mr.  Monroe,  the  sec- 
retary of  state,  dated  the  llth  of  March,  1812,  disclaimed  most  solemnly, 
on  his  own  part,  having  had  any  knowledge  whatever  of  the  existence  of 
such  a  mission,  or  of  such  transactions  as  the  communication  of  Mr. 
Henry  referred  to,  and  expressed  his  conviction  that,  from  what  he  knew 
of  those  branches  of  his  majesty's  government  with  which  he  had  inter- 
course, no  countenance  whatever  was  given  by  them  to  any  schemes  hos- 
tile to  the  internal  tranquillity  of  the  United  States. 

The  committee  on  foreign  relations,  in  Congress,  to  whom  the  message 
and  documents  were  referred,  in  their  report,  remarked  that,  "  The  trans- 
action disclosed  by  the  president's  message,  presents  to  the  mind  of  the 
committee  conclusive  evidence,  that  the  British  government,  at  a  period 
of  peace,  and  during  the  most  friendly  professions,  have  been  deliberately 
and  perfidiously  pursuing  measures  to  divide  these  states,  and  to  involve 
our  citizens  in  all  the  guilt  of  treason,  and  the  horrors  of  a  civil  war." 

Henry,  in  this  transaction,  was  accompanied  by  a  foreign  adventurer, 
who  called  his  name  Crillon,  and  claimed  the  title  of  count.  He  went 
through  a  long  examination  before  the  committee  of  foreign  relations,  but 
his  testimony  was  considered  unimportant. 

It  appears  that  Henry,  after  being  unsuccessful  in  England,  in  urging 
his  claims  upon  that  government,  sailed  for  the  United  States,  and  arrived 
at  Boston  in  December,  1811.  He  visited  Governor  Gerry,  of  Massachu- 
setts, who  gave  him  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Mr.  Madison. 

In  February,  1812,  he  made  his  disclosures  to  the  president,  for  which 
he  received  fifty  thousand  dollars,  which  were  drawn  from  the  treasury, 
on  account  of  the  secret  service  fund,  in  the  name  of  John  Graham,  chief 
clerk  in  the  office  of  secretary  of  state.  Henry  left  Washington  on  the 
1 1th  of  February,  and  on  the  9th  of  March  he  sailed  for  France,  in  the 
United  States  sloop-of-war  Wasp. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  that  Henry  had  been  at  Washington,  had  got  hie 
•  Dwight's  History  and  Review. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  351 

money,  and  had  returned  northwardly,  and  was  at  Baltimore  on  the  llth 
of  February,  and  that  his  letter  of  disclosure  to  James  Monroe  is  dated 
the  20th  of  that  month,  at  Philadelphia.  It  is  remarkable  that  Mr.  Madi- 
son had  these  disclosures  at  least  twenty-five  days  before  he  made  them 
known  to  Congress  ;  that  when  he  did  so  make  them  known,  Henry  was 
actually  under  sail  for  France,  and,  consequently,  could  not  be  called  on 
for  any  explanation.* 

The  Henry  plot  proved  of  no  advantage  to  the  administration  and  its 
supporters,  but  had  a  tendency  to  increase  and  extend  the  feelings  of  ex- 
asperation and  enmity  toward  the  government,  entertained  by  a  large  ma- 
jority of  the  New  England  people,  whose  characters  were  assailed  by  the 
pretended  exposure  of  Henry,  although  he  did  not  mention  the  name  of 
even  a  solitary  person  who  ever  uttered  a  sentence  of  disaffection  to  the 
Union,  or  of  a  wish  to  form  a  connexion  with  Great  Britain.  Besides  a 
majority  of  the  people  of  New  England,  the  federal  party  throughout  the 
Union,  and  a  respectable  portion  of  the  democratic  party,  were  opposed  to 
the  approaching  declaration  of  war.  Still,  the  leading  men  among  the 
friends  of  the  administration  felt  a  confidence  that  the  measure  was  re- 
quired, and  would  be  sustained,  by  a  majority  of  the  people. 

After  the  return  of  Mr.  Pinkney  to  the  United  States,  from  his  mission 
to  England,  Mr.  Madison  appointed  Jonathan  Russell  charge  d'affaires  of 
the  United  States  at  London.  Mr.  Russell  reached  London  in  November, 
1811.  On  the  14th  of  February,  1812,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Monroe,  secretary 
of  state,  that  at  that  time  there  had  been  exhibited  no  evidence  on  the 
part  of  the  British  government  to  repeal  the  orders  in  council.  On 
the  4th  of  March  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Monroe,  informing  him  that  he  had  at- 
tended the  discussions  in  parliament,  on  motions  by  Lord  Lansdowne  and 
Mr.  Brougham,  "  and  if  anything  was  wanting  to  prove  the  inflexible  de- 
termination of  the  present  ministry  to  persevere  in  the  orders  in  council, 
without  modification  or  relaxation,  the  declarations  of  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  administration  on  these  occasions,  must  place  it  beyond  the 
possibility  of  a  doubt.  Mr.  Percival  said,  '  As  England  was  contending 
for  the  defence  of  her  maritime  rights,  and  for  the  preservation  of  her  na- 
tional existence,  which  essentially  depended  on  the  maintenance  of  those 
rights,  she  could  not  be  expected,  in  the  prosecution  of  this  great  and  pri- 
mary interest,  to  arrest  or  vary  her  course,  to  listen  to  the  pretensions  of 
neutral  nations,  or  to  remove  the  evils,  however  they  might  be  regretted, 
which  the  imperious  policy  of  the  times  indirectly  and  unintentionally  ex- 
tended to  them.' 

"  I  no  longer  entertain  a  hope  that  we  can  honorably  avoid  war." 
On  the  30th  of  May,  1812,  Mr.  Foster,  the  British  minister  at  Wash- 
ington, addressed  a  long  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe,  in  which  he  reviewed  the 
whole  ground  of  controversy  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain. 

•  SnlJivan. 


352  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

He  contends  that  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  had  not,  in  fact,  been  re- 
voked, and  concludes  as  follows:  — 

"  I  am  commanded,  sir,  to  express,  on  the  part  of  his  royal  highness, 
the  prince  regent,  that  while  his  royal  highness  entertains  the  most  sin- 
cere desire  to  conciliate  America,  he  yet  can  never  concede  that  the  block- 
ade of  May,  1806,  could  justly  be  made  the  foundation,  as  it  avowedly  has 
been,  for  the  decrees  of  Bonaparte  ;  and  further,  that  the  British  govern- 
ment must  ever  consider  the  principles  on  which  that  blockade  rested  (ac- 
companied as  it  was  by  an  adequate  blockading  force),  to  have  been  strictly 
consonant  to  the  established  law  of  nations,  and  a  legitimate  instance  of 
the  practice  which  it  recognises. 

"  Secondly,  that  Great  Britain  must  continue  to  reject  the  other  spuri- 
ous doctrines  promulgated  by  France  in  the  duke  of  Bassano's  report,  as 
binding  upon  all  nations.  She  can  not  admit,  as  a  true  declaration  of  pub- 
lic law,  that  free  ships  make  free  goods,  nor  the  converse  of  that  proposi- 
tion, that  enemy's  ships  destroy  the  character  of  neutral  property  in  the 
cargo  :  she  can  not  consent,  by  the  adoption  of  such  a  principle,  to  deliver 
absolutely  the  commerce  of  France  from  the  pressure  of  the  naval  power 
of  Great  Britain,  and,  by  the  abuse  of  the  neutral  flag,  to  allow  her  enemy 
to  obtain,  without  the  expense  of  sustaining  a  navy,  for  the  trade  and 
property  of  French  subjects,  a  degree  of  freedom  and  security  which  even 
the  commerce  of  her  own  subjects  can  not  find  under  the  protection  of  the 
British  navy. 

"  She  can  not  admit,  as  a  principle  of  public  law,  that  arms  and  military 
stores  are  alone  contraband  of  war,  and  that  ship-timber  and  naval  stores 
are  excluded  from  that  description.y  Neither  can  she  admit,  without  re- 
taliation, that  the  mere  fact  of  commercial  intercourse  with  British  ports 
and  subjects  should  be  made  a  crime  in  all  nations,  and  that  the  armies 
and  decrees  of  France  should  be  directed  to  enforce  a  principle  so  new 
and  unheard-of  in  war. 

"  Great  Britain  feels,  that  to  relinquish  her  just  measures  of  self-de- 
fence and  retaliation,  would  be  to  surrender  the  best  means  of  her  own 
preservation  and  rights ;  and  with  them  the  rights  of  other  nations,  so 
r  long  as  France  maintains  and  acts  upon  such  principles." 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Brit- 
ain, when  it  was  determined  by  the  friends  of  the  administration  in  Con- 
gress, to  declare  war.  As  a  prelude  to  that  event,  an  act  was  passed  on 
the  4th  of  April,  1812,  laying  an  embargo  on  vessels  of  the  United  States 
for  the  term  of  ninety  days. 

On  the  20th  of  April,  George  Clinton,  vice-president  of  the  United 
States,  died  at  Washington,  at  the  age  of  seventy -three.  The  senate  had 
previously  elected  William  H.Crawford  president  pro  tern,  of  that  body. 

Louisiana  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  state  on  the  8th  of  April, 
1812 ;  and  by  a  subsequent  act  on  the  4th  of  June,  the  territory  before 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  353 

called  Louisiana,  was  organized   under  the  name  of  the  Missouri  ter- 
ritory. 

Among  other  important  acts  passed  at  this  session,  besides  the  declara- 
tion of  war  were  the  following :  To  prohibit  the  exportation  of  specie, 
goods,  wares,  or  merchandise,  from  the  United  States  during  the  continu- 
ance of  the  embargo  ;  for  the  establishment  of  a  general  land  office  in  the 
treasury  department ;  to  provide  for  the  surveying  of  six  millions  of  acres 
of  the  public  lands,  to  be  set  apart  and  reserved  for  the  purpose  of  satisfy- 
ing the  bounties  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  each  .promised  to  the  sol- 
diers of  the  United  States  by  the  acts  previously  passed  for  augmenting 
the  army ;  authorizing  the  issue  of  five  millions  of  dollars  in  treasury- 
notes  ;  imposing  one  hundred  per  cent,  additional  duties  on  imports  ;  con- 
firming grants  to  lands  in  the  Mississippi  territory,  on  British  or  Spanish 
warrants  made  prior  to  October  27, 1795  ;  appropriating  an  additional  sum 
for  the  Cumberland  road  ;  establishing  various  postroads  ;  prohibiting 
American  vessels  from  trading  with  the  enemy ;  and  an  act  authorizing  a 
subscription  for  the  old  six  per  cent,  and  deferred  stocks,  and  providing 
for  an  exchange  of  the  same.  A  law  was  also  passed  for  the  apportion- 
ment of  representatives  in  Congress  according  to  the  census  of  1810. 

The  elections  in  1812,  in  those  states  where  the  same  were  held  in  the 
spring,  were  generally  unfavorable  to  the  administration ;  although  the 
opinion  was  entertained  and  expressed,  by  a  large  proportion  of  the  peo- 
ple, that  Congress  would  not  declare  war.  The  federal  party  prevailed  in 
the  elections  in  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  and  NewYork ; 
showing  a  considerable  change  in  favor  of  that  party,  compared  with  the 
elections  of  the  previous  year. 

It  was  with  some  difficulty  that  a  majority  of  Congress  were  induced  to 
vote  for  the  preliminary  measures  to  the  declaration  of  war;  but  on  the 
question  of  the  embargo,  the  majority  in  the  house  of  representatives  was 
twenty-nine  votes,  in  favor  of  the  act. 

On  the  first  of  June,  the  president  transmitted  a  special  message  to 
Congress,  in  which  he  reviewed  the  difficulties  which  had  occurred  in  our 
relations  with  Great  Britain,  and  those  which  then  existed  ;  describing,  in 
strong  language,  the  aggressions  with  which  we  had  been  visited  by  that 
nation.  This  message  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  foreign  relations, 
in  the  house  of  representatives,  a  majority  of  whom,  viz.,  John  C.  Cal- 
houn,  of  South  Carolina ;  Felix  Grundy,  of  Tennessee  ;  John  Smilie,  of 
Pennsylvania ;  John  A.  Harper,  of  New  Hampshire ;  Joseph  Desha,  of 
Kentucky  ;  and  Ebenezer  Seaver,  of  Massachusetts,  agreed  upon,  and  re- 
ported to  the  house  on  the  3d  of  June,  a  manifesto,  as  the  basis  of  a  dec- 
larati  >n  of  war.  The  reasons  given  by  the  committee  for  recommending 
an  imnediate  appeal  to  arms  were,  in  substance,  as  follows:  The  im- 
pressment of  American  seamen  by  the  commanders  of  British  ships-of- 
war ;  the  British  doctrine  and  system  of  blockade ;  and  the  adoption  and 

VOL.  I.— 23 


354  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

continuance  of  the  orders  In  council  of  that  government ;  which  operated 
extensively  to  the  interruption  and  injury  of  the  American  commerce.  To 
which  was  added  a  long  and  unsatisfied  demand  for  remuneration  on  ac- 
count of  depredations  committed  by  English  subjects  on  the  lawful  com- 
merce of  the  United  States. 

During  the  proceedings  on  the  subject  of  the  declaration  of  war,  Con- 
gress sat  with  closed  cfbors.  The  measure  was  adopted  in  the  house  of 
representatives  by  a  vote  of  79  to  49  ;  but  was  delayed  in  the  senate  foi 
fourteen  days  after  it  was  submitted  to  that  body,  when  it  finally  passed, 
19  to  13.  At  first  it  was  evident  that  the  majority  was  against  war;  and 
a  proposition  was  made,  on  which  the  senate  were  equally  divided  on  the 
first  vote,  for  granting  reprisals  against  the  commerce  of  Great  Britain,  by 
public  or  private  ships  of  the  United  States  ;  but  after  several  days  of  dis- 
cipline and  urging,  a  majority  voted  in  favor  of  it.  Of  the  79  members  of 
the  house  who  voted  for  the  war,  62  resided  south,  and  1 7  north,  of  the 
Delaware;  of  the  19  senators  who  voted  on  the  same  side,  14  resided 
south,  and  5  north,  of  the  Delaware.  Thus  the  war  may  be  said  to  have 
been  a  measure  of  the  south  and  west,  to  take  care  of  the  interests  of  the 
north,  much  against  the  will  of  the  latter.  The  whole  number  of  mem- 
"bers  in  both  branches,  residing  north  of  the  Delaware,  was  68,  of  whom 
only  21  voted  for  the  war.* 

The  act  declaring  war  was  approved  by  the  president  on  the  18th  of 
June,  1812,  and  is  remarkably  short  and  comprehensive.  It  was  drawn 
by  the  attorney-general  of  the  United  States,  William  Pinkney,  and  is  in 
the  words  following : — 

"  An  act  declaring  war  between  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  and  the  dependencies  thereof,  and  the  United  States  of  America  and 
their  territories. 

"  Be  it  enacted,  fyc.  That  war  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  declared  to 
exist  between  the  United  Kingdom  of -Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  the 
dependencies  thereof,  and  the  United  States  of  America  and  their  territo- 
ries ;  and  that  the  president  of  the  United  States  is  hereby  authorized  to 
use  the  whole  land  and  naval  force  of  the  United  States  to  carry  the  same 
into  effect,  and  to  issue  to  private  armed  vessels  of  the  United  States 
commissions,  or  letters  of  marque  and  general  reprisal,  in  such  form  as  he 
shall  think  proper,  and  under  the  seal  of  the  United  States,  against  the 
vessels,  goods,  and  effects,  of  the  government  of  the  said  United  Kingdom 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  the  subjects  thereof." 

On  the  day  following  the  date  of  the  above  act,  the  president  issued  his 
proclamation  announcing  the  fact,  and  calling  upon  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  to  sustain  the  public  authorities  in  the  measures  to  be  adopted 
for  obtaining  a  speedy,  a  just,  and  an  honorable  peace. 

Immediately  after  the  declaration  of  war  was  announced,  a  party  was 

•  Sullivan. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON'.  355 

organized,  composed  principally  of  the  federalists  and  some  disaffected 
democrats,  under  the  name  of  "  the  peace  party."  This  party  endeavored 
lo  compel  the  government  to  make  peace  by  raising  every  possible  ob- 
struction to  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  This  course  was  considered  as 
more  actuated  by  feelings  of  party  spirit  than  by  patriotism,  and  many 
prominent  federalists  gave  the  government  their  support,  whenever  they 
found  them  disposed  to  carry  on  the  war  with  vigor  and  effect. 

On  the  26th  of  June,  Congress  passed  an  act  respecting  letters  of 
marque,  prizes,  and  prize  goods ;  and  great  expectations  were  entertained  of 
the  injuries  to  be  inflicted  upon  British  commerce  by  our  privateers,  as  well  as 
the  profits  to  be  gained  thereby, by  American  adventurers  in  such  enterprises. 

There  was  a  great  incongruity  between  appropriations  for  the  war  and 
provision  for  them,  and,  without  a  cent  to  be  raised  by  taxes,  more  than 
fifteen  millions  of  dollars  were  appropriated  for  the  army,  and  nearly  two 
millions  seven  hundred  thousand  for  the  navy,  when  the  income  by  cus- 
toms and  sales  of  public  lands,  in  1812,  was  only  about  nine  millions  and 
a  half.  The  only  fiscal  measures  of  the  twelfth  Congress  at  'the  first  ses- 
sion, were  a  loan  of  eleven  millions  of  dollars,  authorized  by  act  of  the 
14th  of  March,  1812,  doubling  the  duties  on  importations,  and  providing 
for  the  issue  of  five  millions  of  treasury -notes. 

The  British  government  had  resisted  the  demand  of  the  American  gov- 
ernment, for  the  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council,  from  August,  1810,  to 
May,  1812,  on  the  specific  ground  that  the  French  decree  of  revocation 
of  the  former  date  was  conditional.  But  upon  receiving  official  intelli- 
gence that  France  had  definitively  revoked  her  decrees,  the  British  orders 
in  council  were  repealed  in  June,  1812,  within  five  days  after  the  declara- 
tion of  war  by  Congress.  A  little  delay  on  the  part  of  the  American  gov- 
ernment would  have  removed  this  ground  of  controversy,  and  left  nothing 
for  this  country  to  contend  for  but  freedom  from  impressment.  The 
French  emperor  had  authorized  his  minister  to  declare  to  the  American 
government,  that  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  were  revoked  on  the  1st 
of  November,  1810.  Upon  this  annunciation,  application  was  made  by 
our  government  to  that  of  Great  Britain,  to  follow  the  example  set  by 
France,  and  repeal  their  orders  in  council.  This  was  refused  on  the  part 
of  Great  Britain,  on  the  ground  that  the  revocation  of  the  French  decrees 
was  not  absolute,  but  was  conditional.  This  question  gave  rise  to  repeated 
and  labored  discussions  between  the  two  governments,  the  American  ne- 
gotiators maintaining  with  great  zeal  that  the  repeal  was  absolute,  and 
those  of  Great  Britain  contending  with  equal  pertinacity  that  it  was  con- 
ditional. In  the  course  of  a  conversation  between  Mr.  Barlow,  the  Amer- 
ican minister  in  France,  with  the  duke  of  Bassano,  in  May,  1812,  the 
duke  produced  a  decree,  dated  April  28,  1811,  more  than  a  year  previous, 
declaring  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  definitively  revoked,  and  to  date 
from  the.  1st  of  November,  1810. 


356  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

Immediately  after  the  act  declaring  war  was  passed  by  Congress,  the 
federal  members  of  the  house  of  representatives  who  were  in  the  minority 
on  that  occasion,  published  an  address  to  their  constituents.  It  is  a  pa- 
per of  great  ability,  and  sets  forth  the  state  of  the  country  at  that  time,  the 
course  of  the  administration,  and  its  supporters  in  Congress,  and  the  rea- 
sons of  the  minority  for  opposing  the  war. 

The  sentiments  and  Yiews  of  the  friends  of  the  administration,  the  ad- 
vocates of  the  war,  are  shown  in  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Clay,  speaker  of  the 
house  of  representatives,  in  a  debate  on  the  embargo  question,  in  April, 
1812.  "  Mr.  Clay  warmly  expressed  his  satisfaction  and  full  approbation 
of  the  president's  message,  and  the  proposition  now  before  the  committee 
(the  embargo).  He  approved  of  it,  because  it  is  to  be  viewed  as  a  direct 
precursor  to  war.  He  considered  this  as  a  war  measure,  and  as  such  he 
should  discuss  it.  Sir,  after  the  pledges  we  have  made,  and  the  stand  we 
have  taken,  are  we  now  to  cover  ourselves  with  shame  and  indelible  dis- 
grace, by  retreating  from  the  measures  and  ground  we  have  taken  ?  He 
did  not  think  we  were  upon  this  occasion  in  the  least  embarrassed  by  the 
conduct  of  France  in  burning  our  vessels  ;  that  may  be  a  subject  of  future 
consideration.  We  have  complete  evidence  as  to  the  enemy  whom  we 
have  selected.  As  weak  and  imbecile  as  we  are,  we  would  combine 
France  if  necessary.  There  is  no  intrinsic  difficulty  or  terror  in  the  war ; 
there  is  no  terror  except  what  arises  from  the  novelty.  Where  are  we  to 
come  in  contact  with  our  enemy  ?  On  our  own  continent.  If  gentlemen 
please  to  call  these  sentiments  quixotic,  he  would  say  he  pitied  them  for 
their  sense  of  honor.  We  know  no  pains  have  been  spared  to  vilify  the 
government.  If  we  now  proceed  we  shall  be  supported  by  the  people. 
Many  of  our  people  have  not  believed  that  war  is  to  take  place.  They 
have  been  wilfully  blinded.  He  was  willing  to  give  them  further  notice. 
It  remains  for  us  to  say  whether  we  will  shrink,  or  follow  up  the  patriotic 
conduct  of  the  president.  As  an  American  and  a  member  of  this  house, 
he  felt  a  pride  that  the  executive  had  recommended  this  measure.  He 
said  he  was  at  issue  with  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  (Mr.  Randolph)  as 
to  the  public  sentiment.  That  it  is  with  us,  is  proved  by  the  glowing  and 
patriotic  resolutions  of  fourteen  legislatures.  He  said  there  was  no  divis- 
ion in  the  southern  and  western  states — federalists  and  republicans  were 
united  for  war."* 

On  the  18th  of  May,  1812,  James  Madison  was  nominated  for  re-election 
as  president  of  the  United  States,  by  a  caucus  of  eighty-two  republican 
members  of  Congress.  The  vote  in  caucus  in  favor  of  Mr.  Madison  was 
unanimous.  John  Langdon,  of  New  Hampshire,  was  nominated  for  vice- 
president,  but  as  he  declined  on  account  of  his  advanced  age,  being  then 
seventy-one  years  old,  Elbridge  Gerry,  of  Massachusetts,  received  the  nomi- 
nation in  his  stead,  on  the  8th  of  June.  The  opposing  candidate  for  the 

•  Niles's  Register,  vol.  v.,  p.  106. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  357 

presidency  was  De  Witt  Clinton,  who  was  nominated  at  a  meeting  of  the 
republican  members  of  the  legislature,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1812.  Of 
91  members  present  at  the  caucus,  87  approved  of  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Clinton.  The  federalists  held  a  convention  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in 
September,  1812,  when  seventy  members  were  present,  from  eleven  states. 
It  was  resolved  to  support  Mr.  Clinton,  as  the  best  chance  of  defeating 
Mr.  Madison.  Jared  Ingersoll,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  nominated  for  vice- 
president,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Gerry. 

Congress  adjourned  on  the  6th  of  July,  1812  ;  previous  to  which  they 
passed  a  resolution  requesting  the  president  to  recommend  a  day  of  public 
humiliation  and  prayer  to  be  observed  by  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  offering  of  supplications  to  Almighty  God  for  the  safety  and  wel- 
fare of  the  states,  his  blessing  on  their  arms,  and  the  speedy  restoration 
of  peace.  The  president  therefore  issued  his  proclamation  on  the  9th  of 
July,  recommending  the  third  Thursday  in  August  to  be  set  apart  for  the 
above  purpose,  which  day  was  accordingly  observed. 

OP  the  26th  of  June,  or  eight  days  after  the  declaration  of  war,  Mr. 
Momoe,  secretary  of  state,  wrote  to  Mr.  Russell,  charge  des  affaires  of 
the  United  States  in  England,  informing  him  of  the  declaration,  and  au- 
thorizing him  to  propose  an  armistice  to  the  British  government,  if  the  or- 
ders in  council  were  repealed,  and  no  illegal  blockades  substituted  for 
them — also  that  orders  were  given  to  discontinue  the  impressment  of  sea- 
men, The  British  government,  through  Lord  Castlereagh,  on  the  29th  of 
August,  communicated  to  Mr.  Russell  their  refusal  to  accede  to  the  propo- 
sition of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  "  as  being  on  various 
grounds  absolutely  inadmissible."  Mr.  Russell  therefore  demanded  and 
obtained  his  passports,  and  left  England  in  September. 

When  the  orders  in  council  were  repealed,  on  the  23d  of  June,  1812, 
almost  simultaneously  with  our  declaration  of  war,  the  expectation  in  Eng- 
land was  so  strong  of  the  war  being  prevented  or  stopped,  that  the  first 
step  of  the  British  ex-minister  to  the  United  States,  when  he  reached 
Halifax,  on  his  way  to  England,  was  to  send  to  the  governor-general  of 
Canada,  to  propose  to  the  American  government  terms  of  pacification. 
Mr.  Foster  had,  no  doubt,  assured  his  government  that  war  would  never 
be  declared,  as  the  opponents  of  the  measure  had  encouraged  him  in  the 
persuasion  that  it  was  impossible.  And  when  the  British  orders  in  coun- 
cil were  repealed,  that  government  had  every  reason  to  be  confident  that  it 
neither  could  nor  would  be  persevered  in.  Great  Britain  was,  moreover, 
at  that  moment,  absorbed  by  her  stupendous  struggle  with  France,  and  her 
statesmen  had  neither  time,  means,  nor  thought,  to  bestow  upon  a  remote 
and  comparatively  insignificant  conflict  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  with 
an  unarmed,  unwarlike,  and  divided  people.  Nearly  seven  months  there- 
fore elapsed  after  the  declaration  of  war,  before  England  took  any  impor- 
tant step  of  counteraction.  The  English  manifesto  was  not  issued  till  the 


358  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

9th  of  January,  1813.  The  blockade  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware 
was  not  proclaimed  till  the  26th  of  December,  1812.  British  naval  forces 
on  the  American  coasts  and  stations  did  not  appear  in  any  formidable 
numbers  till  February,  1813,  on  the  4th  of  which  month  and  year,  Admi- 
ral Sir  John  Borlase  Warren,  then  naval  commander-in-chief,  took  posses- 
sion of  Hampton  Roads,  in  the  Chesapsake  bay,  with  two  ships-of-the- 
hne,  four  frigates,  and  several  smaller  vessels-of-war.  In  the  spring  of 
the  year  1813,  the  British  fleets  on  the  American  coasts  and  stations,  from 
Halifax  to  Bermuda,  consisted  of  six  74  gunships,  13  frigates,  and  18 
aloops-of-war ;  all  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Warren  ;  most  of  them 
in  the  Chesapeake  bay,  a  few  in  the  Delaware  bay,  and  others  distributed 
along  the  coast.  On  the  20th  of  March,  1813,  the  whole  coast  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  was  declared  to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade,  with  the  exception 
of  Rhode  Island,  Massachusetts,  and  New  Hampshire.  The  object  of 
the  exception  of  several  states  was  obviously  to  sow  dissension  among  the 
United  States.* 

Admiral  Warren  had  arrived  at  Halifax  in  September,  1812,  and  was 
invested,  not  only  with  an  extensive  naval  command,  but  also  with  full 
power  to  negotiate  a  provisional  accommodation  with  our  government.  On 
the  30th  of  September,  he  wrote  from  Halifax  to  Mr.  Monroe,  the  secre- 
tary of  state,  that  the  departure  of  Mr.  Foster  from  America  had  devolved 
on  the  admiral  the  charge  of  making  known  to  the  government  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  the  sentiments  entertained  by  the  prince  regent  upon  the  exist- 
ing relations  of  the  two  countries.  The  orders  in  council,  he  said,  ceased 
to  exist  nearly  at  the  same  time  that  the  United  States  declared  war;  on 
receipt  of  which  declaration,  an  order  in  council,  dated  31st  of  July,  was 
issued,  to  detain  American  vessels.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  ad- 
miral proposed,  as  he  was  directed,  the  immediate  cessation  of  hostilities 
between  the  two  countries.  Should  the  American  government  accede  to 
this  proposal  for  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  Admiral  Warren  was  author- 
ized to  arrange  a  revocation  of  the  laws  interdicting  British  commerce  and 
ships-of-war  from  the  harbors  and  waters  of  the  United  States.  In  de- 
fault of  such  revocation,  he  says,  the  orders  in  council  of  January,  1807, 
and  1 809,  were  to  be  revived. 

Mr.  Monroe's  answer  to  Admiral  Warren,  dated  27th  of  October,  1812, 
informed  him  that  it  would  be  very  satisfactory  to  the  president  to  meet 
the  British  government  in  such  arrangements  as  might  terminate,  without 
delay,  hostilities,  on  conditions  honorable  to  both  nations.  Alluding  to  the 
proposition  which  had  been  made,  through  Mr.  Russell,  for  an  armistice, 
which  was  rejected  by  the  British  government,  and  presuming  that  it  was 
equally  the  interest  of  both  countries  to  adjust  the  subject  of  impressment, 
the  president  was  willing  to  agree  to  an  armistice,  provided  Admiral  War- 
ren was  authorized,  and  would  agree,  to  negotiate  terms  by  which  im- 

•  Ingersoll. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON  359 

pressment  should  be  suspended.  Experience,  it  was  said,  bad  evinced 
tbat  no  peace  could  be  durable  unless  that  object  was  provided  for.  The 
United  States  could  not  admit  or  acquiesce  in  the  right  of  impressment 
during  negotiation.  The  orders  in  council  having  been  repealed,  and  no 
illegal  blockades  revived  or  substituted  in  their  stead,  and  an  understand- 
ing being  obtained  on  the  subject  of  impressment,  the  president  was  wil- 
ling to  agree  to  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  with  a  view  to  arrange  by  treaty 
every  other  subject  of  controversy. 

The  British  government  refusing  these  terms  of  accommodation,  war 
was  continued  for  the  single  grievance  of  impressment,  with  the  English 
menace  that  such  blockades  as  the  repealed  orders  in  council  authorized, 
that  is,  illegal  blockades,  which  Lord  Melville  pronounced  impracticable, 
would  also  be  enforced. 

The  conditions  proffered  by  our  government,  through  Mr.  Russell,  their 
charge  d'affaires  in  London,  when  war  was  declared,  were  stated  by  the 
president,  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress,  on  the  4th  of  November, 
1812,  without  reference  to  the  rejected  overture  from  Admiral  Warren. 
They  were,  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council,  no  revival  of  blockades 
violating  established  rules,  a  stop  put  to  the  practice  of  impressment, 
and  immediate  discharge  of  American  seamen  from  British  ships.  In 
return,  we  proffered  an  act  of  Congress,  not  a  mere  executive  assur- 
ance, for  the  exclusion  of  British  seamen,  nay,  more,  all  British  natives, 
from  our  vessels,  provided  Great  Britain  excluded  Americans  from  hers. 
On  these  terms  an  armistice,  to  prevent  hostilities  and  bloodshed,  could 
be  improved  into  definitive  and  comprehensive  adjustment  of  all  de- 
pending controversies.  These  were  reasonable  and  moderate  terms  ;  but 
which,  while  England  was  at  war  with  France,  there  was  little  hope  she 
would  accept,  impressment,  if  there  be  any  right  to  it,  being  a  war  right, 
at  all  events  a  war  need.  The  terms  were  rejected  as  soon  as  proffered 
to  Great  Britain.* 

Previous  to  the  arrival  of  Admiral  Warren,  another  attempt  had  been 
made  on  the  British  side,  to  bring  about  a  suspension  of  hostilities.  By 
the  advice  of  Mr.  Foster,  the  British  ex-minister,  Sir  George  Prevost, 
governor  of  Canada,  in  July,  1812,  despatched  his  adjutant-general,  Baynes, 
with  a  flag  of  truce,  to  Greenbush,  near  Albany,  where  General  Dearborn, 
of  the  American  army,  was  stationed,  to  negotiate  with  him  an  armistice, 
which  Dearborn  was  prevailed  upon  at  once  to  subscribe.  It  suspended 
military  operations,  excepting  General  Hull's  expedition,  till  the  presi- 
dent's pleasure  should  be  ascertained.  This  proposal  was  not  made  by 
the  British  government  itself,  but  only  through  its  colonial  agents,  and 
might  not  be  sanctioned  in  England  ;  besides,  it  was  thought  it  would  give 
advantages  to  Great  Britain,  and,  constantly  insisting  on  impressment  as 
a  grievance  to  be  removed,  Mr.  Madison  at  once  refused  to  confirm  the 

•  Ingersoll. 


360  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

act  of  General  Dearborn,  rejected  the  proposed  armistice,  and  persevered 
in  hostilities. 

It  is  foreign  from  the  object  of  this  sketch  to  give  a  detail  of  the  mili- 
tary and  naval  events  of  the  war.  Under  the  direction  of  the  federal  gov- 
ernment the  war  had  its  course.  Many  of  the  people  assisted  no  further 
than  the  laws  required,  and  continued  to  express  a  desire  that  it  might 
soon  be  brought  to  an  end.  The  opponents  of  the  war,  and  those  who 
wished  for  its  termination,  constantly  increased. 

The  first  military  effort  after  the  war  began,  was  attended  with  defeat 
and  disgrace.  A  considerable  army,  under  General  Hull,  invaded  Upper 
Canada,  but  soon  returned  to  Detroit,  which  post  was  shortly  afterward 
attacked  by  a  British  army,  to  whom  it  was  surrendered  by  the  American 
commander,  in  August,  1812.  Several  other  disasters  attended  the  Ameri- 
can arms  on  the  northern  and  western  frontiers  during  the  first  year's 
campaign,  but  in  some  instances  the  American  troops  showed  great 
bravery,  and  evinced  that  they  only  required  skilful  direction,  to  command 
success. 

Most  unexpectedly  to  the  administration  and  the  nation,  a  series  of  bril- 
liant exploits  attended  the  small  naval  establishment  of  the  United  States  ; 
commencing  with  the  capture  of  the  British  frigate  Guerriere,  by  the  Con- 
stitution, Captain  Hull,  on  the  18th  of  August,  1812.  This  was  followed 
on  the  1 8th  of  October,  by  the  surrender  of  the  British  brig  Frolic  to  the 
American  sloop-of-war  Wasp,  Captain  Jones ;  and  on  the  25th  of  the 
same  month,  the  frigate  United  States,  Captain  Decatur,  captured  the 
British  frigate  Macedonian.  The  Constitution  was  again  successful  on  the 
30th  of  December,  when  she  was  commanded  by  Commodore  Bainbridge, 
and  captured  the  British  frigate  Java. 

This  succession  of  triumphs  completely  established  the  navy  in  public 
favor,  as  well  as  convinced  the  administration  of  its  importance,  and  from 
that  period  the  democratic  party  abandoned  its  opposition  to  a  naval  estab- 
lishment, consenting  also  to  its  gradual  increase.  The  additional  expen- 
ses incurred  for  this  purpose  were  approved  by  the  federalists,  as  they  had 
always  advocated  the  policy  of  a  navy. 

The  presidential  election  in  1812  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Mr.  Madi- 
son as  president  for  another  term  of  four  years  from  the  4th  of  March, 
1813,  and  of  Mr.  Gerry  as  vice-president.  The  opposing  candidates,  De 
Witt  Clinton  and  Jared  Ingersoll,  received  the  vote  of  the  state  of  New 
York,  where  a  section  of  the  democratic  party,  as  well  as  most  of  the  fed- 
eralists, sustained  the  claims  of  Mr.  Clinton  ;  but  in  other  states  their  sup- 
porters were  almost  exclusively  confined  to  the  federal  party.  The  elec- 
toral votes  stood  as  follows:  For  Madison,  128;  Gerry,  131  ;  Clinton, 
89  ;  Ingersoll,  86.  The  elections  for  members  of  Congress  also  resulted 
in  a  large  majority  of  the  friends  of  the  administration  ;  and  thus  the  pol- 
icy of  the  war  was  sustained  by  a  majority  of  the  people  ;  but  it  was  evi- 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  361 

dent  that  the  opposition  was  powerful  and  increasing,  particularly  in  the 
eastern  and  middle  states. 

Congress  assembled  on  the  2d  of  November,  1812,  and  continued  in 
session  until  the  3d  of  March,  1813,  when  their  term  expired.  The 
principal  acts  passed  related  to  the  army  and  navy,  and  to  provide  means 
for  carrying  on  the  war.  Authority  was  given  to  the  executive  for  the 
construction  of  four  ships  of  seventy-four  guns  each,  six  frigates,  and  six 
sloops-of-war ;  to  issue  five  millions  of  dollars  in  treasury-notes ;  and  to 
create  a  new  stock  for  a  loan  of  sixteen  millions  of  dollars.  Laws  were 
also  passed  for  further  augmenting  the  army,  and  for  the  more  perfect  or- 
ganization of  the  same ;  to  encourage  vaccination  among  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  generally ;  prohibiting  the  employment  on  board  the 
public  or  private  armed  vessels  of  any  seamen  except  citizens  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  or  native  persons  of  color,  after  the  termination  of  the  war. 
The  object  of  the  last  act,  was  to  induce  the  British  government  to  come 
to  some  arrangement  respecting  the  impressment  of  seamen.  Another 
act  vested  in  the  president  the  power  of  retaliation  for  any  violation  of 
the  laws  and  usages  of  civilized  nations,  by  British  officers,  or  by  Indians 
in  alliance  with  the  British  government,  or  those  acting  under  the  author- 
ity of  the  said  government.  An  important  bill  to  the  commercial  interest 
was  also  passed,  principally  through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Cheves,  of  South 
Carolina,  in  its  behalf,  directing  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  to  remit  cer- 
tain fines,  penalties,  and  forfeitures ;  in  other  words,  to  cancel  the  mer- 
chants' bonds  given  for  goods  seized  under  the  non-importation  act,  and 
imported  from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  after  the  declaration  of  war.  This 
bill  was  opposed  by  most  of  the  democratic  members  in  the  house  of  rep- 
resentatives, and  was  carried  by  the  close  vote  of  64  to  61. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1813,  the  second  term  of  Mr.  Madison  com- 
menced, in  consequence  of  his  re-election  to  the  presidency.  At  twelve 
o'clock  on  that  day,  having  attended  at  the  capitol,  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  the  oath  of  office,  he  delivered  to  the  vast  concourse  of  people 
assembled  on  the  occasion,  his  inaugural  address. 

Some  changes  had  taken  place  in  Mr.  Madison's  cabinet,  previous  to 
his  re-election.  On  the  12th  of  January,  1813,  William  Jones,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, was  appointed  secretary  of  the  navy,  in  place  of  Paul  Hamilton, 
resigned  ;  and  General  John  Armstrong,  having  returned  from  France, 
was,  on  the  13th  of  January,  appointed  secretary  of  war,  in  place  of  Doctor 
Eustis,  resigned. 

The  13th  Congress  assembled  at  the  capitol  on  the  24th  of  May,  1813, 
in  conformity  to  an  act  passed  the  preceding  February,  and  continued  in 
session  until  the  second  of  August.  The  democratic  majority  in  the  house 
of  representatives  was  shown  in  the  election  of  speaker.  Henry  Clay 
was  again  chosen,  receiving  89  votes,  to  54  for  Mr.  Pitkin,  of  Connecticut, 
t  leading  federalist,  and  there  were  five  scattering  votes.  The  majority, 


362  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

therefore,  in  favor  of  the  administration,  and  of  the  policy  of  the  war,  was 
decided,  and  in  the  senate  the  democratic  majority  was  likewise  large,  but 
several  of  the  senators  of  that  party  were  not  particularly  friendly  to  the 
president  and  his  cabinet,  and  sought  on  some  occasions  to  embarrass  the 
administration  in  various  measures  proposed,  as  well  as  on  the  subject  of 
nominations  to  office. 

On  the  8th  of  March,  1813,  the  Russian  minister  at  Washington,  Mr. 
Daschkofi',  communicated  to  the  American  government  an  offer  from  the 
emperor  Alexander,  of  his  mediation  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  with  a  view  to  bring  about  peace  between  them.  The  Russian  min- 
ister at  the  same  time  declared,  that  the  emperor  took  pleasure  in  doing  jus- 
tice to  the  wisdom  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  was  convinced 
that  it  had  done  all  that  it  could  to  prevent  the  rupture.  On  the  llth  of 
March,  the  president  formally  accepted  the  Russian  mediation,  and  in  a  few 
days  afterward  appointed  Messrs.  Albert  Gallatin,  John  Quincy  Adams,  and 
James  A.  Bayard,  commissioners  or  envoys  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace 
with  Great  Britain,  under  the  mediation  of  the  emperor  of  Russia.  Messrs. 
Gallatin  and  Bayard  embarked  soon  after  from  Philadelphia,  in  the  ship 
Neptune,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  to  join  Mr.  Adams  in  St.  Petersburg,  and 
arrived  in  the  Baltic  in  June  following.  It  was  probably  owing  to  the 
confidential  relation  between  Mr.  Adams  and  the  emperor,  that  the  media- 
tion of  Russia  was  tendered ;  and  it  appears,  by  official  documents,  to 
have  been  first  suggested  to  Mr.  Adams,  at  St.  Petersburg,  by  the  Russian 
minister,  Romanzoff,  on  the  20th  of  September,  1812  ;  before  he  commu- 
nicated the  same  to  Mr.  Daschkoff,  Russian  ambassador  to  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Adams  was  then  American  minister  at  the  Russian  court,  having 
been  appointed  by  Mr.  Madison  to  that  mission,  in  1809.  It  was  not  till 
October,  1812,  that  Mr.  Adams  had  information  of  our  war.  and  not  till  De- 
cember, 1812,  did  he  get  a  duplicate  of  his  despatches  from  Washington, 
dated  July  1st,  1812,  to  apprize  him  of  the  war  declared  nearly  six  months 
before.  Meantime,  the  French  invasion  of  Russia  had  been  driven  back 
to  Poland,  where  Mr.  Barlow,  American  minister  to  France,  was  invited  to 
meet  the  French  emperor  at  Wilna;  on  his  way  to  which  place  he  died, 
at  Czarnovitch,  the  26th  of  December,  1812  When  there  was  reason  to 
believe  that  the  coalition,  of  which  Russia  and  Great  Britain  were  the 
principal  members,  would  triumph  over  the  French,  the  Russian  emperor 
proffered  his  mediation  to  put  a  stop  to  hostilities  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain,  which  interrupted  American  commerce  with  Russia.* 

The  Russian  mediation  was  declined  by  the  British  government,  in 
September,  1813,  but  on  the  4th  of  November  Lord  Castlereagh  informed 
the  American  government  that  Great  Britain  was  willing  to  enter  upon  a 
direct  negotiation  for  peace.  This  proposition  was  accepted  by  President 

•  Ingersoll. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  363 

Madison,  and  Lord  Castlereagh  was  informed  that  measures  would  be  ta- 
ken for  carrying  it  into  effect,  at  Gottenburg,  in  Sweden.  The  place  of 
meeting  was,  however,  afterward  changed  to  Ghent,  in  Belgium. 

When  the  nomination  of  Messrs.  Gallatin,  Adams,  and  Bayard,  as  en- 
voys to  negotiate  peace,  came  before  the  senate,  on  the  31st  of  May,  1813 
vhe  two  latter  were  confirmed,  but  Mr.  Gallatin  was  rejected,  18  to  17,  on 
the  ground  that  the  offices  of  envoy  extraordinary  and  secretary  of  the 
treasury  are  incompatible,  and  ought  not  to  be  united  in  the  same  person. 
The  president  informed  the  senate  that  the  office  of  secretary  of  the  treas- 
ury was  not  vacant,  but  in  the  absence  of  Mr.  Gallatin  the  duties  of  that 
office  were  performed  by  William  Jones,  secretary  of  the  navy.  Mr. 
Gallatin  was  afterward  nominated,  when  no  longer  secretary  of  the  treas- 
ury, and  confirmed.  Several  other  nominations  by  the  president  were 
rejected  by  the  senate  at  this  session. 

The  principal  business  of  Congress  at  this  session,  was  to  provide 
means  for  paying  the  interest  on  loans  already  authorized,  and  other  mat- 
ters incident  to  the  war.  The  financial  plan  which  had  been  proposed  by 
Mr.  Gallatin,  secretary  of  the  treasury,  to  raise  the  necessary  funds,  was 
simply  to  double  the  existing  duties  on  imports,  as  had  been  done,  and  bj 
laying  the  necessary  internal  taxes,  to  raise  an  annual  revenue  sufficient 
to  pay  the  ordinary  expenses  of  government,  and  the  interest  of  such  sums 
as  it  would  become  necessary  to  borrow ;  and  to  support  the  war  by  a 
series  of  loans.  But  internal  taxes  were  very  unpopular,  and  Congress 
was  slow  in  imposing  them.  Mr.  Madison  was  of  opinion  that  the  people 
would  not  take  war  and  taxation  together,  and  the  majority  of  the  twelfth 
Congress  deemed  it  advisable  to  refrain  from  imposing  direct  taxes,  until 
the  presidential  election  had  taken  place.  Their  successors  of  the  thir 
teenth  Congress  were  therefore  called  upon  10  provide  the  means  referred 
to.  This  was  done  by  passing  acts  for  the  assessment  and  collection  of 
direct  taxes  and  internal  duties  ;  soon  followed  by  acts  imposing  duties  on 
refined  sugars,  sales  at  auction,  retailers'  licenses,  stamps,  carriages,  licen- 
ses to  distillers,  and  a  direct  tax  of  three  millions  of  dollars  a  year. 

The  national  finances  at  this  period,  were  in  a  state  of  much  embarrass- 
ment. Treasury-notes,  issued  according  to  act  of  Congress,  were  at  a 
great  discount ;  and  although  the  first  loan  in  1812  was  taken  at  par  for 
six  per  cent,  stock,  the  second  loan  authorized  by  government  was  taken 
on  disadvantageous  terms  for  the  United  States,  and  all  paid  in  depreci- 
ated currency.  The  banks  in  the  Union  had  suspended  specie  payments, 
excepting  a  part  of  those  of  the  New  England  states.  In  tho  early  part 
of  1813,  the  demands  on  the  public  treasury  were  far  greater  than  had 
been  anticipated,  owing  to  the  unfavorable  circumstances  in  which  the 
country  was  placed,  and  the  improvident  course  of  the  administration  in 
carrying  on  the  war.  When  the  militia,  particularly  of  the  middle  states, 
were  called  out,  they  were  not  sufficiently  armed,  and  extraordinary  ex- 


364  ADMINISTRATION    OF    M    i)I8ON. 

penses  were  incurred  to  equip  them.  There  was  also  a  great  deficiency 
of  blankets  and  other  clothing  for  the  soldiers,  as  the  importations  had 
been  restricted,  and  the  manufacture  of  woollens  was  then  comparatively 
small  in  the  United  States. 

Still,  the  war  served  to  show  the  strength  of  the  government,  and  the 
patriotism  of  the  citizens.  Although  a  bare  majority  of  the  people  approved 
of  the  war,  and  probably  the  majority  was  desirous  of  closing  it  in  six 
months,  after  the  offers  of  the  British  government  for  further  negotiations, 
and  the  great  disasters  suffered  by  the  army  on  the  borders  of  Canada, 
the  administration  was  supported, or  certainly  not  opposed  by  any  disorderly 
or  violent  acts.  The  power  of  the  federal  government  proved  adequate  to 
the  crisis  ;  but  the  people,  in  various  parts  of  the  nation,  complained  of 
the  measures  of  the  government,  and  censured  its  war  policy  ;  and  that  no 
formidable  opposition  appeared,  must  be  attributed  to  the  patriotic  feelings 
of  the  citizens,  and  to  their  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  order  and  obe- 
dience to  all  constitutional  authority.  With  a  population  of  a  different 
character  from  that  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  and  with  the  freedom  they  possessed,  it  would  have  been  difficult 
to  maintain  a  war,  when  so  great  a  portion  of  the  nation  disapproved  of  it.* 

The  invasion  of  Canada  was  renewed  in  the  spring  of  1813,  and  Gen- 
eral Dearborn,  with  a  small  army,  crossed  Lake  Ontario,  from  Sackett's 
Harbor,  and  captured  York  (now  Toronto),  in  Upper  Canada.  Gen- 
eral Dearborn  afterward  made  another  expedition  into  Canada,  with  a  large 
body  of  troops,  and  took  possession  of  Fort  George,  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Niagara  river  into  Lake  Ontario.  The  British  retreated  to  Burlington 
heights,  where  they  were  followed  by  a  detachment  of  American  troops 
under  Generals  Chandler  and  Winder.  But  the  latter  were  surprised  by  a 
night  attack  on  their  camp,  and  both  of  the  generals  captured,  after  which 
the  detachment  retreated  toward  Fort  George.  In  the  month  of  January 
previous,  General  Winchester,  with  about  800  men,  fought  a  battle  with 
the  British  and  Indians,  at  the  Maumee  rapids,  in  Ohio,  and,  after  the  loss 
of  about  300  men  killed  in  the  action,  was  forced  to  capitulate  to  General 
Proctor.  The  losses  sustained  by  the  United  States  troops  in  Canada  and 
on  the  frontier,  in  1812  and  1813,  were  estimated  to  amount  to  8,500  men, 
in  killed,  wounded,  and  taken  prisoners.  In  September,  181 3,  the  capture 
of  the  British  fleet  on  Lake  Erie,  by  the  American  fleet  under  Commo- 
dore Perry,  was  followed  in  October  by  the  defeat  of  the  British  and  In- 
dians under  General  Proctor,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Thames,  in  Upper 
Canada,  by  the  Americans  under  General  Harrison.  In  this  action  Te- 
cumseh,  a  celebrated  Indian  chief,  was  killed,  and  this  victory  put  an  end 
to  the  Indian  confederacy  against  the  United  States,  which  had  been  or- 
ganized by  that  chief. 

Many  other  engagements  and  military  affairs  of  minor  importance  oc- 

•  Bradford. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  365 

eurred  on  the  frontiers  during  the  year  1813 ;  and  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  United  States  a  war  with  the  Creek  Indians  was  brought  to  a  close, 
in  consequence  of  repeated  defeats  of  the  Indians,  by  the  Americans  un- 
der General  Andrew  Jackson.  The  principal  naval  events  were  as  fol- 
lows :  The  capture  of  the  British  brig  Peacock  by  the  American  sloop- 
of-war  Hornet,  Captain  Lawrence,  on  the  24th  of  February }.  the  loss  of 
the  United  States  frigate  Chesapeake,  which  was  taken  by  the  British 
frigate  Shannon,  on  the  18th  of  June,  when  Captain  Lawrence,  who  had 
been  promoted  to  the  command  of  the  Chesapeake,  was  killed,  with  many 
of  his  officers  and  men ;  the  capture,  by  the  British  brig  Pelican,  of  the 
American  brig  Argus,  Captain  Allen,  on  the  14th  of  August ;  and  in  Sep- 
tember, the  capture  of  the  British  brig  Boxer  by  the  American  brig  En- 
terprise, Lieutenant  Burrows,  who  was  killed  in  the  action. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States  was  closely 
blockaded  by  British  squadrons,  cutting  off  most  of  the  coasting  trade,  as 
well  as  a  large  share  of  the  remnant  of  foreign  commerce,  and  committing 
various  depredations,  particularly  in  Delaware  and  Chesapeake  bays.  But 
the  naval  efforts  of  Great  Britain  on  the  American  seaboard,  continued  in- 
significant throughout  the  year  1813.  At  the  same  time,  the  American 
privateers  were  active  and  successful ;  nor  were  the  British  squadrons 
enabled  to  put  an  entire  stop  to  American  commerce.  Cotton  and  other 
staples  of  this  country  were  exported  in  profitable  adventures  to  France, 
Spain,  and  elsewhere,  and  the  imports  into  the  United  States  were  larger 
in  amount  than  might  have  been  expected.  Mr.  Ingersoll  says,  that 
American  commercial  losses  by  war  did  not  excessively  surpass  those 
which  before  its  declaration  were  caused  to  American  commerce  by  Eng- 
lish seizures  and  sequestrations,  together  with  French  unlawful  depreda- 
tions. 

During  the  year  1813,  the  American  frigates  President,  Captain  Rodgers, 
the  Congress,  Captain  Smith,  the  Essex,  Captain  Porter,  and  other  ves- 
sels-of-war,  made  long  and  unmolested  cruises,  traversing  the  seas  of  va- 
rious quarters  of  the  globe,  and  making  many  captures.  The  Essex  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Pacific  ocean,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  captured, 
manned,  and  armed,  nine  large  English  vessels,  worth  two  millions  of  dol- 
lars. Captain  Porter  was  for  some  time  commodore  of  a  fleet  of  his  own 
creation.  More  than  seven  hundred  British  vessels  were  taken  by  the 
American  navy  and  privateers,  during  the  years  1812  and  1813. 

The  second  session  of  the  13th  Congress  began  on  the  6th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1813,  and  ended  on  the  18th  of  April,  1814.  Mr.  Clay,  having  been 
appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace,  resigned 
his  station  as  speaker  of  the  house,  on  the  19th  of  January,  and  Langdon 
Cheves,  of  South  Carolina,  was  elected  speaker  in  his  place.  Mr.  Cheves 
received  94  votes,  Mr.  Grundy,  of  Tennessee,  59,  and  there  were  12  scat- 
tering votes.  It  was  understood  that  Mr.  Cheves  was  preferred  and  voted 


366  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

for  by  the  opposition  members,  and  Mr.  Grundy  by  a  majority  of  the  friends 
of  the  administration. 

Messrs.  Clay  and  Russell  were  added  to  the  commissioners  to  negoti- 
ate a  treaty  of  peace,  in  January,  1814,  and  immediately  sailed  for  Europe 
after  their  appointment.  The  commissioners  were  arranged  by  the  presi- 
dent and  senate  in  the  following  order:  John  Quincy  Adams,  James  A. 
Bayard,  Henry  Clay,  Jonathan  Russell,  and  Albert  Gallatin.  The  four 
first-named  were  confirmed  as  commissioners  to  proceed  to  Gottenburg,  in 
January,  and  Mr.  Gallatin  in  February,  1814.  Messrs.  Adams,  Gallatin, 
and  Bayard,  were  in  St.  Petersburg  in  October  and  November,  1813. 

The  first  act  of  a  general  character  passed  at  this  session  of  Congress, 
was  a  law  laying  an  embargo  on  all  ships  and  vessels  within  the  limits  or 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  to  continue  till  the  first  of  January,  1815, 
unless  a  cessation  of  hostilities  should  take  place  sooner.  The  provisions 
of  this  act  were  very  restrictive  and  severe,  the  principal  object  being  to 
prevent  small  vessels  and  boats  from  supplying  the  British  squadrons  on 
the  coast  with  provisions.  It  was  repealed,  however,  on  the  14th  of 
April  following,  by  the  same  Congress. 

The  other  acts  of  the  session,  besides  those  authorizing  additional  loans, 
related  principally  to  the  army  and  navy,  and  other  matters  connected  with 
the  prosecution  of  the  war.  Soldiers  enlisting  for  five  years,  or  during 
the  war,  were  to  receive  a  bounty  of  one  hundred  dollars  each  in  advance, 
and  twenty-four  dollars  more,  in  addition  to  their  regular  pay,  when  dis- 
charged from  the  service.  Volunteer  corps  engaging  to  serve  for  five 
years  or  during  the  war,  were  to  receive  the  same  bounty,  pay,  rations, 
clothing,  and  forage,  as  the  regular  army.  Pensions  were  granted  to  the 
orphans  and  widows  of  persons  slain  in  the  public  or  private  armed  ves- 
sels of  the  United  States.  One  hundred  dollars  were  directed  to  be  paid 
for  each  prisoner  captured  by  American  privateers  and  delivered  to  any 
agent  authorized  by  the  United  States  to  receive  prisoners-of-war,  and  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  were  appropriated  for  that  purpose.  The  presi- 
dent was  authorized  to  cause  the  marine  corps  to  be  augmented,  by  enlist- 
ing about  seven  hundred  additional  men.  An  act  for  calling  out  the  mili- 
tia, provided  for  the  establishment  of  courts-martial  of  their  own  officers, 
for  the  trial  of  delinquents,  in  the  manner  required  by  the  rules  of  the  reg- 
ular army.  This  law  was  deemed  severe,  and  created  considerable  alarm 
and  dissatisfaction. 

During  the  year  1814,  the  war  was  prosecuted  with  vigor  and  zeal  on 
both  sides.  The  means  for  supporting  it  were  augmented  by  the  United 
States  government,  in  every  possible  way,  although  the  public  credit  was 
much  depreciated,  and  treasury-notes  fell  as  low  as  seventeen  per  cent., 
and  the  stock  for  the  public  loans  to  thirty  per  cent,  below  par.  The 
British,  particularly  on  the  ocean,  acted  with  more  efficiency  than  in  the 
two  previous  years.  Their  ships-of-war  hovered  upon  our  coasts  in  all 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  367 

directions,  sometimes  entering  harbors  and  landing  bodies  of  men,  who 
destroyed  the  property  and  excited  the  alarm  of  the  inhabitants.  They 
took  possession  of  Eastport  and  Castine,  in  Maine,  which  was  then  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  want  of  a  sufficient  naval  force 
prevented  the  Americans  from  dispossessing  them. 

The  peace  of  Paris,  in  1814,  released  the  British  fleets  and  aimies 
which  had  been  so  long  employed  in  the  wars  of  Europe,  and  left 
the  English  at  liberty  to  direct  their  strength  against  the  United  States. 
Some  of  the  veteran  troops  which  had  served  in  the  campaigns  under  the 
duke  of  Wellington,  were  sent  across  the  Atlantic.  The  armies  in  Can- 
ada were  strengthened,  and  preparations  were  made  to  invade  the  United 
States  from  that  quarter. 

The  principal  British  force  in  Upper  Canada  was  placed  under  the 
command  of  General  Drummond,  while  the  American  army  on  the  Niag- 
ara frontier  was  commanded  by  General  Brown.  Most  of  the  older  Amer- 
ican generals  had  retired  from  active  service,  and  more  efficient  officers 
were  now  at  the  head  of  the  troops.  On  the  3d  of  July,  Generals  Scott 
and  Ripley,  with  3,000  men,  crossed  the  Niagara  river  and  took  Fort  Erie, 
opposite  Buffalo.  On  the  5lh,  the  Americans  under  those  two  generals 
met  the  British  army  under  General  Riall,  when  a  severe  battle  took  place, 
in  which  the  British  were  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  about  500  men,  while 
the  total  American  loss  was  338.  On  the  25th  of  July  the  most  sangui- 
nary and  obstinate  battle  that  occurred  during  the  war  was  fought  at 
Bridgewater,  or  Lundy's  Lane,  near  Niagara  falls,  General  Brown  com- 
manding the  American  forces,  assisted  by  Generals  Scott  and  Ripley.  The 
American  troops  on  this  occasion  numbered  less  than  4,000,  while  the 
British  were  about  5,000,  and  their  loss  was  878  men.  The  Americans 
lost  868,  and  were  left  in  quiet  possession  of  the  field ;  they  then  retired 
to  Fort  Erie,  and,  Generals  Brown  and  Scott  having  been  wounded,  Gen- 
eral Gaines  arrived  and  took  the  command.  On  the  15th  of  August,  the 
English,  under  General  Drummond,  made  an  assault  upon  the  fort,  but 
were  repulsed  with  the  loss  of  nearly  a  thousand  men.  General  Brown 
having  resumed  the  command,  a  successful  sortie  was  made  from  the  fort 
on  the  17th  of  September,  soon  after  which  the  British,  having  again  lost 
about  1,000  men  in  the  last  affair,  retired  to  Fort  George,  in  expectation 
of  an  attack  on  that  place,  from  another  American  army.  In  November 
Fort  Erie  was  abandoned  and  destroyed,  and  the  American  troops  cros- 
sing the  river,  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Buffalo  and  its  vicinity. 

Meanwhile  the  English  had  concentrated  an  army  of  over  14,000  men, 
in  Lower  Canada,  under  the  command  of  Sir  George  Prevost,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  invading  the  United  States  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain.  The 
Americans  had  an  army  at  Plattsburgh,  on  that  lake,  commanded  by  Gen- 
eral Macomb.  They  had  also  a  fleet  on  the  lake,  of  four  armed  vessels 
and  fen  gunboats  and  galleys,  under  the  command  of  Commodore  Macdo- 


368  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

nough.  The  British  fleet,  under  Commodore  Downie,  consisted  of  four 
armed  vessels  and  thirteen  gunboats.  The  British  army  arrived  before 
Pittsburgh  on  the  6th  of  September,  and  on  the  llth  a  simultaneous  at- 
tack was  made  by  land  and  water,  on  the  American  forces.  After  an 
action  of  two  hours,  the  guns  of  the  enemy's  squadron  were  silenced,  the 
larger  vessels  were  captured,  three  of  the  gunboats  were  sunk,  and  the 
others  escaped  down  the  lake.  The  battle  OH  the  land  continued  during 
the  day,  but  after  being  repulsed  three  times,  in  attempting  to  storm  the 
American  works,  and  witnessing  the  capture  of  their  fleet,  the  English 
retreated  about  dusk.  Their  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  taken,  and  desert- 
ers, was  about  2,500  men. 

On  the  Atlantic  coast  various  events  of  interest  occurred  during  the 
year.  Among  the  most  important  were  the  affairs  on  the  borders  of  the 
Chesapeake  bay  and  the  Potomac  river.  On  the  19th  of  August,  a  British 
army  of  5,000  men,  under  General  Ross,  landed  on  the  Patuxent  and  com- 
menced a  march  toward  Washington  city.  The  American  flotilla  under 
Commodore  Barney  was  abandoned  and  burnt.  Advancing  by  the  way 
of  Bladensburg,  the  British  army  was  met  by  a  small  body  of  seamen  and 
marines,  but  the  latter  were  soon  overpowered,  and  the  commodore  taken 
prisoner.  The  enemy  then  proceeded  to  Washington,  and  on  the  24th 
burnt  the  capitol,  the  president's  house,  and  other  public  buildings,  afiei 
which  they  retreated  to  their  ships.  There  were  a  few  regular  troops, 
under  General  Winder,  and  some  militia  regiments,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Washington,  but  they  made  but  a  feeble  resistance  to  the  British  army, 
and  soon  fled.  The  president,  and  the  secretaries  of  state,  war,  and  the 
navy,  were  in  the  camp,  and  narrowly  escaped  capture,  by  a  timely 
flight. 

A  British  squadron  had  in  the  meantime  ascended  the  Potomac,  #nd  on 
the  29th  appeared  before  Alexandria,  and  as  that  city  was  destitute  of  any 
means  of  defence,  the  inhabitants  were  compelled  to  ransom  the  placo  by 
giving  up  to  the  enemy  the  merchandise  on  sale  in  the  city,  and  the  ship- 
ping at  the  wharves. 

General  Ross,  after  his  return  to  the  British  fleet  with  his  troops,  re- 
solved to  lead  them  to  an  attack  upon  Baltimore.  But  the  citizens  of  that 
place  made  extensive  preparations  for  a  defence,  and  the  militia  of  the  city 
and  vicinity,  forming  an  army  of  15,000  men,  were  placed  under  arms,  to 
meet  the  enemy.  The  British  fleet  passed  up  the  Patapsco  and  bombarded 
Fort  M'Henry,  and  the  army  vas  landed  at  North  point,  fourteen  miles 
below  Baltimore.  Being  repulsed  in  their  attack  upon  Fort  M'Henry,  and 
having  lost  their  commander,  General  Ross,  who  was  killed  in  a  skirmish 
with  a  part  of  the  American  troops,  the  British  retired  to  their  ships,  on 
the  1 4th  of  September,  and  soon  after  left  the  Chesapeake. 

On  the  coasts  of  New  England,  British  squadrons  were  constantly  kept 
up ;  and  fleets  were  also  stationed  off  the  harbor  of  New-York,  and  in 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  369 

Delaware  bay.  The  port  of  Stonington,  in  Connecticut,  was  bombarded 
in  August,  but  the  militia  being  assembled  in  great  numbers  for  defence, 
no  landing  was  effected  in  that  quarter  by  the  British  troops.  During  the 
summer,  that  part  of  Maine  which  lies  east  of  the  Penobscot  river  was 
occupied  by  the  enemy,  and  the  United  States  frigate  Adams  and  man} 
merchant  vessels  lying  in  the  Penobscot  river,  and  others,  were  destroyed 
or  fell  into  their  hands. 

The  blockade  of  the  harbors  kept  a  considerable  part  of  the  American 
navy  from  opportunities  of  adventuring  at  sea,  but  several  of  the  national 
ships-of-war,  and  numerous  privateers,  were  still  able  to  elude  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  enemy  and  to  keep  the  seas.  The  actions  fought  by  vessels 
of  the  navy  and  by  privateers,  were  highly  creditable  to  American  valor 
and  nautical  skill,  although  sometimes  overpowered  by  superior  force.  On 
the  28th  of  March  the  frigate  Essex  was  taken  in  the  harbor  of  Valparai- 
so, on  the  Pacific  ocean,  after  a  desperate  action,  by  two  British  vessels, 
the  frigate  Phoebe  and  the  Cherub  sloop-of-war.  The  other  actions  of 
note  this  year  by  the  navy,  were  the  capture  of  the  British  sloop-of-wai 
Epervier,  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  by  the  new  United  States  sloop-of-wai 
Peacock,  and  the  sloop-of-war  Wasp,  Captain  Blakeley.  captured  in  sue 
cession,  in  the  English  channel,  the  Reindeer  and  Avon,  two  vessels  oi 
similar  force  with  herself.  She  also  made  prizes  of  numerous  British 
merchant  vessels. 

The  United  States  frigate  President,  Commodore  Decatur,  on  sailing 
from  the  port  of  New  York,  in  January,  181 5,  was  captured  by  a  British  fleet 
but  the  two  last  naval  actions  of  the  war  were  favorable  to  the  Americans 
In  February,  1815,  the  frigate  Constitution  captured  at  the  same  time  two 
vessels-of-war,  the  Cyane  and  Levant,  off  the  island  of  Madeira,  and  in 
March  the  United  States  sloop-of-war  Hornet  captured  the  brig  Penguin, 
off  the  coast  of  Brazil. 

The  last  important  action  of  the  war  was  the  battle  of  New  Orleans, 
on  the  8th  of  January,  1815,  when  General  Jackson,  with  6,000  men,  de- 
feated a  British  army  of  12,000  men  under  General  Packenham.  Th« 
loss  of  the  British  on  that  occasion  was  700  killed  and  1,000  wounded; 
among  the  former  was  the  commander-in-chief ;  and  the  next  in  command, 
Generals  Gibbs  and  Keene,  were  severely  wounded.  The  loss  of  the 
Americans  was  only  seven  killed  and  six  wounded.  The  British  army 
withdrew  after  the  action,  and  retreated  to  their  shipping. 

The  celebrated  Hartford  convention  was  held  at  the  close  of  the  year 
1814.  The  cause  and  circumstances  of  that  affair  were  in  substance  as 
follows,  as  stated  by  the  secretary  of  the  convention  : — 

The  situation  of  the  New  England  states  during  the  year  1814,  was  in 

the  highest  degree  critical  and  dangerous.     The  services  of  the  militia 

for  two  years,  had  been  extremely  severe ;  they  were  constantly  taken 

from  their  farms  and  their  ordinary  occupations,  and  in  addition  to  all  the 

VOL.  I.— 24 


370  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADTSOW. 

losses  which  such  a  state  of  things  must  necessarily  produce,  they  were 
subjected  to  the  hardships  and  hazards  of  a  camp,  and  the  life  of  a  soldier. 
In  the  meantime  the  United  States  had  withheld  all  supplies  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  militia  for  the  year  1814,  both  in  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut, and  thus  forced  upon  the  states  the  burden  of  supporting  the 
troops  employed  in  defending  their  coasts  from  invasion,  and  their  towns 
from  being  sacked  and  pillaged.  And  all  this  time  the  taxes  laid  to  carry 
on  the  war  were  exacted  from  those  states  with  the  most  rigorous  prompt- 
ness. It  had  become  apparent,  that  if  the  New  England  states  were  res- 
cued from  the  effects  of  these  calamities  at  all,  it  must  depend,  as  far  as 
human  means  were  concerned,  upon  their  own  exertions. 

In  Massachusetts  the  danger  to  which  the  inhabitants  near  the  seacoast 
were  exposed,  had  spread  an  alarm  through  the  commonwealth.  Early 
in  the  year  1814,  memorials  from  a  great  number  of  towns,  from  the  inte- 
rior as  well  as  near  the  coast,  were  forwarded  to  the  legislature,  praying 
that  body  to  exert  their  authority  to  protect  the  citizens  in  their  constitu- 
tional rights  and  privileges,  and  suggesting  the  expediency  of  appointing 
delegates  "  to  meet  delegates  from  such  other  states  as  might  think  proper 
to  appoint  them,  for  the  purpose  of  devising  proper  measures  to  procure 
the  united  efforts  of  the  commercial  states,  to  obtain  such  amendments 
and  explanations  of  the  constitution  as  will  secure  them  from  further  evils." 

These  memorials  were  referred  to  a  joint  committee  of  the  senate  and 
house  of  representatives  in  Massachusetts,  who,  although  approving  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  memorials,  reported  against  the  expediency  of  the  pro- 
posed convention  at  that  time.  The  legislature  adopted  this  report  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1814,  but  in  October  following,  resolutions  in  favor  of  the  conven- 
tion were  adopted,  by  large  majorities,  and  twelve  delegates  were  ap- 
pointed, by  a  vote  of  226  to  67,  in  a  convention  of  both  houses  of  the 
legislature. 

A  circular  was  addressed  to  the  executive  magistrates  of  the  other 
states,  to  be  laid  before  their  respectiye  legislatures,  inviting  them  to  ap- 
point delegates  to  the  proposed  convention,  if  they  should  deem  it  expedi- 
ent, and  stating  the  objects  of  the  conference  to  be  to  deliberate  upon  the 
dangers  to  which  the  eastern  section  was  exposed  by  the  course  of  the 
war,  and  to  devise,  if  practicable,  means  of  security  and  defence  which 
might  be  consistent  with  the  preservation  of  their  resources  from  total 
rum,  and  not  repugnant  to  their  obligations  as  members  of  the  Union.  It 
<vae  proposed  also,  that  the  convention  should  deliberate  on  the  subject  of 
amending  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  of  calling  a  national 
convention  of  all  the  states  to  effect  such  amendments  as  might  secure  to 
them  equal  advantage. 

The  legislatures  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  responded  to  the  call, 
at  their  October  sessions,  and  appointed  delegates,  the  former  seven,  the 
latter  four,  to  meet  at  Hartford  on  the  15th  of  December,  1814.  The  con- 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  371 

vention  assembled  at  the  time  appointed,  and  consisted  of  twenty-six  dele- 
gates, of  whom  three  were  appointed  by  local  conventions  in  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Vermont.  The  proceedings  took  place  with  closed  doors,  but 
the  journal  was  afterward  made  public.  The  convention  embodied  their 
views  in  a  report,  which  was  immediately  published  and  extensively  cir- 
culated. It  was  a  statement  of  grievances,  many  of  which  were  real,  but 
which  necessarily  arose  out  of  a  state  of  war,  a  recommendation  of  sev- 
eral amendments  to  the  constitution,  and,  if  circumstances  required,  a  sug- 
gestion of  another  convention,  to  be  held  at  Boston  in  June,  1815.  As 
the  news  of  peace  arrived  soon  after  the  convention  adjourned,  the  causes 
of  disquiet  were  removed ;  but  as  the  delegates  were  all  of  the  federal 
party,  the  convention,  before  and  after  their  meeting,  was  denounced  in  the 
severest  terms,  by  the  friends  of  the  administration,  as  being  treasonable 
to  the  general  government,  and  the  name  of  the  "  Hartford  convention" 
became  with  the  democratic  party  a  term  of  reproach. 

Congress  had  been  adjourned  to  meet  on  the  last  Monday  of  October, 
but  was  convened  on  the  19th  of  September,  1814,  by  a  special  call  of  the 
president,  and  continued  in  session  until  the  expiration  of  their  term,  on 
the  3d  of  March,  1815.  The  great  changes  in  Europe,  and  the  aspect  of 
affairs  in  the  United  States,  rendered  an  early  meeting  of  Congress  very 
important.  At  an  early  day  in  the  session  the  president  laid  before  Con- 
gress the  instructions  which  had  been  given  the  American  commissioners 
appointed  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  the  correspondence  which 
had  taken  place  on  the  subject.  The  commissioners  had  assembled  at 
Ghent  in  the  month  of  August.  1814  ;  those  appointed  by  the  government  of 
Great  Britain,  were  Lord  Gambier,  Mr.  H.  Goulburn,  and  Mr.  Wm.  Adams. 

By  the  documents  submitted  to  Congress,  it  appeared  that  new  terms 
were  proposed,  and  authority  given  the  American  envoys  to  make  peace, 
without  insisting  on  all  the  claims  and  principles  before  advanced.  The 
spirit  and  tone  of  the  president's  message  at  this  time,  were  very  different 
from  his  former  communications  to  Congress.  A  desire  for  peace  WM 
strongly  expressed,  and  a  disposition  fully  manifested  to  represent  the 
views  of  the  British  cabinet  as  less  hostile  than  had  been  formerly  stated. 
He  remarked,  that  "  the  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council,  and  the  general 
pacification  in  Europe,  which  withdrew  the  occasion  on  which  impress- 
ments on  American  vessels  were  practised,  lead  to  an  expectation  that 
peace  and  amity  may  be  established." 

In  one  of  the  earliest  communications  from  the  commissioners  of  the 
United  States  to  those  of  Great  Britain,  when  the  negotiations  opened  at 
Ghent,  and  which  was  dated  the  24th  of  August,  1814,  it  is  said :  "The 
causes  of  the  war  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  having 
disappeared,  by  the  maritime  pacification  of  Europe,  the  government  of 
the  United  States  does  not  desire  to  continue  it  in  defence  of  abstract  prin- 
ciples, which  have,  for  the  present,  ceased  t6  have  any  practical  effect. 


372  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

The  undersigned  have  been  accordingly  instructed  to  agree  to  its  termina- 
tion, both  parties  restoring  whatever  they  may  have  taken,  and  both  resu- 
ming all  their  rights,  in  relation  to  their  respective  seamen."  In  the  in- 
structions previously  given  to  the  commissioners,  dated  June  27,  1814,  the 
secretary  of  state,  Mr.  Monroe  said  :  "  On  mature  consideration,  it  has 
been  decided,  that  under  all  the  circumstances  above  alluded  to,  incident 
to  a  prosecution  of  the  war,  you  may  omit  any  stipulation  on  the  subject 
of  impressment,  if  found  indispensably  necessary  to  terminate  it." 

The  British  commissioners  at  Ghent,  finding  the  American  government 
anxious  for  peace,  were  at  first  extravagant  in  their  demands,  in  the  points 
stated  as  the  basis  of  negotiation.  The  despatches  from  the  American 
envoys  which  were  published  in  October,  1814,  gave  but  little  hopes  of 
peace,  and  the  demands  of  the  British  government,  as  understood  from 
their  agents  at  Ghent,  excited  a  feeling  of  general  indignation  throughout 
the  Union.  Not  an  individual  in  the  United  States,  however  decidedly 
he  might  originally  have  been  opposed  to  the  declaration  of  war,  and  to 
the  policy  and  measures  of  the  administration,  could  fail  of  rejecting  such 
extravagant  demands  as  the  basis  of  a  treaty  of  peace.  Overlooking  what 
had  passed,  there  was  a  general  determination  to  resist  such  a  requisition, 
at  every  hazard.  The  demands  of  the  British  were,  that  the  Indians 
should  be  included  in  the  pacification,  and  a  territory  set  apart  for  them, 
to  remain  as  a  permanent  barrier  between  our  western  settlements  and  the 
adjacent  British  provinces  ;  and  that  the  United  States  should  thereafter 
keep  no  armed  naval  force  on  the  westeni  lakes,  nor  erect  any  fortified  or 
military  post  or  establishment  on  the  shores  of  those  lakes,  nor  maintain 
those  which  already  existed. 

The  negotiations  between  the  British  and  American  commissioners  re- 
lated almost  exclusively  to  subjects  which  had  no  connexion  with  the  cau- 
ses of  the  war.  The  declaration  of  war  was  founded  on  the  orders  in 
council  and  impressment.  The  former  were  repealed  within  a  week  from 
the  date  of  the  declaration  of  war,  leaving  nothing  to  contend  about  but 
impressment ;  and  the  secretary  of  state,  in  a  letter  to  the  commissioners 
dated  August  11,  1814,  said:  "It  is  presumed  that  either  in  the  mode 
suggested  in  my  letter  of  the  25th  of  June  (to  refer  the  matter  to  a  sepa- 
rate negotiation),  which  is  much  preferred,  or  by  permitting  the  treaty  to 
be  silent  on  the  subject,  as  is  authorized  in  the  letter  of  the  27th  of  June, 
the  question  of  impressment  may  be  so  disposed  of  as  to  form  no  obstacle 
to  a  pacification." 

The  new  questions  started  by  the  British  commissioners,  it  was  seen, 
rendered  the  event  of  peace  uncertain  as  to  time,  and  preparations  were 
made  to  continue  the  war  with  renewed  vigor.  Various  acts  of  Congress 
were  passed  to  increase  the  regular  army,  and  to  accept  the  service  of 
state  troops  for  local  defence.  The  public  debt  having  increased  to  a  vast 
amount,  it  was  found  necessary,  even  with  some  probability  of  a  speedy 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  373 

peace,  to  increase  the  taxes  in  various  ways.  A  new  direct  tax  of  six 
millions  was  laid  ;  the  rate  of  postage  on  letters  by  mail  was  increased 
fifty  per  cent. ;  duties  on  sales  at  auction,  on  licenses  to  retail  liquors,  on 
distilled  spirits,  on  pleasure  carriages,  on  household  furniture,  and  on 
watches,  were  increased ;  and  new  duties  laid  on  wares  and  merchandise 
manufactured  in  the  United  States.  These  measures  were  opposed  with 
great  earnestness  in  Congress,  especially  the  bill  for  six  millions  of  direct 
taxes.  Complaints  on  this  subject  were  everywhere  heard  among  the 
people,  and  increased  the  general  anxiety  for  peace.  A  bill  was  before 
Congress  for  several  weeks,  in  November  and  December,  for  authorizing 
the  president,  on  the  refusal  of  the  governor  of  any  state  to  call  out  the 
militia  when  requested,  to  order  subordinate  militia  officers  immediately  to 
march  their  men  as  might  be  directed  by  the  officers  of  the  regular 
army.  It  was  approved  by  a  majority  in  the  house,  but  was  lost  in  the 
senate,  after  a  long  debate,  by  a  single  vote.  The  objection  to  the  bill 
was,  that  it  was  in  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  militia,  and  wholly  unau- 
thorized by  the  constitution.  One  section  of  the  bill  also  provided  for 
draughting  the  militia,  when  they  did  not  voluntarily  enlist.  The  most 
powerful  argument  against  it,  was  its  direct  interference  with  the  privi- 
leges of  the  citizens  enrolled  in  the  militia,  who  were  recognised  to  be  so, 
even  by  the  federal  constitution.* 

Mr.  Monroe,  then  acting  secretary  of  war,  made  a  report,  on  the  17th 
of  October,  on  the  subject  of  filling  the  ranks  of  the  army,  in  which  he 
expressed  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  bring  into  the  field,  at 
the  next  campaign,  not  less  than  100,000  regular  troops  ;  to  provide  for 
which  he  proposed  that  the  free  male  population  of  the  United  States  be 
formed  into  classes  of  one  hundred  men  each,  and  each  class  to  furnish 
a  certain  number  of  men  for  the  war,  and  replace  them  in  the  event  of  cas- 
ualty, or  if  any  class  proved  delinquent,  the  men  to  be  raised  by  draught 
on  the  whole  class.  The  bounty  in  money  allowed  to  each  recruit  to  be 
paid  to  each  draught  by  all  the  inhabitants  within  the  precinct  of  the  class 
within  which  the  draught  may  be  made,  equally  according  to  property  pos- 
sessed. 

This  plan  was  considered  a  conscription,  intended  to  be  equally  effica- 
cious with  the  conscription  established  in  France  by  Bonaparte.  It  was 
opposed  as  unconstitutional,  oppressive,  and  absurd,  and  when  modified 
and  introduced  in  the  senate,  by  Mr.  Giles,  in  the  form  of  a  bill  for  rais- 
ing eighty  thousand  men,  after  a  long  debate,  and  great  efforts  by  the 
friends  of  the  administration,  the  measure  could  not  be  carried  through 
Congress,  and  of  course  failed. 

The  secretary  of  the  navy  also  made  a  report  at  the  same  session,  rec- 
ommending a  register  and  classification  of  the  seamen  of  the  United 
States,  for  the  purpose  of  calling  them  into  the  public  service  in  succession, 

•  Bradford. 


374  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

as  occasion  might  require  ;  in  other  words,  to  establish  by  law  what  even 
in  Great  Britain  has  never  had  any  higher  sanction  than  that  of  practice, 
viz.,  a  system  of  impressment. 

At  the  same  lime  that  plans  of  conscription  and  impressment  were  thus 
recommended,  a  bill  was  introduced  into  the  senate,  making  further  pro- 
visions lor  filling  the  ranks  of  the  army,  which  authorized  recruiting  offi- 
cers to  enlist  any  free  effective  able-bodied  men,  between  the  age  of 
eighteen  and  fifty  years,  and  repealed  so  much  of  former  acts  as  required 
the  consent  in  writing  of  the  parent,  master,  or  guardian,  to  authorize  the 
enlistment  of  persons  under  twenty-one  years  of  age.  This  measure  ex- 
cited great  alarm  and  much  feeling  in  many  parts  of  the  country.  It  was 
considered  as  aiming  a  direct  blow  at  the  legislative  prerogatives  of  the 
several  states,  as,  by  the  laws  of  the  states,  parents  have  an  absolute  right 
to  the  services  of  their  children  while  they  are  minors,  and  the  constitu- 
tion contains  no  authority  for  Congress  to  interfere  in  the  private  concerns 
of  individuals  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  several  states.  The  legisla- 
ture of  Connecticut  being  in  session  when  these  plans  of  conscription  and 
enlisting  minors  were  proposed,  passed  resolutions,  nearly  unanimously, 
expressive  of  their  determination  to  resist  them,  if  adopted  by  Congress 
in  the  form  of  a  law.  Fortunately  these  measures,  which  were  justified 
by  the  friends  of  the  administration  on  the  ground  that  the  public  exigency 
required  their  adoption,  were  rendered  unnecessary  by  the  change  of  cir- 
cumstances produced  by  the  return  of  peace. 

Several  changes  in  the  cabinet  and  other  principal  officers  of  gov- 
ernment, took  place  in  1814  and  1815.  The  office  of  secretary  of  the 
treasury  being  declared  vacant  by  the  senate,  in  consequence  of  the  ab- 
sence of  Mr.  Gallatin,  as  one  of  the  commissioners  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
of  peace,  George  W.  Campbell,  of  Tennessee,  was  appointed  secretary 
of  that  department,  on  the  9th  of  February,  1814.  Ill  health  compelled 
Mr.  Campbell  to  resign  in  September,  and  Alexander  J.  Dallas  was  ap- 
pointed secretary  of  the  treasury,  October  6,  1814.  General  Armstrong 
resigned  as  secretary  of  war,  in  September,  1814,  and  Mr.  Monroe,  secre- 
tary of  state,  acted  as  secretary  of  war  until  February  28,  1815,  when  he 
was  recoramissioned  as  secretary  of  state.  William  H.  Crawford,  who  had 
been  appointed  minister  to  France  on  the  9th  of  April,  181 3,  on  his  return 
from  that  mission  was  appointed  secretary  of  war,  August  1,  1815.  On 
the  19th  of  December,  1814,  Benjamin  W.  Crowninshield,  of  Massachu- 
setts, was  appointed  secretary  of  the  navy,  in  place  of  William  Jones,  re- 
signed. Gideon  Granger,  who  had  held  the  office  of  postmaster-general 
more  than  twelve  years,  was  removed  by  Mr.  Madison,  and  Return  Jona- 
than Meigs  (governor  of  Ohio),  appointed  in  his  place,  on  the  17th  of 
March,  1814.  Richard  Rush,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  appointed  attorney- 
general,  in  place  of  William  Pinkney,  resigned,  February  10,  1814.  Jon- 
athan Russell  was  nominated  as  minister  to  Sweden,  and,  after  some  de- 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  375 

lay,  confirmed  by  the  senate  on  the  18th  of  January,  1814;  at  the  same 
time  he  was  confirmed  as  one  of  the  commissioners  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  Great  Britain.  Some  of  these  changes,  and  those  for- 
merly noticed,  during  the  administration  of  Mr.  Madison,  occurred  in  con- 
sequence of  dissensions  and  dissatisfaction  among  the  leaders  of  the  dem- 
ocratic party,  in  Congress  and  in  the  cabinet.  Mr.  Ingersoll  says  :  "  Mad 
ison  was  thwarted  by  a  jealous  senate.  In  May,  1813,  when  he  nomina- 
ted Jonathan  Russell  as  minister  to  Sweden,  the  appointment  was  nega- 
tived by  the  senate  on  frivolous  pretences  largely  set  forth  in  publications 
on  the  subject  by  William  B.  Giles,  one  of  the  Virginia  senators.  In  No- 
vember of  that  year,  Mr.  De  Kantzow  arrived  at  Washington,  and  then  at 
last  Mr.  Russell  was  suffered  to  pass  the  senate.  The  postmaster-gen- 
eral, Granger,  was  so  inimical  to  Madison,  that  he  found  it  necessary,  in 
1814,  to  remove  him  from  office.  The  war  of  1812,  especially  as  re- 
spected the  appointing  power  of  the  executive,  both  at  home  and  for 
foreign  service,  was  much  embarrassed  and  annoyed  by  members  of 
the  war  party,  whose  constituent  states  supported  Madison's  administra- 
tion." 

While  Congress  was  passing  acts  for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
war,  the  unexpected  and  welcome  intelligence  of  peace  was  received  at 
Washington,  early  in  February,  1815.  A  treaty  of  peace  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  was  concluded  by  the  commissioners,  at 
Ghent,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1814,  and,  as  soon  as  communicated  by 
the  president,  was  ratified  by  the  senate.  It  was  the  occasion  of  sincere 
and  universal  rejoicing,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  contractors,  office- 
holders, and  others,  who  were  making  great  gains  by  the  war,  and  of 
course  were  interested  in  its  continuance.  To  the  administration  it  was 
an  inexpressible  relief;  for  difficulties  and  embarrassments  had  been 
long  gathering  and  thickening  around  it.  And  the  people  were  happy  to 
learn  the  restoration  of  peace,  the  revival  of  commercial  enterprise,  and 
the  prospect  of  a  diminution  of  taxes  in  future.  On  the  subject  of  impress- 
ment the  treaty  was  silent,  and  commercial  regulations  between  England 
and  America  were  referred  to  negotiations  proposed  to  be  resumed  at  an 
early  day. 

A  convention  was  held  in  London,  as  proposed  at  Ghent,  early  in  1815, 
to  form  a  commercial  treaty.  The  American  commissioners  were  Messrs. 
Adams,  Gallatin,  and  Clay  ;  and  a  treaty  was  prepared  by  them  and  three 
commissioners  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  in  July,  which  was  soon  after 
ratified  by  both  the  contracting  parties,  to  continue  for  four  years.  This 
convention  was  strictly  and  almost  exclusively  of  a  commercial  character  ; 
the  subject  of  impressments  and  of  blockades  not  being  noticed  by  it.  And 
it  purported  to  place  the  commercial  intercourse  between  the  two  coun- 
tries on  a  perfect  reciprocity.  In  the  opinion  of  most  commercial  men, 
the  terms  of  this  convention  were  not  more  favorable  to  the  maritime  rights 


376  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

and  interests  of  the  United  States,  than  those  of  the  treaty  made  in  1794, 
by  Mr.  Jay  ;  or  that  signed  by  the  American  envoys,  Monroe  and  Pinkney, 
in  1807,  which  was  rejected  by  President  Jefferson  without  submitting  it 
to  the  senate.* 

Although  the  immediate  effect  of  the  war  was  in  many  respects  disas- 
trous to  the  interests  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  causing  much  pecu- 
niar)' and  other  distress,  and  the  loss  of  thousands  of  valuable  lives  ;  also 
retarding  the  national  prosperity  ;  yet  it  was  not  without  its  advantages, 
in  the  salutary  results  which  flowed  from  the  circumstances  of  this  great 
national  event.  The  restrictive  measures  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administra- 
tion, the  reduction  of  the  army  and  navy,  as  recommended  by  that  pres- 
ident, and  the  submission  of  the  United  States  to  the  long-continued 
wrongs  and  insults  of  France  and  Great  Britain,  had  excited  throughout 
Europe  a  contempt  for  the  American  character.  There  existed  a  general 
impression  among  civilized  nations,  that  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  independ- 
ence which  had  carried  America  triumphantly  through  the  war  of  the  rev- 
olution, was  extinguished  by  a  love  of  gain  and  commercial  enterprise, 
without  courage  and  resolution  sufficient  to  sustain  the  national  rights. 
But  the  war  with  England  dissipated  this  impression,  and  inspired  respect 
for  a  nation  that  gave  so  many  proofs  of  ability  to  cope  with  the  mistress 
of  the  seas  on  her  favorite  element.  The  national  character,  therefore, 
rose  to  an  eminence  in  the  estimation  of  foreigners  which  has  ever  since 
been  maintained.  From  the  era  of  the  war  we  may  date  the  origin,  or 
the  more  rapid  growth,  of  the  principal  branches  of  domestic  manufactures. 
Another  advantage  which  accrued  from  the  war,  was  the  impulse  given  to 
the  spirit  of  internal  improvement,  which  was  forcibly  impressed  upon  the 
minds  of  the  people  from  witnessing  the  disadvantages  of  the  imperfect 
modes  of  transportation  in  existence  during  that  period,  before  a  system 
of  canals,  railroads,  and  other  improvements,  was  in  operation.  The  pol- 
icy of  a  standing  army  and  of  a  navy,  adequate  to  the  national  defence, 
has  likewise  been  cherished  by  the  people  since  the  importance  of  both 
was  proved  during  the  war. 

In  consequence  of  the  deranged  state  of  the  currency  and  the  public 
credit,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  in  October,  1814,  recommended  to 
Congress  the  establishment  of  a  national  bank.  A  bill  to  that  effect  was 
accordingly  introduced,  and  passed  both  houses  in  January,  but  was  vetoed 
by  the  president. 

On  the  23d  of  November,  1814,  the  vice-president  of  the  United  States, 
Elbridge  Gerry,  died  suddenly,  while  on  his  way  to  the  capitol  in  his  car- 
riage, having  the  day  before  presided  in  the  senate  during  the  whole  of  a 
long  debate.  John  Gaillard,  of  South  Carolina,  was  appointed  president 
of  the  senate  pro  tempore. 

The  time  which  remained  of  the  session  after  the  news  of  peace  was 

•  Bradford. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  377 

received,  being  less  than  three  weeks,  was  occupied  by  Congress  in 
adapting  the  affairs  of  the  government  and  country  to  a  condition  of  peace. 
The  army  was  reduced  to  a  peace  establishment  of  ten  thousand  men,  and 
various  acts  concerning  the  acceptance  of  the  services  of  volunteers  and 
state  troops,  the  flotilla  service,  and  non-intercourse,  were  repealed.  The 
naval  establishment,  however,  was  kept  up,  and  an  act  passed  for  the  pro- 
tection of  American  commerce  against  Algerine  cruisers,  by  authorizing 
the  president  to  send  a  squadron  to  the  Mediterranean.  Direct  taxes 
were  continued,  and  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  for 
the  Cumberland  road.  A  resolution  was  passed  requesting  the  president  to 
recommend  a  day  of  thanksgiving  for  the  blessing  of  peace. 

The  total  expenditures  by  the  United  States  government  during  the  war, 
may  be  stated,  in  round  numbers,  at  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  ;  and 
the  loss  of  lives  by  battles  and  other  casualties  incident  to  the  war,  has 
been  estimated  at  thirty  thousand  persons.  The  cost  of  the  war  and  loss 
of  life  by  the  British  nation,  were  much  greater.  But  the  greatest  dispar- 
ity in  the  contest  between  the  two  nations  was  shown  in  its  effects  on  the 
ocean.  During  the  short  period  of  less  than  three  years  which  the  war 
lasted,  the  Americans  captured,  on  the  ocean  and  lakes,  56  British  ves- 
sels-of-war,  mounting  886  cannon ;  and  2,360  merchant-vessels,  mount- 
ing 8,000  guns ;  of  which  345  were  ships,  610  brigs,  520  schooners,  135 
sloops,  and  750  vessels  of  various  classes  taken  by  the  Americans  and  re- 
captured by  the  enemy;  making  altogether  2,416  vessels,  with  their  car- 
goes, specie,  stores,  provisions,  and  equipments,  and  about  thirty  thousand 
prisoners-of-war.  Most  of  these  prizes  were  taken  by  American  priva- 
teers, and  many  of  the  vessels  which  could  not  be  brought  into  port  were 
either  burnt  or  sunk.  The  number  of  merchant-vessels  which  arrived  in 
port  or  were  destroyed,  was  1610.  Besides  this  destruction  and  capture 
of  British  property,  there  were  lost  by  wreck  or  otherwise,  on  the  Ameri- 
can coast,  during  the  war,  twenty-nine  British  ships-of-war,  mounting  about 
800  guns.  The  American  naval  losses  by  British  capture  were  three  frig- 
ates, viz.,  the  Chesapeake,  Essex,  and  President,  two  sloops-of-war,  six 
brigs,  and  fourteen  smaller  vessels  and  gunboats,  amounting  in  all  to  no  more 
than  twenty-five  vessels-of-war,  carrying  a  total  of  350  guns  ;  while  the 
number  of  American  privateers  and  merchant-vessels  captured  by  the  Eng- 
lish, although  large,  was  much  less  than  the  British  loss  of  similar  ves- 
sels already  stated.  The  statement  of  British  captures  of  American  ves- 
sels, reported  by  the  admiralty  office  to  the  house  of  commons,  on  the  1st 
of  February,  1815,  gives  a  total tof  1,407  merchant-vessels  taken  or  de- 
stroyed, exclusive  of  captures  by  British  privateers,  and  20,961  American 
seamen  prisoners-of-war.*  The  Americans  lost  during  the  war,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  above  vessels  belonging  to  the  navy,  the  frigate  Adams,  in  Pe- 
nobscot  river,  and  a  new  frigate  and  brig  at  Washington  city,  which  were 
•  Niles's  Register,  vol.  ix.,  p.  326. 


378  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

destroyed  to  prevent  them  from  falling  into  the  enemy's  hands.  le  new 
sloop-of-war  Wasp  was  lost  at  sea  sometime  after  capturing  th  British 
sloops-of-war  Reindeer  and  Avon,  in  different  actions. 

In  May,  1815,  a  squadron  of  nine  vessels  of  the  American  navy,  under 
Commodore  Decatur,  sailed  for  the  Mediterranean,  for  the  purpose  of  pun- 
ishing the  Algerines  for  their  depredations  on  American  commerce  ;  that 
piratical  nation  having  taken  advantage  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain  to 
plunder  American  vessels,  and  condemn  their  crews  to  slavery,  notwith- 
standing the  annual  tribute  of  23,000  dollars  which  had  been  paid  their 
government  by  the  United  States,  for  the  preservation  of  peace,  from  1795 
to  1812.  On  the  17th  of  June  the  new  frigate  Guerriere,  commanded  by 
Commodore  Decatur,  fell  in  with  and  captured  the  Algerine  frigate  Magou- 
da,  of  46  guns,  after  a  running  fight  of  twenty  minutes,  killing  30  men, 
among  whom  was  the  admiral  of  the  fleet,  and  taking  more  than  400  pris- 
oners. A  piratical  brig  of  22  guns,  with  180  men,  was  afterward  taken, 
by  other  vessels  of  the  United  States  squadron.  The  American  fleet  soon 
appeared  before  Algiers,  when  the  Algerine  vessels-of-war  were  at  sea, 
and  Commodore  Decatur  dictated  such  terms  as  he  pleased  to  the  dey, 
who,  on  the  30th  of  June,  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  United  States. 
The  terms  were  of  course  honorable  to  the  Americans.  No  tribute  was 
in  future  to  be  paid  by  the  United  States ;  all  American  captives  were  to 
be  released  without  ransom,  and  compensation  was  made  for  such  vessels 
and  property  as  had  been  taken. 

The  fourteenth  Congress  held  their  first  session  at  Washington,  from 
the  4th  of  December,  1815,  to  the  30th  of  April,  1816.  The  state  of  par- 
ties was  similar  to  that  of  the  thirteenth  Congress,  the  democratic  major- 
ity in  the  house  being  slightly  increased,  and  amounting  to  about  fifty  over 
the  federalists.  Most  of  the  members  had  been  elected  during  the  war, 
and  the  old  party  distinctions  were  not  long  kept  up  after  this  period.  Mr. 
Clay,  having  returned  from  negotiating  the  treaty  of  peace  at  Ghent,  was 
again  returned  to  the  house  of  representatives  by  his  former  constituents 
of  Kentucky,  and  for  the  second  lime  he  was  elected  speaker.  He  re- 
ceived 87  votes,  against  32  for  other  candidates,  of  which  only  10  were 
given  for  federalists,  although  65  of  that  party  had  been  elected  to  the 
house.  This  showed  that  the  return  of  peace  had  removed  any  induce- 
ment to  an  organized  opposition  to  the  administration.  Mr.  Gaillard  was 
again  elected  president  of  the  senate  pro  tern. 

At  this  session,  after  an  able  debate  on  the  subject  of  the  direct  tax 
imposed  during  the  war,  in  which  Mr.  Clay,  the  speaker,  Mr.  Calhoun, 
Mr.  Hopkinson,  and  other  members  participated,  and  in  which  the  whole 
policy  of  the  war  and  the  conditions  of  peace  were  reviewed,  a  reduction 
of  a  portion  of  the  taxes  and  duties  of  various  kinds  was  made.  The  ad- 
ditional rates  of  postage  were  abolished,  and  new  rates  established ;  the 
duties  on  domestic  manufactures,  on  gold,  silver,  jewelry,  and  distilled 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  379 

spirits,  were  also  abolished  or  reduced.  The  direct  tax  was  fixed  at  three 
millions,  instead  of  six  millions  required  by  a  former  law.  A  new  tariff 
of  duties  on  importations  was  laid,  in  which  the  intention  was  expressed 
by  Mr.  Calhoun,  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Lowndes,  and  others,  to  establish  a  system 
of  protection  for  American  manufactures.  The  rates  fixed  were,  however, 
insufficient  for  that  object  with  regard  to  many  manufactures  which  had 
been  built  up  during  the  war,  and  were  soon  prostrated  in  consequence 
of  the  excessive  importations  of  foreign  manufactures  which  took  place 
after  the  return  of  peace 

Acts  were  also  passed  at  this  session  for  the  gradual  increase  of  the 
navy ;  for  regulating  the  rates  of  foreign  coins,  and  the  currency  of  the 
United  States  ;  for  building  lighthouses ;  authorizing  the  surveying  and 
making  a  road  in  Illinois  territory ;  increasing  the  pay  of  customhouse 
officers  fifty  per  cent. ;  and  fixing  the  pay  of  members  of  Congress  at 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  in  lieu  of  the  allowance  per  diem,  as 
formerly  established  ;  but  this  last  law  proved  to  be  very  unpopular,  and 
was  repealed  at  the  next  session. 

A  national  bank  was  incorporated  by  Congress  in  April,  1816,  with  a 
capital  of  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars,  to  continue  for  twenty  years.  Al- 
though the  president  had  returned  with  his  veto  a  bill  incorporating  a  bank, 
passed  by  the  thirteenth  Congress,  from  objections  to  some  of  the  clauses, 
he  was  anxious  for  the  establishment  of  such  an  institution ;  both  he  "and 
Mr.  Clay,  the  speaker,  with  others,  having  changed  their  views  from  the 
experience  of  the  government,  during  the  recent  war,  which  had  evinced 
the  want  of  a  national  currency.  The  bill  now  passed  encountered  a 
strong  opposition,  but  received  the  support  of  a  majority  of  the  democratic 
party  in  both  houses  of  Congress,  with  a  portion  of  the  federalists,  and  it 
was  promptly  signed  by  the  president. 

The  annual  sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  for 
providing  arms  and  military  equipments  for  the  militia ;  acts  for  the  relief 
of  purchasers  and  settlers  on  the  public  lands  were  also  passed,  and  those 
of  the  latter  who  had  not  paid  for  the  lands  were  enabled  to  obtain  titles 
on  payment  of  a  small  sum,  and  causing  the  same  to  be  registered  in  the 
public  land  office.  A  system  of  drawbacks  on  sugar  refined,  and  spirits 
distilled  from  molasses,  was  adopted ;  and  an  important  resolution  was 
passed  directing  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  to  take  measures  to  cause 
the  revenue  to  be  collected  and  paid  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United 
States,  or  treasury-notes,  or  notes  of  the  new  national  bank,  or  in  notes  of 
specie-paying  banks.  The  people  of  Indiana  territory  were  authorized  to 
form  a  constitution  and  state  government,  preparatory  to  being  admitted 
into  the  Union.  An  act  passed  on  the  1st  of  March,  1816,  to  give  effect 
to  the  convention  for  regulating  commerce  with  England,  and  repealed  all 
former  acts  discriminating  in  favor  of  goods  imported  in  American  vessels 
over  British  vessels.  An  attempt  was  made  in  the  house  to  alter  the  term 


380  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

of  the  treaty  which  had  been  ratified  by  the  senate,  but  finally,  after  a 
long  debate,  the  house  yielded,  and  passed  the  bill  on  the  subject  which 
had  been  adopted  by  the  senate. 

The  relations  of  the  United  States  with  Spain  were  again  brought  under 
discussion  in  1816.  The  Spanish  minister  at  Washington,  as  instructed, 
remonstrated  against  the  claims  and  occupancy  of  West  Florida  by  the 
United  States.  It  was  claimed  by  our  government  as  a  part  of  Louisia- 
na, and  five  years  before  they  had  taken  possession  of  part  of  the  disputed 
territory,  but  on  the  united  remonstrance  of  Spain  and  France,  the  Amer- 
ican troops  were  withdrawn.  The  government  of  the  United  States  never 
gave  up  its  claim,  and  had  again  occupied  a  portion  of  the  territory  by  an 
armed  force.  The  Spanish  minister  insisted  that  this  occupancy  should 
be  no  longer  held  until  negotiations  could  be  had.  He  also  demanded 
that  no  intercourse  should  be  allowed  between  the  United  Stales  and 
Mexico,  which  province  was  then  in  a  state  of  revolt.  The  secretary  of 
state,  Mr.  Monroe,  in  reply  to  the  Spanish  minister,  did  not  directly  im- 
pugn the  claim  of  Spain  to  West  Florida,  but  represented  that  as  it  was 
now  separated  from  the  Mexican  territory,  it  was  of  but  little  advantage  to 
the  Spanish  nation,  and  an  exchange  of  Florida  for  a  part  of  Louisiana  bor- 
dering on  Texas  was  suggested.  The  minister  was  informed  that  the  Uni- 
ted States  would  preserve  a  strict  neutrality  between  Spain  and  her  re- 
volted colonies.  The  question  of  the  boundary  of  Louisiana  was  also 
discussed,  but  no  definite  result  was  arrived  at  by  this  correspondence,  and 
a  settlement  with  Spain  was  reserved  for  the  next  administration. 

The  democratic  members  of  the  fourteenth  Congress,  before  the  ad- 
journment of  the  first  session,  held  a  caucus  for  the  nomination  of  a  can- 
didate for  president,  as  successor  to  Mr.  Madison,  also  for  vice-president 
An  attempt  was  made  in  the  caucus  to  declare  such  nomination  by  mem- 
bers of  Congress  inexpedient,  but  it  was  unsuccessful.  It  was  understood 
that  Mr.  Madison  and  his  confidential  friends  preferred  Mr.  Monroe  to 
any  other  candidate  to  succeed  him.  Several  plans  and  intrigues  were  sut 
on  foot  to  defeat  this  nomination,  particularly  by  those  republicans  who 
were  opposed  to  Virginia  influence,  which  state  had  already  given  presi- 
dents to  the  Union  for  twenty-four  out  of  the  twenty-eight  years  during 
the  existence  of  the  government. 

Colonel  Aaron  Burr,  who  then  resided  in  New  York,  wrote  to  his  son- 
in-law,  Joseph  Alston,  ex-governor  of  South  Carolina,  on  the  20th  of  No- 
vember, 1815,  informing  him  that  a  congressional  caucus  would  soon  nom- 
inate James  Monroe  for  president  of  the  United  States.  After  denouncing 
Mr.  Monroe  as  an  improper  and  incompetent  candidate,  the  manner  of  the 
nomination  as  equally  exceptionable,  and  the  Virginia  domination  as  odi- 
ous, Colonel  Burr  urges  upon  Governor  Alston  to  take  measures  to  break 
down  the  system,  by  "  a  respectable  nomination  of  General  Andrew  Jack- 
son, before  the  proclamation  of  the  Virginia  caucus,  and  Jackson's  success," 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON.  381 

lie  adds,  "  is  inevitable."  Governor  Alston  fully  coincided  with  Colonel 
Burr  in  sentiment,  but  ill  health,  and  grief  from  family  afflictions,  prevented 
his  attention  to  the  suggestion. 

Governor  Tompkins,  of  New  York,  had  rendered  important  services  and 
support  to  the  administration  and  the  country  during  the  war.  When  Mr. 
Monroe  was  called  to  act  as  secretary  of  war,  in  place  of  General  Arm- 
strong, Mr.  Madison  proposed  to  Governor  Tompkins  that  Monroe  should 
vacate  the  office  of  secretary  of  state,  and  that  he  (Tompkins)  should  be 
placed  at  the  head  of  that  department.  Although  Governor  Tompkins  felt 
it  his  duty  to  decline  the  office,  alleging  as  a  reason,  that  he  could  render 
more  service  to  the  nation  as  governor  of  New  York,  than  as  a  member  of 
the  cabinet,  he  considered  that,  according  to  the  precedent  which  had  been 
established,  this  offer  was  a  commitment  on  the  part  of  the  administration 
to  support  him  for  the  next  president.  The  democratic  members  of  the 
legislature  of  New  York,  in  February,  1816,  instructed  their  members  in 
Congress  to  sustain  the  claims  of  Tompkins,  but  it  was  soon  ascertained 
by  those  members  of  Congress  that  his  nomination  could  not  be  effected. 

The  opposition  to  Mr.  Monroe's  nomination  was  finally  concentrated  on 
William  H.  Crawford,  of  Georgia.  He  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  but  in 
early  life  had  emigrated  to  Georgia,  which  state  he  ably  represented  in  the 
senate,  from  1807  to  1813.  Although  attached  to  the  democratic  party,  he 
advocated  the  recharter  of  the  first  bank  of  the  United  States,  in  1810,  and 
afterward  became  dissatisfied  with  what  he  deemed  the  indecisive  course 
of  Mr.  Madison  with  regard  to  the  difficulties  with  Great  Britain.  He  voted 
for  the  declaration  of  war,  and  during  the  war  he  was  appointed  minister  to 
France  ;  on  his  return  thence,  he  took  charge  of  the  war  department,  as 
secretary.  His  friends  claimed  for  him  the  character  of  a  man  of  superior 
intellect  and  talents,  strictly  honorable  in  his  political  course,  and  posses- 
sing much  independence  and  decision  as  a  statesman. 

Every  effort  having  been  made  by  the  friends  of  the  two  candidates  to 
secure  the  nomination,  the  congressional  caucus  was  held  on  the  16th  of 
March,  181G,  and  on  the  ballot  for  a  candidate  for  president,  James  Monroe 
received  65  votes,  and  William  H.Crawford  54  ;  consequently  James  Mon- 
roe was  nominated  for  president.  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  received  the  nomi- 
nation for  vice-president,  by  85  votes,  against  30  for  Simon  Snyder,  gov- 
ernor of  Pennsylvania. 

When  the  election  came  on,  toward  the  close  of  the  year  1816,  Monroe 
and  Tompkins  received  183  electoral  votes  for  president  and  vice-presi- 
dent, and  34  electoral  votes  were  given  by  the  federal  party  to  Rufus 
King  for  president,  and  to  several  persons  for  vice-president. 

The  views  of  Mr.  Madison  on  subjects  of  national  policy,  as  developed 
in  his  last  annual  message  to  Congress,  which  met  on  the  2d  of  Decem- 
ber, 1816,  and  continued  until  the  close  of  his  administration,  were  con- 
sidered liberal  and  important  to  the  interests  of  the  country. 


382  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MADISON. 

The  most  important  acts  passed  at  this  second  session  of  the  fourteenth 
Congress,  were  as  follows  : — 

An  act  was  passed  to  provide  for  paying  off  the  national  debt,  which  at 
this  time  exceeded  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  by  annual 
instalments  of  ten  millions.  Mr.  Lowndes,  one  of  the  most  able  statesment 
of  South  Carolina,  and  chairman  of  the  committee  of  ways  and  means  in 
the  house,  was  the  author  of  this  measure,  under  the  operations  of  which 
the  national  debt  was  finally  extinguished.  A  law  was  enacted  author- 
izing the  secretary  of  the  navy,  under  the  direction  of  the  president,  to 
cause  a  survey  of  those  public  lands  which  produced  live  oak  and  red  ce- 
dar timber,  to  be  reserved  and  appropriated  for  the  use  of  the  navy.  The 
navigation  laws  were  revised,  so  as  to  give  further  advantages  to  vessels 
of  the  United  States,  and  no  goods  or  merchandise  were  allowed  to  be  im- 
ported from  foreign  ports  except  in  American  bottoms,  or  in  such  foreign 
vessels  as  belonged  to  the  country  of  which  the  goods  were  the  subject  or 
manufacture.  Acts  were  also  passed  for  the  regulation  of  territories  of  the 
United  States,  by  which  each  of  them  was  allowed  to  send  one  delegate 
to  Congress,  who  should  have  a  right  to  take  part  in  debate  in  the  house 
of  representatives,  but  not  of  voting ;  for  establishing  a  separate  territory 
by  the  name  of  Alabama ;  to  preserve  more  effectually  the  neutral  relations 
of  the  United  States  ;  to  fix  the  peace  establishment  of  the  marine  corps 
at  eight  hundred  men,  including  officers  ;  providing  for  the  location  of  the 
lands  reserved  for  the  Creek  Indians  ;  for  the  punishment  of  crimes  and 
offences  committed  within  the  Indian  boundaries ;  and  for  the  relief  of 
persons  imprisoned  for  debts  due  to  the  United  States.  The  state  of  Indi- 
ana having  formed  a  constitution,  in  conformity  to  act  of  Congress,  was  by 
joint  resolution  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  llth  of  December,  1816. 
The  people  of  the  western  part  of  Mississippi  territory  were  authorized 
to  form  a  constitution,  preparatory  to  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  state. 

A  bill  appropriating  the  bonus  which  the  United  States  bank  was  to  pay 
the  government  for  their  charter,  to  purposes  of  internal  improvement,  was 
passed  by  both  houses,  at  this  session,  after  an  able  and  full  discussion  of 
the  constitutionality  and  expediency  of  a  system  of  internal  improvements 
by  the  general  government ;  but  was  returned  to  Congress  by  the  presi- 
dent, with  his  objections,  which  involved  constitutional  scruples,  and  con- 
sequently the  measure  failed  to  become  a  law. 

The  administration  of  President  Madison  terminated  on  the  3d  of 
March,  1817,  and  he  surrendered  the  affairs  of  the  government  into  the 
hands  of  his  friend  and  associate,  Mr.  Monroe,  with  the  satisfaction  of 
having  seen  the  nation  pass  honorably  through  the  trying  scenes  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  time  while  he  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  republic ;  and  that 
he  could  now  retire  from  the  cares  of  office  at  a  time  of  general  peace 
and  prosperity,  with  the  prospect  for  his  country  of  a  bright  and  glorious 
career,  in  her  destiny  as  a  great  and  independent  nation. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH 


OF 


JAMES     MONROE 


THE  family  of  Monroe  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  honorable  among 
the  early  settlers  of  Virginia.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  tide  water  section 
of  that  state  has  produced  fou,r  of  the  first  five  presidents  of  the  United 
States  ;  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  Monroe,  having  been  born  in 
that  part  of  Virginia,  and  within  a  few  miles  of  each  other.  The  same  sec- 
tion of  country,  it  may  be  added,  was  honored  also  as  the  birthplace  of 
the  biographer  of  Washington,  who  for  many  years  was  the  ornament  of 
the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States — Chief- Justice  Marshall. 

The  fifth  president  of  the  United  States,  James  Monroe,  was  born  on 
the  2d  of  April,  1759,  in  the  county  of  Westmoreland,  Virginia.  His  pa- 
rents were  Spence  Monroe  and  Elizabeth  Jones,  both  members  of  old  and 
highly  respectable  families  in  the  ancient  dominion.  His  early  youth  was 
passed  in  the  mit^st  of  that  exciting  contest  which  led  to  the  American 
revolution  ;  the  stamp  act  being  passed  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  age.  He 
was  thus  educated  in  the  detestation  of  tyranny,  and  prompted  by  a  patri- 
otism which  went  beyond  his  years,  he  left  the  college  of  William  and 
Mary,  where  he  was  pursuing  collegiate  studies,  to  join  the  standard  of 
his  country,  in  the  18th  year  of  his  age.  The  declaration  of  independ- 
ence had  just  been  issued,  and  at  that  disastrous  moment  when  Washing- 
ton was  preparing  to  defend  New  York,  against  the  increasing  armies  of 
England ;  when  the  timid  and  wavering  were  sinking  from  the  side  of 
their  country's  chief,  James  Monroe  arrived  at  headquarters,  with  a  firm 
determination  to  share  her  fate,  whether  for  good  or  for  evil.* 

During  the  gloomy  year  of  1776,  he  shared  with  the  army  their  defeats 
and  their  privations  ;  was  present  at  the  disastrous  battles  of  Harlem 

*  For  a  part  of  this  sketch  we  are  indebted  to  the  American  Annual  Register,  vol  TJ., 
published  in  1832. 


384  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MONROE. 

heights  and  Whiteplains ;  and  in  the  battle  of  Trenton,  while  leading  the 
vanguard,  he  received  a  wound,  the  scar  of  which  he  carried  to  his  grave. 
After  recovering  from  his  wound,  he  was  promoted  for  his  gallantry,  to  the 
rank  of  a  captain  of  infantry,  and  returned  to  active  service.  During  the 
campaigns  of  1777  and  1778,  he  acted  as  aid  to  Lord  Stirling,  and  by 
accepting  this  place  in  the  staff  of  that  general,  he  receded  from  the  line 
of  promotion ;  but  in  that  capacity  he  distinguished  himself  in  the  actions 
of  Brandywine,  Germantown,  and  Monmouth.  Becoming  desirous  to  re- 
gain his  position  in  the  line  of  the  army,  he  endeavored  to  raise  a  regi- 
ment of  Virginia  troops,  under  the  recommendation  of  General  Washing- 
ton, and  the  authority  of  the  legislature.  In  this  he  failed,  owing  to  the 
exhausted  state  of  the  country.  He  therefore  devoted  himself  to  the  study 
of  the  law,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  then  governor 
of  the  state.  He  occasionally  acted  as  a  volunteer  in  repelling  the  inva- 
sions with  which  Virginia  was  afterward  visited  ;  and  after  the  fall  of 
Charleston,  in  1780,  he  repaired  to  the  southern  army,  as  a  military  com- 
missioner, to  collect  information  as  to  its  ability  to  rescue  that  portion  of 
the  Union  from  the  enemy.  This  duty  was  performed  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  governor,  by  whom  he  was  appointed. 

He  now  commenced  his  career  in  the  legislative  councils  of  his  coun- 
try, being  elected  in  1782,  by  the  county  of  King  George,  a  member  of 
the  legislature  of  Virginia,  and  by  that  body  shortly  after  chosen  a  mem- 
ber of  the  executive  council.  He  was  then  only  in  his  twenty-fourth  year, 
but  appears  to  have  evinced  sufficient  tact  in  legislation  to  induce  the 
legislature  to  elect  him  the  following  year  one  of  the  delegates  to  represent 
the  state  in  the  continental  Congress.  He  took  his  seat  in  that  body  on  the 
13th  of  December,  just  in  time  to  be  present  at  Annapolis  when  Washing- 
ton surrendered  his  commission  into  the  hands  of  the  authority  by  whom 
he  had  been  appointed.  From  that  time  until  1786,  Mr.  Monroe  contin- 
ued to  represent  his  native  state  in  Congress,  and  became  entirely  con- 
vinced of  the  inefficiency  of  that  body  to  govern  the  country  under  the  ar- 
ticles of  confederation.  He  accordingly  sought  an  extension  of  its  pow- 
ers, and  in  1785  moved  to  invest  Congress  with  the  power  of  regulating 
trade.  This  resolution,  together  with  another  in  favor  of  investing  it  with 
the  power  of  levying  an  impost  duty  of  five  per  cent.,  were  referred  to  a 
committee,  of  which  Mr.  Monroe  was  chairman. 

A  report  was  made,  which  combined  both  the  objects,  arid  proposed 
such  alterations  in  the  articles  of  confederation  as  were  necessary  to  vest 
in  Congress  the  powers  required.  These  were  among  the  steps  which 
led  to  the  convention  at  Annapolis,  and  consequently  to  the  formation  and 
adoption  of  the  federal  constitution.  Mr.  Monroe  was  also  active  and  in- 
fluential in  devising  a  system  for  disposing  of  and  settling  the  public  lands, 
and  warmly  opposed  the  plan  of  selling  each  range  of  townships  separately, 
before  any  other  should  be  offered  for  sale. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MONROE.  385 

On  the  24th  of  December,  1784,  Mr.  Monroe  was  appointed,  with  eight 
other  highly  distinguished  men  of  that  period,  members  of  a  federal  court,  to 
decide  the  long  pending  controversy  between  Massachusetts  and  New 
York.  He  accepted  of  the  appointment,  but  on  the  15th  of  May,  1786,  he 
resigned  his  commission,  and  the  two  states  having,  during  the  same  year, 
adjusted  the  matter  by  mutual  agreement,  the  court  never  met. 

Mr.  Monroe  differed  from  both  New  York  and  Massachusetts  on  the 
question  of  relinquishing  our  right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi  river,  as  de- 
manded by  Spain  and  assented  to  by  the  northern  states.  The  southern 
states  opposed  the  relinquishment  of  this  right,  and  Mr.  Monroe  took  a 
leading  part  against  any  concession  to  Spain. 

While  attending  the  continental  Congress,  as  a  member,  at  New  York, 
Mr.  Monroe  married  Miss  Kortright,  daughter  of  Mr.  L.  Kortright,  of  that 
city.  This  lady  had  been  celebrated  in  the  fashionable  circles  of  London 
and  Paris  for  her  beauty  and  accomplishments,  and  in  married  life  she 
was  exemplary,  as  well  as  an  ornament  to  the  society  in  which  she  was 
called  to  act  during  the  scenes  of  her  husband's  subsequent  career. 

Toward  the  conclusion  of  the  year  1786,  Mr.  Monroe's  term  of  service 
in  Congress  expired,  and,  by  the  rule  then  adopted,  being  ineligible  for  a 
second  term,  he  established  himself  at  Fredericksburg,  with  the  view  of 
practising  law.  He  was  soon,  however,  again  called  from  the  pursuits  of 
private  life,  by  being  elected  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  the  follow- 
ing year,  1788,  he  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  state  convention,  assem- 
bled to  decide  upon  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution. 

Notwithstanding  Mr.  Monroe  was  convinced  of  the  inefficiency  of  the 
articles  of  confederation,  and  of  the  necessity  of  a  radical  change  in  the 
government  of  the  Union,  he  was  not  altogether  prepared  to  adopt  the  fed- 
eral constitution,  as  framed  by  the  convention  of  1787.  He  thought  that 
certain  amendments  ought  to  be  made  previous  to  its  adoption,  and  deci- 
dedly advocated  that  course  in  the  convention.  We  have  already  stated, 
in  the  memoir  of  Mr.  Madison,  that  the  leading  men  of  Virginia  in  the 
state  convention,  were  much  divided  on  the  question  of  the  adoption  of  the 
constitution.  Among  those  who  opposed  it  in  that  body,  besides  Mr. 
Monroe,  were  Patrick  Henry,  Geprge  Mason,  and  William  Grayson,  while 
its  most  powerful  advocates  were  James  Madison,  John  Marshall,  Ed- 
mund Randolph,  and  Edmund  Pendleton.  The  convention  finally  adopted 
the  constitution  as  it  was,  by  a  vote  of  89  to  79,  Mr.  Monroe  being 
among  the  negatives ;  certain  amendments  were  at  the  same  time  recom- 
mended for  the  adoption  of  the  states,  instead  of  being  insisted  on  previ- 
ous to  the  acceptance  of  the  constitution. 

The  course  which  Mr.  Monroe  pursued  on  this  occasion  was  accepta- 
ble to  the  state  of  Virginia,  as  was  proved  by  the  election  of  a  majority 
of  anti-federalists  to  Congress,  including  the  two  senators ;  and  on  the 
death  of  Mr.  Grayson,  one  of  the  latter,  Mr.  Monroe  was  chosen  to  the 

VOL.  I.— 25 


386  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MONROE. 

senate  of  the  United  States  in  his  place,  and  took  his  seat  in  that  body 
in  1790.  In  this  station  he  continued  until  1794,  acting  with  the  anti-fed- 
eral party  in  opposition  to  Washington's  administration,  as  did  Mr.  Madi- 
son and  most  of  the  Virginia  delegation  in  Congress.  The  French  re- 
publican government  having  requested  the  recall  of  Gouverneur  Morris, 
American  minister  to  France,  General  Washington  complied  with  their 
wishes,  as  also  those  of  the  democratic  party  in  Congress,  and  appointed 
Mr.  Monroe  the  successor  of  Mr.  Morris,  in  May,  1794.  He  was  re- 
ceived with  distinguished  favor  in  France  by  the  government  and  people, 
but  the  course  he  pursued  during  his  residence  at  the  capital  of  that  re- 
public was  not  conformable  to  the  views  of  neutrality  entertained  by  Gen- 
eral Washingt.cn,  who  therefore  recalled  him  in  1796,  and  sent  Charles 
Cotesworth  Pinckney  in  his  place. 

On  his  return  to  the  United  States,  Mr.  Monroe  published  a  volume  in 
explanation  of  his  views  and  proceedings  relative  to  his  mission  to  France, 
vindicating  his  own  course,  and  censuring  the  policy  of  the  administration 
toward  the  French  republic. 

He,  however,  did  not  cherish  any  animosity  toward  General  Washing- 
ton, but  at  a  subsequent  period  he  joined  with  his  countrymen  in  ac- 
knowledging the  merits  and  perfect  integrity  of  that  great  man.  He 
also  did  ample  justice  to  the  character  of  John  Jay,  who  negotiated  his 
celebrated  treaty  with  Great  Britain  about  the  same  time  that  Mr.  Monroe 
visited  France.  Although  opposed  to  the  treaty  made  by  Mr.  Jay,  and  to 
his  political  views  generally,  Mr.  Monroe  left  on  record  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, an  unqualified  testimonial  to  the  pure  patriotism,  the  pre-eminent 
ability,  and  the  spotless  integrity  of  John  Jay. 

Shortly  after  his  return  from  France,  Mr.  Monroe  was  chosen  to  the 
legislature,  and  in  1799  he  was  elected  by  that  body  governor  of  Virginia, 
where  he  served  for  the  term  of  three  years,  then  limited  by  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  state. 

In  1803,  President  Jefferson  appointed  Mr.  Monroe  envoy  extraordinary 
to  France,  to  act  jointly  with  Mr.  Livingston,  then  resident  minister  at 
Paris,  to  negotiate  the  purchase  of  New  Orleans,  or  a  right  of  depot  for 
the  United  States  on  the  Mississippi.  He  was  also  associated  with  Mr. 
Charles  Pinckney,  then  resident  minister  at  Madrid,  to  negotiate  terms 
also  with  Spain  relative  to  Louisiana. 

We  have,  in  our  notice  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration,  given  an  ac- 
count of  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  by  the  United  States,  of  France. 
That  country  had  been  ceded  by  Spain  to  France,  and  Mr.  Monroe,  upon 
his  arrival  in  France,  found  a  most  favorable  conjuncture  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  mission,  in  being  enabled  to  obtain  for  his  country 
the  possession,  not  only  of  New  Orleans,  but  of  the  whole  province  of 
Louisiana.  The  treaty  was  concluded  within  a  fortnight  after  the  arrival 
of  Mr.  Monroe  at  Paris,  and  after  the  conclusion  of  the  negotiation  he 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MONROE.  387 

proceeded  to  London,  where  he  was  also  commissioned  to  act  as  succes- 
sor to  Mr.  Rufus  King,  who  had  resigned. 

Here  he  sought  to  obtain  a  conventional  arrangement  for  the  protection 
of  American  seamen  against  impressment,  and  for  the  protection  of  neu- 
tral rights  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  these  discussions  he  was  called  away  to 
the  discharge  of  his  mission  to  Spain. 

In  the  transfer  of  Louisiana  to  France  by  Spain,  and  to  the  United 
States  by  France,  the  boundaries  of  the  province  were  not  defined.  Spain 
was  encouraged  to  dispute  the  extent  of  the  province,  and  she  sought  to 
reduce  it  to  a  territory  of  small  dimensions.  A  controversy  arose  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Spain,  at  one  time  threatening  war,  and  for 
the  purpose  of  attempting  an  adjustment  of  these  difficulties  Mr.  Monroo 
proceeded  to  Madrid.  His  efforts,  joined  with  those  of  Mr.  Pinckney, 
were  unsuccessful,  and  the  controversy  was  left  unsettled. 

Mr.  Monroe  was  then  recalled  to  London  to  maintain  our  rights  as  neu- 
trals, against  the  systematic  encroachment  of  Great  Britain.  He  was 
there  joined  by  Mr.  William  Pinkney,  who  had  then  been  recently  sent 
from  the  United  States,  as  minister  to  England.  A  whig  ministry  being 
then  in  power  in  Great  Britain,  with  the  friendly  feelings  of  that  parly 
toward  the  United  States,  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney  were  enabled  t.o 
negotiate  a  treaty,  in  1807,  which,  although  not  as  favorable  as  they  would 
have  wished,  was  considered  by  those  envoys  as  advantageous  to  the  Uni- 
ted States.  As  the  treaty  was  clogged  with  certain  conditions  which  were 
deemed  by  President  Jefferson  inadmissible,  it  was  not  submitted  by  him 
to  the  senate,  but  sent  back  to  England  for  revisal.  The  British  cabinet, 
however,  had  been  changed,  and  Mr.  Canning,  the  secretary  for  foreign 
affairs,  refused  to  resume  the  negotiation.  The  mission  of  Messrs.  Mon* 
roe  and  Pinkney  was  now  at  an  end.  Mr.  Monroe,  after  a  short  detention, 
in  consequence  of  the  difficulty  which  grew  out  of  the  affair  of  the  Ches- 
apeake frigate,  returned  to  the  United  States  in  1807. 

For  a  considerable  time  Mr.  Monroe  felt  dissatisfied  with  his  friend, 
President  Jefferson,  in  consequence  of  his  rejection  of  the  treaty  with 
Great  Britain  without  consulting  the  senate,  and  also  from  an  impression 
that  the  president's  influence  was  exerted  in  favor  of  Mr.  Madison  as  his 
successor  to  the  presidency.  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his  correspondence  with 
Mr.  Monroe,  explained  his  course  with  regard  to  the  rejection  of  the 
treaty,  and  declared  his  intention  to  remain  perfectly  neutral  between  his 
two  friends  who  were  named  to  succeed  him.  The  Virginia  legislature 
settled  their  respective  claims  to  the  presidency,  by  deciding  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Madison,  in  which  decision  Mr.  Monroe  and  his  friends  acquiesced. 

In  1811  he  was  again  elected  governor  of  Virginia,  but  continued  but 
a  short  time  in  that  station,  for  upon  the  resignation  of  Robert  Smith,  he 
was  nppointed  by  Mr.  Madison  secretary  of  state.  This  office  he  contin- 
ued to  hold  during  the  remainder  of  Mr.  Madison's  administration. 


388  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MONROE. 

After  the  capture  of  Washington  city,  and  the  resignation  of  Genera. 
Armstrong,  Mr.  Monroe  was  appointed  to  the  war  department,  without, 
however,  resign' ing  as  secretary  of  state.  In  this  station  he  exhibited  ;i 
remarkable  energy  and  boldness  of  character.  He  found  the  treasury  ex- 
hausted, and  the  public  credit  prostrated ;  while  the  enemy,  relieved  from 
liis  war  with  France,  was  preparing  to  turn  his  numerous  armies,  flushed 
with  victory  over  the  legions  of  Napoleon,  against  the  United  States.  The 
first  duty  of  the  secretary  of  war  was  to  prepare  for  the  new  campaign,  and 
this  he  was  enabled  to  do  by  the  now  excited  spirit  of  the  country.  The 
army  already  authorized  by  acts  of  Congress,  if  the  regiments  were  full, 
numbered  60,000  men,  which  Mr.  Monroe  proposed  to  increase  by  the  ad- 
dition of  40,000,  and  to  levy  new  recruits  by  draughting  from  the  whole 
mass  of  able-bodied  men  in  the  United  States.  This  proposition,  which 
was  considered  an  imitation  of  the  French  mode  of  conscription  long  prac- 
tised by  Napoleon,  and  would  inevitably  have  lost  him  the  favor  of  the 
people,  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  make,  and  had  intended,  in  case  of  the 
continuance  of  the  war,  to  withdraw  his  name  from  the  presidential  can- 
vass. To  two  or  three  friends  he  disclosed  his  feelings  on  this  occasion, 
in  confidence,  and  had  authorized  them  to  publish  his  intention  of  decli- 
ning a  nomination  as  successor  to  Mr.  Madison,  when  the  conclusion  of 
peace  rendered  the  increase  of  the  army  unnecessary,  and  therefore 
removed  the  objections  to  his  being  a  candidate  for  president. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  year  1814,  Mr.  Monroe's  attention,  as  secretary 
of  war,  was  most  urgently  called  to  the  defence  of  New  Orleans,  against 
which  a  powerful  fleet  and  army  had  been  despatched.  To  raise  the 
funds  for  the  defence  of  this  important  point,  Mr.  Monroe  was  compelled 
t.o  pledge  his  private  credit,  as  subsidiary  to  that  of  the  government,  which 
then  was  at  a  low  ebb.  By  this  act  of  devotion  he  was  enabled  to  furnish 
the  necessary  supplies  ;  New  Orleans  was  successfully  defended,  and  the 
entire  defeat  of  the  British  army  under  General  Packenham  terminated 
the  war  in  a  manner  honorable  to  the  American  arms. 

A  new  series  of  duties  now  awaited  Mr.  Monroe.  Upon  the  Conclusion 
of  peace  he  resumed  his  station  in  the  department  of  state,  and  as  the  long- 
tried  friend  and  confidential  adviser  of  Mr.  Madison,  he  was  called  to  the 
arduous  task  of  deciding  upon  those  measures  which  aimed  at  the  re-es- 
tablishment of  the  public  credit,  and  to  place  the  country  in  a  better  state 
of  preparation,  in  case  she  should  be  called  upon  again  to  assert  her  rights 
by  an  appeal  to  arms.  Our  foreign  relations,  which  had  been  partially 
suspended  during  the  war,  were  to  be  renewed,  and  the  domestic  policy 
of  the  United  States  required  to  be  modified  so  as  to  adapt  it  to  the  great 
changes  which  had  been  produced  by  the  general  pacification  of  Europe 
In  the  performance  of  the  arduous  duties  imposed  upon  him  at  this  period, 
Mr.  Monroe  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  sustained  by  public  opinion,  and 
with  that  auxiliary  he  lent  his  zealous  co-operation  to  Mr.  Madison  in  es- 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MONROE.  389 

lablishing  the  system  of  internal  policy,  adopted  after  the  close  of  the  war. 
and  continued  it  with  new  and  enlarged  features  after  his  election  as  pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  in  1817. 

In  1816,  Mr.  Monroe  received  the  nomination  of  the  democratic  party, 
through  their  representatives  in  Congress,  for  president  of  the  United 
States.  With  that  party  he  had  uniformly  acted,  under  the  various  names 
of  anti-federal,  democratic,  and  republican,  and  by  them  was  he  elected, 
in  1816,  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation,  to  succeed  Mr.  Madison,  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1817.  Previous  to  entering  on  the  duties  of  his  high  office, 
he  was  advised  by  General  Jackson,  with  whom  he  was  on  the  most 
friendly  terms,  to  disregard  former  party  divisions  in  the  formation  of  his 
cabinet,  and  to  use  his  influence  and  power  to  destroy  party  spirit,  by  ap- 
pointing the  best  men  to  office,  without  regard  to  their  political  preferen- 
ces. This  course  Mr.  Monroe  declined  to  pursue,  confining  his  appoint- 
ments generally,  as  did  his  predecessors  Jefferson  and  Madison,  to  those 
who  professed  his  own  political  faith,  and  excluding  federalists  from  office, 
with  but  few  exceptions. 

In  other  respects  the  policy  of  Mr.  Monroe  was  liberal  and  satisfactory 
to  men  of  all  parties,  excepting,  perhaps,  the  ardent  supporters  of  a  sys- 
tem of  internal  improvements,  who  regretted  the  adherence  of  the  presi- 
dent to  a  strict  construction  of  the  constitution  on  that  subject.  On  many 
points  the  policy  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration  resembled  that  of  the 
federal  school  established  in  the  early  stages  of  the  government  under  the 
auspices  of  Washington  and  Hamilton.  The  perfecting  of  the  establish- 
ment of  a  national  bank,  of  the  plan  for  the  gradual  discharge  of  the  pub- 
lic debt,  of  the  system  of  fortifying  the  coast  and  increasing  the  navy, 
and  of  encouraging  by  adequate  protection  the  manufactures  and  arts  of 
the  country,  formed  essential  parts  of  the  policy  referred  to,  adopted  at  the 
close  of  Mr.  Madison's  administration,  and  continued  by  that  of  Mr.  Monroe. 
To  these  measures  Mr.  Monroe,  finally,  after  long  deliberation,  and  with 
the  entire  concurrence  of  his  whole  cabinet,  sanctioned  by  repeated  dem- 
onstrations of  Congress,  determined  to  add  a  system  of  internal  improve- 
ment, thus  yielding  his  own  scruples  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  na- 
tion. This  was  done  on  the  30th  of  April,  1824,  when  the  act  appropria- 
ting $30,000  for  the  survey  of  such  routes  for  canals  and  public  roads  as 
ttu  presidei.t  might  direct,  received  his  sanction. 

Among  the  measures  which  distinguished  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Monroe,  was  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty  which  added  Florida  to  the  Uni- 
ten  States.  This  cession  secured  to  the  nation  all  the  territory  north  of 
Mexico  ;  aqd  it  was  negotiated  with  great  propriety  by  one  who  had  borne 
so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana. 

In  1817  the  president  made  a  tour  through  a  large  portion  of  the  north- 
ern and  middle  states,  which  elicited  a  general  expression  of  kindness, 
respect,  and  courtesy  from  the  people. 


390  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MONROE. 

Mr.  Monroe  was  re-elected  president  in  1820,  with  more  unanimity 
than  any  one  since  Washington,  receiving  every  vote  of  the  electoral  col- 
leges of  the  United  States,  except  one,  and  ended  his  career  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  federal  government  on  the  3d  of  March,  1825.  He  then  retired 
to  his  residence  in  Loudon  county,  Virginia,  where  he  was  shortly  alter 
appointed  a  county  magistrate,  the  duties  of  which  office  he  continued  to 
discharge  until  his  departure  for  the  city  of  New  York.  He  was  also  ap- 
pointed curator  of  the  university  of  Virginia;  and  in  1830,  having  been 
elected  a  member  of  the  convention  called  to  revise  the  constitution  of 
that  state,  he  was  unanimously  chosen  to  preside  over  its  deliberations. 
Hefore  the  close  of  its  labors,  however,  he  was  compelled  by  severe  in- 
disposition to  retire,  and  in  the  succeeding  summer  removed  to  New  York, 
to  take  up  his  abode  with  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Samuel  L.  Gouverneur. 
There  he  remained,  surrounded  by  filial  solicitude  and  tenderness,  until,  on 
the  fifty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  nation's  birth  (July  4,  1831),  he  termina- 
ted his  earthly  career,  in  the  72d  year  of  his  age  ;  furnishing  another  stri- 
king coincidence,  which,  as  in  the  instance  of  the  simultaneous  deaths  of 
Adams  and  Jefferson,  on  the  same  day,  five  years  previous,  afforded  occa- 
sion for  grave  reflection,  and  seemed  pregnant  with  some  mysterious 
moral  lesson  to  a  nation  whose  attention  was  thus  forcibly  directed  to  the 
act  which,  while  it  gave  it  birth  as  an  independent  community,  also  served 
to  mark  the  commencement  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Mr.  Monroe  left  only  two  children,  both  daughters,  one  the  widow  of 
George  Hay,  Esq.,  of  Richmond,  the  other  the  wife  of  Samuel  L.  Gouv- 
erneur, Esq.,  of  New  York.  Mrs.  Monroe  died  but  a  short  time  before  her 
venerable  husband. 

Though  in  the  course  of  his  life  he  had  received  from  the  public  treas- 
ury, for  his  services,  $358,000,  he  retired  from  office  deeply  in  debt.  He 
was,  however,  relieved  at  last  by  the  adjustment  by  Congress  of  his 
claims,  founded  chiefly  on  the  disbursements  made  during  the  war. 

In  his  personal  appearance  Mr.  Monroe  was  tall  and  well  formed,  being 
about  six  feet  in  stature,  with  light  complexion,  and  blue  eyes.  His 
countenance  had  no  indications  of  superior  intellect,  but  an  honesty  and 
firmness  of  purpose  which  commanded  respect,  and  gained  favor  and 
friendship.  He  was  laborious  and  industrious,  and  doubtless  compensated 
in  some  degree  by  diligence,  for  slowness  of  thought  and  want  of  imagi- 
nation. His  talents,  however,  were  respectable,  and  he  was  a  fine  speci- 
men of  the  old  school  of  Virginia  gentlemen,  generous,  hospitable,  and 
devoted  to  his  country,  which  he  did  not  hesitate  to  serve  to  the  utmost 
of  his  ability,  through  a  long  life,  and  his  career  was  highly  honorable, 
useful,  and  worthy  of  admiration. 


MONROE'S 

ADDRESSES  AND  MESSAGES. 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

MARCH  5,  1817. 

I  SHOULD  be  destitute  of  feeling  if  I  was  not  deeply  affected  by  the 
strong  proof  which  my  fellow-citizens  have  given  me  of  their  confidence, 
in  calling  me  to  the  high  office  whose  functions  I  am  about  to  assume. 
As  the  expression  of  their  good  opinion  of  my  conduct  in  the  public  ser- 
vice, I  derive  from  it  a  gratification  which  those  who  are  conscious  of 
having  done  all  that  they  could  to  merit  it  can  alone  feel.  My  sensibility 
is  increased  by  a  just  estimate  of  the  importance  of  the  trust,  and  of  the 
nature  and  extent  of  its  duties,  with  the  proper  discharge  of  which  the 
highest  interests  of  a  great  and  free  people  are  intimately  connected. 
Conscious  of  my  own  deficiency,  I  can  not  enter  on  these  duties  without 
great  anxiety  for  the  result.  From  a  just  responsibility  I  will  never 
shrink ;  calculating  with  confidence,  that  in  my  best  efforts  to  promote  the 
public  welfare,  my  motives  will  always  be  duly  appreciated,  arid  my  con- 
duct be  viewed  with  that  candor  and  indulgence  which  I  have  expe- 
rienced in  other  stations. 

In  commencing  the  duties  of  the  chief  executive  office,  it  has  been  the 
practice  of  the  distinguished  men  who  have  gone  before  me  to  explain  the 
principles  which  would  govern  them  in  their  respective  administrations. 
In  following  their  venerated  example,  my  attention  is  naturally  drawn  to 
the  great  causes  which  have  contributed  in  a  principal  degree  to  produce 
the  present  happy  condition  of  the  United  States.  They  will  best  explain 
the  nature  of  our  duties,  and  shed  much  light  on  the  policy  which  ought 
to  be  pursued  in  future. 

From  the  commencement  of  our  revolution  to  the  present  day,  almost 
forty  years  have  elapsed,  and  from  the  establishment  of  this  constitution 
twenty-eight.  Through  this  whole  term,  the  government  has  been  what 
may  emphatically  be  called,  self-government ;  and  what  has  been  the  ef- 
fect? To  whatever  object  we  turn  our  attention,  whether  it  relates  to  our 
foreign  or  domestic  concerns,  we  find  abundant  cause  to  felicitate  our- 
selves in  the  excellence  of  our  institutions.  During  a  period  fraught  with 
difficulties,  and  marked  by  very  extraordinary  events,  the  United  States 
have  flourished  beyond  example.  Their  citizens  individually  have  been 
happy,  and  the  nation  prosperous. 

Under  this  constitution,  our  commerce  has  been  wisely  regulated  with 
foreign  nations  and  between  the  states ;  new  states  have  been  admitted 


392.  MONROE'S  INAUGURAL  MESSAGE.  ^ 

into  our  Union  ;  our  territory  has  been  enlarged  by  fair  and  honorable 
treaty,  and  with  grc;it  advantage  to  the  original  states ;  the  states  respec- 
tively protected  by  the  national  government,  under  a  mild  parental  system, 
against  foreign  dangers,  and  enjoying  within  their  separate  spheres,  by  a 
wise  partition  of  power,  a  just  proportion  of  the  sovereignty,  haw  im- 
proved their  police,  extended  their  settlements,  and  attained  a  strength 
and  maturity  which  are  the  best  proofs  of  wholesome  laws  well  admin- 
istered. And  if  we  look  to  the  condition  of  individuals,  what  a  proud 
spectacle  does  it  exhibit !  On  whom  has  oppression  fallen  in  any  quarter 
of  our  I'nion?  Who  has  been  deprived  of  any  right  of  person  or  prop- 
erty ?  Who  restrained  from  offering  his  vows,  in  the  mode  which  he  pre- 
fers, to  the  Divine  Author  of  his  being  ?  It  is  well  known  that  all  these 
blessings  have  been  enjoyed  in  their  fullest  extent ;  and  I  add,  with  pecu- 
liar satisfaction,  that  there  has  been  no  example  of  a  capital  punishment 
being  inflicted  on  any  one  for  the  crime  of  high  treason. 

Some  who  might  admit  the  competency  of  our  government  to  these  be- 
neficent duties,  might  doubt  it  in  trials  which  put  to  the  test  its  strength  and 
efficiency  as  a  member  of  the  great  community  of  nations.  Here,  too., 
experience  has  afforded  us  the  most  satisfactory  proof  in  its  favor.  Just 
as  this  constitution  was  put  into  action,  several  of  the  principal  states  of 
Europe  had  become  much  agitated,  and  some  of  them  seriously  convulsed. 
Destructive  wars  ensued,  which  have  of  late  only  been  terminated.  In  the 
course  of  these  conflicts,  the  United  States  received  great  injury  from  sev- 
eral of  the  parties.  It  was  their  interest  to  stand  aloof  from  the  contest, 
to  demand  justice  from  the  party  committing  the  injury,  and  to  cultivate 
by  a  fair  and  honorable  conduct  the  friendship  of  all.  War  became  at 
length  inevitable,  and  the  result  has  shown  that  our  government  is  equal 
to  that,  the  greatest  of  trials,  under  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances. 
Of  the  virtue  of  the  people,  and  of  the  heroic  exploits  of  the  arrny,  the 
navy,  and  the  militia,  I  need  not  speak. 

Such,  then,  is  the  happy  government  under  which  we  live  ;  a  govern- 
ment adequate  to  every  purpose  for  which  the  social  compact  is  formed ; 
a  government  elective  in  all  its  branches,  under  which  every  citizen  may 
by  his  merit  obtain  the  highest  trust  recognised  by  the  constitution  ; 
which  contains  within  it  no  cause  of  discord  ;  none  to  put  at  variance  one 
portion  of  the  community  with  another  ;  a  government  which  protects 
every  citizen  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  rights,  and  is  able  to  protect  the 
nation  against  injustice  from  foreign  powers. 

Other  considerations  of  the  highest  importance  admonish  us  to  cherish 
our  Union,  and  to  cling  to  the  government  which  supports  it.  Fortunate 
as  we  are  in  our  political  institutions,  we  have  not  been  less  so  in  other 
circumstances  on  which  our  prosperity  and  happiness  essentially  depend. 
Situated  within  the  temperate  zone,  and  extending  through  many  degrees 
of  latitude  along  the  Atlantic,  the  United  States  enjoy  all  the  varieties  of 
climate,  and  every  production  incident  to  that  portion  of  the  globe.  Pen- 
etrating, internally,  to  the  great  lakes  and  beyond  the  sources  of  the  great 
rivers  which  communicate  through  our  whole  interior,  no  country  was  ever 
happier  with  respect  to  its  domain.  Blessed  too  with  a  fertile  soil,  our 
produce  has  always  been  very  abundant,  leaving,  even  in  years  the  least 
favorable,  a  surplus  for  the  wants  of  our  fellow-men  in  other  countries. 
Such  is  our  peculiar  felicity,  that  there  is  not  a  part  of  our  Union  that  is 
not  particularly  interested  in  preserving  it.  The  great  agricultural  inter- 
est of  the  nation  prospers  under  its  protection.  Local  interests  are  not 


MONROE'S   INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  393 

less  fostered  by  it.  Our  fellow-citizens  of  the  north  engaged  in  navigation, 
find  great  encouragement  in  being  made  the  favored  carriers  of  the  vast 
productions  of  the  other  portions  of  the  United  States,  while  the  inhabit- 
ants of  these  are  amply  recompensed,  in  their  turn,  by  the  nursery  for  sea- 
men and  naval  force  thus  formed  and  reared  up  for  the  support  of  our 
common  rights.  Our  manufactures  find  a  generous  encouragement  by 
the  policy  which  patronises  domestic  industry ;  and  the  surplus  of  our 
produce,  a  steady  and  profitable  market  by  local  wants  in  less  favored 
parts  at  home. 

Such,  then,  being  the  highly-favored  condition  of  our  country,  it  is  the 
interest  of  every  citizen  to  maintain  it.  What  are  the  dangers  which  men- 
ace us  ?  If  any  exist,  they  ought  to  be  ascertained  and  guarded  against. 

In  explaining  my  sentiments  on  this  subject  it  may  be  asked :  What 
raised  us  to  the  present  happy  state  ?  How  did  we  accomplish  the  revo- 
lution ?  How  remedy  the  defects  of  the  first  instrument  of  our  Union,  by 
infusing  into  the  national  government  sufficient  power  for  national  pur- 
poses, without  impairing  the  just  rights  of  the  states,  or  adecting  those  of 
individuals  ?  How  sustain  and  pass  with  glory  through  the  late  war  ? 
The  government  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  To  the  people, 
therefore,  and  to  the  faithful  and  able  depositaries  of  their  trust  is  the 
credit  due.  Had  the  people  of  the  United  States  been  educated  in  dif- 
ferent principles,  had  they  been  less  intelligent,  less  independent,  or  less 
virtuous,  can  it  be  believed  that  we  should  have  maintained  the  same 
steady  and  consistent  career,  or  been  blessed  with  the  same. success  ? 
While,  then,  the  constituent  body  retains  its  present  sound  and  healthful 
state,  everything  will  be  safe.  They  will  choose  competent  and  faith- 
ful representatives  for  every  department.  It  is  only  when  the  people  be- 
come ignorant  and  corrupt,  when  they  degenerate  into  a  populace,  that 
they  are  incapable  of  exercising  the  sovereignty.  Usurpation  is  then  an 
easy  attainment,  and  a  usurper  soon  found.  The  people  themselves  be- 
come the  willing  instruments  of  their  own  debasement  and  ruin.  Let  us 
then  look  to  the  great  cause,  and  endeavor  to  preserve  it  in  full  force. 
Let  us  by  all  wise  and  constitutional  measures  promote  intelligence  among 
the  people,  as  the  best  means  of  preserving  our  liberties. 

Dangers  from  abroad  are  not  less  deserving  of  attention.  Experien- 
cing the  fortune  of  other  nations,  the  United  States  may  again  be  involved 
in  war,  and  it  may  in  that  event  be  the  object  of  the  adverse  party  to  over- 
set our  government,  to  break  our  union,  and  demolish  us  as  a  nation.  Our 
distance  from  Europe,  and  the  just,  moderate,  and  pacific  policy  of  our 
government,  may  form  some  security  against  these  dangers,  but  they  ought 
to  be  anticipated  and  guarded  against.  Many  of  our  citizens  are  en- 
gaged in  commerce  and  navigation,  and  all  of  them  are  in  a  certain  de- 
gree dependent  on  their  prosperous  stale.  Many  are  engaged  in  the  fish- 
eries. These  interests  are  exposed  to  invasion  in  the  wars  between  other 
powers,  and  we  should  disregard  the  faithful  admonitions  of  experience 
if  we  did  not  expect  it.  We  must  support  our  rights  or  lose  our  character, 
and  with  it  perhaps  our  liberties.  A  people  who  fail  to  do  it  can  scarcely 
be  said  to  hold  a  place  among  independent  nations.  National  honor  is 
national  property  of  the  highest  value.  The  sentiment  in  the  mind  of 
every  citizen  is  national  strength.  It  ought  therefore  to  be  cherished. 

To  secure  us  against  these  dangers,  our  coast  and  inland  frontiers 
should  be  fortified,  our  army  and  navy  regulated  upon  just  principles  as  to 
the  force  of  each,  be  kept  in  perfect  order,  and  our  militia  be  placed  on 


394  MONROE'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

the  best  practicable  footing.  To  put  our  extensive  coast  in  such  a  state 
of  defence  as  to  secure  our  cities  and  interior  from  invasion,  will  be  at- 
tended with  expense,  but  the  work  when  finished  will  be  permanent,  and 
it  is  fair  to  presume  that  a  single  campaign  of  invasion  by  a  naval  force, 
superior  to  our  own,  aided  by  a  few  thousand  land  troops,  would  expose 
us  to  a  greater  expense,  without  taking  into  the  estimate  the  loss  of  prop- 
erty and  distress  of  our  citizens,  than  would  be  sufficient  for  this  great 
work.  Our  land  and  naval  forces  should  be  moderate,  but  adequate  to  the 
necessary  purposes  :  the  former  to  garrison  and  preserve  our  fortifications 
and  to  meet  the  first  invasions  of  a  foreign  foe,  and,  while  constituting  the 
elements  of  a  greater  force,  to  preserve  the  science,  as  well  as  all  the 
necessary  implements  of  war.  in  a  state  to  be  brought  into  activity  in  the 
event  of  war ;  the  latter,  retained  within  the  limits  proper  in  a  state  of 
peace,  might  aid  in  maintaining  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States  with 
dignity  in  the  wars  of  other  powers,  and  in  saving  the  property  of  their 
'•itizens  from  spoliation.  In  time  of  war,  with  the  enlargement  of  which 
the  great  naval  resources  of  the  country  render  it  susceptible,  and  which 
should  be  duly  fostered  in  time  of  peace,  it  would  contribute  essentially, 
both  as  an  auxiliary  of  defence  and  as  a  powerful  engine  of  annoyance, 
to  diminish  the  calamities  of  war,  and  to  bring  the  war  to  a  speedy  and 
honorable  termination. 

But  it  ought  always  to  be  held  prominently  in  view,  that  the  safety  of 
these  states,  and  of  everything  dear  to  a  free  people,  must  depend  in  an 
eminent  degree  on  the  militia.  Invasions  may  be  made  too  formidable  to 
be  resisted  by  any  land  and  naval  force  which  it  would  comport  either 
with  the  principles  of  our  government  or  the  circumstances  of  the  United 
States  to  maintain.  In  such  cases  recourse  must  be  had  to  the  great 
body  of  the  people,  and  in  a  manner  to  produce  the  best  effect.  It  is  of 
the  highest  importance,  therefore,  that  they  be  so  organized  and  trained 
as  to  be  prepared  for  any  emergency.  The  arrangement  should  be  such 
as  to  put  at  the  command  of  the  government  the  ardent  patriotism  and 
youthful  vigor  of  the  country.  If  formed  on  equal  and  just  principles,  it 
can  not  be  oppressive.  It  is  the  crisis  which  makes  the  pressure,  and  not 
the  laws  which  provide  a  remedy  for  it.  This  arrangement  should  be 
formed,  too,  in  time  of  peace,  to  be  the  better  prepared  for  war.  With 
such  an  organization  of  such  a  people,  the  United  States  have  nothing  to 
dread  from  foreign  invasion.  At  its  approach  an  overwhelming  force  of 
gallant  men  might  always  be  put  in  motion. 

Other  interests  of  high  importance  will  claim  attention  ;  among  which, 
the  improvement  of  our  country  by  roads  and  canals,  proceeding  always 
with  a  constitutional  sanction,  holds  a  distinguished  place.  By  thus  fa- 
cilitating the  intercourse  between  the  states,  we  shall  add  much  to  the 
convenience  and  comfort  of  our  fellow-citizens,  much  to  the  ornament  of 
the  country,  and  what  is  of  greater  importance,  we  shall  shorten  distances, 
and  by  making  each  part  more  accessible  to  and  dependent  on  the  other, 
we  shall  bind  the  Union  more  closely  together.  Nature  has  done  so 
much  for  us  by  intersecting  the  country  with  so  many  great  rivers,  bays, 
and  lakes,  approaching  from  distant  points  so  near  to  each  other,  that  the 
inducement  to  complete  the  work  seems  to  be  peculiarly  strong.  A  more 
interesting  spectacle  was  perhaps  never  seen  than  is  exhibited  within  the 
limits  of  the  United  States ;  a  territory  so  vast  and  advantageously  situ- 
ated, containing  objects  so  grand,  so  useful,  so  happily  connected  in  all 
their  parts. 


MONROE'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  395 

Our  manufactures  will  likewise  require  the  systematic  and  fostering 
care  of  the  government.  Possessing,  as  we  do,  all  the  raw  materials,  the 
fruit  of  our  own  soil  and  industry,  we  ought  not  to  depend  in  the  degree 
we  have  done  on  supplies  from  other  countries.  While  we  are  thus  de- 
pendent, the  sudden  event  of  war,  unsought  and  unexpected,  can  not  fail 
to  plunge  us  into  the  most  serious  difficulties.  It  is  important,  too,  th?t 
the  capital  which  nourishes  our  manufactures  should  be  domestic,  as  its 
influence  in  that  case,  instead  of  exhausting,  as  it  may  do  in  foreign 
hands,  would  be  felt  advantageously  on  agriculture,  and  every  other 
branch  of  industry.  Equally  important  is  it  to  provide  at  home  a  market 
for  our  raw  materials,  as  by  extending  the  competition  it  will  enhance  the 
price  and  protect  the  cultivator  against  the  casualties  incident  to  foreign 
markets. 

With  the  Indian  tribes  it  is  our  duty  to  cultivate  friendly  relations, 
and  to  act  with  kindness  and  liberality  in  all  our  transactions.  Equally 
proper  is  it  to  persevere  in  our  efforts  to  extend  to  them  the  advantages 
of  civilization. 

The  great  amount  of  our  revenue  and  the  flourishing  state  of  the  treas- 
ury are  a  full  proof  of  the  competency  of  the  national  resources  for  any 
emergency,  as  they  are  of  the  willingness  of  our  fellow-citizens  to  bear 
the  burdens  which  the  public  necessities  require.  The  vast  amount  of 
vacant  lands,  the  value  of  which  daily  augments,  forms  an  additional  re- 
source of  great  extent  and  duration.  These  resources,  besides  accom- 
plishing every  other  necessary  purpose,  puts  it  completely  in  the  power  of 
the  United  States  to  discharge  the  national  debt  at  an  early  period. 
Peace  is  the  best  time  for  improvement,  and  preparation  of  every  kind :  it 
is  in  peace  that  our  commerce  flourishes  most,  that  taxes  are  most  easily 
paid,  and  that  the  revenue  is  most  productive. 

The  executive  is  charged,  officially,  in  the  departments  under  it,  with 
the  disbursement  of  the  public  money,  and  is  responsible  for  the  faithful 
application  of  it  to  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  raised.  The  legislature 
is  the  watchful  guardian  over  the  public  purse.  It  is  its  duty  to  see  that 
the  disbursement  has  been  honestly  made.  To  meet  the  requisite  respon- 
sibility, every  facility  should  be  afforded  to  the  executive,  to  enable  it  to 
bring  the  public  agents  intrusted  with  the  public  money  strictly  and 
promptly  to  account.  Nothing  should  be  presumed  against  them;  but  if, 
with  the  requisite  facilities,  the  public  money  is  suffered  to  lie  long  and 
uselessly  in  their  hands,  they  will  not  be  the  only  defaulters,  nor  will  the 
demoralizing  effect  be  confined  to  them.  It  will  evince  a  relaxation  and 
want  of  tone  in  the  administration  which  will  be  felt  by  the  whole  com- 
munity. I  shall  do  all  that  I  can  to  secure  economy  and  fidelity  in  this 
important  branch  of  the  administration,  and  I  doubt  not  that  the  legislature 
will  perform  its  duty  with  equal  zeal.  A  thorough  examination  should  be 
regularly  made,  and  I  will  promote  it. 

It  is  particularly  gratifying  to  me  to  enter  on  the  discharge  of  these 
duties  at  a  time  when  the  United  States  are  blessed  with  peace.  It  is  a 
state  most  consistent  with  their  prosperity  and  happiness.  It  will  be  my 
sincere  desire  to  preserve  it,  so  far  as  depends  on  the  executive,  on  just 
principles  with  all  nations,  claiming  nothing  unreasonable  of  any,  and  ren- 
dering to  each  what  is  its  due. 

Equally  gratifying  is  it  to  witness  the  increased  harmony  of  opinion 
which  pervades  our  Union.  Discord  does  not  belong  to  our  system 
Union  is  recommended,  as  well  by  the  free  and  benign  principles  of  our 


396  MONROE'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

government,  extending  its  blessings  to  every  individual,  as  by  the  other 
eminent  advantages  attending  it.  The  American  people  have  encountered 
together  great  dangers,  and  sustained  severe  trials  with  success.  They 
constitute  one  great  family  with  a  common  interest.  Experience  has 
enlightened  us  on  some  questions  of  essential  importance  to  the  country. 
The  progress  has  been  slow,  dictated  by  a  just  reflection  and  a  faithful 
regard  to  every  interest  connected  with  it.  To  promote  this  harmony,  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  our  republican  government,  and  in  a 
manner  to  give  them  the  most  complete  effect,  and  to  advance,  iu  all  other 
r.-spects,  the  best  interests  of  our  country,  will  be  the  object  of  my  constant 
and  zealous  exertions. 

Never  did  a  government  commence  under  auspices  eo  favorable,  nor 
"ever  was  success  so  complete.  If  we  look  to  the  history  of  other  nations, 
ancient  or  modern,  we  find  no  example  of  a  growth  so  rapid,  so  gigantic, 
of  a  people  so  prosperous  and  happy.  In  contemplating  what  we  have 
still  to  perform,  the  heart  of  every  citizen  must  expand  with  joy  when  he 
reflects  how  near  our  government  has  approached  to  perfection  ;  that  in 
respect  to  it  we  have  no  essential  improvement  to  make  ;  that  the  great 
object  is  to  preserve  it  in  the  essential  principles  and  features  which  char- 
acterize it,  and  that  that  is  to  be  done  by  preserving  the  virtue  and  en- 
lightening the  minds  of  the  people  ;  and  as  a  security  against  foreign  dan- 
gers, to  adopt  such  arrangements  as  are  indispensable  to  the  support  of 
our  independence,  our  rights  and  liberties.  If  we  persevere  in  the  career 
in  which  we  have  advanced  so  far,  and  in  the  path  already  traced,  we  can 
not  fail,  under  the  favor  of  a  gracious  Providence,  to  attain  the  high  des- 
tiny which  seems  to  await  us.  v 

In  the  administration  of  the  illustrious  men  who  have  preceded  me  in 
this  high  station,  with  some  of  whom  I  have  been  connected  by  the  closest 
ties  from  e?.rly  life,  examples  are  presented  which  will  always  be  found 
highly  instructive  and  useful  to  their  successors.  From  these  I  shall  en- 
deavor to  derive  all  the  advantages  which  they  may  afford.  Of  my  imme- 
diate predecessor,  under  whom  so  important  a  portion  of  this  great  and 
successful  experiment  has  been  made,  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  expressing 
my  earnest  wishes  that  he  may  long  enjoy  in  his  retirement  the  affections 
of  a  grateful  country,  the  best  reward  of  exalted  talents  and  the  most  faith- 
ful and  meritorious  services.  Relying  on  the  aid  to  be  derived  from  the 
other  departments  of  government,  I  enter  on  the  trust  to  which  I  have  been 
called  by  the  suffrages  of  my  fellow-citizens,  with  my  fervent  prayers  to 
the  Almighty  that  he  will  be  graciously  pleased  to  continue  to  us  that  pro- 
tection which  he  has  already  so  conspicuously  displayed  in  our  favor. 


FIRST    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  2,  1817. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

AT  no  period  of  our  political  existence  had  we  so  much  cause  to  felici- 
tate ourselves  at  the  prosperous  and  happy  condition  of  our  country.  The 
abundant  fruits  of  the  earth  have  filled  it  with  plenty.  An  extensive  and 
profitable  commerce  has  greatly  augmented  our  revenue.  The  public 


MONROE'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  397 

credit  has  attained  an  extraordinary  elevation.  Our  preparation  for  de- 
fence, in  case  of  future  wars,  from  which,  by  the  experience  of  all  nations, 
we  ought  not  to  expect  to  be  exempted,  are  advancing,  under  a  well-di- 
gested system,  with  all  the  despatch  which  so  important  a  work  will  ad- 
mit. Our  free  government,  founded  on  the  interests  and  affections  of  the 
people,  has  gained  and  is  daily  gaining  strength.  Local  jealousies  are 
rapidly  yielding  to  more  generous,  enlarged,  and  enlightened  views  of 
national  policy.  For  advantages  so  numerous  and  highly  important,  it  is 
our  duty  to  unite  in  grateful  acknowledgments  to  that  Omnipotent  Being 
from  whom  they  are  derived,  and  in  unceasing  prayer  that  he  will  endow 
us  with  virtue  and  strength  to  maintain  and  hand  them  down,  in  their 
utmost  purity,  to  our  latest  .posterity. 

I  have  the  satisfaction  to  inform  you  that  an  arrangement  which  had 
been  commenced  by  my  predecessor,  with  the  British  government,  for  the 
reduction  of  the  naval  force,  by  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  on 
the  lakes,  has  been  concluded  ;  by  which  it  is  provided,  that  neither  party 
shall  keep  in  service  on  Lake  Champlain  more  than  one  vessel ;  on  Lake 
Ontario,  more  than  one ;  on  Lake  Erie  and  the  upper  lakes,  more  than 
two ;  to  be  armed,  each  with  one  cannon  only,  and  that  all  the  other  arm- 
ed vessels  of  both  parties,  of  which  an  exact  list  is  interchanged,  shall  be 
dismantled.  It  is  also  agreed  that  the  force  retained  shall  be  restricted 
in  its  duty  to  the  internal  purposes  of  each  party ;  and  that  the  arrange- 
ment shall  remain  in  force  until  six  months  shall  have  expired  after  notice 
having  been  given  by  one  of  the  parties  to  the  other  of  its  desire  that  it 
should  terminate.  By  this  arrangement,  useless  expense  on  both  sides, 
and  what  is  of  still  greater  importance,  the  danger  of  collision  between 
armed  vessels  in  those  inland  waters,  which  was  great,  is  prevented. 

I  have  the  satisfaction  also  to  state,  that  the  commissioners  under  the 
fourth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  to  whom  it  was  referred  to  decide  to 
which  party  the  several  islands  in  the  bay  of  Passamaquoddy  belonged, 
under  the  treaty  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-three,  have 
agreed  in  a  report,  by  which  all  the  islands  in  the  possession  of  each  party 
before  the  late  war  have  been  decreed  to  it.  The  commissioners  acting 
under  the  other  articles  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  for  the  settlement  of 
boundaries,  have  also  been  engaged  in  the  discharge  of  their  respective 
duties,  but  have  not  yet  completed  them.  The  difference  which  arose 
between  the  two  governments,  under  that  treaty,  respecting  the  right  of 
the  United  States  to  take  and  cure  fish  on  the  coast  of  the  British  provin- 
ces, north  of  our  limits,  which  had  been  secured  by  the  treaty  of  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  eighty-three,  is  still  in  negotiation.  The  propo- 
sition made  by  this  government  to  extend  to  the  colonies  of  Great  Britain 
the  principle  of  the  convention  of  London,  by  which  the  commerce  be- 
tween the  ports  of  the  United  States  and  British  ports  in  Europe  had  been 
placed  on  a  footing  of  equality,  has  been  declined  by  the  British  govern- 
ment. This  subject  having  been  thus  amicably  discussed  between  the 
two  governments,  and  it  appearing  that  the  British  government  is  unwil- 
ling to  depart  from  its  present  regulations,  it  remains  for  Congress  to  de- 
cide whether  they  will  make  any  other  regulations  in  consequence  thereof 
for  the  protection  and  improvement  of  our  navigation. 

The  negotiation  with  Spain,  for  spoliations  on  our  commerce  and  the 
settlements  of  boundaries,  remains  essentially  in  the  state  it  held  in  the 
communications  that  were  made  to  Congress  by  my  predecessor.  It  has 
been  evidently  the  policy  of  the  Spanish  government  to  keep  the  negotia- 


398  MONROE'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

tion  suspended,  and  in  this  the  United  States  have  acquiesced,  from  an 
amicable  disposition  toward  Spain,  and  in  the  expectation  that  her  govern- 
ment would,  from  a  sense  of  justice,  finally  accede  to  such  an  arrangement 
as  would  be  equal  between  the  parties.  A  disposition  has  been  lately 
shown  by  the  Spanish  government  to  move  in  the  negotiation,  which  has 
been  met  by  this  government,  and  should  the  conciliatory  and  friendly 
policy  which  has  invariably  guided  our  councils  be  reciprocated,  a  just 
anil  satisfactory  arrangement  may  be  expected.  It  is  proper,  however,  to 
remark  that  no  proposition  has  yet  been  made  from  which  such  a  result 
can  be  presumed. 

It  was  anticipated,  at  an  early  stage,  that  the  contest  between  Spain  and 
the  colonies  would  become  highly  interesting  to  the  United  States.  It 
was  natural  that  our  citizens  should  sympathize  in  events  which  affected 
itieir  neighbors.  It  seemed  probable,  also,  that  the  prosecution  of  the  con- 
flict, along  our  coasts  and  in  contiguous  countries,  would  occasionally  in- 
terrupt our  commerce  and  otherwise  affect  the  persons  arid  property  of  our 
citizens.  These  anticipations  have  been  realized.  Such  injuries  have 
been  received  from  persons  acting  under  the  authority  of  both  the  parties, 
and  for  which  redress  has  in  most  instances  been  withheld.  Through 
every  stage  of  the  conflict,  the  United  States  have  maintained  an  impartial 
neutrality,  giving  aid  to  neither  of  the  parties  in  men,  money,  ships,  or  mu- 
nitions of  war.  They  have  regarded  the  contest  not  in  the  light  of  an 
ordinary  insurrection  or  rebellion,  but  as  a  civil  war  between  parties  nearly 
equal,  having,  as  to  neutral  powers,  equal  rights.  Our  ports  have  been 
open  to  both,  and  every  article,  the  fruit  of  our  soil  or  of  the  industry  of 
our  citizens,  which  either  was  permitted  to  take,  has  been  equally  free  to 
the  other.  Should  the  colonies  establish  their  independence,  it  is  proper 
now  to  state,  that  this  government  neither  seeks  nor  would  accept  from 
them  any  advantage  in  commerce  or  otherwise  which  will  not  be  equally 
open  to  all  other  nations.  The  colonies  will  in  that  event  become  inde- 
pendent states,  free  from  any  obligation  to,  or  connexion  with  us,  which  it 
may  not  then  be  their  interest  to  form  on  the  basis  of  a  fair  reciprocity. 

In  the  summer  of  the  present  year,  an  expedition  was  set  on  foot  against 
East  Florida  by  persons  claiming  to  act  under  the  authority  of  some  of 
the  colonies,  who  took  possession  of  Amelia  island,  at  the  mouth  of  St. 
Mary's  river,  near  the  boundary  of  the  state  of  Georgia.  As  the  province 
lies  eastward  of  the  Mississippi,  and  is  bounded  by  the  United  States  and 
the  ocean  on  every  side,  and  has  been  a  subject  of  negotiation  with  the 
government  of  Spain,  as  an  indemnity  for  losses  by  spoliation  or  in  ex- 
change for  territory  of  equal  value  westward  of  the  Mississippi,  a  fact  well 
known  to  the  world,  it  excited  surprise  that  any  countenance  should  be 
given  to  this  measure  by  any  of  the  colonies.  As  it  would  be  difficult  to 
reconcile  it  with  the  friendly  relations  existing  between  the  United  States 
and  the  colonies,  a  doubt  was  entertained  whether  it  had  been  authorized 
by  them  or  any  of  them.  This  doubt  has  gained  strength  by  the  circum- 
stances which  have  unfolded  themselves  in  the  prosecution  of  the  enter- 
prise, which  have  marked  it  as  a  mere  private  unauthorized  adventure. 
Projected  and  commenced  with  an  incompetent  force,  reliance  seems  to 
have  been  placed  on  what  might  be  drawn,  in  defiance  of  our  laws,  from 
within  our  limits  ;  and  of  late,  as  their  resources  have  failed,  it  has  assum- 
ed a  more  marked  character  of  unfriendliness  to  us,  the  island  being  made 
a  channel  for  the  illicit  introduction  of  slaves  from  Africa  into  the  United 


MONROE'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  399 

States,  an  asylum  for  fugitive  slaves  from  the  neighboring  states,  and  a 
port  for  smuggling  of  every  kind. 

A  similar  establishment  was  made,  at  an  earlier  period,  by  persons  of 
the  same  description,  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  at  a  place  called  Galveston, 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  as  we  contend,  under  the  cession 
of  Louisiana.  This  enterprise  has  been  marked  in  a  more  signal 
manner  by  all  the  objectionable  circumstances  which  characterized  the 
other,  and  more  particularly  by  the  equipment  of  privateers  which  have 
annoyed  our  commerce  and  by  smuggling.  These  establishments,  if  ever 
sanctioned  by  any  authority  whatever,  which  is  not  believed,  have  abused 
their  trust  and  forfeited  all  claims  to  consideration.  A  just  regard  for  the 
rights  and  interests  of  the  United  States  required  that  they  should  be  sup- 
pressed, and  orders  have  accordingly  been  issued  to  that  effect.  The  im- 
perious considerations  which  produced  this  measure  will  ba  explained  to 
the  parties  whom  it  may  in  any  degree  concern. 

To  obtain  correct  information  on  every  subject  in  which  the  United 
States  are  interested  ;  to  inspire  just  sentiments  in  all  persons  in  authority, 
on  either  side,  of  our  friendly  disposition,  so  far  as  it  may  comport  with 
an  impartial  neutrality,  and  to  secure  proper  respect  to  our  commerce  in 
every  port  and  from  every  flag,  it  has  been  thought  proper  to  send  a  ship- 
of-war,  with  three  distinguished  citizens,  along  the  southern  coast,  with  in- 
structions to  touch  at  such  ports  as  they  may  find  most  expedient  for  these 
purposes.  With  the  existing  authorities,  with  those  in  the  possession  of 
and  exercising  the  sovereignty,  must  the  communication  be  held  ;  from 
them  alone  can  redress  for  past  injuries  committed  by  persons  acting  un- 
der them  be  obtained ;  by  them  alone  can  the  commission  of  the  like  in 
future  be  prevented. 

Our  relations  with  the  other  powers  of  Europe  have  experienced  no  es 
sential  change  since  the  last  session.  In  our  intercourse  with  each,  due 
attention  continues  to  be  paid  to  the  protection  of  our  commerce,  and  to 
every  other  object  in  which  the  United  States  are  interested.  A  strong 
hope  is  entertained,  that  by  adhering  to  the  maxims  of  a  just,  a  candid, 
and  friendly  policy,  we  may  long  preserve  amicable  relations  with  all 
the  powers  of  Europe,  on  conditions  advantageous  and  honorable  to  our 
country. 

With  the  Barbary  states  and  the  Indian  tribes,  our  pacific  relations  have 
been  preserved. 

In  calling  your  attention  to  the  internal  concerns  of  our  country,  the 
view  which  they  exhibit  is  peculiarly  gratifying.  The  payments  which 
have  been  made  into  the  treasury  show  the  very  productive  state  of  the 
public  revenue.  After  satisfying  the  appropriations  made  by  law  for  the 
support  of  the  civil  government  and  of  the  military  and  naval  establishments, 
embracing  suitable  provision  for  fortification  and  for  the  gradual  increase 
of  the  navy,  paying  the  interest  of  the  public  debt,  and  extinguishing  more 
than  eighteen  millions  of  the  principal,  within  the  present  year,  it  is  esti- 
mated that  a  balance  of  more  than  six  millions  of  dollars  will  remain  in 
the  treasury  on  the  first  day  of  January,  applicable  to  the  current  service 
of  the  ensuing  year. 

The  payments  into  the  treasury  during  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  eighteen,  on  account  of  imports  and  tonnage,  resulting  prin- 
cipally from  duties  which  have  accrued  in  the  present  year,  may  be  fairly 
estimated  at  twenty  millions  of  dollars  ;  internal  revenues,  at  two  mill- 
ions five  hundred  thousand ;  public  lands,  at  one  million  five  hundred 


400  MONROE'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

thousand  ;  bank  dividends  and  incidental  receipts,  at  five  hundred  thousand  ; 
making,  in  the  whole,  twenty-four  millions  and  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars. 

The  annual  permanent  expenditure  for  the  support  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment, and  of  the  army  and  navy,  as  now  established  by  law,  amounts  to 
eleven  millions  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  and  for  the  sinking  fund, 
to  ten  millions ;  making,  in  the  whole,  twenty-one  millions  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars  ;  leaving  an  annual  excess  of  revenue,  beyond  the  expen- 
diture, of  two  millions  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars,  exclusive  of  the 
balance  estimated  to  be  in  the  treasury  on  the  first  day  of  January,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  ?md  eighteen. 

In  the  present  state  of  the  treasury,  the  whole  of  the  Louisiana  debt 
may  be  redeemed  in  the  year  1819  ;  after  which,  if  the  public  debt  con- 
tinues as  it  now  is,  above  par,  there  will  be  annually  about  five  millions 
of  the  sinking  fund  unexpended,  until  the  year  1825,  when  the  loan  of 
1812  and  the  stock  created  by  funding  treasury-notes  will  be  redeemable. 

It  is  also  estimated  that  the  Mississippi  stock  will  be  discharged  during 
the  year  1819  from  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  assigned  to  that  ob- 
ject, after  which  the  receipts  from  those  lands  will  annually  add  to  the 
public  revenue  the  sum  of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  ma- 
king the  permanent  annual  revenue  amount  to  twenty-six  millions  of  dol- 
lars, and  leaving  an  annual  excess  of  revenue,  after  the  year  1819,  be- 
yond the  permanent  authorized  expenditure,  of  more  than  four  millions  of 
dollars. 

By  the  last  returns  to  the  department  of  war,  the  militia  force  of  the 
several  states  may  be  estimated  at  eight  hundred  thousand  men,  infantry, 
artillery,  and  cavalry.  Great  part  of  this  force  is  armed,  and  measures 
are  taken  to  arm  the  whole.  An  improvement  in  the  organization  and 
discipline  of  the  militia  is  one  of  the  great  objects  which  claims  the  un- 
remitted  attention  of  Congress. 

The  regular  force  amounts  nearly  to  the  number  required  by  law,  and  is 
stationed  along  the  Atlantic  and  inland  frontiers. 

Of  the  naval  force,  it  has  been  necessary  to  maintain  strong  squadrons 
in  the  Mediterranean  and  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico. 

From  several  of  the  Indian  tribes  inhabiting  the  country  bordering  on 
Lake  Erie,  purchases  have  been  made  of  lands  on  conditions  very  favora- 
ble to  the  United  States,  and  it  is  presumed  not  less  so  to  the  tribes  them- 
selves. 

By  these  purchases  the  Indian  title,  with  moderate  reservations,  has 
been  extinguished  to  the  whole  of  the  land  within  the  state  of  Ohio,  and 
to  a  great  part  of  that  in  Michigan  territory  and  of  the  state  of  Indiana 
From  the  Cherokee  tribe  a  tract  has  been  purchased  in  the  state  of  Geor- 
gia, and  an  arrangement  made  by  which,  in  exchange  for  lands  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  a  great  part  if  not  the  whole  of  the  land  belonging  to  the 
tribe,  eastward  of  that  river,  in  thest.ateso'f  North  Carolina,  Georgia,  and 
Tennessee,  and  in  the  Alabama  territory,  will  soon  be  acquired.  By  these 
acquisitions,  and  others  that  may  reasonably  be  expected  soon  to  follow, 
we  shall  be  enabled  to  extend  our  settlements  from  the  inhabited  parts  of 
the  state  of  Ohio,  along  Lake  Erie,  into  the  Michigan  territory,  and  to  con- 
nect our  settlements,  by  degrees,  through  the  state  of  Indiana  and  the 
Illinois  territory,  to  that  of  Missouri.  A  similar  and  equally  advantageous 
effect  will  soon  be  produced  to  the  south,  through  the  whole  extent  of  the 
states  and  territory  which  border  on  the  waters  emptying  into  the  Missis- 


MONROE'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  401 

sippi  and  the  Mobile.  In  this  progress,  which  the  fights  of  nature  de- 
mand arid  nothing  can  prevent,  marking  a  growth  rapid  and  gigantic,  it  is 
our  duty  to  make  new  efforts  for  the  preservation,  improvement,  and  civil- 
ization of  the  native  inhabitants.  The  hunter  state  can  exist  only  in  the 
vast  uncultivated  desert.  It  yields  to  the  more  dense  and  compact  form 
and  greater  force  of  civilized  population  ;  and  of  right  it  ought  to  yield, 
for  the  earth  was  given  to  mankind  to  support  the  greatest  number  of  which 
it  is  capable,  and  no  tribe  or  people  have  a  right  to  withhold  from  the 
wants  of  others  more  than  is  necessary  for  tkeir  own  support  and  comfort. 
It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the  reservation  of  land  made  by  the  treaties 
with  the  tribes  on  Lake  Erie,  were  made  with  a  view  to  individual  owner- 
ship among  them,  and  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  by  all,  and  that  an 
annual  stipend  has  been  pledged  to  supply  their  other  wants.  It  will 
merit  the  consideration  of  Congress,  whether  other  provision  not  stipula- 
ted by  the  treaty  ought  to  be  made  for  these  tribes,  and  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  liberal  and  humane  policy  of  the  United  States  toward  all  the 
tribes  within  our  limits,  and  more  particularly  for  their  improvement  in 
the  arts  of  civilized  life. 

Among  the  advantages  incident  to  these  purchases,  and  to  those  which 
have  preceded,  the  security  which  may  thereby  be  afforded  to  our  inland 
frontiers,  is  peculiarly  important.  With  a  strong  barrier,  consisting  of  our 
own  people,  thus  planted  on  the  lakes,  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Mobile, 
with  the  protection  to  be  derived  from  the  regular  force,  Indian  hostilities, 
if  they  do  not  altogether  cease,  will  henceforth  lose  their  terror.  Fortifi- 
cations in  those  quarters  to  any  extent  will  not  be  necessary,  and  the  ex- 
pense attending  them  may  be  saved.  A  people  accustomed  to  the  use  of 
firearms  only,  as  the  Indian  tribes  are,  will  shun  even  moderate  works 
which  are  defended  by  cannon.  Great  for*'fications  will  therefore  be 
requisite  only  in  future  along  the  coast,  and  n.  some  points  in  the  interior 
connected  with  it.  On  these  will  the  safety  of  towns  and  the  commerce 
of  our  great  rivers,  from  the  bay  of  Fundy  to  the  Mississippi,  depend. 
On  these,  therefore,  should  the  utmost  attention,  skill,  and  labor  be  be- 
stowed. 

A  considerable  and  rapid  augmentation  in  the  value  of  all  the  public 
lands,  proceeding  from  these  and  other  obvious  causes,  may  henceforward  be 
expected.  The  difficulties  attending  early  emigrations  will  be  dissipated 
even  in  the  most  remote  parts.  Several  new  states  have  been  admitted 
into  our  Union  to  the  west  and  south,  and  territorial  governments,  happily 
organized,  established  over  every  other  portion  in  which  there  is  vacant 
land  for  sale.  In  terminating  Indian  hostilities,  as  must  soon  be  done,  in 
a  formidable  shape  at  least,  the  emigration  which  has  heretofore  been 
great  will  probably  increase,  and  the  demand  for  land  and  the  augmenta- 
tion in  its  value  be  in  like  proportion.  The  great  increase  in  our  popula- 
tion throughout  the  Union  will  alone  produce  an  important  effect,  and  in 
no  quarter  will  it  be  so  sensibly  felt  as  in  those  in  contemplation.  The 
public  lands  are  a  public  stock,  which  ought  to  be  disposed  of  to  the  best 
advantage  for  the  nation.  The  nation  should,  therefore,  derive  the  profit 
proceeding  from  the  continual  rise  in  their  value.  Every  encouragement 
should  be  given  to  the  emigrants,  consistent  with  a  fair  competition  be- 
tween them,  but  that  competition  should  operate  in  the  first  sale  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  nation  rather  than  of  individuals.  Great  capitalists  will 
derive  all  the  benefit  incident  to  their  superior  wealth  under  any  mode  of 
sale  which  may  be  adopted.  But  if,  looking  forward  to  the  rise  in  the 
VOL.  I.— 26 


•402  MONROE'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

value  of  the  public  lands,  they  should  have  the  opportunity  of  amassing, 
at  a  low  price,  vast  bodies  in  their  hands,  the  profit  will  accrue  to  them, 
and  not  to  the  public.  They  would  also  have  the  power,  in  that  degree, 
to  control  the  emigration  and  settlement  in  such  a  manner  as  their  opinion 
of  their  respective  interests  might  dictate.  I  submit  this  subject  to  the 
consideration  of  Congress,  that  such  further  provision  may  be  made  on 
the  sale  of  the  public  lands,  with  a  view  to  the  public  interest,  should 
any  be  deemed  expedient,  as  in  their  judgment  may  be  best  adapted  to  the 
object. 

When  we  consider  the  vast  extent  of  territory  within  the  United  States, 
the  great  amount  and  value  of  its  productions,  the  connexion  of  its  parts, 
and  other  circumstances  on  which  their  prosperity  and  happiness  depend, 
we  can  not  fail  to  entertain  a  high  sense  of  the  advantage  to  be  derived 
from  the  facility  which  may  be  afforded  in  the  intercourse  between  them, 
by  means  of  good  roads  and  canals.  Never  did  a  country  of  such  vast 
extent  offer  equal  inducements  to  improvements  of  this  kind,  nor  ever  were 
consequences  of  such  magnitude  involved  in  them.  As  this  subject  was 
acted  on  by  Congress  at  the  last  session,  and  there  may  be  a  disposition 
to  revive  it  at  present,  I  have  brought  it  into  view  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
municating my  sentiments  on  a  very  important  circumstance  connected 
with  it,  with  that  freedom  and  candor  which  a  regard  for  the  public  inter- 
est and  a  proper  respect  for  Congress  require.  A  difference  of  opinion 
has  existed,  from  the  first  formation  of  our  constitution  to  the  present  time, 
among  our  most  enlightened  and  virtuous  citizens,  respecting  the  right  of 
Congress  to  establish  such  a  system  of  improvement.  Taking  into  view 
the  trust  with  which  I  am  now  honored,  it  would  be  improper,  after  what 
has  passed,  that  this  discussion  should  be  revived  with  an  uncertainty  of 
my  opinion  respecting  the  right.  Disregarding  early  impressions,  I  have 
bestowed  on  the  subject  all  the  deliberation  which  its  great  importance, 
and  a  just  sense  of  my  duty,  required,  and  the  result  is  a  settled  convic- 
tion in  my  mind  that  Congress  do  not  possess  the  right.  It  is  not  contain- 
ed in  any  of  the  specified  powers  granted  to  Congress,  nor  can  I  consider 
it  incidental  to,  or  a  necessary  means,  vie  wed  on  the  most  liberal  scale,  for 
carrying  into  effect  any  of  the  powers  which  are  specifically  granted.  In 
communicating  this  result,  I  can  not  resist  the  obligation  which  1  feel,  to 
suggest  to  Congress  the  propriety  of  recommending  to  the  states  an  adop- 
tion of  an  amendment  to  the  constitution,  which  shall  give  to  Congress  the 
right  in  question.  In  cases  of  doubtful  construction,  especially  of  such 
vital  interest,  it  comports  with  the  nature  and  origin  of  our  republican  in- 
stitutions, and  will  contribute  much  to  preserve  them,  to  apply  to  our  con- 
stituents for  an  explicit  grant  of  the  power.  We  may  confidently  rely,  that 
if  it  appears  to  their  satisfaction  that  the  power  is  necessary,  it  will  be 
granted. 

In  this  case  I  am  happy  to  observe,  that  experience  has  afforded  the 
most  ample  proof  of  its  utility,  and  that  the  benign  spirit  of  conciliation 
and  harmony  which  now  manifests  itself  throughout  our  Union  promises 
to  such  a  recommendation  the  most  prompt  and  favorable  result.  I  think 
proper  to  suggest,  also,  in  case  this  measure  is  adopted,  that  it  be  recom- 
mended to  the  states  to  include  in  the  amendment  sought  a  right  in  Con- 
gress to  institute,  likewise,  seminaries  of  learning,  for  the  all-important 
purpose  of  diffusing  knowledge  among  our  fellow-citizens  throughout  the 
United  States. 

Our  manufactories  will  require  the  continued  attention  of  Congress. 


MONROE'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  403 

The  capital  employed  in  them  is  considerable,  and  the  knowledge  requir- 
ed in  the  machinery  and  fabric  of  all  the  most  useful  manufactures  is  of 
great  value.  Their  preservation,  which  depends  on  due  encouragement, 
is  connected  with  the  high  interests  of  the  nation. 

Although  the  progress  of  the  public  buildings  has  been  as  favorable  as 
circumstances  have  permitted,  it  is  to  be  regretted  the  capitol  is  not  yet  in 
a  state  to  receive  you.  There  is  good  cause  to  presume  that  the  two 
wings,  the  only  parts  as  yet  commenced,  will  be  prepared  for  that  purpose 
the  next  session.  The  time  seems  now  to  have  arrived  when  this  sub- 
ject may  be  deemed  worthy  the  attention  of  Congress,  on  a  scale  adequate 
to  national  purposes.  The  completion  of  the  middle  building  will  be 
necessary  to  the  convenient  accommodation  of  Congress,  of  the  commit- 
tees, and  various  officers  belonging  to  it.  It  is  evident,  that  the  other  pub- 
lic buildings  are  altogether  insufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  the  sev- 
ral  executive  departments ;  some  of  whom  are  much  crowded  and  even 
subject  to  the  necessity  of  obtaining  it  in  private  buildings,  at  some  dis- 
tance from  the  head  of  the  department,  and  with  inconvenience  to  the  man- 
agement of  the  public  business.  Most  nations  have  taken  an  interest  and 
a  pride  in  the  improvement  and  ornament  of  their  metropolis,  and  none 
were  more  conspicuous  in  that  respect  than  the  ancient  republics.  The 
policy  which  dictated  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  residence  for  the 
national  government,  and  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  commenced  and  has 
been  prosecuted,  show  that  such  improvement  was  thought  worthy  the 
attention  of  this  nation.  Its  central  position,  between  the  northern  and 
southern  extremes  of  our  Union,  and  its  approach  to  the  west,  at  the  head 
of  a  great  navigable  river  which  interlocks  with  the  western  waters,  prove 
the  wisdom  of  the  councils  which  established  it. 

Nothing  appears  to  be  more  reasonable  and  proper,  than  that  convenient 
accommodation  should  be  provided,  on  a  well-digested  plan  fdr  the  heads 
of  the  several  departments,  and  for  the  attorney-general ;  and  it  is  believed 
that  the  public  ground  in  the  city,  applied  to  these  objects,  will  be  found 
amply  sufficient.  I  submit  this  subject  to  the  consideration  of  Congress, 
that  such  provision  may  be  made  in  it  as  to  them  may  seem  proper. 

In  contemplating  the  happy  situation  of  the  United  States,  our  attention 
is  drawn,  with  peculiar  interest,  to  the  surviving  officers  and  soldiers  of 
our  revolutionary  army,  who  so  eminently  contributed,  by  their  services, 
to  lay  its  foundation.  Most  of  those  very  meritorious  citizens  have  paid 
the  debt  of  nature  and  gone  to  repose.  It  is  believed,  that  among  the 
survivors,  there  are  some  not  provided  for  by  existing  laws,  who  are  re- 
duced to  indigence  and  even  to  real  distress.  These  men  have  a  claim 
on  the  gratitude  of  their  country,  and  it  will  do  honor  to  their  country  to 
provide  for  them.  The  lapse  of  a  few  years  more,  and  the  opportunity 
will  be  for  ever  lost ;  indeed,  so  long  already  has  been  the  interval,  that 
-the  number  to  be  benefited  by  any  provision  which  may  be  made  will  not 
be  great. 

It  appearing  in  a  satisfactory  manner  that  the  revenue  arising  from  im- 
posts and  tonnage,  and  from  the  sale  of  public  lands,  will  be  fully  ade- 
quate to  the  support  of  the  civil  government,1  of  the  present  military  and 
naval  establishments,  including  the  annual  augmentation  of  the  latter  to 
the  extent  provided  for,  to  the  payment  of  the  interest  on  the  public  debt, 
and  to  the  extinguishment  of  it  at  the  times  authorized,  without  the  aid  of 
the  internal  taxes,  I  consider  it  my  duty  to  recommend  to  Congress 
their  repeal.  To  impose  taxes  when  the  public  exigencies  require  them, 


104  MONROtc's    SECOND   ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

is  an  obligation  of  the  most  sacred  character,  especially  with  a  free  peo- 
ple. The  faithful  fulfilment  of  it  is  among  the  highest  proofs  of  their 
virtue  nad  capacity  for  self-government.  To  dispense  with  taxes,  when 
it  may  be  done  with  perfect  safety,  is  equally  the  duty  of  their  representa- 
tives. In  this  instance,  we  have  the  satisfaction  to  know  that  they  were 
imposed  when  the  demand  was  imperious,  and  have  been  sustained  with 
ojteinplary  fidelity.  I  have  to  add,  that  however  gratifying  it  may  be  to 
mt> ^regarding  the  prosperous  and  happy  condition  of  our  country,  to  rec- 
ommend the  repeal  of  these  taxes  at  this  time,  I  shall,  nevertheless,  be 
attentive  to  events,  and,  should  any  future  emergency  occur,  be  not  less 
prompt  to  suggest  such  measures  and  burdens  as  may  then  be  requisite 
and  proper. 


SECOND    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
NOVEMBER  17,  1818. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

THE  auspicious  circumstances  under  which  you  will  commence  the  du 
ties  of  the  present  session  will  lighten  the  burden  inseparable  from  tho 
high  trusts  committed  to  you.  The  fruits  of  the  earth  have  been  unu- 
sually abundant,  commerce  has  flourished,  the  revenue  has  exceeded  the 
most  favorable  anticipation,  and  peace  and  amity  are  preserved  with  for- 
eign nations  on  conditions  just  and  honorable  to  our  country.  For  these 
inestimable  blessings  we  can  not  but  be  grateful  to  that  Providence  which 
watches  over  the  destinies  of  nations. 

As  the  term  limited  for  the  operation  of  the  commercial  convention  with 
Great  Britain  will  expire  early  in  the  month  of  July  next,  and  it  was 
deemed  important  that  there  should  be  no  interval  during  which  that 
portion  of  our  commerce  which  was  provided  for  by  that  convention 
should  not  be  regulated,  either  by  arrangement  between  the  two  govern- 
ments or  by  the  authority  of  Congress,  the  minister  of  the  United  States 
at  London  was  instructed,  early  in  the  last  summer,  to  invite  the  atten- 
tion of  the  British  government  to  the  subject,  with  a  view  to  that  object 
He  was  instructed  to  propose,  also,  that  the  negotiation  which  it  was 
wished  to  open  might  extend  to  the  general  commerce  of  the  two  coun- 
tries, and  to  every  other  interest  and  unsettled  difference  between  them ; 
particularly  to  those  relating  to  impressment,  the  fisheries,  and  boundaries, 
in  the  hope  that  an  arrangement  might,  be  made  on  principles  of  recipro- 
cal advantage,  which  might  comprehend  and  provide  in  a  satisfactory 
manner  for  all  these  high  concerns.  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  state  that 
the  proposal  was  received  by  the  British  government  in  the  spirit  which 
prompted  it,  and  that  a  negotiation  has  been  opened  at  London,  embracing 
i!l  these  objects.  On  full  consideration  of  the  great  extent  and  magni- 
tude of  the  trust,  it  was  thought  proper  to  commit  it  to  not  less  than  two 
of  our  distinguished  citizens,  and  in  consequence,  the  envoy  extraordinary 
and  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  at  Paris  has  been  as- 
sociated with  our  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary  at  Lon- 
don, to  both  of  whom  corresponding  instructions  have  been  given,  and 
they  are  now  engaged  in  the  discharge  of  its  duties.  It  is  proper  to  add, 


MONROE'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  405 

that  to  prevent  any  inconvenience  resulting  from  the  delay  to  a  negotiation 
on  so  many  important  subjects,  it  was  agreed  before  entering  on  it  that  the 
existing  convention  should  be  continued  for  a  term  not  less  than  eight  years. 

Our  relations  with  Spain  remain  nearly  in  the  state  in  which  they  were 
at  the  close  of  the  last  session.  The  convention  of  1802,  providing  for 
the  adjustment  of  a  certain  portion  of  the  claims  of  our  citizens  for  inju- 
ries sustained  by  spoliation,  and  so  long  suspended  by  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment, has  at  length  been  ratified  by  it ;  but  no  arrangement  has  yet  beeu 
made  for  the  payment  of  another  portion  of  like  claims,  not  less  extensive 
or  well  founded,  or  for  other  classes  of  claims,  or  for  the  settlement  of 
boundaries.  These  subjects  have  again  been  brought  under  considera- 
tion in  both  countries,  but  no  agreement  has  been  entered  into  respecting 
them.  In  the  meantime,  events  have  occurred  which  clearly  prove  the 
ill  effect  of  the  policy  which  that  government  has  so  long  pursued,  on  the 
friendly  relations  of  the  two  countries,  which  it  is  presumed  is  at  least  of 
as  much  importance  to  Spain  as  to  the  United  States  to  maintain.  A 
state  of  things  has  existed  in  the  Floridas,  the  tendency  of  which  has 
been  obvious  to  all  who  have  paid  the  slightest  attention  to  the  progress 
of  affairs  in  that  quarter.  Throughout  the  whole  of  those  provinces  t'j 
which  the  Spanish  title  extends,  the  government  of  Spain  has  scarcely 
been  felt.  Its  authority  has  been  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  walls 
of  Pensacola  and  St.  Augustine,  within  which  only  small  garrisons  have 
been  maintained.  Adventurers  from  every  country,  fugitives  from  justice, 
and  absconding  slaves  have  found  an  asylum  there.  Several  tribes  of 
Indians,  strong  in  the  number  of  their  warriors,  remarkable  for  their  fe- 
rocity, and  whose  settlements  extend  to  our  limits,  inhabit  those  provinces. 
These  different  hordes  of  people,  connected  together,  disregarding,  on  the 
one  side,  the  authority  of  Spain,  and  protected  on  the  other  by  an  imagi- 
nary line  which  separates  Florida  from  the  United  States,  have  violated 
our  hws  prohibiting  the  introduction  of  slaves,  have  practised  various 
frauds  on  our  revenue,  and  committed  every  kind  of  outrage  on  our 
peaceable  citizens  which  their  proximity  to  us  enabled  them  to  perpetrate. 
The  invasion  of  Amelia  island  last  year  by  a  small  band  of  adventurers, 
not  exceeding  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  number,  who  wrested  it  from  the 
inconsiderable  Spanish  force  stationed  there,  and  held  it  several  months, 
during  which  a  single  effort  only  was  made  to  recover  it,  which  failed, 
clearly  proves  how  completely  extinct  the  Spanish  authority  had  become, 
as  the  conduct  of  those  adventurers  while  in  possession  of  the  island,  as 
distinctly  shows  the  pernicious  purposes  for  which  their  combination  had 
been  formed. 

This  country  had  in  fact  become  the  theatre  of  every  species  of  lawless 
adventure.  With  little  population  of  its  own.  the  Spanish  authority  al- 
most extinct,  and  the  colonial  governments  in  a  state  of  revolution,  hav- 
ing no  pretensions  to  it,  and  sufficiently  employed  in  their  own  concerns, 
it  was  in  a  great  measure  derelict,  and  the  object  of  cupidity  to  every  ad- 
venturer. A  system  of  bucaniering  was  rapidly  organizing  over  it,  which 
menaced,  in  its  consequences,  the  lawful  commerce  of  every  nation,  and 
particularly  of  the  United  States,  while  it  presented  a  temptation  to  every 
people  on  whose  seduction  its  success  principally  depended.  In  regard 
to  the  United  States,  the  pernicious  effect  of  this  unlawful  combination 
was  not  confined  to  the  ocean  ;  the  Indian  tribes  have  constituted  the  ef- 
fective force  in  Florida.  With  these  tribes  these  adventurers  had  formed 
at  an  early  period  a  connexion,  with  a  view  to  avail  themselves  of  that 


406  MONROE'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

force  to  promote  their  own  projects  of  accumulation  and  aggrandizement 
It  is  to  the  interference  of  some  of  these  adventurers,  in  misrepresenting 
the  claims  and  titles  of  the  Indians  to  land,  and  in  practising  on  their 
•avage  propensities,  that  the  Seminole  war  is  principally  to  be  traced. 
Men  who  thus  connect  themselves  with  savage  communities,  and  stimu- 
late them  to  war,  which  is  always  attended  on  their  part  with  acts  of  bar- 
barity the  most  shocking,  deserve  to  be  viewed  in  a  worse  light  than  the 
savages.  They  would  certainly  have  no  claim  to  an  immunity  from  the 
punishment  which,  according  to  the  rules  of  warfare  practised  by  the  sav- 
ages, might  justly  be  inflicted  on  the  savages  themselves. 

If  the  embarrassments  of  Spain  prevented  her  from  making  an  indemni- 
ty to  our  citizens  for  so  long  a  time  from  her  treasury,  for  their  losses  by 
spoliation  and  otherwise,  it  was  always  in  her  power  to  have  provided  it 
by  the  cession  of  this  territory.  Of  this  her  government  has  been  re- 
peatedly apprized,  and  the  cession  was  the  more  to  have  been  anticipated, 
as  Spain  must  have  known  that  in  ceding  it  she  would  in  effect  cede  what 
had  become  of  little  value  to  her,  and  would  likewise  relieve  herself  from  the 
important  obligation  secured  by  the  treaty  of  1795,  and  all  other  com- 
promitments  respecting  it.  If  the  United  States,  from  consideration  of 
these  embarrassments,  declined  pressing  their  claims  in  a  spirit  of  hostil- 
ity, the  motive  ought  at  least  to  have  been  duly  appreciated  by  the  gov- 
ernment of  Spain.  It  is  well  known  to  her  government  that  other  powers 
have  made  to  the  United  States  an  indemnity  for  like  losses  sustained  by 
their  citizens  at  the  same  epoch. 

There  is,  nevertheless,  a  limit  beyond  which  this  spirit  of  amity  and 
forbearance  can  in  no  instance  be  justified.  If  it  was  proper  to  rely  on 
amicable  negotiations  for  an  indemnity  for  losses,  it  would  not  have  been 
so  to  have  permitted  the  inability  of  Spain  to  fulfil  her  engagements,  and 
to  sustain  her  authority  in  the  Floridas,  to  be  perverted  by  foreign  adven- 
turers and  savages  to  purposes  so  destructive  to  the  lives  of  our  fellow- 
citizens,  and  the  highest  interests  of  the  United  States.  The  right  of 
self-defence  never  ceases.  It  is  among  the  most  sacred  and  alike  neces- 
sary to  nations  and  individuals  ;  and  whether  the  attack  be  made  by  Spain 
herself,  or  by  those  who  abuse  her  power,  its  obligation  is  not  the  less 
strong.  The  invaders  of  Amelia  island  had  assumed  a  popular  and  re- 
spected title,  under  which  they  might  approach  and  wound  us.  As  their 
object  was  distinctly  seen,  and  the  duty  imposed  on  the  executive  by  an 
existing  law  was  profoundly  felt,  that  mask  was  not  permitted  to  protect 
them.  It  was  thought  incumbent  on  the  United  States  to  suppress  the 
establishment,  and  it  was  accordingly  done.  The  combination  in  Florida 
for  the  unlawful  purposes  stated,  the  acts  perpetrated  by  that  combination, 
and,  above  all,  the  incitement  of  the  Indians  to  massacre  our  fellow-citizeas 
of  every  age  and  of  both  sexes,  merited  a  like  treatment  and  received  it. 
In  pursuing  these  savages  to  an  imaginary  line  in  the  woods,  it  would 
have  been  the  height  of  folly  to  have  suffered  that  line  to  protect  them. 
Had  that  been  done,  the  war  would  never  cease.  Even  if  the  territory 
had  been  exclusively  that  of  Spain,  and  her  power  complete  over  it,  we 
had  a  right,  by  the  law  of  nations,  to  follow  the  enemy  on  it,  and  to  sub- 
due him  there.  But  the  territory  belonged,  in  a  certain  sense  at  least, 
to  the  savage  enemy  who  inhabited  it ;  the  power  of  Spain  had  ceased  to 
exist  over  it,  and  protection  was  sought  under  her  title  by  those  who  had 
committed  on  our  citizens  hostilities  which  she  was  bound  by  treaty  to 
have  prevented,  but  had  not  the  power  to  prevent.  To  have  stopped  at 


MONROES    SECOND    ANNUAL    MESSAGE.  407 

that  line  would  have  given  new  encouragement  to  these  savages,  and  new 
vigor  to  the  whole  combination  existing  there  in  the  prosecution  of  all  its 
pernicious  purposes. 

In  suppressing  the  establishment  at  Amelia  island,  no  unfriendliness 
was  manifested  toward  Spain,  because  the  post  was  taken  from  a  force 
which  had  wrested  it  from  her.  The  measure,  it  is  true,  was  not  adopt- 
ed in  concert  with  the  Spanish  government,  or  those  in  authority  un- 
der it,  because,  in  transactions  connected  with  the  war  in  which  Spain 
and  her  colonies  are  engaged,  it  was  thought  proper,  in  doing  justice  to 
the  United  States,  to  maintain  a  strict  impartiality  toward  both  of  the  bel- 
ligerent parties  without  consulting  or  acting  in  concert  with  either.  It 
gives  me  pleasure  to  state  that  the  government  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Ve- 
nezuela, whose  names  were  assumed,  have  explicitly  disclaimed  all  par- 
ticipation in  those  measures,  and  even  the  knowledge  of  them  until  com- 
municated by  this  government,  and  have  also  expressed  their  satisfaction 
that  a  course  of  proceeding  had  been  suppressed  which,  if  justly  irnpu- 
table  to  them,  would  dishonor  their  cause. 

In  authorizing  Major-General  Jackson  to  enter  Florida  in  pursuit  of  the 
Seminoles,  care  was  taken  not  to  encroach  on  the  rights  of  Spain.  I  re- 
gret to  have  to  add,  that  in  executing  this  order  facts  were  disclosed 
respecting  the  conduct  of  the  officers  of  Spain  in  authority  there,  in  en- 
couraging the  war,  furnishing  munitions  of  war  and  other  supplies  to  carry 
it  on,  and  in  other  acts  not  less  marked,  which  evinced  their  participation 
in  the  hostile  purposes  of  that  combination,  and  justified  the  confidence 
with  which  it  inspired  the  savages  that  by  (hose  officers  they  would  be 
protected.  A  conduct  so  incompatible  with  the  friendly  relations  existing 
between  the  two  countries,  particularly  with  the  positive  obligation  of  the 
fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  1795,  by  which  Spain  was  bound  to  restrain, 
even  by  force,  those  savages  from  acts  of  hostility  against  the  United 
States,  could  not  fail  to  excite  surprise.  The  commanding  general  was 
convinced  that  he  should  fail  in  his  object,  that  he  should  in  effect  accom- 
plish nothing,  if  he  did  not  deprive  those  savages  of  the  resource  on  which 
they  had  calculated,  and  of  the  protection  on  which  they  had  relied,  in 
making  the  war.  As  all  the  documents  relating  to  this  occurrence  will 
be  laid  before  Congress,  it  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  further  detail 
respecting  it. 

Although  the  reasons  which  induced  Major-General  Jackson  to  take 
these  p'osts  were  duly  appreciated,  there  was  nevertheless  no  hesitation  in 
deciding  on  the  course  which  it  became  the  government  to  pursue.  As 
there  was  reason  to  believe  that  the  commanders  of  these  posts  had  vio- 
lated their  instructions,  there  was  no  disposition  to  impute  to  their  govern- 
ment a  conduct  so  unprovoked  and  hostile.  An  order  was  in  consequence 
issued  to  the  general  in  command  there,  to  deliver  the  posts  ;  Pensacola, 
unconditionally,  to  any  person  duly  authorized  to  receive  it,  and  St.  Marks, 
which  is  in  the  heart  of  the  Indian  country,  on  the  arrival  of  a  competent 
force  to  defend  it  against  those  savages  and  their  associates. 

In  entering  Florida  to  suppress  this  combination,  no  idea  was  entertain- 
ed of  hostility  to  Spain,  and  however  justifiable  the  commanding  general 
was,  in  consequence  of  the  misconduct  of  the  Spanish  officers,  in  entering 
St.  Marks  and  Pensacola,  to  determine  it  by  proving  to  the  savages  and 
their  associates  that  they  could  not  be  protected  even  there,  yet  the  ami- 
cable relations  existing  between  the  United  States  and  Spain  could  not  be 
altered  by  that  act  alone.  By  ordering  the  restitution  of  the  posts  those 


408  MONROE'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

relations  were  preserved.     To  a  change  of  them  the  power  of  the  execu- 
tive is  deemed  incompetent ;  it  is  vested  in  Congress  only. 

By  this  measure,  so  promptly  taken,  due  respect  was  shown  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  Spain.  The  misconduct  of  her  officers  has  not  been  imputed 
to  her.  She  was  enabled  to  review  with  candor  her  relations  with  the 
United  States  and  her  own  situation,  particularly  in  respect  to  the  territory 
in  question,  with  the  dangers  inseparable  from  it ;  and  regarding  the  losses 
we  have  sustained  for  which  indemnity  has  been  so  long  withheld,  and 
the  injuries  we  have  suffered  through  that  territory,  and  her  means  of  re- 
dress, she  was  likewise  enabled  to  take  with  honor  the  course  best  calcu- 
lated to  do  justice  to  the  United  States  and  to  promote  her  own  welfare. 

Copies  of  the  instructions  to  the  commanding  general  ;  of  his  corre- 
spondence with  the  secretary  of  war,  explaining  his  motives  and  justifying 
his  conduct,  with  a  copy  of  the  proceedings  of  the  courts-martial  in  the 
trial  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambristie  ;  and  of  the  correspondence  between  the 
secretary  of  state  and  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  Spain  near  this  gov- 
ernment ;  and  of  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  at  Mad- 
rid, with  the  government  of  Spain,  will  be  laid  before  Congress. 

The  civil  war  which  has  so  long  prevailed  between  Spain  and  the  prov- 
inces in  South  America  still  continues  without  any  prospect  of  its  speedy 
termination.  The  information  respecting  the  condition  of  those  countries, 
which  has  been  collected  by  the  commissioners  recently  returned  from 
thence,  will  be  laid  before  Congress  in  copies  of  their  reports,  with  such  oth- 
er information  as  has  been  received  from  other  agents  of  the  United  States. 

It  appears,  from  these  communications,  that  the  government  of  Buenos 
Ayres  declared  itself  independent  in  July,  1816,  having  previously  exer- 
cised the  power  of  an  independent  government,  though  in  the  name  of  the 
king  of  Spain,  from  the  year  1810 ;  that  the  Banda  Oriental,  Entre  lleos. 
and  Paraguay,  with  the  city  of  Santa  Fe,  all  of  which  are  also  independ- 
ent, are  unconnected  with  the  present  government  of  Buenos  Ayre.s  ;  that 
Chili  has  declared  itself  independent  and  is  closely  connected  with 
Buenos  Ayres  ;  that  Venezuela  has  also  declared  itself  independent,  and 
now  maintains  the  conflict  with  various  success  ;  and  that  the  remaining 
parts  of  South  America,  except  Montevideo,  and  such  other  portions  of  the 
eastern  bank  of  the  La  Plata  as  are  held  by  Portugal,  are  still  in  posses- 
sion of  Spain  or  in  a  certain  degree  under  her  influence. 

By  a  circular  note  addressed  by  the  ministers  of  Spain  to  the  allied 
powers,  with  whom  they  are  accredited,  it  appears  that  the  allies  have 
Undertaken  to  mediate  between  Spain  and  the  South  American  provinces, 
and  that  the  manner  and  extent  of  their  interposition  would  be  settled  by 
a  congress  which  was  to  have  met  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  September  last. 
From  the  general  policy  and  course  of  proceedings  observed  by  the  allied 
powers,  in  regard  to  this  contest,  it  is  inferred  that  they  will  confine  their 
interposition  to  the  expression  of  their  sentiments,  abstaining  from  the 
application  of  force.  I  state  this  impression  that  force  will  not  be  appli- 
ed, with  the  greatest  satisfaction,  because  it  is  a  course  more  consistent 
with  justice,  and  likewise  authorizes  a  hope  that  the  calamities  of  the  war 
will  be  confined  to  the  parties  only,  and  will  be  of  shorter  duration. 

From  the  view  taken  of  this  subject,  founded  on  all  the  information  that 
we  have  been  able  to  obtain,  there  is  good  cause  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
course  heretofore  pursued  by  the  United  States  with  regard  to  this  con- 
test, and  to  conclude  that  it  is  proper  to  adhere  to  it,  especially  in  the  pres- 
ent state  of  affairs. 


MONROE'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  409 

I  have  great  satisfaction  in  stating  that  our  relations  with  France,  Rus- 
ia,  and  other  powers,  continue  on  the  most  friendly  basis. 

In  our  domestic  concerns  we  have  ample  cause  of  satisfaction.  The 
receipts  into  the  treasury  during  the  first  three  quarters  of  the  year  have 
exceeded  seventeen  millions  of  dollars. 

After  satisfying  all  the  demands  which  have  been  made  under  existing 
appropriations,  including  the  final  extinction  of  the  old  six  per  cent,  stock, 
and  the  redemption  of  a  moiety  of  the  Louisiana  debt,  it  is  estimated  that 
there  will  remain  in  the  treasury,  on  the  first  day  of  January  next,  more 
than  two  millions  of  dollars. 

It  is  ascertained  that  the  gross  revenue  which  has  accrued  from  the 
customs  during  the  same  period  amounts  to  twenty-one  millions  of  dollars, 
and  that  the  revenue  of  the  whole  year  may  be  estimated  at  not  less  than 
twenty-six  millions.  The  sale  of  the  public  lands  during  the  year  hay 
also  greatly  exceeded,  both  in  quantity  and  price,  that  of  any  former  year, 
and  there  is  just  reason  to  expect  a  progressive  improvement  in  that  source 
of  revenue. 

It  is  gratifying  to  know,  that  although  the  annual  expenditure  has  been 
increased,  by  the  act  of  the  last  session  of  Congress  providing  for  revolu- 
tionary pensions,  to  an  amount  about  equal  to  the  proceeds  of  the  internal 
duties  which  were  then  repealed,  the  revenue  for  the  ensuing  year  will  be 
proportionably  augmented,  and  that  while  the  public  expenditure  will  proba- 
bly remain  stationary,  each  successive  year  will  add  to  the  national  re- 
sources by  the  ordinary  increase  of  population,  and  by  the  gradual  devel- 
opment of  our  latent  sources  of  national  prosperity. 

The  strict  execution  of  the  revenue  laws,  resulting  principally  from  the 
salutary  provisions  of  the  act  of  the  20th  of  April  last  amending  the  several 
collection  laws,  has.  it  is  presumed,  secured  to  domestic  manufactures  all 
the  relief  that  can  be  derived  from  the  duties  which  have  been  imposed 
upon  foreign  merchandise  for  their  protection.  Under  the  influence  of 
this  relief,  several  branches  of  this  important  national  interest  have  as- 
sumed greater  activity,  and  although  it  is  hoped  that  others  will  gradually 
revive  and  ultimately  triumph  over  every  obstacle,  yet  the  expediency  of 
granting  further  protection  is  submitted  to  your  consideration. 

The  measures  of  defence  authorized  by  existing  laws  have  been  pur- 
sued with  the  zeal  and  activity  due  to  so  important  an  object,  and  with  all 
the  despatch  practicable  in  so  extensive  and  great  an  undertaking.  The 
survey  of  our  maritime  and  inland  frontiers  has  been  continued,  and  at 
the  points  where  it  was  decided  to  erect  fortifications  the  work  has  been 
commenced,  and  in  some  instances  considerable  progress  has  been  made. 
In  compliance  with  resolutions  of  the  last  session,  the  board  of  commis- 
sioners were  directed  to  examine  in  a  particular  manner  the  parts  of  the 
coast  therein  designated,  and  to  report  their  opinion  of  the  most  suitable 
sites  for  two  naval  depots.  This  work  is  in  a  train  of  execution.  The 
opinion  of  the  board  on  this  subject,  with  a  plan  of  all  the  works  neces- 
sary to  a  general  system  of  defence,  so  far  as  it  has  been  formed,  will  be 
laid  before  Congress,  in  a  report  from  the  proper  department,  as  soon  as 
it  can  be  prepared. 

In  conformity  with  the  appropriations  of  the  last  session,  treaties  have 
been  formed  witli  the  Quapaw  tribe  of  Indians,  inhabiting  the  country  on 
the  Arkansas,  and  with  the  Great  and  Little  Usages  north  of  the  White 
river;  with  the  tribes  in  the  state  of  Indiana;  with  the  several  tribes 
within  the  state  of  Ohio  ar  J  the  .Michigan  territory  ;  and  with  the  Chick 


410  MONROE'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

asaws  ;  by  which  very  extensive  cessions  of  territory  have  been  made  to 
the  United  States.  Negotiations  are  now  depending  with  the  tribes  in 
the  Illinois  territory,  and  with  the  Choctaws,  by  Nvhich  it  is  expected  that 
other  extensive  cessions  will  be  made.  1  take  great  interest  in  stating 
that  the  cessions  already  made,  which  are  considered  so  important  to 
the  United  IS  tales,  have  been  obtained  on  conditions  very  satisi'actory  to 
the  Indians. 

With  a  view  to  the  security  of  our  inland  frontiers,  it  has  been  thought 
expedient  to  establish  strong  posts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone  river, 
and  at  the  Mandan  village  on  the  Missouri,  and  at  the  mouth  of  St.  Peter's 
on  the  Mississippi,  at  no  great  distance  from  our  northern  boundaries.  It 
can  hardly  be  presumed,  while  such  posts  are  maintained  in  the  rear  of 
the  Indian  tribes,  that  they  will  venture  to  attack  our  peaceable  inhabit- 
ants. A  strong  hope  is  entertained  that  this  measure  will  likewise  be 
productive  of  much  good  to  the  tribes  themselves ;  especially  in  promo- 
ting the  great  object  of  their  civilization.  Experience  has  clearly  demon- 
strated that  independent  savage  communities  can  not  long  exist  within  the 
limits  of  a  civilized  population.  The  progress  of  the  latter  has  almost 
invariably  terminated  in  the  extinction  of  the  former,  especially  of  the 
tribes  belonging  to  our  portion  of  this  hemisphere,  among  whom  loftiness 
of  sentiment  and  gallantry  in  action  have  been  conspicuous.  To  civilize 
them,  and  even  to  prevent  their  extinction,  it  seems  to  be  indispensable 
that  their  independence  as  communities  should  cease,  and  that  the  con- 
trol of  the  United  States  over  them  should  be  complete  and  undisputed. 
The  hunter  state  will  then  be  more  easily  abandoned,  and  recourse  will 
be  had  to  the  acquisition  and  culture  of  land,  and  to  other  pursuits  tend- 
ing to  dissolve  the  ties  which  connect  them  together  as  a  savage  com- 
munity, and  to  give  a  new  character  to  every  individual.  I  present  this 
subject  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  on  the  presumption  that  it  may 
be  found  expedient  and  practicable  to  adopt  some  benevolent  provisions, 
having  these  objects  in  view,  relative  to  the  tribes  within  our  settlements. 

It  has  been  necessary  during  the  present  year  to  maintain'a  strong  na- 
val force  in  the  Mediterranean  and  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  to  send  some 
public  ships  along  the  southern  coast  and  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  By  these 
means  amicable  relations  with  the  Barbary  powers  have  been  preserved, 
our  commerce  has  been  protected,  and  our  rights  respected.  The  aug- 
mentation of  our  navy  is  advancing  with  a  steady  progress  toward  the 
limit  contemplated  by  law. 

I  communicate  with  great  satisfaction  the  accession  of  another  state, 
Illinois,  to  our  Union  ;  because  1  perceive,  from  the  proof  aflbrded  by  the 
additions  already  made,  the  regular  progress  and  sure  consummation  ot 
a  policy  of  which  history  afibrds  no  example,  and  of  which  the  good  effect 
can  not  be  too  highly  estimated.  By  extending  our  government,  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  constitution,  over  the  vast  territory  within  our  limits,  on  the 
lakes  and  the  Mississippi  and  its  numerous  streams,  new  life  and  vigor 
are  infused  into  every  part  of  our  system.  By  increasing  the  number  of 
the  states,  the  confidence  of  the  state  governments  in  their  own  security 
is  increased,  and  their  jealousy  of  the  national  government  proportionably 
diminished.  The  impracticability  of  one  consolidated  government  for  this 
great  and  growing  nation  will  be  more  apparent  and  will  be  universally 
admitted.  Incapable  of  exercising  local  authority,  except  for  general  pur- 
poses, the  general  government  will  no  longer  be  dreaded.  In  those  cases 
of  a  local  nature,  and  for  all  the  great  purposes  for  which  it  was  insti- 


MONROE'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  411 

tutcd.  its  authority  will  be  cherished.  Each  government  will  acquire  new 
force  and  a  greater  freedom  of  action  within  its  proper  sphere.  Other 
inestimable  advantages  will  follow.  Our  produce  will  be  augmented  to  an 
incalculable  amount  in  articles  of  the  greatest  value  for  domestic  use  and 
foreign  commerce.  Our  navigation  will  in  like  degree  be  increased,  and 
as  the  shipping  of  the  Atlantic  states  will  be  employed  in  the  transporta- 
tion of  the  vast  produce  of  the  western  country,  even  those  parts  of  the 
United  States  which  are  the  most  remote  from  each  other  will  be  further 
bound  together  by  the  strongest  ties  which  mutual  interest  can  create. 

The  situation  of  this  district,  it  is  thought,  requires  the  attention  of 
Congress.  By  the  constitution,  the  power  of  legislation  is  exclusively 
vested  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  In  the  exercise  of  this 
power,  in  which  the  people  have  no  participation,  Congress  legislate,  in 
all  cases,  directly  on  the  local  concerns  of  the  district.  As  this  is  a  de- 
parture, for  a  special  purpose,  from  the  general  principles  of  our  system. 
it  may  merit  consideration  whether  an  arrangement  better  adapted  to  the 
principles  of  our  government,  and  to  the  particular  interest  of  the  people, 
may  not  be  devised,  which  will  never  infringe  the  constitution  nor  affect 
the  object  which  the  provision  in  question  was  intended  to  secure.  The 
growing  population,  already  considerable,  and  the  increasing  business  of 
the  district,  which  it  is  believed  already  interferes  with  the  deliberations 
of  Congress  on  great  national  concerns,  furnish  additional  motives  for 
recommending  this  subject  to  your  consideration. 

When  we  view  the  great  blessings  with  which  our  country  has  been 
favored,  those  which  we  now  enjoy,  and  the  means  which  we  possess  of 
handing  them  down  unimpaired  to  our  latest  posterity,  our  attention  is 
irresistibly  drawn  to  the  source  from  whence  they  flow.  Let  us  then 
unite  in  offering  our  most  grateful  acknowledgments  for  these  blessings  to 
the  Divine  Author  of  all  good. 


THIRD    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

i 

DECEMBER  7,  1819. 

Fellow-  Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

THE  public  buildings  being  advanced  to  a  stage  to  afford  accommoda- 
tion to  Congress,  I  offer  you  my  sincere  congratulation  on  the  recom- 
mencement of  your  duties  in  the  capitol. 

In  bringing  to  view  the  incidents  most  deserving  attention  which  have 
occurred  since  your  last  session,  I  regret  to  have  to  state  that  several  of 
our  principal  cities  have  suffered  by  sickness,  that  an  unusual  drought  has 
prevailed  in  the  middle  and  western  states,  and  that  a  derangement  has 
been  felt  in  some  of  our  moneyed  institutions  which  has  proportionally 
affected  their  credit.  I  am  happy,  however,  to  have  it  in  my  power  to 
assure  you  that  the  health  of  our  cities  is  now  completely  restored  ;  that 
the  produce  of  the  year,  though  less  abundant,  will  not  only  be  amply  suffi- 
cient for  home  consumption,  but  afford  a  large  surplus  for  the  supply  of 
the  wants  of  other  nations  :  that  the  derangement  in  the  circulating  paper 
medium,  by  being  left  to  those  remedies  which  its  obvious  causes  suggest- 
ed and  the  good  sense  and  virtue  of  our  fellow-citizens  supplied,  has 
diminished. 


412  MONROK'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

Having  informed  Congress,  on  the  27th  of  February  last,  that  a  treaty 
of  amity  and  settlement  of  limits  had  been  concluded  in  this  city  between 
the  United  States  and  Spain,  and  ratified  by  the  competent  authorities  of 
the  former,  full  confidence  was  entertained  that  it  would  have  been  ratified 
by  his  catholic  majesty  with  equal  promptitude,  and  a  like  earnest  desire 
to  terminate  on  the  conditions  of  that  treaty  the  differences  which  had  so 
long  existed  between  the  two  countries.  Every  view  which  the  subject 
admitted  of  was  thought  to  have  justified  this  conclusion.  Great  losses 
had  been  sustained  by  citizens  of  the  United  States  from  the  Spanish 
cruisers,  more  than  twenty  years  before,  which  had  not  been  redressed. 
These  losses  had  been  acknowledged  and  provided  for  by  a  treaty  as  far 
back  as  the  year  1802,  which,  although  concluded  at  Madrid,  was  not 
then  ratified  by  the  government  of  Spain,  nor  since,  until  the  last  year, 
when  it  was  suspended  by  the  late  treaty,  a  more  satisfactory  provision  to 
both  parties,  as  was  presumed,  having  been  made  for  them.  Other  differ- 
ences had  arisen  in  this  long  interval,  affecting  their  highest  interests, 
which  were  likewise  provided  for  by  this  last  treaty.  The  treaty  itself 
was  formed  on  great  consideration,  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  all  cir- 
cumstances, the  subject-matter  of  every  article  having  been  for  years  under 
discussion,  and  repeated  references  having  been  made  by  the  minister  of 
Spain  to  this  government,  on  the  points  respecting  which  the  greatest  dif- 
ference of  opinion  prevailed.  It  was  formed  by  a  minister  duly  authoriz- 
ed for  the  purpose,  who  had  represented  his  government  in  the  United 
States,  and  been  employed  in  this  long-protracted  discussion  several 
years,  and  who,  it  is  not  denied,  kept  strictly  within  the  letter  of  his  in- 
structions. The  faith  of  Spain  was  therefore  pledged,  under  circumstances 
of  peculiar  force  and  solemnity,  for  its  ratification.  On  the  part  of  the 
United  States  this  treaty  was  evidently  acceded  to  in  a  spirit  of  concilia- 
tion and  concession.  The  indemnity  for  injuries  and  losses  so  long  be- 
fore sustained,  and  now  again  acknowledged  and  provided  for,  was  to  be 
paid  by  them  without  becoming  a  charge  on  the  treasury  of  Spain.  For 
territory  ceded  by  Spain,  other  territory  of  great  value,  to  which  our  claim 
was  believed  to  be  well  founded,  was  ceded  by  the  United  States,  and  in 
a  quarter  more  interesting  to  her.  This  cession  was  nevertheless  receiv- 
ed as  the  means  of  indemnifying  our  citizens  in  a  considerable  sum,  the 
presumed  amount  of  their  losses.  Other  considerations  of  great  weight 
urged  the  cession  of  the  territory  by  Spain.  It  was  surrounded  by  the 
territories  of  the  United  States  on  every  side  except  on  that  of  the  ocean. 
Spain  had  lost  its  authority  over  it,  and  falling  into  the  hands  of  adven- 
turers connected  with  savages,  it  was  made  the  means  of  unceasing  an- 
noyance .and  injury  to  our  Union  in  many  of  its  most  essential  interests. 
By  this  cession,  then,  Spain  ceded  a  territory  in  reality  of  no  value  to  her, 
and  obtained  concessions  of  the  highest  importance  by  the  sell  lenient  of 
long-standing  differences  with  the  United  States  affecting  their  respective 
claims  and  limits,  and  likewise  relieved  herself  of  the  obligation  of  a 
treaty  relating  to  it  which  she  has  failed  to  fulfil,  and  also  from  the  respon- 
sibility incident  to  the  most  flagrant  and  pernicious  abuses  of  her  rights 
where  she  could  not  support  her  authority. 

It  being  known  that  the  treaty  was  formed  under  these  circumstances, 
not  a  doubt  was  entertained  that  his  catholic  majesty  would  have  ratified 
it  without  delay.  I  regret  to  have  to  state  that  this  reasonable  expecta- 
tion has  been  disappointed  ;  and  the  treaty  was  not  ratified  within  the 
time  stipulated,  and  has  not  been  ratified.  As  it  is  important  that  the  na- 


MONROE'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  413 

ture  and  character  of  this  unexpected  occurrence  should  be  distinctly 
understood,  I  think  it  my  duty  to  communicate  to  you  all  the  facts  and  cir- 
cumstances in  my  possession  relating  to  it. 

Anxious  to  prevent  any  future  disagreement  with  Spain,  by  giving  the 
most  prompt  effect  to  the  treaty  which  had  been  thus  concluded,  and  par- 
ticularly by  the  establishment  of  a  government  in  Florida  which  should 
preserve  order  there,  the  minister  of  the  United  States  who  had  been 
recently  appointed  to  his  catholic  majesty,  and  to  whom  the  ratification  by 
his  government  had  been  committed  to  be  exchanged  for  that  of  Spain, 
was  instructed  to  transmit  the  latter  to  the  department  of  state  as  soon  as 
obtained,  by  a  public  ship  subjected  to  his  order  for  the  purpose.  Unex- 
pected delay  occurring  in  the  ratification  by  Spain,  he  requested  to  be  in- 
formed of  the  cause.  It  was  stated  in  reply  that  the  great  importance  of 
the  subject,  and  a  desire  to  obtain  explanations  on  certain  points  which 
were  not  specified,  had  produced  the  delay  and  that  an  envoy  would  be 
despatched  to  the  United  States  to  obtain  such  explanations  of  this  gov- 
ernment. The  minister  of  the  United  States  offered  to  give  full  explana- 
tion on  any  point  on  which  it  might  be  desired ;  which  proposal  was  de- 
clined. Having  communicated  this  result  to  the  department  of  state  in 
August  last,  he  was  instructed,  notwithstanding  the  surprise  and  disap- 
pointment which  it  produced,  to  inform  the  government  of  Spain,  that  if 
the  treaty  should  be  ratified  and  transmitted  here  at  any  time  before  the 
meeting  of  Congress  it  would  be  received  and  have  the  same  effect  as  if 
it  had  been  ratified  in  due  time.  This  order  was  executed,  the  authorized 
communication  was  made  to  the  government  of  Spain,  and  by  its  answer, 
which  has  just  been  received,  we  are  officially  made  acquainted,  for  the 
first  time,  with  the  causes  which  have  prevented  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty  by  his  catholic  majesty.  It  is  alleged  by  the  minister  of  Spain  that 
this  government  had  attempted  to  alter  one  of  the  principal  articles  of  the 
treaty  by  a  declaration  which  the  minister  of  the  United  States  had  been 
ordered  to  present,  when  he  should  deliver  the  ratification  by  his  govern- 
ment in  exchange  for  that  of  Spain  ;  and  of  which  he  gave  notice,  explan- 
atory of  the  sense  in  which  that  article  was  understood.  It  is  further 
alleged  that  this  government  had  recently  tolerated  or  protected  an  expe- 
dition from  the  United  States  against  the  province  of  Texas.  These  two 
imputed  acts  are  stated  as  the  reasons  which  have  induced  his  catholic 
majesiy  10  withhold  his  raiification  from  the  treaty,  to  ob'.ain  explanations 
respecting  which  it  is  repeated  that  an  envoy  would  be  forthwith  despatch- 
ed to  the  United  States.  How  far  these  allegations  will  justify  the  con- 
duct of  the  government  of  Spain  will  appear  on  a  view  of  the  following 
facts,  and  the  evidence  which  supports  them. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  documents  transmitted  herewith  that  the  decla- 
ration mentioned  relates  to  a  clause  in  the  eighth  article  concerning  cer- 
tain grants  of  land  recently  made  by  his  catholic  majesty  in  Florida, 
which  it  was  understood  had  conveyed  all  the  lands  which  till  then  had 
been  ungranted  ;  it  was  the  intention  of  these  parties  to  annul  those  lat- 
ter grants,  and  that  clause  was  drawn  for  that  express  purpose  and  for  no 
other.  The  date  of  these  grants  was  unknown,  but  it  was  understood  to 
be  posterior  to  that  inserted  in  the  article  ;  indeed  it  must  be  obvious  to 
all,  that  if  that  provision  in  the  treaty  had  not  the  effect  of  annulling  these 
grants,  it  would  be  altogether  nugatory.  Immediately  after  the  treaty  was 
concluded  and  ratified  by  this  government,  an  intimation  was  received 
that  these  grants  were  of  anterior  date  to  that  fixed  on  by  the  treaty,  anrt 


414  MONROE'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

that  they  would  not  of  course  be  affected  by  it.  The  mere  possibility  of 
such  a  case,  so  inconsistent  with  the  intention  of  the  parties  and  the 
meaning  of  the  article,  induced  this  government  to  demand  an  explana- 
tion on  the  subject  which  was  immediately  granted,  and  which  corre- 
sponds with  this  statement.  With  respect  to  the  other  act  alleged,  that 
this  government  tolerated  or  protected  an  expedition  against  Texas,  it  is 
utterly  without  foundation.  Every  discountenance  has  invariably  been 
given  to  every  such  attempt  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  as  is 
fully  evinced  by  the  acts  of  the  government  and  the  proceedings  of  the 
courts.  There  being  cause,  however,  to  apprehend,  in  the  course  of  the 
last  summer,  that  some  adventurers  entertained  views  of  the  kind  suggest- 
ed, the  attention  of  the  constituted  authorities  in  that  quarter  was  imme- 
diately drawn  to  them,  and  it  is  known  that  the  project,  whatever  it  might 
be,  has  utterly  failed. 

These  facts  will,  it  is  presumed,  satisfy  every  impartial  mind  that  the 
government  of  Spain  has  no  justifiable  cause  for  declining  to  ratify  the 
treaty.  A  treaty  concluded  in  conformity  with  instructions  is  obligatory, 
in  good  faith,  in  all  its  stipulations,  according  to  the  true  intent  and  mean- 
ing of  the  parties.  Each  party  is  bound  to  ratify  it.  If  either  could  set 
aside,  without  the  consent  of  the  other,  there  would  no  longer  be  any  rules 
applicable  to  such  transactions  between  nations.  By  this  proceeding,  the 
government  of  Spain  has  rendered  to  the  United  States  a  new  and  very 
serious  injury.  It  has  been  stated  that  a  minister  would  be  sent  to  ask 
certain  explanations  of  this  government.  But  if  such  were  desired,  why 
were  they  not  asked  within  the  time  limited  for  the  ratification  ?  Is  it 
contemplated  to  open  a  new  negotiation  respecting  any  of  the  articles  or 
conditions  of  the  treaty  ?  If  that  were  done,  to  what  consequences  might 
it  not  lead  ?  At  what  time  and  in  what  manner  would  a  new  negotiation 
terminate  ?  By  this  proceeding,  Spain  has  formed  a  relation  between 
the  two  countries  which  will  justify  any  measures  on  the  part  of  the 
Uuited  States  which  a  strong  sense  of  injury  and  a  proper  regard  for  the 
rights  and  interests  of  the  nation  may  dictate. 

In  the  course  to  be  pursued,  these  objects  should  be  constantly  held 
in  view  and  have  their  due  weight.  Our  national  honor  must  be  main- 
tained, and  a  new  and  distinguished  proof  be  afforded  of  that  regard  for 
justice  and  moderation  which  has  invariably  governed  the  councils  of  this 
free  people.  It  must  be  obvious  to  all,  that  if  the  United  States  had  been 
desirous  of  making  conquests,  or  had  been  even  willing  to  aggrandize 
themselves  in  that  way,  they  could  have  had  no  inducement  to  form 
this  treaty.  They  would  have  much  cause  of  gratulation  at  the  course 
which  has  been  pursued  by  Spain.  An  ample  field  for  ambition  is  open 
before  them.  But  such  a  career  is  not  consistent  with  the  principles  of 
their  government  nor  the  interests  of  the  nation. 

From  a  full  view  of  all  circumstances,  it  is  submitted  to  the  considera- 
tion of  Congress  whether  it  will  not  be  proper  for  the  United  States  to 
carry  the  conditions  of  the  treaty  into  effect  in  the  same  manner  as  if  it 
had  been  ratified  by  Spain,  claiming  on  their  part  all  its  advantages,  and 
yielding  to  Spain  those  secured  to  her.  By  pursuing  this  course,  we 
shall  rest  on  the  sacred  ground  of  right,  sanctioned  in  the  most  solemn 
manner  by  Spain  herself  by  a  treaty  which  she  was  bound  to  ratify  ;  for  re- 
fusing to  do  which  she  must  incur  the  censure  of  other  nations,  even  those 
most  friendly  to  her ;  while,  by  confining  ourselves  within  that  limit,  we 
can  not  fail  to  obtain  their  well-merited  approbation.  We  must  have  peace 


MONROE'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  415 

on  a  frontier  where  we  have  been  so  long  disturbed  ;  our  citizens  must 
be  indemnified  for  losses  so  long  since  sustained,  and  for  which  indem- 
nity has  been  so  unjustly  withheld  from  them.  Accomplishing  these 
great  objects,  we  obtain  all  that  is  desirable. 

But  his  catholic  majesty  has  twice  declared  his  determination  to  send 
a  minister  to  the  United  States,  to  ask  explanations  on  certain  points,  and 
to  give  them  respecting  his  delay  to  ratify  the  treaty.  Shall  we  act  by 
taking  the  ceded  territory  and  proceeding  to  execute  the  other  condi- 
tions of  the  treaty  before  this  minister  arrives  and  is  heard  ?  This  is 
a  case  which  forms  a  strong  appeal  to  the  candor,  the  magnanimity,  and 
honor  of  this  people.  Much  is  due  to  courtesy  between  nations.  By  a 
short  delay  we  shall  lose  nothing  ;  for  resting  on  the  ground  of  immutable 
truth  and  justice,  we  can  not  be  diverted  from  our  purpose.  It  ought  to  be 
presumed  that  the  explanations  which  may  be  given  to  the  minister  of 
Spain  will  be  satisfactory  and  produce  the  desired  result.  In  any  event, 
the  delay  for  the  purpose  mentioned  being  a  further  manifestation  of  the 
sincere  desire  to  terminate,  in  the  most  friendly  manner,  all  differences 
with  Spain,  can  not  fail  to  be  duly  appreciated  by  his  catholic  majesty  as 
well  as  by  other  powers.  It  is  submitted,  therefore,  whether  it  be  proper 
to  make  the  law  proposed  for  carrying  the  conditions  of  the  treaty  into  ef- 
fect, should  it  be  adopted,  contingent ;  to  suspend  its  operations,  upon  the 
responsibility  of  the  executive  in  such  manner  as  to  afford  an  opportu- 
nity for  such  friendly  explanations  as  may  be  desired  during  the  pres- 
ent session  of  Congress. 

I  communicate  to  Congress  a  copy  of  the  treaty  and  of  the  instructions 
to  the  minister  of  the  United  States  at  Madrid,  respecting  it ;  of  his  corre- 
spondence with  the  minister  of  Spain,  and  of  such  other  documents  as 
may  be  necessary  to  give  a  full  view  of  the  subject. 

In  the  course  which  the  Spanish  government  have  on  this  occasion 
thought  proper  to  pursue,  it  is  satisfactory  to  know  that  they  have  not  been 
countenanced  by  any  European  power.  On  the  contrary,  the  opinion  and 
wishes  both  of  France  and  Great  Britain  have  not  been  withheld,  either 
from  the  United  States  or  from  Spain,  and  have  been  unequivocal  in  favor 
of  the  ratification.  There  is  also  reason  to  believe  that  the  sentiments  of 
the  imperial  government  of  Russia  have  been  the  same,  and  that  they  have 
also  been  made  known  to  the  cabinet  of  Madrid. 

In  the  civil  war  existing  between  Spain  and  the  Spanish  provinces  in 
this  hemisphere,  the  greatest  care  has  been  taken  to  enforce  the  laws  in- 
tended to  preserve  an  impartial  neutrality.  Our  ports  have  been  equally 
open  to  both  parties,  and  on  the  same  conditions,  and  our  citizens  have 
been  equally  restrained  from  interfering  in  favor  of  either,  to  the  prejudice 
of  the  other.  The  progress  of  the  war,  however,  has  operated  manifestly 
in  favor  of  the  colonies.  Buenos  Ayres  still  maintains  unshaken  the  in- 
dependence which  it  declared  in  1816,  and  has  enjoyed  since  1810.  Like 
success  has  attended  Chili  and  the  provinces  north  of  the  La  Plata  bor- 
dering on  it,  and  likewise  Venezuela. 

This  contest  has  from  its  commencement  been  very  interesting  to  other 
powers,  and  to  none  more  so  than  to  the  United  States.  A  virtuous  peo- 
ple may  and  will  confine  themselves  within  the  limits  of  a  strict  neutrality  ; 
but  it  is  not  in  their  power  to  behold  a  conflict  so  vitally  important  to  their 
neighbors  withou*  the  sensibility  and  sympathy  which  naturally  belong  to 
such  a  case.  It  has  been  the  steady  purpose  of  this  government  to  pre- 
vent that  feeling  leading  to  excess,  and  it  is  very  gratifying  to  have  it  in 


416  MONROE'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

my  power  to  state,  that  so  strong  has  been  the  sense,  throughout  the  whole 
community,  of  what  was  due  to  ihe  character  and  obligations  of  the  nation, 
that  few  examples  of  a  contrary  kind  have  occurred. 

The  distance  of  the  colonies  from  ihe  parent-country,  and  the  great  ex- 
tent of  their  population  and  resources,  gave  them  advantages  which  it  was 
anticipated  at  a  very  early  period  it  would  be  difficult  fur  Spain  to  sur- 
mount. The  steadiness,  consistency,  and  success,  with  which  they  have 
pursued  their  object,  as  evinced  more  particularly  by  the  undisputed 
sovereignty  which  Buenos  Ayrcs  has  so  long  enjoyed,  evidently  give  them 
a  strong  claim  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  other  nations.  These  sen- 
timents, on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  have  not  been  withheld  from 
other  powers,  with  whom  it  is  desirable  to  act  in  concert.  Should  it  be- 
come manifest  to  the  world  that  the  efforts  of  Spain  to  subdue  those  prov- 
inces will  be  fruitless,  it  may  be  presumed  that  the  Spanish  government 
itself  will  give  up  the  contest.  In  producing  such  a  determinaiion,  it  can 
not  be  doubted  that  the  opinions  of  friendly  powers  who  have  taken  no  part 
in  the  controversy  will  have  their  merited  influence. 

It  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  our  national  character,  and  indispensa- 
ble to  the  morality  of  our  citizens,  that  all  violations  of  our  neutrality 
should  be  prevented.  No  door  should  be  left  open  for  the  evasion  of  our 
laws  ;  no  opportunity  afforded  to  any  who  may  be  disposed  to  take  advan- 
tage of  it  to  compromit  the  interest  or  honor  of  the  nation.  It  is  submitted, 
therefore,  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  whether  it  may  not  be  advisa- 
ble to  revise  the  laws  with  a  view  to  this  desirable  result. 

It  is  submitted,  also,  whether  it  may  not  be  advisable  to  designate  by 
law  the  several  ports  or  places  along  the  coast  at  which  only  foreign  ships- 
of-war  and  privateers  may  be  admitted.  The  difliculty  of  sustaining  the 
regulations  of  our  commerce,  and  of  other  important  interests,  from  abuse, 
without  such  designation,  furnishes  a  strong  motive  for  this  measure. 

At  the  time  of  the  negotiation  for  the  renewal  of  the  commercial  con- 
vention between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  a  hope  had  been 
entertained  that  an  article  might  have  been  agreed  upon  mutually  satisfac- 
tory to  both  countries,  regulating  upon  principles  of  justice  and  reciprocity 
the  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  the  British 
possessions,  as  well  in  the  West  Indies  as  upon  the  continent  of  North 
America.  The  plenipotentiaries  of  the  two  governments  not  having  been 
able  to  come  to  an  agreement  on  this  important  interest,  those  of  the 
United  States  reserved  for  the  consideration  of  this  government  the  pro- 
posals which  had  been  presented  to  them  as  the  ultimate  oiler  on  the  part 
of  the  British  government,  and  which  they  were  riot  authorized  to  accept. 
On  tneir  transmission  here*  tney  were  examined  with  due  deliberation, 
and  the  result  of  which  was  a  new  effort  to  meet  the  views  of  the  British 
government.  The  minister  of  the  United  States  was  instructed  to  make 
a  further  proposal,  which  has  not  been  accepted.  It  was,  however,  de- 
clined in  an  amicable  manner.  I  recommend  to  the  consideration  of  Con- 
gress whether  further  prohibitory  provisions  in  the  laws  relating  to  this 
intercourse  may  not  be  expedient.  It  is  seen  with  interest,  that  although 
it  has  not  been  practicable  as  yet  to  agree  in  any  arrangement  of  this  im- 
portant branch  of  their  commerce,  such  is  the  disposition  of  the  parties 
that  each  will  view  any  regulations  which  the  other  may  make  respecting 
it  in  the  most  friendly  light. 

By  the  fifth  article  of  the  convention,  concluded  on  the  20th  of  October, 
1818,  it  was  stipulated  that  the  differences  which  had  arisen  between  the 


MONROE'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  417 

two  governments,  with  regard  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  fifth 
article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  in  relation  to  the  carrying  away,  by  British 
officers,  of  slaves  from  the  United  States,  after  the  exchange  of  the  ratifi- 
cations of  the  treaty  of  peace,  should  be  referred  to  the  decision  of  some 
friendly  sovereign  or  state  to  be  named  for  that  purpose.  The  minister 
of  the  United  States  has  been  instructed  to  name  to  the  British  govern- 
ment a  foreign  sovereign,  the  common  friend  to  both  parties,  for  the  de- 
cision of  this  question.  The  answer  of  that  government  to  the  proposal, 
when  received,  will  indicate  the  further  measures  to  be  pursued  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States. 

Although  the  pecuniary  embarrassment  which  affected  various  parts  of 
the  Union,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  preceding  year  have,  during  the 
present,  been  considerably  augmented,  and  still  continue  to  exist,  the  receipts 
into  the  treasury  to  the  30th  of  September  last  have  amounted  to  nineteen 
millions  of  dollars.  After  defraying  the  current  expenses  of  the  govern- 
ment, including  the  interest  and  reimbursement  of  the  public  debt,  paya- 
ble to  that  period,  amounting  to  eighteen  millions  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  there  remained  in  the  treasury  on  that  day  more  than  two  millions 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which,  with  the  sums  receivable  during  the 
remainder  of  the  year,  will  exceed  the  current  demands  upon  the  treasury 
for  the  same  period. 

The  causes  which  have  tended  to  diminish  the  public  receipts  could 
not  fail  to  have  a  corresponding  effect  upon  the  revenue  which  has  ac- 
crued upon  imposts  and  tonnage  during  the  first  three  quarters  of  the 
present  year.  It  is,  however,  ascertained,  that  the  duties  which  have 
been  secured  during  that  period  exceed  eighteen  millions  of  dollars,  and 
those  of  the  whole  year  will  probably  amount  to  twenty-three  millions  of 
dollars. 

For  the  probable  receipts  of  the  next  year  I  refer  you  to  the  statements 
which  will  be  transmitted  from  the  treasury,  which  will  enable  you  to 
judge  whether  further  provision  be  necessary. 

The  great  reduction  in  the  price  of  the  principal  articles  of  domestic 
growth,  which  has  occurred  during  the  present  year,  and  the  consequent 
fall  in  the  price  of  labor,  apparently  so  favorable  to  the  success  of  domes- 
tic manufacture,  have  not  shielded  them  against  other  causes  adverse  to 
their  prosperity  The  pecuniary  embarrassments  which  have  so  deeply 
affected  the  commercial  interests  of  the  nation  have  been  no  less  adverse 
to  our  manufacturing  establishments  in  several  sections  of  the  Union. 

The  great  reduction  of  the  currency  which  the  banks  have  been  con- 
strained to  make,  in  order  to  continue  specie  payments,  and  the  vitiated 
character  of  it  where  such  reductions  have  not  been  attempted,  instead  of 
placing  within  the  reach  of  these  establishments  the  pecuniary  aid  neces- 
sary to  avail  themselves  of  the  advantages  resulting  from  the  reduction 
of  the  prices  of  the  raw  materials  and  of  labor,  have  compelled  the  banks 
to  withdraw  from  them  a  portion  of  the  capital  heretofore  advanced  to 
them.  That  aid  which  has  been  refused  by  the  banks  has  not  been  ob- 
tained from  other  sources,  owing  to  the  loss  of  individual  confidence  from 
the  failures  which  have  recently  occurred  in  some  of  our  principal  com- 
mercial cities. 

An  additional  cause  of  the  depression  of  these  establishments  may  prob- 
ably be  found  in  pecuniary  embarrassments  which  have  recently  affected 
those  countries  with  which  our  commerce  has  been  principally  prosecuted. 
Their  manufactures,  for  the  want  of  a  ready  or  profitable  market  at  home, 

VOL.  I.— 27 


418  MONROE'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

have  been  shipped  by  the  manufacturers  to  the  United  States,  and  in  many 
instances  sold  at  a  price  below  their  current  value  at  the  place  of  manu- 
facture. Although  this  practice  may  from  its  nature  be  considered  tempo- 
rary or  contingent,  it  is  not  on  that  account  less  injurious  in  its  effects. 
Uniformity  in  the  demand  and  price  of  an  article  is  highly  desirable  to  the 
domestic  manufacturer. 

It  is  deemed  of  great  importance  to  give  encouragement  to  our  domestic 
manufactures.  In  what  manner  the  evils  adverted  to  may  be  remedied, 
and  how  far  it  may  be  practicable,  in  other  respects,  to  afford  to  them  fur- 
ther encouragement,  paying  due  regard  to  all  the  other  great  interests  of 
the  nation,  is  submitted  to  the  wisdom  of  Congress. 

The  survey  of  the  coast  for  the  establishment  of  fortifications  is  now 
nearly  completed,  and  considerable  progress  has  been  made  in  the  collec- 
tion of  materials  for  the  construction  of  fortifications  in  the  gulf  of  Mex- 
ico and  in  the  Chesapeake  bay.  The  works  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Potomac  below  Alexandria,  and  on  the  Peapatch,  in  the  Delaware,  are 
much  advanced,  and  it  is  expected  that  the  fortifications  at  the  Narrows, 
in  the  harbor  of  New  York,  will  be  completed  the  present  year.  To  de- 
rive all  the  advantages  contemplated  from  these  fortifications,  it  was  neces- 
sary that  they  should  be  judiciously  posted,  and  constructed  with  a  view 
to  permanency.  The  progress  hitherto  has,  therefore,  been  slow  ;  but  as 
the  difficulties  in  parts  hitherto  the  least  explored  and  known  are  sur- 
mounted, it  will  in  future  be  more  rapid.  As  soon  as  the  survey  of  the 
coast  is  completed,  which  it  is  expected  will  be  done  early  in  the  next 
spring,  the  engineers  employed  in  it  will  proceed  to  examine  for  like 
purposes,  the  northern  and  northwestern  frontiers. 

The  troops  intended  to  occupy  a  station  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Peter's 
on  the  Mississippi,  have  established  themselves  there,  and  those  which 
were  ordered  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone,  on  the  Missouri,  have  as- 
cended that  river  to  the  Council  Bluffs,  where  they  will  remain  until  next 
spring,  when  they  will  proceed  to  the  place  of  their  destination.  I  have 
the  satisfaction  to  state  that  this  measure  has  been  executed  in  amity  with 
the  Indian  tribes,  and  that  it  promises  to  produce,  in  regard  to  them,  all 
the  advantages  which  were  contemplated  by  it. 

Much  progress  has  likewise  been  made  in  the  construction  of  ships-of- 
war,  and  in  the  collection  of  timber  and  other  materials  for  ship-building. 
It  is  not  doubted  that  our  navy  will  soon  be  augmented  to  the  number,  and 
placed  in  all  respects  on  the  footing,  provided  for  by  law. 

The  board,  consisting  of  engineers  and  naval  officers,  have  not  yet  made 
their  final  report  of  sites  for  two  naval  depots,  as  instructed,  according 
to  the  resolution  of  March  18th  and  April  20th,  1818,  but  they  have  ex- 
amined the  coast  therein  designated,  and  their  report  is  expected  in  the 
next  month. 

For  the  protection  of  our  commerce  in  the  Mediterranean,  along  the 
southern  Atlantic  coast,  in  the  Pacific  and  Indian  oceans,  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  maintain  a  strong  naval  force,  which  it  seems  proper 
for  the  present  to  continue.  There  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  if  any 
portion  of  the  squadron  heretofore  stationed  in  the  Mediterranean  should  be 
withdrawn,  our  intercourse  with  the  powers  bordering  on  that  sea  would 
be  much  interrupted,  if  not  altogether  destroyed.  Such,  too,  has  been  the 
growth  of  a  spirit  of  piracy  in  the  other  quarters  mentioned,  by  adventur- 
ers from  every  country,  in  abuse  of  the  friendly  flags  which  they  have 
.Assumed,  that  not  to  protect  our  commerce  there  would  be  to  abandon  ii 


MONROE'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  419 

as  a  prey  to  their  rapacity.  Due  attention  has  likewise  been  paid  to  the 
suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  in  compliance  with  a  law  of  the  last  ses- 
sion. Orders  have  been  given  to  the  commanders  of  all  our  public  ships, 
to  seize  all  vessels  navigated  under  our  flag  engaged  in  that  trade,  and  to 
bring  them  in,  to  be  proceeded  against  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  that 
law.  It  is  hoped  that  these  vigorous  measures,  supported  by  like  acts  by 
other  nations,  will  soon  terminate  a  commerce  so  disgraceful  to  the  civil- 
ized world. 

In  the  execution  of  the  duty  imposed  by  these  acts,  and  of  a  high  trust 
connected  with  it,  it  is  with  deep  regret  I  have  to  state  the  loss  which  bus 
been  sustained  by  the  death  of  Commodore  Perry.  His  gallantry  in  a 
brilliant  exploit  in  the  late  war  added  to  the  renown  of  his  country.  His 
death  is  deplored  as  a  national  misfortune. 


FOURTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
NOVEMBER  14,  1820. 

Fellow-  Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

IN  communicating  to  you  a  just  view  of  public  affairs  at  the  commence- 
ment of  your  present  labors,  I  do  it  with  great  satisfaction,  because,  taking 
all  circumstances  into  consideration  which  claim  attention,  I  see  much 
cause  to  rejoice  in  the  felicity  of  our  situation.  In  making  this  remark,  I 
do  not  wish  to  be  understood  to  imply  that  an  unvaried  prosperity  is  to  be 
seen  in  every  interest  of  this  great  community.  In  the  progress  of  a  nation 
inhabiting  a  territory  of  such  vast  extent  and  great  variety  of  climate,  every 
portion  of  which  is  engaged  in  foreign  commerce,  and  liable  to  be  affected 
in  some  degree  by  the  changes  which  occur  in  the  condition  and  regula- 
tions of  foreign  countries,  it  would  be  strange  if  the  produce  of  our  soil 
and  the.  industry  and  enterprise  of  our  fellow-citizens  received,  at  all  times 
and  in  every  quarter,  a  uniform  and  equal  encouragement.  This  would 
be  more  than  we  would  have  a  right  to  expect  under  circumstances  the 
most  favorable.  Pressures  on  certain  interests,  it  is  admitted,  have  been 
felt ;  but  allowing  to  these  their  greatest  extent,  they  detract  but  little  from 
the  force  of  the  remarks  already  made.  In  forming  a  just  estimate  of  ov.r 
present  situation,  it  is  proper  to  look  at  the  whole  in  the  outline  as  well  ns 
in  the  detail.  A  free,  virtuous,  and  enlightened  people  know  well  the 
groat  principles  and  causes  on  which  their  happiness  depends,  and  eve-i 
those  who  suffer  most  occasionally  in  their  transitory  concerns,  find  great 
relief  under  their  sufferings  from  the  blessings  which  they  otherwise 
enjoy,  and  in  the  consoling  and  animating  hope  which  they  administer. 
From  whence  do  these  pressures  come  ?  Not  from  a  government  which 
is  founded  by,  administered  for,  and  supported  by  the  people.  We  tracn 
them  to  the  peculiar  character  of  the  epoch  in  which  we  live,  and  to  the 
extraordinary  occurrences  which  have  signalized  it.  The  convulsions 
with  which  several  of  the  powers  of  Europe  have  been  shakjen,  and  the 
long  and  destructive  wars  in  which  all  were  engaged,  witli  their  sudden 
transition  to  a  state  of  peace,  presenting  in  the  first  instance  unusual  en- 
courage merit  to  our  commerce,  and  withdrawing  it  in  the  second,  ov;.n 
within  its  wonted  limif,  could  not  fail  to  be  sensibly  felt  here.  The  sta- 


420  MONROES  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

lion,  too,  which  we  had  to  support  through  this  long  conflict,  compelled  as 
\ve  were,  finally,  to  become  a  party  to  it  with  a  principal  power,  and  to 
inoke  great  exertions,  suffer  heavy  losses,  and  to  contract  considerable 
debts,  disturbing  the  ordinary  course  of  affairs  by  augmenting  to  a  vast 
amount  the  circulating  medium,  and  thereby  elevating  at  one  time  the 
price  of  every  article  above  a  just  standard,  and  depressing  it  at  another 
fcelow  it,  had  likewise  its  due  effect. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  pressures  of  which  we  complain  have  proceeded 
i:i  a  great  measure  from  these  causes.  When,  then,  we  take  into  view 
('is  prosperous  and  happy  condition  of  our  country  in  all  the  great  circum- 
stances which  constitute  the  felicity  of  a  nation — every  individual  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of  all  his  rights — the  Union  blessed  with  plenty,  and  rapidly 
rising  to  greatness  under  a  national  government  which  operates  with  com- 
jilete  effect  in  every  part  without  being  felt  in  any,  except  by  the  ample 
protection  which  it  affords,  and  under  state  governments  which  perform 
their  equal  share  according  to  a  wise  distribution  of  power  between  them, 
iu  promoting  the  public  happiness — it  is  impossible  to  behold  so  gratifying, 
so  glorious  a  spectacle,  without  being  penetrated  with  the  most  profound 
and  grateful  acknowledgments  to  the  Supreme  Author  of  all  good  for  such 
manifold  and  inestimable  blessings.  Deeply  impressed  with  these  senti- 
ments, I  can  not  regard  the  pressures  to  which  1  have  adverted  otherwise 
than  in  the  light  of  mild  and  instructive  admonitions  ;  warning  us  of  dan- 
gers to  be  shunned  in  future  ;  teaching  us  lessons  of  economy  correspon- 
ding with  the  simplicity  and  purity  of  our  institutions,  and  best  adapted  to 
their  support ;  evincing  the  connexion  and  dependence  which  the  various 
parts  of  our  happy  Union  have  on  each  other,  thereby  augmenting  daily 
our  social  incorporation,  and  adding  by  its  strong  ties  new  strength  and 
vigor  to  the  political ;  opening  a  wider  range,  and  with  new  encourage- 
•inent,  to  the  industry  and  enterprise  of  our  fellow-citizens  at  home  and 
abroad ;  and  more  especially  by  the  multiplied  proofs  which  it  has  accu- 
mulated of  the  great  perfection  of  our  most  excellent  system  of  govern- 
ment, the  powerful  instrument  in  the  hands  of  an  All-merciful  Creator,  in 
securing  to  us  these  blessings. 

Happy  as  our  situation  is,  it  does  not  exempt  us  from  solicitude  and  care 
for  the  future.  On  the  contrary,  as  the  blessings  which  we  enjoy  are 
great,  proportionably  great  should  be  our  vigilance,  zeal,  and  activity  to 
preserve  them.  Foreign  wars  may  again  expose  us  to  new  wrongs,  which 
would  impose  on  us  new  duties  for  which  we  ought  to  be  prepared.  The 
*tate  of  Europe  is  unsettled,  and  how  long  peace  may  be  preserved  is 
altogether  uncertain ;  in  addition  to  which,  we  have  interests  of  our  own 
to  adjust,  which  will  require  particular  attention.  A  correct  view  of  our 
relations  with  each  power  will  enable  you  to  form  a  just  idea  of  existing 
difficulties,  and  of  the  measures  of  precaution  best  adapted  to  them. 

Respecting  our  relations  with  Spain,  nothing  explicit  can  now  be  com- 
municated. On  the  adjournment  of  Congress  in  May  last,  the  minister 
.plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  at  Madrid  was  instructed  to  inform 
the  government  of  Spain,  that  if  his  catholic  majesty  should  then  ratify  the 
treaty,  this  government  would  accept  the  ratification  so  far  as  to  submit  to 
the  decision  of  the  senate  the  question  whether  such  ratification  should 
be  received  in  exchange  for  that  of  the  United  States  heretofore  given 
liy  letters  from  the  minister  of  the  United  States  to  the  secretary  of  state, 
it  appears  that  a  communication  in  conformity  with  his  instructions  had 
been  made  to  the  government  of  Spain,  and  that  the  Cortes  had  the  sub- 


MONROE'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  421 

ject  under  consideration.  The  result  of  the  deliberations  of  that  body, 
which  is  daily  expected,  will  be  made  known  to  Congress  as  soon  as  it  is 
received.  The  friendly  sentiment  which  was  expressed  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States,  in  the  message  of  the  9th  of  May  last,  is  still  enter- 
tertained  for  Spain.  Among  the  causes  of  regret,  however,  which  are 
inseparable  from  the  delay  attending  this  transaction,  it  is  proper  to  staie 
that  satisfactory  information  has  been  received  that  measures  have  been 
recently  adopted,  by  designing  persons,  to  convert  certain  parts  of  the 
province  of  East  Florida  into  depots  for  the  reception  of  foreign  goods, 
from  whence  to  smuggle  them  into  the  United  States.  By  opening  a  port 
within  the  limits  of  Florida,  immediately  on  our  boundary,  where  there 
was  no  settlement,  the  object  could  not  be  misunderstood.  An  early  ac- 
commodation of  differences  will,  it  is  hoped,  prevent  all  such  fraudulent 
and  pernicious  practices,  and  place  the  relations  of  the  two  countries  on  a 
very  amicable  and  permanent  basis. 

The  commercial  relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  British 
colonies  in  the  West  Indies  and  on  this  continent,  have  undergone  no 
change,  the  British  government  still  preferring  to  leave  that  commerce 
under  the  restriction  heretofore  imposed  on  it  on  each  side.  It  is  sat- 
isfactory to  recollect  that  the  restraints  resorted  to  by  the  United  States 
were  defensive  only,  intended  to  prevent  a  monopoly,  under  British  regu- 
lations, in  favor  of  Great  Britain,  as  it  likewise  is  to  know  that  the  exper- 
iment is  advancing  in  a  spirit  of  amity  between  the  parties. 

The  question  depending  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
respecting  the  construction  of  the  first  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  has 
been  referred  by  both  jovernmento  to  the  decision  of  the  emperor  of  Rus- 
sia, who  has  accepted  the  uiupirisre. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  with  the  government  of  France  to  regulate, 
by  treaty,  the  commerce  between  the  two  countries,  on  the  principle  of 
reciprocity  and  equality.  By  the  last  communication  from  the  minister 
plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  at  Paris,  to  whom  full  power  had 
been  given,  we  learn  that  the  negotiation  had  been  commenced  there,  but 
serious  difficulties  having  occurred,  the  French  government  had  resolved 
to  transfer  it  to  the  United  States,  for  which  purpose  the  minister  pleni- 
potentiary of  France  had  been  ordered  to  repair  to  this  city,  and  whosu 
arrival  might  soon  be  expected.  It  is  hoped  that  this  important  interest 
may  be  arranged  on  just  conditions  and  in  a  manner  equally  satisfactory 
to  both  parties.  It  is  submitted  to  Congress  to  decide,  until  such  arrange- 
ment is  made,  how  far  it  may  be  proper  on  the  principle  of  the  act  ol' 
the  last  session  which  augmented  the  tonnage  duty  on  French  vessels,  to 
adopt  other  measures  for  carrying  more  completely  into  effect  the  policy 
of  that  act. 

The  act  referred  to,  which  imposed  new  tonnage  duty  on  French  ves- 
sels, having  been  in  force  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  July,  it  has  hap- 
pened that  several  vessels  of  that  nation,  which  had  been  despatched  from 
France  before  its  existence  was  known,  have  entered  the  ports  of  tlm 
United  States,  and  been  subject  to  its  operation,  without  that  previous  no- 
tice which  the  general  spirit  of  our  laws  gives  to  individuals  in  similar 
cases.  The  object  of  that  law  having  boon  merely  to  countervail  ine- 
qualities which  existed  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  United  States  in  their 
commorc-ial  intercourse  with  France,  it  is  submitted  also  to  the  consider- 
ation of  Congress,  whether,  in  the  spirit  of  amity  and  conciliation  which) 
it  is  no  less  the  inclination  than  the  policy  of  the  United  States  to  pro- 


422  MONROE'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

serve  in  their  intercourse  with  other  powers,  it  may  not  be  propti  to  ex- 
tend relief  to  the  individuals  interested  in  those  cases,  by  exempting  from 
the  operation  of  the  law  all  those  vessels  which  have  entered  our  ports 
without  having  had  the  means  of  previously  knowing  the  existence  of  the 
additional  duty. 

The  contest  between  Spain  and  the  colonies,  according  to  the  most 
authentic  information,  is  maintained  by  the  latter  with  improved  success. 
The  unfortunate  divisions  which  were  known  to  exist  some  time  since 
at  Buenos  Ayres,  it  is  understood,  still  prevail.  In  no  part  of  South 
America  has  Spain  made  any  impression  on  the  colonies,  while  in  many 
parts,  and  particularly  in  Venezuela  and  New  Granada,  the  colonies  have 
gained  strength  and  acquired  reputation,  both  for  the  management  of  a 
war  in  which  they  have  been  successful  and  for  the  order  of  the  internal 
administration.  The  late  change  in  the  government  of  Spain,  by  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  constitution  of  1812,  is  an  event  which  promises  to 
be  favorable  to  the  revolution.  Under  the  authority  of  the  Cortes,  the 
Congress  of  Angostura  was  invited  to  open  a  negotiation  for  the  settle- 
ment of  differences  between  the  parties  ;  to  which  it  was  replied,  that  they 
would  willingly  open  the  negotiation,  provided  the  acknowledgment  of 
their  independence  was  made  its  basis,  but  not  otherwise.  Of  further 
proceedings  between  them  we  are  uninformed.  No  facts  are  known  to 
this  government  to  warrant  the  belief  that  any  of  the  powers  of  Europe 
will  take  a  part  in  the  contest ;  whence  it  may  be  inferred,  considering 
all  circumstances  which  must  have  weight  in  producing  the  result,  that 
an  adjustment  will  finally  take  place  on  the  basis  proposed  by  the  colonies. 
To  promote  that  result  by  friendly  counsels  with  other  powers,  including 
Spain  herself,  has  been  the  uniform  policy  of  this  government. 

In  looking  to  the  internal  concerns  of  our  country,  you  will,  I  am  per- 
suaded, derive  much  satisfaction  from  a  view  of  the  several  objects  to 
which,  in  the  discharge  of  your  official  duties,  your  attention  will  be 
drawn.  Among  these,  none  hold  a  more  important  place  than  the  public 
revenue,  from  the  direct  operation  of  the  power  by  which  it  is  raised  on  the 
people,  and  by  its  influence  in  giving  effect  to  every  other  power  of  the  gov- 
ernment. The  revenue  depends  on  the  resources  of  the  country,  and 
the  facility  by  which  the  amount  required  is  raised,  is  a  strong  proof  of 
the  extent  of  the  resources  and  of  the  efficiency  of  the  government.  A 
few  prominent  facts  will  place  this  great  interest  in  a  just  light  before 
you.  On  the  30th  of  September,  1815,  the  funded  and  floating  debt  of 
the  United  States  was  estimated  at  one  hundred  and  nineteen  millions 
.six  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty-eight  dollars. 
I  f  to  this  sum  be  added  the  amount  of  five  per  cent,  stock  subscribed  to 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  the  amount  of  Mississippi  stock,  and  of 
the  stock  which  was  issued  subsequently  to  that  date,  the  balances  ascer- 
tained to  be  due  to  certain  states  for-military  services,  and  to  individuals 
for  supplies  furnished  and  services  rendered  during  the  late  war,  the 
public  debt  may  be  estimated  as  amounting,  at  that  date,  and  as  after- 
ward liquidated,  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  millions  seven  hundred 
tind  thirteen  thousand  and  forty-nine  dollars.  On  the  30th  of  September, 
1 820,  it  amounted  to  ninety-one  millions  one  hundred  and  ninety-three  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  eighty-three  dollars,  having  been  reduced,  in  that 
interval,  by  payments  of  sixty-six  millions  eight  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  dollars.  During  this  term  the  expenses 
of  the  government  of  the  United  States  were  likewise  defrayed  in  every 


MONROE'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  423 

branch  of  the  civil,  military,  and  naval  establishments ;  the  public  edifices 
in  this  city  have  been  rebuilt,  with  considerable  additions ;  extensive 
fortifications  have  been  commenced ;  and  are  in  a  train  of  execution ; 
permanent  arsenals  and  magazines  have  been  erected  in  various  parts  of 
the  Union  ;  our  navy  has  been  considerably  augmented,  and  the  ordnance, 
munitions  of  war,  and  stores  of  the  army  and  navy,  which  were  much 
exhausted  during  the  war,  have  been  replenished. 

By  the  discharge  of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  public  debt,  and  the  ex- 
ecution of  such  extensive  and  important  operations,  in  so  short  a  time 
a  just  estimate  may  be  formed  of  the  great  extent  of  our  national  resources. 
The  demonstration  is  the  more  complete  and  gratifying,  when  it  is  rec- 
ollected that  the  direct  tax  and  excise  were  repealed  soon  after  the  ter- 
mination of  the  late  war,  and  that  the  revenue  applied  to  these  purposes 
had  benen  derived  almost  wholly  from  other  sources. 

The  receipts  into  the  treasury,  from  every  source,  to  the  30th  of  Sep- 
tember last,  have  amounted  to  sixteen  millions  seven  hundred  and  ninety- 
four  thousand  one  hundred  and  seven  dollars  and  sixty-six  cents ;  while 
the  public  expenditures  to  the  same  period  amounted  to  sixteen  millions 
eight  hundred  and  seventy-one  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-four  dol- 
lars and  seventy-two  cents  ;  leaving  in  the  treasury,  on  that  day,  a  sum 
estimated  at  one  million  nine  hundred  arid  fifty  thousand  dollars.  For  the 
probable  receipts  of  the  following  year  I  refer  you  to  the  statement  which 
will  be  transmitted  from  the  treasury. 

The  sum  of  three  millions  of  dollars,  authorized  to  be  raised  by  loan  by 
an  act  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  has  been  obtained  upon  terms  ad- 
vantageous to  the  government,  indicating  not  only  an  increased  confidence 
in  the  faith  of  the  nation,  but  the  existence  of  a  large  amount  of  capital 
seeking  that  mode  of  investment,  at  a  rate  of  interest  not  exceeding  five 
per  centum  per  annum. 

It  is  proper  to  add,  that  there  is  now  due  to  the  treasury,  for  the  sale  of 
public  lands,  twenty-two  millions  nine  hundred  and  ninety-six  thousand 
five  hundred  and  forty-five  dollars.  In  bringing  this  subject  to  view,  I 
consider  it  my  duty  to  submit  to  ( 'ongress  whether  it  may  not  be  advisa- 
ble to  extend  to  the  purchasers  of  these  lands,  in  consideration  of  the  un- 
favorable change  which  has  occurred  since  the  sales,  a  reasonable  indul- 
gence. It  is  known  that  the  purchases  were  made  when  the  price  of  every 
article  had  risen  to  its  greatest  heightj  and  that  the  instalments  are  becom- 
ing due  at  a  period  of  great  depression.  It  is  presumed  that  some  plan  may 
be  devised  by  the  wisdom  of  Congress,  compatible  with  the  public  interest, 
which  would  afford  great  relief  to  these  purchasers. 

Considerable  progress  has  been  made,  during  the  present  season,  in 
examining  the  coast  and  its  various  bays  and  other  inlets ;  in  the  collec- 
tion of  materials  and  in  the  construction  of  fortifications  for  the  defence 
of  the  Union,  at  several  of  the  positions  at  which  it  has  been  decided  to 
erect  such  works.  At  Mobile  point  and  Dauphin  island,  and  at  the  Rig- 
olets,  leading  to  Lake  Pontchartrain,  materials  to  a  considerable  amount 
have  been  collected,  and  all  the  necessary  preparations  made  for  the  com- 
mencement of  the  works.  At  Old  Point  Comfort,  at  the  mouth  of  James 
river,  and  at  the  Rip-Raps,  on  the  opposite  shore  in  the  Chesapeake  bay, 
materials  to  a  vast  amount  have  been  collected  ;  and  at  the  Old  Point  some 
progress  has  been  made  in  the  construction  of  the  fortification,  which  is 
on  a  very  extensive  scale.  The  work  at  Fort  Washington,  on  this  river, 
will  be  completed  early  in  next  spring,  and  that  on  the  Peapatch,  in  the 


424  MONROE'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

Delaware,  in  the 'course  of  the  next  season.  Fort  Diamond,  at  the  Nar 
rows,  in  the  harbor  of  New  York,  will  be  finished  this  year.  The  works 
at  Boston,  New  York,  Baltimore,  Norfolk,  Charleston,  and  Niagara, 
have  been  in  part  repaired  ;  and  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  extending 
south  to  Cape  Fear,  has  been  examined,  as  have  likewise  other  parts  of 
the  coast  eastward  of  Boston.  Great  exertions  have  been  made  to  push 
forward  these  works  with  the  utmost  despatch  possible  ;  but  when  their 
extent  is  considered,  with  the  important  purposes  for  which  they  are  in- 
tended, the  defence  of  the  whole  coast,  and  in  consequence,  of  the  whole 
interior,  and  that  they  are  to  last  for  ages,  it  will  be  manifest  that  a  well- 
digested  plan,  founded  on  military  principles,  connecting  the  whole  to- 
gether, combining  security  with  economy,  could  not  be  prepared  without 
repeated  examinations  of  the  most  exposed  and  difficult  parts,  and  that  it 
would  also  take  considerable  time  to  collect  the  materials  at  the  several 
points  where  they  would  be  required.  From  all  the  light  that  has  been 
shed  on  this  subject,  I  am  satisfied  that  every  favorable  anticipation  which 
has  been  formed  of  this  great  undertaking  will  be  verified,  and  that  when 
completed,  it  will  afford  very  great  if  not  complete  protection  to  our  At- 
lantic frontier  in  the  event  of  another  war  ;  a  protection  sufficient  to  coun- 
terbalance, in  a  single  campaign,  with  an  enemy  powerful  at  sea,  the  ex- 
pense of  all  these  works,  without  taking  into  the  estimate  the  saving  of  the 
lives  of  so  many  of  our  citizens,  the  protection  of  our  towns  and  other 
property,  or  the  tendency  of  such  works  to  prevent  war. 

Our  military  positions  have  been  maintained  at  Belle  point  on  the  Ar- 
kansas, at  Council  Bluff  on  the  Missouri,  at  St.  Peter's  on  the  Mississippi, 
and  at  Green  bay  on  the  upper  lakes.  Commodious  barracks  have  already 
been  erected  at  most  of  these  posts,  with  such  works  as  were  necessary 
for  their  defence.  Progress  has  also  been  made  in  opening  communica- 
tions between  them,  and  in  raising  supplies  at  each  for  the  support  of  the 
troops  by  their  own  labor,  particularly  those  most  remote. 

With  the  Indians  peace  has  been  preserved,  and  a  progress  made  in 
carrying  into  effect  the  act  of  Congress  making  an  appropriation  for  their 
civilization,  with  a  prospect  of  favorable  results.  As  connected  equally 
with  both  these  objects,  our  trade  with  those  tribes  is  thought  to  merit  the 
attention  of  Congress.  In  their  original  state,  game  is  their  sustenance, 
and  war  their  occupation  ;  and  if  they  find  no  employment  from  civilized 
powers  they  destroy  each  other.  Left  to  themselves,  their  extirpation  is 
inevitable.  By  a  judicious  regulation  of  our  trade  with  them,  we  supply 
their  wants,  administer  to  their  comforts,  and  gradually,  as  the  game 
retires,  draw  them  to  us.  By  maintaining  posts  far  in  the  interior,  we 
acquire  a  more  thorough  and  direct  control  over  them,  without  which  it  is 
confidently  believed  that  a  complete  change  in  their  manners  can  never  be 
accomplished.  By  such  posts,  aided  by  a  proper  regulation  of  our  trade 
with  them,  and  a  judicious  civil  administration  over  them,  to  be  provided 
for  by  law,  we  shall,  it  is  presumed,  be  enabled  not  only  to  protect  our 
own  settlements  from  their  savage  incursions,  and  to  preserve  peace 
among  the  several  tribes,  but  accomplish  also  the  great  purpose  of  their 
civilization. 

Considerable  progress  has  also  been  made  in  the  construction  of  ships- 
of-war,  some  of  which  have  been  launched  in  the  course  of  the  present 
year. 

Our  peace  with  the  powers  on  the  coast  of  Barbary  has  been  preserved, 
but  we  owe  it  altogether  to  the  presence  of  our  squadron  in  the  Mediterra- 


MONROE'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  425 

« 

nean.  It  has  been  found  equally  necessary  to  employ  some  of  our  vessels 
for  the  protection  of  our  commerce  in  the  Indian  sea,  the  Pacific,  and  along 
the  Atlantic  coast.  The  interests  which  we  have  depending  in  those 
quarters,  which  have  been  much  improved  of  late,  are  of  great  extent,  and 
of  high  importance  to  the  nation,  as  well  as  to  the  parties  concerned,  and 
would  undoubtedly  suffer  if  such  protection  was  not  extended  to  them.  In 
execution  of  the  law  of  last  session,  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade, 
some  of  our  public  ships  have  also  been  employed  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
where  several  captures  have  already  been  made  of  vessels  engaged  in  that 
disgraceful  traffic. 


426  MONROE'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

SECOND    INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 
MARCH  4,  1821. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  the  grateful  emo- 
tions which  the  new  and  very  distinguished  proof  of  the  confidence  of  my 
fellow-citizens,  evinced  by  my  re-election  to  this  high  trust,  has  excited 
in  my  bosom.  The  approbation  which  it  announces  of  my  conduct,  in  the 
preceding  term,  affords  me  a  consolation  which  1  shall  profoundly  feel 
through  life.  The  general  accord  with  which  it  has  been  expressed,  adds 
to  the  great  and  never-ceasing  obligations  which  it  imposes.  To  merit 
the  continuance  of  this  good  opinion,,  and  to  earn'  it  with  me  into  my  re- 
tirement, as  the  solace  of  my  advancing  years,  will  be  the  object  of  my 
most  zealous  and  unceasing  efforts. 

Having  no  pretensions  to  the  high  and  commanding  claims  of  my  prede- 
cessors, whose  names  are  so  much  more  conspicuously  identified  with  our 
revolution,  and  who  contributed  so  pre-eminently  to  promote  its  success,  1 
consider  myself  rather  as  the  instrument,  than  the  cause  of  the  union  which 
has  prevailed  in  the  late  election.  In  surmounting,  in  favor  of  my  humble 
pretensions,  the  difficulties  which  so  often  produce  division  in  like  occur- 
rences, it  is  obvious  that  other  powerful  causes,  indicating  the  great 
strength  and  stability  of  our  Union,  have  essentially  contributed  to  draw 
you  together.  That,  these  powerful  causes  exist,  and  that  they  are  perma- 
nent, is  my  fixed  opinion ;  that  they  may  produce  a  like  accord  in  all 
questions,  touching,  however  remotely,  the  liberty,  prosperity,  and  happi- 
ness of  our  country,  will  always  be  the  object  of  my  most  fervent  prayers 
to  the  Supreme  Author  of  all  good. 

In  a  government  which  is  founded  by  the  people,  who  possess  exclu- 
sively the  sovereignty,  it  seems  proper  that  the  person  who  may  be  placed 
by  their  suffrages  in  this  high  trust,  should  declare,  on  commencing  its 
duties,  the  principles  on  which  he  intends  to  conduct  the  administration. 
If  the  person,  thus  elected,  has  served  the  preceding  term,  an  opportunity 
is  afforded  him  to  review  its  principal  occurrences,  and  to  give  such  fur- 
ther explanation  respecting  them,  as  in  his  judgment  may  be  useful  to  his 
constituents.  The  events  of  one  year  have  influence  on  those  of  another ; 
and  in  like  manner,  of  a  preceding  on  the  succeeding  administration.  The 
movements  of  a  great  nation  are  connected  in  all  their  parts.  If  errors 
have  been  committed,  they  ought  to  be  corrected ;  if  the  policy  is  sound, 
it  ought  to  be  supported.  It  is  by  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  whole 
subject  that  our  fellow-citizens  are  enabled  to  judge  correctly  of  the  past, 
and  to  give  a  proper  direction  to  the  future. 

Just  before  the  commencement  of  the  last  term,  the  United  States  had 
concluded  a  war  with  a  very  powerful  nation,  on  conditions  equal  and  hon- 
orable to  both  parties.  The  events  of  that  war  are  too  recent,  and  too 
deeply  impressed  on  the  memory  of  all,  to  require  a  development  from  me. 
Our  commerce  had  been,  in  a  great  measure,  driven  from  the  sea ;  our 
Atlantic  and  inland  frontiers  were  invaded  in  almost  every  part ;  the  waste 
of  life  along  our  coast,  and  on  some  parts  of  our  inland  frontiers,  to  the 
defence  of  which  our  gallant  and  patriotic  citizens  were  called,  was  im- 
mense ;  in  addition  to  which,  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  mill- 
ions of  dollars  were  added  at  its  end  to  the  public  debt. 

As  soon  as  the  war  had  terminated,  the  nation,  admonished  by  its  events, 
ro«n)v*d  tn  phrp  \tne\f  ip  «  -situation  which  should  be  better  calculated  to 


MONROE'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  427 

prevent  the  recurrence  of  a  like  evil,  and  in  case  it  should  recur,  to  miti- 
gate its  calamities.  With  this  view,  after  reducing  our  land  force  to  the 
basis  of  a  peace  establishment,  which  has  been  further  modified  since, 
provision  was  made  for  the  construction  of  fortifications  at  proper  points, 
through  the  whole  extent  of  our  coast,  and  such  an  augmentation  of  our 
naval  force,  as  should  be  well  adapted  to  both  purposes.  The  laws  making 
this  provision  were  passed  in  1815  and  '16,  and  it  has  been,  since,  the  con- 
stant effort  of  the  executive  to  carry  them  into  effect. 

The  advantage  of  these  fortifications,  and  of  an  augmented  naval  force, 
in  the  extent  contemplated,  in  a  point  of  economy,  has  been  fully  illus- 
trated by  a  report  of  the  board  of  engineers  and  naval  commissioners, 
lately  communicated  to  Congress,  by  which  it  appears  that,  in  an  invasion 
by  twenty  thousand  men,  with  a  correspondent  naval  force,  in  a  campaign 
of  six  months  only,  the  whole  expense  of  the  construction  of  the  works 
would  be  defrayed  by  the  difference  in  the  sum  necessary  to  maintain  the 
force  which  would  be  adequate  to  our  defence  with  the  aid  of  those  works 
and  that  which  would  be  incurred  without  them.  The  reason  of  this  dif- 
ference is  obvious.  If  fortifications  are  judiciously  placed  on  our  great 
inlets,  as  distant  from  our  cities  as  circumstances  will  permit,  they  will 
form  the  only  points  of  attack,  and  the  enemy  will  be  detained  there  by  a 
small  regular  force,  a  sufficient  time  to  enable  our  militia  to  collect,  and 
repair  to  that  on  which  the  attack  is  made.  A  force  adequate  to  the  ene- 
my, collected  at  that  single  point,  with  suitable  preparation  for  such  others 
as  might  be  menaced,  is  all  that  would  be  requisite.  But,  if  there  were  no 
fortifications,  then  the  enemy  might  go  where  he  pleased,  and,  changing 
his  position,  and  sailing  from  place  to  place,  our  force  must  be  called  out 
and  spread  in  vast  numbers  along  the  whole  coast,  and  on  both  sides  of 
every  bay  and  river,  as  high  up  in  each  as  it  might  be  navigable  for  ships- 
of-war.  By  these  fortifications,  supported  by  our  navy,  to  which  they 
would  afford  like  support,  we  should  present  to  other  powers  an  armed 
front  from  the  St.  Croix  to  the  Sabine,  which  would  protect,  in  the  event 
of  war,  our  whole  coast  and  interior  from  invasion  ;  and  even  in  the  wars 
of  other  powers,  in  which  we  were  neutral,  they  would  be  found  eminently 
useful,  as,  by  keeping  their  public  ships  at  a  distance  from  our  cities,  peace 
and  order  in  them  would  be  preserved,  and  the  government  be  protected 
from  insult. 

It  need  scarcely  be  remarked,  that  these  measures  have  not  been  re- 
sorted to  in  a  spirit  of  hostility  to  other  powers.  Such  a  disposition  does 
not  exist  toward  any  power.  Peace  and  good  will  have  been,  and  will 
hereafter  be,  cultivated  with  all,  and  by  the  most  faithful  regard  for  justice. 
They  have  been  dictated  by  a  love  of  peace,  of  economy,  and  an  earnest 
desire  to  save  'lie  lives  of  our  fellow-citizens  from  that  destruction,  and 
our  country  from  that  devastation,  which  are  inseparable  from  war,  when 
it  finds  us  unprepared  for  it.  It  is  believed,  and  experience  has  shown, 
that  such  a  preparation  is  the  best  expedient  that  can  be  resorted  to,  to 
prevent  war.  I  add.  with  much  pleasure,  that  considerable  progress  haa 
already  been  m;ide  in  these  measures  of  defence,  and  that  they  will  be 
completed  in  a  few  years,  considering  the  great  extent  and  importance  of 
the  object,  if  the  plan  be  zealously  and  steadily  persevered  in. 

The  conduct  of  the  government,  in  what  rehtes  to  foreign  powers,  is 
always  an  object  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  nation.  Its  agriculture, 
commerce,  manufactures,  fisheries,  revenue,  in  short,  its  peace,  may  all  bo 
affected  by  it.  Attention  is,  therefore,  due  to  this  subject. 

At  the  period  adverted  to,  the  powers  of  Europe,  after  having  been  en- 


428  MONROE'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

gaged  in  long  and  destructive  wars  with  each  other,  had  concluded  a  peace 
which  happily  still  exists.  Our  peace  with  the  power  with  whom  we  had 
been  engaged  had  also  been  concluded.  The  war  between  Spuin  and  tho 
colonies  of  South  America,  which  had  commenced  many  years  belbre, 
was  then  the  only  conflict  that  remained  unsettled.  This  being  a  contest 
between  different  parts  of  the  same  community,  in  which  other  powers  had 
not  interfered,  was  not  affected  by  their  accommodations. 

This  contest  was  considered,  at  an  early  stage,  by  my  predecessor,  a 
civil  war,  in  which  the  parlies  were  entitled  to  equal  rights  in  our  ports. 
This  decision,  the  first  made  by  any  power,  being  formed  on  great  consid- 
eration of  the  comparative  strength  and  resources  of  the  parties,  the  length 
of  lime,  and  successful  opposition  made  by  the  colonies,  and  of  all  other 
circumstances  on  which  it  ought  to  depend,  was  in  strict  accord  with  the 
law  of  nations.  Congress  has  invariably  acted  on  this  principle,  having 
made  no  change  in  our  relations  with  either  party.  Our  attitude  has, 
therefore,  been  that  of  neutrality,  between  them,  which  has  been  main- 
tained with  the  strictest  impartiality.  No  aid  has  been  afforded  to  either, 
nor  has  any  privilege  been  enjoyed  by  the  one  which  has  not  been  equally 
open  to  the  other  party,  and  every  exertion  has  been  made  in  its  power, 
to  enforce  the  execution  of  the  laws  prohibiting  illegal  equipments,  with 
equal  rigor  against  both. 

By  this  equality  between  the  parties,  their  public  vessels  have  been  re- 
ceived in  our  ports  on  the  same  footing  ;  they  have  enjoyed  an  equal  right 
to  purchase  and  export  arms,  munitions  of  war,  and  every  other  supply, 
the  exportation  of  all  articles  whatever  being  permitted  under  laws  which 
were  passed  long  before  the  commencement  of  the  contest ;  our  citizens 
have  traded  equally  with  both,  and  their  commerce  with  each  has  been 
alike  protected  by  the  government. 

Respecting  the  attitude  which  it  may  be  proper  for  the  United  States  to 
maintain  hereafter  between  the  parties,  1  have  no  hesitation  in  stating  it 
as  my  opinion,  that  the  neutrality  heretofore  observed  should  still  be  ad- 
hered to.  From  the  change  in  the  government  of  Spain,  and  the  negotia- 
tion now  depending,  invited  by  the  cortes  and  accepted  by  the  colonies,  it 
may  be  presumed  that  their  differences  will  be  settled  on  the  terms  pro- 
posed by  the  colonies.  Should  the  war  be  continued,  the  United  States, 
regarding  its  occurrences,  will  always  have  it  in  their  power  to  adopt  such 
measures  respecting  it,  as  their  honor  and  interest  may  require. 

Shortly  after  the  general  peace,  a  band  of  adventurers  look  advantage  of 
thib  conflict,  and  of  the  facility  which  it  afforded,  to  establish  a  system  of 
buccaneering  in  the  neighboring  seas,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  the  com- 
merce of  the  United  States,  and,  as  was  represented,  of  that  of  other 
powers.  Of  this  spirit,  and  of  its  injurious  bearing  on  the  United  States, 
strong  proofs  were  afforded  by  the  establishment  at  Amelia  island,  and  the 
purposes  to  which  it  was  made  instrumental  by  this  band  in  1817,  and  by 
the  occurrences  which  took  place  in  other  parts  of  Florida  in  1 8  i  8,  the 
details  of  which,  in  both  instances,  are  too  well  known  to  require  to  be 
now  recited.  I  am  satisfied,  had  a  less  decisive  course  been  adopted,  that 
the  worst  consequences  would  have  resulted  from  it.  We  have  seen  that 
these  checks,  decisive  as  they  were,  were  not  sufficient  to  crush  that  pirat- 
ical spirit.  Many  culprits,  brought  within  our  limits  have  been  condemned 
to  sutler  death,  the  punishment  due  to  ihat  atrocious  crime.  The  decisions 
of  upright  and  enlightened  tribunals  fall  equally  on  all,  whose  crimes  sub- 
ject them,  by  a  fair  interpretation  of  the  law,  to  its  censure.  It  belongs 
to  the  executive  not  to  suffer  the  executions  under  these  decisions  to  trail*- 


MONROE'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  429 

cemi  the  great  purpose  for  which  punishment  is  necessary.  The  full  ben- 
efit of  example  being  secured,  policy,  as  well  as  humanity,  equally  forbids 
that  they  should  be  carried  further.  1  have  acted  on  this  principle,  par- 
doning those  who  appear  to  have  been  led  astray  by  ignorance  of  the 
criminality  of  the  acts  they  had  committed,  and  suffering  the  law  to  take 
effect  on  those  only,  in  whose  favor  no  extenuating  circumstances  could 
be  urged. 

Great  confidence  is  entertained,  that  the  late  treaty  with  Spain,  which 
has  been  ratified  by  both  the-  parties,  and  the  ratifications  whereof  have 
been  exchanged,  has  placed  the  relations  of  the  two  countries  on  a  basis 
of  permanent  friendship.  The  provision  made  by  it  for  such  of  our  citi- 
zens as  have  claims  on  Spain,  of  the  character  described,  will,  it  is  pre- 
sumed, be  very  satisfactory  to  them,  and  the  boundary  which  is  established 
between  the  territories  of  the  parties  westward  of  the  Mississippi,  hereto- 
fore in  dispute,  has,  it  is  thought,  been  settled  on  conditions  just  and  ad- 
vantageous to  both.  But  to  the  acquisition  of  Florida  too  much  importance 
can  not  be  attached.  It  secures  to  the  United  States  a  territory  important 
in  itself,  and  whose  importance  is  much  increased  by  its  bearing  on  many 
of  the  highest  interests  of  the  Union.  It  opens  to  several  of  the  neighbor- 
ing states  a  free  passage  to  the  ocean,  through  the  province  ceded,  by  sev- 
eral rivers,  having  their  sources  high  up  within  their  limits.  It  secures 
us  against  all  future  annoyance  from  powerful  Indian  tribes.  It  gives  us 
several  excellent  harbors  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico  for  ships-of-war  of  the 
largest  size.  It  covers,  by  its  position  in  the  gulf,  the  Mississippi  and 
other  great  waters  within  our  extended  limits,  and  thereby  enables  the 
United  States  to  afford  complete  protection  to  the  vast  and  very  valuable 
productions  of  our  whole  western  country,  which  find  a  market  through 
those  streams. 

By  a  treaty  with  the  British  government,  bearing  date  on  the  20th  Octo- 
ber, 1818,  the  convention  regulating  the  commerce  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  concluded  on  the  3d  of  July,  1815,  which  was 
about  expiring,  was  revived  and  continued  for  the  term  of  ten  years  from 
the  time  of  its  expiration.  By  that  treaty,  also,  the  differences  which  had 
arisen  under  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  respecting  the  right  claimed  by  the  Uni- 
ted States  for  their  citizens,  to  take  and  cure  fish  on  the  coast  of  his  Brit- 
annic majesty's  dominions  in  America,  with  other  differences  on  important 
interests,  were  adjusted,  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  parties.  No  agreement 
has  yet  been  entered  into  respecting  the  commerce  between  the  United 
States  and  the  British  dominions  in  the  West  Indies  and  on  this  continent. 
The  restraints  imposed  on  that  commerce  by  Great  Britain,  and  recipro- 
cated by  the  United  States,  on  a  principle  of  defence,  continue  still  in 
force. 

The  negotiation  with  France  for  the  regulation  of  the  commercial  rela- 
tions between  the  two  countries,  which,  in  the  course  of  the  last  summer, 
had  been  commenced  at  Paris,  has  since  been  transferred  to  this  city,  and 
will  be  pursued,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  in  the  spirit  of  concilia- 
tion, and  with  an  earnest  desire  that  it  may  terminate  in  an  arrangement 
satisfactory  to  both  parties. 

Our  relations  with  the  Barbary  powers  are  preserved  in  the  same  state, 
and  by  the  same  means,  that  were  employed  when  I  came  into  this  office. 
As  early  as  1801,  it  was  found  necessary  to  send  a  squadron  into  the 
Mediterranean  for  the  protection  of  our  commerce,  and  no  period  has  in- 
tervened, a  short  tern  excepted,  when  it  was  thought  advisable  to  with- 
draw it.  The  great  interest  which  the  United  States  have  in  the  Pacific, 


43d 


MONROK S    SECOND    INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 


in  commerce  and  in  the  fisheries,  have  also  made  it  necessary  to  maintain 
a  naval  force  there.  In  disposing  of  this  force,  in  both  instances,  the  most 
effectual  measures  in  our  power  have  been  taken,  without  interfering  with 
its  other  duties,  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  and  of  piracy,  in  the 
neighboring  seas. 

The  situation  of  the  United  States,  in  regard  to  their  resources,  the  ex- 
tent of  their  revenue,  and  the  facility  with  which  it  is  raised,  affords  a 
most  gratifying  spectacle.  The  payment  of  nearly  sixty-seven  millions  of 
dollars  of  the  public  debt,  with  the  great  progress  made  in  measures  of 
defence,  and  in  other  improvements  of  various  kinds,  since  the  late  war 
are  conclusive  proofs  of  this  extraordinary  prosperity,  especially  when  it 
is  recollected,  that  these  expenditures  have  been  defrayed,  without  a  bur- 
then on  the  people,  the  direct  tax  and  excise  having  been  repealed  soon 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  late  war,  a,nd  the  revenue  applied  to  these  great 
objects  having  been  raised  in  a  manner  not  to  be  felt.  Our  great  resources, 
therefore,  remain  untouched,  for  any  purpose  which  may  affect  the  vital 
interests  of  the  nation.  For  all  such  purposes  they  are  inexhaustible. 
They  are  more  especially  to  be  found  in  the  virtue,  patriotism,  and  intelli- 
gence of  our  fellow-citizens,  and  in  the  devotion  with  which  they  would 
yield  up,  by  any  just  measure  of  taxation,  all  their  property,  in  support  of 
the  rights  and  honor  of  their  country. 

Under  the  present  depression  of  prices,  affecting  all  the  productions  of 
the  country,  and  every  branch  of  industry,  proceeding  from  causes  ex- 
plained on  a  former  occasion,  the  revenue  has  considerably  diminished ; 
the  effect  of  which  has  been  to  compel  Congress,  either  to  abandon  these 
great  measures  of  defence,  or  to  resort  to  loans  or  internal  taxes,  to  supply 
the  deficiency.  On  the  presumption  that  this  depression,  and  the  defi- 
ciency in  the  revenue  arising  from  it,  would  be  temporary,  loans  were 
authorized  for  the  demands  of  the  last  and  present  year.  Anxious  to  re- 
lieve my  fellow-citizens  in  1817,  from  every  burden  which  could  be  dis- 
pensed with,  and  the  state  of  the  treasury  permitting  it,  I  recommended 
the  repeal  of  the  internal  taxes,  knowing  that  such  relief  was  then  pecu- 
liarly necessary,  in  consequence  of  the  great  exertions  made  in  the  late 
war.  I  made  that  recommendation  under  a  pledge,  that  should  the  public 
exigencies  require  a  recurrence  to  them  at  any  time  while  I  remained  in 
this  trust,  I  would,  with  equal  promptitude,  perform  the  duty  which  would 
then  be  alike  incumbent  on  me.  By  the  experiment  now  making,  it  will 
be  seen,  by  the  next  session  of  Congress,  whether  the  revenue  shall  have 
been  so  augmented  u&  to  be  adequate  to  all  these  necessary  purposes. 
Should  the  deficiency  still  continue,  and  especially,  should  it  be  probable 
that  it  would  be  permanent,  the  course  to  be  pursued,  appears  to  me  to  be 
obvious.  I  am  satisfied  that,  under  certain  circumstances,  loans  may  be 
resorted  to  with  great  advantage.  I  am  equally  well  satisfied,  as  a  general 
rule,  that  the  demands  of  the  current  year,  especially  in  time  of  peace, 
should  be  provided  for  by  the  revenue  of  that  year. 

I  have  never  dreaded,  nor  have  I  ever  shunned,  in  any  situation  in  which 
I  have  been  placed,  making  appeals  to  the  virtue  and  patriotism  of  my  fel- 
low-citizens, well  knowing  that  they  could  never  be  made  in  vain,  espe- 
cially in  times  of  great  emergency,  or  for  purposes  of  high  national  impor- 
tance. Independently  of  the  exigency  of  the  case,  many  considerations 
of  great  weight  urge  a  policy  having  in  view  a  provision  of  revenue,  to 
meet,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  demands  of  the  nation,  without  relying  alto- 
gether on  the  precarious  resource  of  foreign  commerce.  I  am  satisfieu 


MONROE'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  431 

that  internal  duties  and  excises,  with  corresponding  imposts  on  foreign 
articles  of  the  same  kind,  would,  without  imposing  any  serious  burdens  on 
the  people,  enhance  the  price  of  produce,  promote  our  manufactures,  and 
augment  the  revenue,  at  the  same  time  that  they  made  it  more  secure  and 
permanent. 

The  care  of  the  Indian  tribes  within  our  limits  has  long  been  an  essen- 
tial part  of  our  system ;  but  unfortunately  it  has  not  been  executed  in  a 
manner  to  accomplish  all  the  objects  intended  by  it.  We  have  treated 
them  as  independent  nations,  without  their  having  any  substantinl  preten- 
sions to  that  rank.  The  distinction  has  flattered  their  pride,  retarded  their 
improvement,  and,  in  many  instances,  paved  the  way  to  their  destruction. 
The  progress  of  our  settlements  westward,  supported  as  they  are  by  a 
dense  population,  has  constantly  driven  them  back,  with  almost  the  total 
sacrifice  of  the  lands  which  they  have  been  compelled  to  abandon.  They 
have  claims  on  the  magnanimity,  and,  I  may  add,  on  the  justice  of  this 
nation,  which  we  must  all  feel.  We  should  become  their  real  benefactors  ; 
we  should  perform  the  office  of  their  great  father,  the  endearing  title  which 
they  emphatically  give  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  our  Union.  Their  sov- 
ereignty over  territories  should  cease,  in  lieu  of  which,  the  right  of  soil 
should  be  secured  to  each  individual  and  his  posterity,  in  competent  por- 
tions ;  and  for  the  territory,  thus  ceded  by  each  tribe,  some  reasonable 
equivalent  should  be  granted,  to  be  vested  in  permanent  funds  for  the  sup- 
port of  civil  government  over  them,  and  for  the  education  of  their  children, 
for  their  instruction  in  the  arts  of  husbandry,  and  to  provide  sustenance  for 
them  until  they  could  provide  it  for  themselves.  My  earnest  hope  is,  that 
Congress  will  digest  some  plan,  founded  on  these  principles,  with  such 
improvements  as  their  wisdom  may  suggest,  and  carry  it  into  effect  as  soon 
as  it  may  be  practicable. 

Europe  is  again  unsettled,  and  the  prospect  of  war  increasing.  Should 
the  flame  light  up  in  any  quarter,  how  far  it  may  extend  it  is  impossible 
to  foresee.  It  is  our  peculiar  felicity  to  be  altogether  unconnected  with 
the  causes  which  produce  this  menacing  aspect  elsewhere.  With  every 
power  we  are  in  perfect  amity,  and  it  is  our  interest  to  remain  so,  if  it  be 
practicable  on  just  conditions.  I  see  no  reasonable  cause  to  apprehend 
variance  with  any  power,  unless  it  proceed  from  a  violation  of  our  mari- 
time rights.  In  these  contests,  should  they  occur,  and  to  whatever  extent 
they  may  be  carried,  we  shall  be  neutral ;  but,  as  a  neutral  power,  we 
have  rights  which  it  is  our  duty  to  maintain.  For  like  injuries,  it  will  be 
incumbent  on  us  to  seek  redress  in  a  spirit  of  amity,  in  full  confidence 
that,  injuring  none,  none  would  knowingly  injure  us.  For  more  imminent 
dangers  we  should  be  prepared,  and  it  should  always  be  recollected,  that 
such  preparation,  adapted  to  the  circumstances,  and  sanctioned  by  the 
judgment  and  wishes  of  our  constituents,  can  not  fail  to  have  a  good  effect, 
in  averting  dangers  of  every  kind.  We  should  recollect,  also,  that  the 
season  of  peace  is  best  adapted  to  these  preparations. 

If  we  turn  our  attention,  fellow-citizens,  more  immediately  to  the  inter- 
nal concerns  of  our  country,  and  more  especially  to  those  on  which  its  fu- 
ture welfare  depends,  we  have  every  reason  to  anticipate  the  happiest 
results.  It  is  now  rather  more  than  forty-four  years  since  we  declared 
our  independence,  and  thirty-seven  since  it  was  acknowledged.  The  tal- 
ents and  virtues  which  were  displayed  in  that  great  struggle  were  a  sure 
pres:i»e  of  ull  that  has  since  followed.  A  people  who  were  able  to  sur- 
mount, in  their  infant  state,  such  great  perils,  would  be  more  competent, 


432  MONROE'S  SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

as  they  rose  into  manhood,  to  repel  any  which  they  might  meet  in  their 
progress.  Their  physical  strength  would  be  more  adequate  to  foreign  dan- 
ger, and  the  practice  of  self-government,  aided  by  the  light  of  experience, 
could  not  fail  to  produce  an  effect,  equally  salutary,  on  all  those  questions 
connected  with  the  internal  organization.  These  favorable  anticipations 
have  been  realized. 

In  our  whole  system,  national  and  state,  we  have  shunned  all  the  defects 
which  unceasingly  preyed  on  the  vitals  and  destroyed  the  ancient  repub- 
lics. In  them,  there  were  distinct  orders,  a  nobility  and  a  people,  or  the 
people  governed  in  one  assembly.  Thus,  in  the  one  instance,  there  was 
a  perpetual  conflict  between  the  orders  in  society  for  the  ascendency,  in 
which  the  victory  of  either  terminated  in  the  overthrow  of  the  government, 
and  the  ruin  of  the  state.  In  the  other,  in  which  the  people  governed  in 
a  body,  and  whose  dominions  seldom  exceeded  the  dimensions  of  a  county 
in  one  of  our  states,  a  tumultuous  and  disorderly  movement,  permitted  only 
a  transitory  existence.  In  this  great  nation  there  is  but  one  order,  that 
of  the  people,  whose  power,  by  a  peculiarly  happy  improvement  of  the 
representative  principle,  is  transferred  from  them,  without  impairing  in  the 
slightest  degree  their  sovereignty,  to  bodies  of  their  own  creation,  and  to 
persons  elected  by  themselves,  in  the  full  extent  necessary,  for  all  the 
purposes  of  free,  enlightened,  and  efficient  government.  The  whole  sys- 
tem is  elective,  the  complete  sovereignty  being  in  the  people,  and  every 
officer,  in  every  department,  deriving  his  authority  from,  and  being  respon- 
sible to,  them  for  his  conduct. 

Our  career  has  corresponded  with  this  great  outline.  Perfection  in  our 
organization  could  not  have  been  expected  in  the  outset,  either  in  the  na- 
tional or  state  governments,  or  in  tracing  the  line  between  their  respective 
powers.  But  no  serious  conflict  has  arisen,  nor  any  contest  but  such  as 
are  managed  by  argument,  and  by  a  fair  appeal  to  the  good  sense  of  the 
people ;  and  many  of  the  defects,  which  experience  had  clearly  demon- 
strated in  both  governments,  have  been  remedied.  By  steadily  pursuing 
this  course,  in  this  spirit,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  our  system 
will  soon  attain  the  highest  degree  of  perfection  of  which  human  institu- 
tions are  capable,  and  that  the  movement,  in  all  its  branches,  will  exhibit 
such  a  degree  of  order  and  harmony,  as  to  command  the  admiration  and 
respect  of  the  civilised  world. 

Our  physical  attainments  have  not  been  less  eminent.  Twenty-five 
years  ago,  the  river  Mississippi  was  shut  up,  and  our  western  brethren 
had  no  outlet  for  their  commerce.  What  has  been  the  progress  since  that 
time?  The  river  has  not  only  become  the  property  of  the  United  States, 
from  its  source  to  the  ocean,  with  all  its  tributary  streams  (wiih  the  excep- 
tion of  the  upper  part  of  Red  river  only),  but  Louisiana,  with  a  fair  and 
liberal  boundary  on  the  western  side,  and  the  Floridas  on  the  eastern,  have 
been  ceded  to  us.  The  United  States  now  enjoy  the  complete  and  unin- 
terrupted sovereignty  over  the  whole  territory  from  St.  Croix  to  the  Sabine. 
New  states,  settled  from  among  ourselves,  in  this  and  in  other  parts,  have 
been  admitted  into  our  Union,  in  equal  participation  in  the  national  sov- 
ereignty with  the  original  states.  Our  population  has  augmented  in  an 
astonishing  degree,  and  extended  in  every  direction.  We  now,  fellow- 
citizens,  comprise  within  our  limits  the  dimensions  and  faculties  of  a  great 
power,  under  a  government  possessing  all  the  energies  of  any  government 
ever  known  to  the  old  world,  with  an  utter  incapacity  to  oppress  the 
people. 


MONROE'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  433 

Entering,  with  these  views,  the  office  which  I  have  just  solemnly  sworn 
to  execute  with  fidelity,  and  to  the  utmost  of  my  ability,  I  derive  great 
satisfaction  from  a  knowledge  that  I  shall  be  assisted  in  the  several  depart- 
ments by  the  very  enlightened  and  upright  citizens  from  whom  I  have  re- 
ceived so  much  aid  in  the  preceding  term.  With  full  confidence  in  the 
continuance  of  that  candor  and  generous  indulgence  from  my  fellow-citizens 
at  large,  which  1  have  heretofore  experienced,  and  with  a  firm  reliance  on 
the  protection  of  Almighty  God,  1  shall  forthwith  commence  the  duties  of 
the  high  trust  to  which  you  have  called  me. 


FIFTH      ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  3,  1821. 

To  the    Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THE  progress  of  our  affairs  since  the  last  session  has  been  such  as  may 
justly  be  claimed  and  expected  under  a  government  deriving  all  its  power? 
from  an  enlightened  people,  and  under  laws  formed  by  their  representa- 
tives, on  great  consideration,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  promoting  the  welfare 
and  happiness  of  their  constituents.  In  the  execution  of  those  laws,  and 
of  the  powers  vested  by  the  constitution  in  the  executive,  unremitted  atten- 
tion has  been  paid  to  the  great  objects  to  which  they  extend.  In  the  con- 
cerns which  are  exclusively  internal,  there  is  good  cause  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  result.  The  laws  have  had  their  due  operation  and  effect.  In 
those  relating  to  foreign  powers,  I  am  happy  to  state  that  peace  and  amity 
are  preserved  with  all,  by  a  strict  observance  on  both  sides  of  the  rights 
of  each.  In  matters  touching  our  commercial  intercourse,  where  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion  has  existed  as  to  the  conditions  on  which  it  should  be 
placed,  each  party  has  pursued  its  own  policy,  without  giving  just  cause 
of  offence  to  the  other.  In  this  annual  communication,  especially  when 
it  is  addressed  to  a  new  Congress,  the  whole  scope  of  our  political  con- 
cerns naturally  comes  into  view,  that  errors,  if  such  have  been  committed, 
may  be  corrected ;  that  defects  which  have  become  manifest  may  be  rem- 
edied ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  measures  which  were  adopted  on  due 
deliberation,  and  which  experience  has  shown  are  just  in  themselves  and 
essential  to  the  public  welfare,  should  be  persevered  in  and  supported. 
In  performing  this  necessary  and  very  important  duty,  I  shall  endeavor  to 
place  before  you,  on  its  merits,  every  subject  that  is  thought  to  be  entitled 
to  your  particular  attention,  in  as  distinct  and  clear  a  light  as  I  may  be  able. 
By  an  act  of  the  3d  of  March,  1815,  so  much  of  the  several  acts  as  im- 
posed higher  duties  on  the  tonnage  of  foreign  vessels,  and  on  the  manu- 
factures and  productions  of  foreign  nations,  when  imported  into  the  United 
States  in  foreign  vessels,  than  when  imported  in  vessels  of  the  United 
States,  were  repealed,  so  fur  as  respected  the  manufactured  productions  of 
the  nation  to  which  such  vessels  belonged,  on  the  condition  that  the  repeal 
should  take  effect  only  in  favor  of  any  foreign  nation,  when  the  executive 
should  be  satisfied  that  such  discriminating  duties  to  the  disadvantage  of 
the  United  States  had  likewise  been  repealed  by  such  nation.  By  this  act, 
a  proposition  was  made  to  all  nations  to  place  our  commerce  with  each  on 
a  basis  which  it  was  presumed  would  be  acceptable  to  all.  Every  nation 
VOL.  I.— 28 


434  MONROE'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

was  allowed  to  bring  its  manufactures  and  productions  into  our  ports,  and 
to  take  the  manufactures  and  productions  of  the  United  States  back  to 
their  ports,  in  their  own  vessels,  on  the  same  conditions  that  they  might 
be  transported  in  vessels  of  the  United  States  ;  and  in  return,  it  was  re- 
quired that  a  like  accommodation  should  be  granted  to  the  vessels  of  the 
United  States  in  the  ports  of  other  power.  The  articles  to  be  admitted  or 
prohibited  on  either  side,  formed  no  part  of  the  proposed  arrangement. 
Each  party  would  retain  the  right  to  admit  or  prohibit  such  articles  from 
the  other  as  it  thought  proper,  and  on  its  own  conditions. 

When  the  nature  of  the  commerce  between  the  United  States  and  every 
other  country  was  taken  into  view,  it  was  thought  that  this  proposition 
would  be  considered  fair,  and  even  liberal,  by  every  power.  The  exports 
of  the  United  States  consist  generally  of  articles  of  the  first  necessity,  and 
of  rude  materials  in  demand  for  foreign  manufactories,  of  great  bulk,  re- 
quiring for  their  transportation  many  vessels,  the  return  for  which,  in  the 
manufactures  and  productions  of  any  foreign  country,  even  when  disposed 
of  there  to  advantage,  may  be  brought  in  a  single  vessel.  This  observa- 
tion is  the  more  especially  applicable  to  those  countries  from  which  manu- 
factures alone  are  imported,  but  it  applies  in  a  great  extent  to  the  Euro- 
pean dominions  of  every  European  power,  and  in  a  certain  extent  to  all 
the  colonies  of  those  powers. 

By  placing,  then,  the  navigation  precisely  on  the  same  ground,  in  the 
transportation  of  exports  and  imports  between  the  United  States  and  other 
countries,  it  was  presumed  that  all  was  offered  which  could  be  desired. 
It  seemed  to  be  the  only  proposition  which  could  be  devised  which  would 
retain  even  the  semblance  of  equality  in  our  favor. 

Many  considerations  of  great  weight  gave  us  a  right  to  expect  that  this 
commerce  should  be  extended  to  the  colonies,  as  well  as  to  the  European 
dominions  of  other  powers.  With  the  latter,  especially  with  countries 
exclusively  manufacturing,  the  advantage  was  manifestly  on  their  side. 
An  indemnity  for  that  loss  was  expected  from  a  trade  with  the  colonies, 
and  with  the  greater  reason,  as  it  was  known  that  the  supplies  which  the 
colonies  derived  from  us  were  of  the  highest  importance  to  them,  their 
labor  being  bestowed  with  so  much  greater  profit  in  the  culture  of  other 
articles  ;  and  because,  likewise,  the  articles  of  which  those  supplies  con- 
sisted, forming  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  exports  of  the  United  States, 
were  never  admitted  into  any  of  the  ports  of  Europe,  except  in  cases  of 
great  emergency,  to  avert  a  serious  calamity.  When  no  article  is  admit- 
ted which  is  not  required  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  party  admitting  it,  and 
admitted  then,  not  in  favor  of  any  particular  country,  to  the  disadvantage  of 
others,  but  on  conditions  equally  applicable  to  all,  it  seems  just  that  the 
articles  thus  admitted  and  invited  should  be  carried  thither  in  the  vessels  of 
the  country  affording  such  supply,  and  that  the  reciprocity  should  be  found 
in  a  corresponding  accommodation  oa  the  other  side.  By  allowing  each 
party  to  participate  in  the  transportation  of  such  supplies,  on  the  payment 
of  equal  tonnage,  strong  proof  was  afforded  of  an  accommodating  spirit. 
To  abandon  to  it  the  transportation  of  the  whole  would  be  a  sacrifice  which 
ought  not  to  be  expected.  The  demand  in  the  present  instance,  would  be 
the  more  unreasonable,  in  consideration  of  the  great  inequality  existing  in 
the  trade  of  the  parent-country. 

Such  was  the  basis  of  our  system,  as  established  by  the  act  of  1815, 
and  such  its  true  character.  In  the  year  in  which  this  act  was  passed,  a 
treaty  was  concluded  with  Great  Britain,  in  strict  conformity  with  its  prin- 


MONROE'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  435 

ciples,  in  regard  to  her  European  dominions.  To  her  colonies,  however, 
in  the  West  Indies  and  on  this  continent,  it  was  not  extended,  the  British 
government  claiming  the  exclusive  supply  of  those  colonies,  and  from  our 
own  ports,  and  of  the  productions  of  the  colonies  in  return  in  her  own  ves- 
sels. To  this  claim  the  United  States  could  not  assent,  and  in  conse- 
quence, each  party  suspended  the  intercourse  in  the  vessels  of  the  other, 
by  a  prohibition  which  still  exists. 

The  same  conditions  were  offered  to  France,  but  not  accepted.  Her 
government  has  demanded  other  conditions  more  favorable  to  her  naviga- 
tion, and  which  should  also  give  extraordinary  encouragement  to  her 
manufactures  and  productions  in  ports  of  the  United  States.  To  these  it 
was  thought  improper  to  accede,  and  in  consequence,  the  restrictive  regu- 
lations which  had  been  adopted  on  her  part,  being  countervailed  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States,  the  direct  commerce  between  the  two  countries, 
in  the  vessels  of  each  party,  has  been  in  a  great  measure  suspended.  It 
is  much  to  be  regretted,  that  although  a  negotiation  has  been  long  pending, 
such  is  the  diversity  of  views  entertained  on  the  various  points  which 
have  been  brought  into  discussion,  that  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any 
reasonable  prospect  of  its  early  conclusion. 

It  is  my  duty  to  state,  as  a  cause  of  very  great  regret,  that  very  serious 
differences  have  occurred  in  this  negotiation,  respecting  the  construction 
of  the  eighth  article  of  the  treaty  of  1803,  by  which  Louisiana  was  ceded 
to  the  United  States,  and  likewise  respecting  the  seizure  of  the  Apollo,  in 
1820,  for  a  violation  of  our  revenue  laws.  The  claim  of  the  government 
of  France  has  excited  not  less  surprise  than  concern,  because  there  does 
not  appear  to  be  a  just  foundation  for  it  in  either  instance.  By  the  eighth 
article  of  the  treaty  referred  to,  it  is  stipulated  that,  after  the  expiration  of 
twelve  years,  during  which  time  it  was  provided  by  the  seventh  or  pre- 
ceding article  that  the  vessels  of  France  and  Spain  should  be  admitted 
into  the  ports  of  the  ceded  territory  without  paying  higher  duties  on  mer- 
chandise, or  tonnage  on  the  vessels,  than  such  as  were  paid  by  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  the  ships  of  France  should  for  ever  afterward  be 
placed  on  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nation.  By  the  obvious  con- 
struction of  this  article,  it  is  presumed  that  it  was  intended  that  no  favor 
should  be  granted  to  any  power,  in  those  ports,  to  which  France  should 
not  be  forthwith  entitled ;  nor  should  any  accommodation  be  allowed  to 
another  power,  on  conditions  to  which  she  would  not  also  be  entitled  on 
the  same  conditions.  Under  this  construction,  no  favor  or  accommodation 
could  be  granted  to  any  power  to  the  prejudice  of  France.  By  allowing 
the  equivalent  allowed  by  those  powers,  she  would  always  stand  in  those 
ports  on  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nation.  But  if  this  article  should 
be  so  construed  as  that  France  should  enjoy,  of  right,  and  without  paying 
the  equivalent,  all  the  advantages  of  such  conditions  as  might  be  allowed 
to  other  powers,  in  return  for  important  concessions  made  by  them,  then 
the  whole  character  of  the  stipulations  would  be  changed.  She  would  not 
only  be  placed  on  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nation,  but  on  a  footing 
held  by  no  other  nation.  She  would  enjoy  all  the  advantages  allowed  to 
to  them,  in  consideration  of  like  advantages  allowed  to  us,  free  from  every 
and  any  condition  whatever. 

As  little  cause  has  the  government  of  France  to  complain  of  the  seizure 
of  \\ift  Apollo,  and  the  removal  of  other  vessels  from  the  waters  of  the  St. 
Mary's.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  every  nation  has  a  right  to  regulate 
its  commercial  system  as  it  thinks  lit,  and  to  enforce  the  collection  of  its 


4J6  MONROE'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

• 

revenue,  provided  it  be  done  without  an  invasion  of  the  rights  of  other 
powers.  The  violation  of  its  revenue  laws  is  an  offence  which  all  nations 
punish,  the  punishment  of  which  gives  no  jusl.  cause  of  complaint  to  the 
jw)W(>r  to  which  the  offenders  belong,  provided  it  be  extended  to  all  equally. 
In  this  case,  every  circumstance  which  occurred  indicated  a  fixed  purpose 
to  violate  our  revenue  laws.  Had  the  party  intended  to  have  pursued  a 
fair  trade,  he  would  have  entered  our  ports  and  paid  the  duties ;  or  had 
ho  intended  to  carry  on  a  legitimate  circuitous  commerce  with  the  United 
States,  he  would  have  entered  the  port  of  some  other  power,  landed  his 
j/oods  at  the  customhouse,  according  to  law,  and  reshipped  and  sent  them 
ii>  the  vessel  of  such  power,  or  of  some  other  power  which  might  lawfully 
I>ring  them,  free  from  such  duties,  to  a  port  of  the  United  States.  But  the 
conduct  of  the  party  in  this  case  was  altogether  different.  He  entered  the 
river  St.  Mary's,  the  boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and  Florida, 
and  took  his  position  on  the  Spanish  side,  on  which,  in  the  whole  extent 
of  the  river,  there  was  no  town,  no  port  or  customhouse,  and  scarcely  any 
settlement.  His  purpose,  therefore,  was,  not  to  sell  his  goods  to  the  in- 
habitants of  Florida,  but  to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  in  exchange  for 
their  productions,  which  could  not  be  done  without  a  direct  and  palpable 
lireach  of  our  laws.  It  is  known  that  a  regular  systematic  plan  had  been 
formed  by  certain  persons  for  the  violation  of  our  revenue  system,  which 
made  it  the  more  necessary  to  check  the  proceedings  in  its  commence- 
ment. 

That  the  unsettled  bank  of  a  river  so  remote  from  the  Spanish  garrisons 
and  population  could  give  no  protection  to  any  party  in  such  a  practice,  is 
believed  to  be  in  strict  accord  with  the  law  of  nations.  It  would  not  have 
comported  with  a  friendly  policy  of  Spain  herself  to  have  established  a 
customhouse  there,  since  it  could  have  subserved  no  other  purpose  than 
lo  elude  our  revenue  law.  But  the  government  of  Spain  did  not  adopt 
that  measure.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  understood  that  the  captain-general  of 
Cuba,  to  whom  an  application  to  that  effect  was  made  by  these  adventur- 
ers, had  not  acceded  to  it.  The  condition  of  those  provinces  for  many 
years,  before  they  were  ceded  to  the  United  States,  need  not  now  be  dwelt 
on.  Inhabited  by  different  tribes  of  Indians,  and  an  inroad  for  every  kind 
of  adventurers,  the  jurisdiction  of  Spain  may  be  said  to  have  been  almost 
exclusively  confined  to  her  garrisons.  It  certainly  could  not  extend  to  pla- 
ces where  she  had  no  authority.  The  rules,  therefore,  applicable  to  set- 
tled countries  governed  by  laws,  could  not  be  deemed  so  to  the  deserts  of 
Florida  and  to  the  occurrences  there.  It  merits  attention,  also,  that  the 
territory  had  then  been  ceded  to  the  United  States  by  a  treaty,  the  ratifi- 
cation of  which  had  not  been  refused,  and  which  has  since  been  performed. 
Under  any  circumstances,  therefore,  Spain  became  less  responsible  for 
such  acts  committed  there,  and  the  United  States  more  at  liberty  to  exer- 
cise authority  to  prevent  so  great  a  mischief.  The  conduct  of  this  govern- 
ment has,  in  every  instance,  been  conciliatory  and  friendly  to  France.' 
The  construction  of  our  revenue  law,  in  its  application  to  the  cases  which 
have  formed  the  ground  of  such  serious  complaints  on  her  part,  and  the 
order  to  the  collector  of  St.  Mary's,  in  accord  with  it,  were  given  two 
years  before  these  cases  occurred,  and  in  reference  to  a  breach  which 
was  attempted  by  the  subjects  of  another  power.  The  application,  there- 
fore, to  the  cases  in  question,  was  inevitable.  As  soon  as  the  treaty  by 
which  these  provinces  were  ceded  to  the  United  States  was  ratified,  and 
all  dangei  of  further  breach  of  our  revenue  laws  ceased,  an  order  was 


MONROE'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  437 

given  for  the  release  of  the  vessel  which  had  been  seized,  and  for  the 
dismission  of  the  libel  which  had  been  instituted  against  her. 

The  principles  of  this  system  of  reciprocity,  founded  on  the  law  of  the 
3d  of  March,  1815,  have  been  since  carried  into  effect  with  the  kingdoms 
of  the  Netherlands,  Sweden,  Prussia,  and  with  Hamburg,  Bremen,  Lubeck, 
and  Oldenburg,  with  a  provision  made  by  subsequent  laws  in  regard  to 
the  Netherlands,  Prussia,  Hamburg,  and  Bremen,  that  such  produce  and 
manufactures  as  could  only  be,  or  most  usually  were,  first  shipped  from 
the  ports  of  those  countries,  the  same  being  imported  in  vessels  wholly 
belonging  to  their  subjects,  should  be  considered  and  admitted  as  their 
own  manufactures  and  productions. 

The  government  of  Norway  has,  by  an  ordinance,  opened  the  ports  of 
that  part  of  the  dominions  of  the  king  of  Sweden  to  the  vessels  of  th» 
United  States,  upon  the  payment  of  no  other  or  higher  duties  than  are 
paid  by  Norwegian  vessels,  from  whatever  place  arriving,  and  with  what- 
ever articles  laden.  They  have  requested  the  reciprocal  allowance  for 
the  vessels  of  Norway  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States.  As  this  privi- 
lege is  not  within  the  scope  of  the  act  of  the  3d  of  March,  1815,  and  can 
only  be  granted  by  Congress,  and  as  it  may  involve  the  commercial  rela- 
tions of  the  United  States  with  other  nations,  the  subject  is  submitted  to 
the  wisdom  of  Congress. 

I  have  presented  thus  fully  to  your  view  our  commercial  relations  with 
other  powers,  that,  seeing  them  in  detail  with  each  power,  and  knowing 
the  basis  on  which  they  rest,  Congress  may  in  its  wisdom  decide  whether 
any  change  ought  to  be  made,  and  if  any,  in  what  respect.  If  this  basis 
is  unjust  or  unreasonable,  surely  it  ought  to  be  abandoned  ;  but  if  it  bo 
just  and  reasonable,  and  any  change  in  it  will  make  concessions  subver- 
sive of  equality,  and  tending  in  its  consequences  to  sap  the  foundations 
of  our  prosperity,  then  the  reasons  are  equally  strong  for  adhering  to 
the  ground  already  taken,  and  supporting  it  by  such  further  regulations 
as  may  appear  to  be  proper,  should  any  additional  support  be  found  ne- 
cessary. 

The  question  concerning  the  construction  of  the  first  article  of  the  treaty 
of  Ghent,  has  been,  by  a  joint  act  of  the  representatives  of  the  United 
States  and  of  Great  Britain,  at  the  court  of  St.  Petersburg,  submitted  to 
the  decision  of  his  imperial  majesty,  the  emperor  of  Russia.  The  result 
of  that  submission  has  not  yet  been  received.  The  commissioners  under 
the  fifth  article  of  that  treaty  not  having  been  able  to  agree  upon  their  de- 
cision, their  reports  to  the  two  governments,  according  to  the  provisions 
of  the  treaty,  may  be  expected  at  an  early  day. 

With  Spain,  the  treaty  of  February  2'<Jd,  1819,  has  been  partly  carried 
into  execution.  Possession  of  East  and  West  Florida  has  been  given  to 
the  United  States,  but  the  officers  charged  with  that  service,  by  an  order 
from  his  catholic  maje*ty,  delivered  by  his  minister  to  the  secretary  of 
state,  and  transmitted  by  a  special  agent  to  the  captain-general  of  Cuba, 
to  whom  it  was  directed,  and  in  whom  the  government  of  those  provinces 
WLI.S  vested,  have  not  only  omitted,  in  contravention  of  the  order  of  their 
sovereign,  the  performance  of  the  express  stipulation  to  deliver  over  the 
archives  and  documents  relating  to  the  property  and  sovereignty  of  thoso 
provinces,  all  of  which  it  was  expected  would  have  been  delivered,  either 
before  or  when  the  troops  were  withdrawn,  but  defeated,  since,  every  effort 
of  the  United  States  to  obtain  them,  especially  those  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance. This  omission  has  given  rise  to  several  incidents  of  a  painful 


438  MONROE'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

nature,  the  character  of  which  will  he  fully  disclosed  by  the  documents 
which  will  be  hereafter  communicated. 

In  every  other  circumstance,  the  law  of  the  3d  of  March  last,  for  car- 
rying into  effect  that  treaty,  has  been  duly  attended  to.  For  the  execu- 
tion of  that  part  which  preserved  in  force,  for  the  government  of  the  in- 
habitants, for  the  term  specified,  all  the  civil,  military,  and  judicial  powers 
;exercised  by  the  existing  government  of  those  provinces,  an  adequate 
number  of  officers,  as  was  presumed,  were  appointed,  and  ordered  to  their 
respective  stations.  Both  provinces  were  formed  into  one  territory,  and  a 
governor  appointed  for  it ;  hut  in  consideration  of  the  pre-existing  division, 
and  of  the  distance  and  difficulty  of  communication  between  Pensacola, 
the  residence  of  the  governor  of  West  Florida,  and  St.  Augustine,  that  of 
the  governor  of  East  Florida,  at  which  places  the  inconsiderable  popula- 
tion of  each  province  was  principally  collected,  two  secretaries  were  ap- 
pointed, the  one  to  reside  at  Pensacola,  and  the  other  at  St.  Augustine. 
Due  attention  was  likewise  paid  to  the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  relating  to  the  revenue  and,  the  slave-trade,  which  were  ex- 
tended to  these  provinces.  The  whole  territory  was  divided  into  three 
collection  districts,  that  part  lying  between  the  river  St.  Mary's  and  Cape 
Florida  forming  one,  that  from  the  cape  to  the  Apalachicola  another,  and 
that  from  the  Apalachicola  to  the  Perdido  the  third.  To  these  districts, 
the  usual  number  of  revenue  officers  were  appointed ;  and  to  secure  the 
due  operation  of  these  laws,  one  judge  and  a  district  attorney  were  ap- 
pointed, to  reside  at  Pensacola,  and  likewise  one  judge  and  district  attor- 
ney to  reside  at  St.  Augustine,  with  a  specified  boundary  between  them ; 
and  one  marshal  for  the  whole,  with  authority  to  appoint  a  deputy.  In 
carrying  this  law  into  effect,  and  especially  that  part  relating  to  the  pow- 
ers of  the  existing  government  of  those  provinces,  it  was  thought  impor- 
tant, in  consideration  of  the  short  term  for  which  it  was  to  operate,  and 
the  radical  change  which  would  be  made  at  the  approaching  session  of 
Congress,  to  avoid  expense,  to  make  no  appointment  which  should  not  be 
absolutely  necessary  to  give  effect  to  those  powers,  to  withdraw  none  of 
our  citizens  from  their  pursuits,  whereby  to  subject  the  government  to 
claims  which  could  not  be  gratified,  and  the  parties  to  losses  which  it 
would  be  painful  to  witness. 

It  has  been  seen  with  much  concern,  that  in  the  performance  of  these 
duties  a  collision  arose  between  the  governor  of  the  territory  and  the  judge 
appointed  for  the  western  district.  It  was  presumed  that  the  law  under 
which  the  transitory  government  was  organized,  and  the  commissions 
which  were  granted  to  the  officers  who  were  appointed  to  execute  each 
branch  of  the  system,  and  to  which  the  commissions  were  adapted,  would 
have  been  understood  in  the  same  sense  by  them  in  which  they  were  un- 
derstood by  the  executive.  Much  allowance  is  due  to  the  officers  employed 
in  each  branch  of  this  system,  and  the  more  so,  as  there  is  good  cause  to 
believe  that  each  acted  under  a  conviction  that  he  possessed  the  power 
which  he  undertook  to  exercise.  Of  the  officer  holding  the  principal  sta- 
tion, I  think  it  proper  to  observe  that  he  accepted  it  with  reluctance,  in 
compliance  with  the  invitation  given  him,  and  from  a  high  sense  of  duty 
to  his  country,  being  willing  to  contribute  to  the  consummation  of  an  event 
which  would  insure  complete  protection  to  an  important  part  of  our  Union, 
which  had  suffered  much  from  incursion  and  invasion,  and  to  the  defence 
of  which  his  very  gallant  and  patriotic  services  had  been  so  signally  and 
usefully  devoted. 


BIONROE'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  439 

From  the  intrinsic  difficulty  of  executing  laws  deriving  their  origin 
from  different  sources,  and  so  essentially  different  in  many  important  cir- 
cumstances, the  advantage,  and  indeed  the  necessity,  of  establishing,  as 
soon  as  may  be  practicable,  a  well-organized  government  over  that  terri- 
tory, on  the  principles  of  our  system,  is  apparent.  This  subject  is  there- 
fore recommended  to  the  early  consideration  of  Congress. 

In  compliance  with  an  injunction  of  the  law  of  the  3d  of  March  last, 
three  commissioners  have  also  been  appointed,  and  a  board  organized,  for 
carrying  into  effect  the  eleventh  article  of  the  treaty  above  recited,  making 
provision  for  the  payment  of  such  of  our  citizens  as  have  well-founded 
claims  on  Spain,  of  the  character  specified  by  that  treaty.  This  board  has 
entered  on  its  duties,  and  made  some  progress  therein.  The  commissioner 
and  surveyor  of  his  catholic  majesty,  provided  for  by  the  fourth  article  of 
the  treaty,  have  not  yet  arrived  in  the  United  States,  but  are  soon  ex- 
pected. As  soon  as  they  do  arrive,  corresponding  appointments  will  be 
made,  and  every  facility  be  afforded  for  the  due  execution  of  this  service. 

The  government  of  his  most  faithful  majesty,  since  the  termination  of 
the  last  session  of  Congress,  has  been  removed  from  Rio  de  Janeiro  to 
Lisbon,  where  a  revolution,  similar  to  that  which  had  occurred  in  the 
neighboring  kingdom  of  Spain,  had  in  like  manner  been  sanctioned  by  the 
accepted  and  pledged  faith  of  the  reigning  monarch.  The  diplomatic  in- 
tercourse between  the  United  States  and  the  Portuguese  dominions,  in- 
terrupted by  that  %important  event,  has  not  been  resumed,  but  the  change 
of  internal  administration  having  already  materially  affected  the  commer- 
cial intercourse  of  the  United  States  with  the  Portuguese  dominions,  the 
renewal  of  the  public  missions  between  the  two  countries  appears  to  be 
desirable  at  an  early  day. 

It  is  understood  that  the  colonies  in  South  America  have  had  great  suc- 
cess, during  the  present  year,  in  the  struggle  for  their  independence.  The 
new  government  of  Colombia  has  extended  its  territories,  and  considerably 
augmented  its  strength  ;  and  at  Buenos  Ayres,  where  civil  dissensions  had 
for  some  time  before  prevailed,  greater  harmony  and  better  order  appeared 
to  have  been  established.  Equal  success  has  attended  their  efforts  in  the 
provinces  on  the  Pacific.  It  has  long  been  manifest  that  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  Spain  to  reduce  these  colonies  by  force,  and  equally  so  that 
no  conditions  short  of  their  independence  would  be  satisfactory  to  them. 
It  may  therefore  be  presumed,  and  it  is  earnestly  hoped,  that  the  govern- 
ment of  Spain,  guided  by  enlightened  arid  liberal  councils,  will  find  it  to 
comport  with  its  interests,  and  due  to  its  magnanimity,  to  terminate  this 
exhausting  controversy  on  that  basis.  To  promote  this  result,  by  friendly 
counsel  with  the  government  of  Spain,  will  be  the  object  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States. 

In  conducting  the  fiscal  operations  of  the  year,  it  has  been  found  neces- 
sary to  carry  into  full  effect  the  act  of  the  last  session  of  Congress  author- 
izing a  loan  of  rive  millions  of  dollars.  This  sum  has  been  raised  at  an 
average  premium  of  rive  dollars  fifty-nine  hundredths  per  centum,  upon 
btock  bearing  an  interest  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent,  per  annum,  redeema- 
ble, at  the  option  of  the  government,  after  the  first  day  of  January,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-five. 

There  has  been  issued,  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  four  millions 
seven  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety-six  dollars 
thirty  cents,  of  five  per  cent,  stock  ;  and  there  has  been,  or  will  be,  re- 
deemed during  the  year,  three  millions  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven  thou- 


440  MONROE'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

•and  and  thirty  dollars  seventy-one  cents  of  Louisiana  six  per  cent,  and 
deferred  stock,  and  Mississippi  stock.  There  has,  therefore,  been  an 
actual  increase  of  the  public  debt,  contracted  during  the  year,  of  one  mil- 
lion five  hundred  and  thirty-eight  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-six  dol- 
lars sixty-nine  cents. 

The  receipts  into  the  treasury,  from  the  first  of  January  to  the  30th  of 
September  last,  have  amounted  to  sixteen  millions  two  hundred  and  nine- 
teen thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven  dollars  seventy  cents,  whirh, 
with  the  balance  of  one  million  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  thousand 
four  hundred  and  sixty-one  dollars  twenty-one  cents,  in  the  treasury  on 
the  former  day,  make  the  aggregate  sum  of  seventeen  millions  four  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-eight  dollars  and  ninety- 
one  cents. 

The  payments  from  the  treasury  during  the  same  period,  have  amounted 
to  fifteen  millions  six  hundred  and  fifty-five  thousand  two  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  dollars  forty-seven  cents,  leaving  in  the  treasury,  on  the  last- 
mentioned  day,  the  sum  of  one  million  seven  hundred  and  sixty-two  thou- 
sand three  hundred  and  seventy  dollars  forty-four  cents.  It  is  estimated 
that  the  receipts  of  the  fourth  quarter  of  the  year  will  exceed  the  demands 
which  will  be  made  on  the  treasury  during  the  same  period,  and  that  the 
amount  in  the  treasury  on  the  30th  of  September  last  will  be  increased  on 
the  first  day  of  January  next. 

At  the  close  of  the  last  session,  it  was  anticipated  that  the  progressive 
diminution  of  the  public  revenue  in  1819  and  1820,  which  had  been  the 
result  of  the  languid  state  of  our  foreign  commerce  in  those  years,  had  in 
the  latter  year  reached  its  extreme  point  of  depression.  It  has,  however, 
been  ascertained  th;it  that  point  was  reached  only  at  the  termination  of  t.ie 
first  quarter  of  the  present  year.  From  that  time  until  the  30th  of  Septem- 
ber last,  the  duties  secured  have  exceeded  those  of  the  corresponding 
quarters  of  the  last  year,  one  million  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  thou- 
sand dollars  ;  while  the  amount  of  debentures,  issued  during  the  first  three 
quarters  of  this  year,  is  nine  hundred  and  fifty-two  thousand  dollars  less 
than  that  of  the  same  quarters  of  the  last  year. 

There  are  just  grounds  to  believe  that  the  improvement  which  has  oc- 
curred in  the  revenue,  during  the  last-mentioned  period,  will  not  only  be 
maintained,  but  that  it  will  progressively  increase  through  the  next  and 
several  succeeding  years,  so  as  to  realize  the  results  which  were  present- 
ed upon  that  subject,  by  the  official  reports  of  the  treasury,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  last  session  of  Congress. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances,  the  revenue 
for  the  next  and  subsequent  years,  to  the  year  1825,  will  exceed  the  de- 
mands at  present  authorized  by  law. 

It  may  fairly  be  presumed,  that  under  the  protection  given  to  domestic 
manufactures  by  the  existing  laws,  we  shall  become,  at  no  distant  peri- 
od, a  manufacturing  country  on  an  extensive  scale.  Possessing  as  we  do 
the  raw  materials  in  such  vast  amount,  with  a  capacity  to  augment  them 
to  an  indefinite  extent ;  raising  within  the  country  aliment  of  every  kind 
to  an  amount  far  exceeding  the  demand  for  home  consumption,  even  in  the 
most  unfavorable  years,  and  to  be  obtained  always  at  a  very  moderate  price  ; 
skilled  also,  as  our  people  are,  in  the  mechanic  arts,  and  in  every  im- 
provement calculated  to  lessen  the  demand  for,  and  the  price  of,  labor,  it  is 
manifest  that  their  success  in  every  branch  of  domestic  industry  may  and 
will  be  carried,  under  the  encouragement  given  by  the  present  duties,  to 


MONROE'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  441 

an  extent  to  meet  any  demand  which  .under  a  fair  competition  may  be 
made  on  it. 

A  considerable  increase  of  domestic  manufactures,  by  diminishing  the 
importation  of  foreign,  will  probably  tend  to  lessen  the  amount  of  the  pub- 
lic revenue.  As,  however,  a  large  proportion  of  the  revenue  which  is 
derived  from  duties  is  raised  from  other  articles  than  manufactures,  the 
demand  for  which  will  increase  with  our  population,  it  is  believed  that  a 
fund  will  still  be  raised  from  that  source  adequate  to  the  greater  part  of 
the  national  expenditures,  especially  as  those  expenditures,  should  we 
continue  to  be  blessed  with  peace,  will  be  diminished  by  the  completion 
of  the  fortifications,  dock-yards,  and  other  public  works  ;  but  the  augment- 
ation of  the  navy  to  the  point  to  which  it  is  proposed  to  carry  it ;  and 
by  the  payment  of  the  public  debt,  including  pensions  for  military  services. 

It  can  not  be  doubted  that  the  more  complete  our  internal  resources,  and 
the  less  dependent  we  are  on  foreign  powers  for  every  national  as  well  as 
domestic  purpose,  the  greater  and  more  stable  will  be  the  public  felicity. 
By  the  increase  of  domestic  manufactures  will  the  demand  for  the  rude 
materials  at  home  be  increased,  and  thus  will  the  dependence  of  the 
several  parts  of  our  Union  on  each  other,  and  the  strength  of  the  Union 
itself,  be  proportionably  augmented.  In  this  process,  which  is  very  de- 
sirable and  inevitable  under  the  existing  duties,  the  resources  which  ob- 
viously present  themselves  to  supply  a  deficiency  in  the  revenue,  should 
it  occur,  are  the  interests  which  may  derive  the  principal  benefit  from  the 
change.  If  domestic  manufactures  are  raised  by  duties  on  foreign,  the 
deficiency  in  the  fund  necessary  for  public  purposes  should  be  supplied  by 
duties  on  the  former.  At  the  last  session  it  seemed  doubtful  whether  the 
revenue  derived  from  the  present  sources  would  be  adequate  to  all  the 
great  purposes  of  our  Union,  including  the  construction  of  our  fortifica- 
tions, the  augmentation  of  our  navy,  and  the  protection  of  our  commerce 
against  the  dangers  10  which  it  is  exposed.  Had  the  deficiency  been  such 
as  to  subject  us  to  the  necessity  either  to  abandon  those  measures  of  de- 
fence or  to  resort  to  other  means  for  adequate  funds,  the  cause  presented 
to  the  adoption  of  a  virtuous  and  enlightened  people  appeared  to  be  a  plain 
one.  It  must  be  gratifying  to  all  to  know  that  this  necessity  does  not 
exist.  Nothing,  however,  in  contemplation  of  such  important  objects, 
which  can  be  easily  provided  for,  should  be  left  to  hazard.  It  is  thought 
that  the  revenue  may  receive  an  augmentation  from  the  existing  sources, 
and  in  a  manner  to  aid  our  manufactures,  without  hastening  prematurely 
the  result  which  has  been  suggested.  It  is  believed  that  a  moderate  ad- 
ditional duty  on  certain  articles  would  have  that  effect,  without  being  lia- 
ble to  any  serious  objection. 

The  examination  of  the  whole  coast,  for  the  construction  of  permanent 
fortifications,  from  St.  Croix  to  the  Sabine.  wi'h  the  exception  of  part  of 
the  territory  lately  acquired,  will  be  completed  ir  the  present  year,  as  will 
be  the  survey  of  the  Mississippi  under  the  resolution  of  the  house  of  rep- 
resentatives, from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  to  the  oceai  and  likewise  of  the 
Ohio,  from  Louisville  to  the  Mississippi.  A  progress  r  ^responding  with 
the  sums  appropriated  has  also  been  made  in  the  construction  of  these  forti- 
fications at  the  points  designated.  As  they  will  form  a  systr-n  of  defence 
for  the  whole  maritime  frontier,  and  in  consequence  for  the  u  verior,  and 
are  to  last  for  ages,  the  utmost  care  has  been  taken  to  fix  the  position  of 
each  work,  and  to  form  it  on  such  a  scale  as  will  be  adequate  to  tre  pur- 
pose intended  by  it.  All  the  inlets  and  assailable  parts  of  our  Unioi.  Havu 


442  MONROE'S  FIFTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

been  minutely  examined,  and  positions  taken  with  a  view  to  the  best  effect, 
observing  in  every  instance  a  just  regard  for  economy.  Doubts,  however, 
being  entertained  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  position  and  extent  of  ihe  work 
at  Dauphine  island,  further  progress  in  it  was  suspended  soon  after  the 
last  session  of  Congress,  and  an  order  given  to  the  board  of  engineers  and 
naval  commissioners  to  make  a  further  and  more  minute  examination  of  it 
in  both  respects,  and  to  report  the  result  without  delay. 

Due  progress  has  been  made  in  the  construction  of  vessels-of-war,  ac- 
cording to  the  law  providing  for  the  gradual  augmentation  of  the  navy,  and 
to  the  extent  of  existing  appropriations.  The  vessels  authorized  by  the 
act  of  1820  have  all  been  completed,  and  are  now  in  actual  service.  None 
of  the  larger  ships  have  been  or  will  be  launched  for  the  present,  the  ob- 
ject being  to  protect  all  which  may  not  be  required  for  immediate  service 
from  decay,  by  suitable  buildings  erected  over  them.  A  squadron  has 
been  maintained,  as  heretofore,  in  the  Mediterranean,  by  means  whereof 
peace  has  been  preserved  with  the  Barbary  powers.  This  squadron  has 
been  reduced  the  present  year  to  as  small  a  force  as  is  compatible  with 
the  fulfilment  of  the  object  intended  by  it.  From  past  experience  and  the 
best  information  respecting  the  views  of  those  powers,  it  is  distinctly 
1  understood  that  should  our  squadron  be  withdrawn  they  would  soon  re- 
commence their  hostilities  and  depredations  on  our  commerce.  Their 
fortifications  have  been  lately  rebuilt  and  their  maritime  force  increased. 
It  has  also  been  found  necessary  to  maintain  a  naval  force  in  the  Pacific, 
for  the  protection  of  the  very  important  interests  of  our  citizens  engaged 
in  commerce  and  the  fisheries  in  that  sea.  Vessels  have  likewise  been 
employed  in  cruising  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  on 
the  coast  of  Africa,  and  in  the  neighboring  seas.  In  the  latter,  many 
piracies  have  been  committed  on  our  commerce,  and  so  extensive  was  be- 
coming the  range  of  those  unprincipled  adventurers,  that  there  was  cause 
to  apprehend,  without  a  timely  and  decisive  effort  to  suppress  them,  the 
worst  consequences  would  ensue.  Fortunately  a  considerable  check  has 
been  given  to  that  spirit  by  our  cruisers,  who  have  succeeded  in  capturing 
and  destroying  several  of  their  vessels.  Nevertheless  it  is  considered  an 
object  of  high  importance  to  continue  these  cruisers  until  the  practice  is 
entirely  suppressed.  Like  successes  have  attended  our  efforts  to  suppress 
the  slave  trade.  Under  the  flag  of  the  United  States  and  the  sanction  of 
their  papers,  the  trade  may  be  considered  as  entirely  suppressed,  and  if 
any  of  our  citizens  are  engaged  in  it  under  the  flags  and  papers  of  other 
powers,  it  is  only  from  a  respect  to  the  rights  of  those  powers  that  these 
offenders  are  not  seized  and  brought  home,  to  receive  the  punishment 
which  the  laws  inHict.  If  every  other  power  should  adopt  the  same  poli- 
cy, and  pursue  the  same  vigorous  means  for  carrying  it  into  effect,  the 
trade  could  no  longer  exist. 

Deeply  impressed  with  the  blessings  which  we  enjoy,  and  of  which  we 
have  such  manifold  proofs,  my  mind  is  irresistibly  drawn  to  that  Almighty 
being,  the  great  source  from  whence  they  proceed,  and  to  whom  our  most 
grateful  acknowledgments  are  due 


MONROE'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  443 

SIXTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  3,  1822. 

Fellow-  Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

MANY  causes  unite  to  make  your  present  meeting  peculiarly  interesting 
to  our  constituents.  The  operation  of  our  laws  on  the  various  subjects  to 
which  they  apply,  with  the  amendments  which  they  occasionally  require, 
imposes  annually  an  important  duty  on  the  representatives  of  a  free  people. 
Our  system  has  happily  advanced  to  such  maturity  that  I  am  not  aware 
that  your  cares  in  that  respect  will  be  augmented.  Other  causes  exist 
which  are  highly  interesting  to  the  whole  civilized  world,  and  to  no  por- 
tion of  it  more  so,  in  certain  views,  than  to  the  United  States.  Of  these 
causes,  and  of  their  bearing  on  the  interests  of  our  Union,  I  shall  commu- 
nicate the  sentiments  which  I  have  formed  with  that  freedom  which  a 
sense  of  duty  dictates.  It  is  proper,  however,  to  invite  your  attention  in 
the  first  instance  to  those  concerns  respecting  which  legislative  provision 
is  thought  to  be  particularly  urgent. 

On  the  24th  of  June  last,  a  convention  of  navigation  and  commerce  was 
concluded  in  this  city  between  the  United  States  and  France,  by  ministers 
duly  authorized  for  the  purpose.  The  sanction  of  the  executive  having 
been  given  to  this  convention  under  a  conviction  that,  taking  all  its  stipu- 
lations into  view,  it  rested  essentially  on  a  basis  of  reciprocal  and  equal 
advantage,  I  deemed  it  my  duty,  in  compliance  with  the  authority  vested 
in  the  executive  by  the  second  section  of  the  act  of  the  last  session,  of 
the  6th  of  May,  concerning  navigation,  to  suspend  by  proclamation,  until 
the  end  of  the  next  session  of  Congress,  the  operation  of  the  act  entitled. 
•'  An  act  to  impose  a  new  tonnage  duly  on  French  ships  and  vessels,  and 
for  other  purposes,"  and  to  suspend,  likewise,  all  other  duties  on  French 
vessels,  or  the  goods  imported  in  them,  which  exceeded  the  duties  on 
American  vessels,  and  on  similar  goods  imported  in  them.  I  shall  submit 
this  convention  forthwith  to  the  senate  for  its  advice  and  consent  as  to  the 
ratification. 

Since  your  last  session,  the  prohibition  which  had  been  imposed  on  the 
commerce  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  colonies,  in  the  West 
Indies  and  on  this  continent,  has  likewise  been  removed.  Satisfactory  evi- 
dence having  been  adduced  that  the  ports  of  those  colonies  had  been 
opened  to  the  vessels  of  the  United  States  by  an  act  of  the  British  par- 
lament,  bearing  date  on  the  24th  of  June  last,  on  the  conditions  specified 
therein,  I  deemed  it  proper,  in  compliance  with  the  provision  of  the  first 
section  of  the  act  of  the  last  session  above  recited,  to  declare,  by  procla- 
mation bearing  date  the  24th  of  August  last,  that  the  ports  of  the  United 
States  should  thenceforward  and  until  the  end  of  the  next  session  of  Con- 
gress, be  open  to  the  vessels  of  Great  Britain  employed  in  that  trade, 
under  the  limitation  specified  in  that  proclamation. 

A  doubt  was  entertained  whether  the  act  of  Congress  applied  to  the 
British  colonies  on  this  continent  as  well  as  to  those  in  the  West  Indies, 
but  as  the  act  of  parliament  opened  the  intercourse  equally  with  both,  and 
it  was  the  manifest  intention  of  Congress,  as  well  as  the  obvious  policy 
of  the  United  States,  that  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  parliament  should 
be  met  in  equal  extent  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  as  also  the 
act  of  Congress  was  supposed  to  vest  in  the  president  some  discretion  in 


444  MONROE'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

the  execution  of  it,  I  thought  it  advisable  to  give  it  a  corresponding  coi 
•traction. 

Should  the  constituiional  sanction  of  the  senate  be  given  to  the  ratifies 
lion  of  the  convention  with  France,  legislative  provisions  will  be  ueces 
sary  to  carry  it  fully  into  effect,  as  it  likewise  will  be  to  continue  in  force 
on  such  conditions  as  may  be  deemed  just  and  proper,  the  intercourse 
which  has  been  opened  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  colo- 
nies. Every  light  in  the  possession  of  the  executive  will  in  due  time  be 
communicated  on  both  subjects. 

Resting  essentially  on  a  basis  of  reciprocal  and  equal  advantage,  it  has 
been  the  object  of  the  executive,  in  transactions  with  other  powers,  to 
meet  the  propositions  of  each  with  a  liberal  spirit,  believing  that  thereby 
the  interest  of  our  country  would  be  most  effectually  promoted.  This 
course  has  been  systematically  pursued  in  the  late  occurrences  with 
France  and  Great  Britain,  and  in  strict  accord  with  the  views  of  the  legis- 
lature. A  confident  hope  is  entertained  that,  by  the  arrangement  thus 
commenced  with  each,  all  differences  respecting  navigation  and  commerce 
with  the  dominions  in  question  will  be  adjusted,  and  a  solid  foundation 
laid  for  an  active  and  permanent  intercourse  which  will  prove  equally  ad- 
vantageous to  both  parties. 

The  decision  of  his  imperial  majesty,  the  emperor  of  Russia,  on  the 
question  submitted  to  him  by  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  con- 
cerning the  construction  of  the  first  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  has 
been  received.  A  convention  has  since  been  concluded  between  the  par- 
ties, under  the  mediation  of  his  imperial  majesty,  to  prescribe  the  mode 
by  which  that  article  shall  be  carried  into  effect  in  conformity  with  that 
decision.  I  shall  submit  this  convention  to  the  senate  for  its  advice  and 
consent  as  to  the  ratification,  and  if  obtained,  shall  immediately  bring  the 
subject  before  Congress  for  such  provisions  as  may  require  the  interposi- 
tion of  the  legislature. 

In  compliance  with  an  act  of  the  last  session,  a  territorial  government 
has  been  established  in  Florida  on  the  principles  of  our  system.  By  this 
act,  the  inhabitants  are  secured  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  rights  and 
liberties,  and  to  admission  into  the  Union,  with  equal  participation  in  the 
government  with  the  original  states,  on  the  conditions  heretofore  pre- 
scribed to  other  territories.  By  a  clause  in  the  ninth  article  of  the  treaty 
with  Spain,  by  which  that  territory  was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  it  is 
stipulated  that  satisfaction  shall  be  made  for  the  injuries,  if  any,  which  by 
process  of  law  shall  be  established  to  have  been  suffered  by  the  Spanish 
officers  and  individual  Spanish  inhabitants  by  the  late  operations  of  our 
troops  in  Florida.  No  provision  having  yet  been  made  to  carry  thut  stip- 
ulation into  effect,  it  is  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  whether 
it  will  not  be  proper  to  vest  the  competent  power  in  the  district  court  at 
Pensacola,  or  in  some  tribunal  to  be  specially  organized  for  that  purpose. 

The  fiscal  operations  of  the  year  have  been  more  successful  than  had 
been  anticipated  at  the  commencement  of  the  last  session  of  Congress. 

The  receipts  into  the  treasury  during  the  first  three  quarters  of  the  yeai 
have  exceeded  the  sum  of  fourteen  millions  seven  hundred  and  forty-five 
thousand  dollars.  The  payments  made  at  the  treasury,  during  the  same 
period,  have  exceeded  twelve  millions  two  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
thousand  dollars,  leaving  in  the  treasury  on  the  30th  day  of  September 
last  (including  one  million  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  thousand  five 
hundred  and  ninety-two  dollars  twenty-four  cents,  which  were  in  the 


MONROE'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  445 

treasury  on  the  first  day  of  January  last),  a  sum  exceeding  four  millions 
one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars. 

Besides  discharging  all  demands  for  the  current  service  of  the  year,  in- 
cluding the  interest  and  the  reimbursement  of  the  public  debt,  the  six  per 
cent,  slock  of  1796,  amounting  to  eighty  thousand  dollars,  has  been  re- 
deemed. It  is  estimated  that,  after  defraying  the  current  expenses  of  the 
present  quarter,  and  redeeming  the  two  millions  of  six  per  cent,  stock  of 
1820,  there  will  remain  in  the  treasury,  on  the  first  day  of  January  next, 
nearly  three  millions  of  dollars.  It  is  estimated  that  the  gross  amount  of 
duties  which  have  been  secured,  from  the  1st  of  January  to  the  30th  of 
September  last,  has  exceeded  nineteen  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  the  amount  for  the  whole  year  will  probably  not  fall  short  of 
twenty-three  millions  of  dollars. 

Of  the  actual  force  in  service  under  the  present  military  establishment, 
the  posts  at  which  it  is  stationed,  and  the  condition  of  each  post,  a  report 
from  the  secretary  of  war,  which  is  now  communicated,  will  give  a  distinct 
idea.  By  like  reports,  the  state  of  the  academy  at  West  Point  will  be 
seen,  as  will  be  the  progress  which  has  been  made  on  the  fortifications 
along  the  coasts,  and  at  the  public  armories  and  arsenals. 

The  position  on  the  Red  river,  and  that  at  the  Sault  of  St.  Marie,  are  the 
only  new  posts  that  have  been  taken.  These  posts,  with  those  already 
occupied  in  the  interior,  are  thought  to  be  well  adapted  to  the  protection 
of  our  frontiers.  All  the  force  not  placed  in  the  garrisons  along  the  coast 
and  in  the  ordnance  depots,  and  indispensably  necessary  there,  is  placed 
on  the  frontiers. 

The  organization  of  the  several  corps  composing  the  army  is  such  as  to 
admit  its  expansion  to  a  great  extent  in  case  of  emergency,  the  officers 
carrying  with  them  all  the  light  which  they  possess  to  the  new  corps  to 
which  they  might  be  appointed. 

With  the  organization  of  the  staff  there  is  equal  cause  to  be  satisfied. 
By  the  concentration  of  every  branch  with  its  chief  in  this  city,  in  the 
presence  of  the  department,  and  with  a  grade  in  the  chief  military  station 
to  keep  alive  and  cherish  a  military  spirit,  the  greatest  promptitude  in  the 
execution  of  orders,  with  the  greatest  economy  and  efficiency,  are  secured. 
The  same  view  is  taken  of  the  military  academy.  Good  order  is  preserv- 
ed in  it,  and  the  youth  are  well  instructed  in  every  science  connected  with 
the  great  objects  of  the  institution.  They  are  also  well  trained  and  disci- 
plined in  the  practical  pans  of  the  profession.  It  has  always  been  found 
difficult  to  control  the  ardor  inseparable  from  that  early  age  in  such  man 
ner  as  to  give  it  a  proper  direction.  The  rights  of  manhood  are  too  often 
claimed  prematurely,  in  pressing  which  too  far,  the  respect  which  is  due 
to  age  and  the  obedience  necessary  to  a  course  of  study  and  instruction  in 
every  such  institution,  are  sometimes  lost  sight  of.  The  great  object  to  be 
accomplished  is  the  restraint  of  that  ardor  by  such  wise  regulations 
and  government  as,  by  directing  all  the  energies  of  the  youthful  mind  to 
the  attainment  of  useful  knowledge,  will  keep  it  within  a  just  subordina- 
tion and  at  the  same  time  elevate  it  to  the  highest  purposes.  This  object 
seems  to  be  essentially  obtained  in  this  institution,  and  with  great  advan- 
tage to  the  Union. 

The  military  academy  forms  the  basis,  in  regard  to  science,  on  which 
the  military  establishment  rests.  It  furnishes  annually,  after  due  examina- 
tion, arid  on  the  report  of  the  academic  stall',  many  well-informed  youths 
to  till  the  vacancies  which  occur  in  the  several  corps  o'  the  army,  while 


446  MONROK'S  SIXTH  ANVDAL  MESSAGE. 

others,  who  retire  to  private  life,  carry  with  them  such  attainments  as, 
under  the  right  reserved  to  the  several  states  to  appoint  the  officers  and  to 
train  the  militia,  will  enable  them,  by  affording  a  wider  field  for  selection, 
to  promote  the  great  object  of  the  power  vested  in  Congress  of  providing 
for  the  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the  militia.  Thus,  by  the 
mutual  and  harmonious  co-operation  of  the  two  governments,  in  the  exe- 
cution of  a  power  divided  between  them,  an  object  always  to  be  cherished, 
the  attainment  of  a  great  result,  on  which  our  liberties  may  depend,  can 
not  fail  to  be  secured.  I  have  to  add,  that  in  proportion  as  our  regular 
force  is  small,  should  the  instruction  and  discipline  of  the  militia,  the  great 
resource  on  which  we  rely,  be  pushed  to  the  utmost  extent  that  circum- 
stances will  admit. 

A  report  from  the  secretary  of  the  navy  will  communicate  the  progress 
which  has  been  made  in  the  construction  of  vessels-of-war,  with  other 
interesting  details  respecting  the  actual  state  of  the  affairs  of  that  department. 
It  has  been  found  necessary,  for  the  protection  of  our  commerce,  to  main- 
tain the  usual  squadrons  in  the  Mediterranean,  the  Pacific,  and  along  the 
Atlantic  coast,  extending  the  cruises  of  the  latter  into  the  West  Indies, 
where  piracy,  organized  into  a  system,  has  preyed  on  the  commerce  of 
every  country  trading  thither.  A  cruise  has  also  been  maintained  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  when  the  season  would  permit,  for  the  suppression  of  the 
slave-trade  ;  and  orders  have  been  given  to  the  commanders  of  all  our  pub- 
lic ships  to  seize  our  own  vessels,  should  they  find  any  engaged  in  that 
trade,  and  to  bring  them  in  for  adjudication. 

In  the  West  Indies  piracy  is  of  a  recent  date,  which  may  explain  the 
cause  why  other  powers  have  not  combined  against  it.  By  the  documents 
communicated,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  efforts  of  the  United  States  to  sup- 
press it  have  had  a  very  salutary  effect.  The  benevolent  provision  of  the 
act,  under  which  the  protection  has  been  extended  alike  to  the  commerce 
of  other  nations,  can  not  fail  to  be  duly  appreciated  by  them. 

In  compliance  with  the  act  of  last  session,  entitled,  "  An  act  to  abolish 
the  United  States'  trading  establishments,"  agents  were  immediately  ap- 
pointed, and  instructed,  under  the  direction  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasu- 
ry, to  close  the  business  of  the  trading-houses  among  the  Indian  tribes  and 
to  settle  the  accounts  of  the  factors  and  sub-factors  engaged  in  that  trade, 
and  to  execute,  in  all  other  respects,  the  injunctions  of  that  act  in  the  mode 
prescribed  therein.  A  final  report  of  their  proceedings  shall  be  communi- 
cated to  Congress  as  soon  as  it  is  received. 

It  is  with  regret  I  have  to  state  that  a  serious  malady  has  deprived  us 
of  many  valuable  citizens  at  Pensacola,  and  checked  the  progress  of  some 
of  those  arrangements  which  are  important  to  the  territory.  This  effect 
has  been  sensibly  felt  in  respect  to  the  Indians  who  inhabit  that  territory, 
consisting  of  the  remnants  of  several  tribes  who  occupy  the  nu'ddle  ground, 
between  St.  Augustine  and  Pensacola,  with  extensive  claims  but  undefin- 
ed boundaries.  Although  peace  is  preserved  with  those  Indians,  yet  their 
position  and  claims  tend  essentially  to  interrupt  the  intercourse  between 
the  eastern  and  western  parts  of  the  territory,  on  which  our  inhabitants 
are  principally  settled.  It  is  essential  to  the  growth  and  prosperity  of 
the  territory,  as  well  as  to  the  interests  of  the  Union,  that  these  Indians 
should  be  removed,  by  special  compact  with  them,  to  some  other  position, 
or  concentrated  within  narrower  limits  whore  they  are.  With  the  limited 
means  in  the  power  of  the  executive,  instructions  were  given  to  the  gov- 
ernor to  accomplish  this  object,  so  far  as  it  might  be  practicable,  which 


MONROE  S    SIXTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE.  447 

was  prevented  by  the  distressing  malady  referred  to.  To  carry  it  fully 
into  effect,  in  either  mode,  additional  funds  will  be  necessary,  to  the 
provision  of  which,  the  powers  of  Congress  alone  are  competent.  With 
a  view  to  such  provisions  as  may  be  deemed  proper,  the  subject  is  sub- 
mitted to  your  consideration,  and  in  the  interim  further  proceedings  are 
suspended. 

It  appearing  that  so  much  of  the  act  entitled,  "  An  act  regulating  the  staff 
of  the  army,"  which  passed  on  the  14th  of  April,  1818,  as  relates  to  the 
commissariat,  will  expire  in  April  next,  and  the  practical  operation  of  that 
department  having  evinced  its  great  utility,  the  propriety  of  its  renewal  is 
submitted  to  your  consideration. 

The  view  which  has  been  taken  of  the  probable  productiveness  of  the 
lead  mines,  connected  with  the  importance  of  the  material  to  the  public 
defence,  makes  it  expedient  that  they  should  be  managed  with  peculiar 
care.  It  is  therefore  suggested,  whether  it  will  not  comport  with  the  public 
interest  to  provide  by  law  for  the  appointment  of  an  agent  skilled  in  min- 
eralogy to  superintend  them,  under  the  direction  of  the  proper  department. 

It  is  understood  that  the  Cumberland  road,  which  was  constructed  at  a 
great  expense,  has  already  suffered  from  the  want  of  that  regular  superin- 
tendence and  of  those  repairs  which  are  indispensable  to  the  preservation 
of  such  a  work.  This  road  is  of  incalculable  advantage  in  facilitating  the 
intercourse  between  the  western  and  the  Atlantic  states.  Through  it,  the 
whole  country,  from  the  northern  extremity  of  Lake  Erie  to  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  from  all  the  waters  which  empty  into  each,  finds  an  easy  and 
direct  communication  to  the  seat  of  government,  and  thence  to  the  Atlan- 
tic. The  facility  which  it  affords  to  all  military  and  commercial  opera- 
tions, and  also  to  those  of  the  postoffice  department,  can  not  be  estimated 
too  highly.  This  great  work  is  likewise  an  ornament  and  an  honor  to  the 
nation.  Believing  that  a  competent  power  to  adopt  and  execute  a  system 
of  internal  improvement  has  not  been  granted  to  Congress,  but  that  such  a 
power,  confined  to  great  national  purposes,  and  with  proper  limitations, 
would  be  productive  of  eminent  advantage  to  our  Union,  I  have  thought  it 
advisable  that  an  amendment  of  the  constitution  to  that  effect  should  be 
recommended  to  the  several  states.  A  bill  which  assumed  the  right  to 
adopt  and  execute  such  a  system,  having  been  presented  for  my  signature 
at  the  last  session,  I  was  compelled,  from  the  view  which  I  h;id  taken  of 
the  powers  of  the  general  government,  to  negative  it,  on  which  occasion  I 
thought  it  proper  to  communicate  the  sentiments  which  1  had  Conned,  on  ma- 
ture consideration,  on  the  whole  subject.  To  that  communication,  in  all  the 
views  in  which  the  great  interest  to  which  it  relates  may  be  supposed  to 
merit  your  attention,  1  have  now  to  refer.  Should  Congress,  however, 
deem  it  improper  to  recommend  such  an  amendment,  they  have,  accord- 
ing to  my  judgment,  the  right  to  keep  the  road  in  repair,  by  providing  for 
the  superintendence  of  it,  and  appropriating  the  money  necessary  for  re- 
pairs. Surely,  if  they  had  a  right  to  appropriate  money  to  make  the  road, 
they  have  a  right  to  appropriate  it  to  preserve  the  road  from  ruin.  From 
the  exercise  of  this  power  no  danger  is  to  be  apprehended.  I'nder  our 
happy  system,  the  people  are  the  sole  arid  exclusive  fountain  of  power. 
Each  government  originates  from  them,  and  to  them  alone,  each  to  its 
proper  constituents,  are  they  respectively  and  solely  responsible  for  the 
faithful  discharge  of  their  duty,  within  their  constitutional  limits.  And  that 
the  people  will  confine  their  public  agents,  of  every  station,  to  the  strict 
line  of  their  constitutional  duties,  there  is  no  cause  to  doubt.  Having, 


448  MONROE'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

however,  communicated  my  sentiments  to  Congress  at  the  last  session 
fully,  in  the  document  to  which  1  have  referred,  respecting  the  right  of 
appropriation  as  distinct  from  the  right  of  jurisdiction  and  sovereignty 
over  the  territory  in  question,  I  deem  it  improper  to  enlarge  on  the  subject 
here. 

From  the  best  information  that  I  have  been  able  to  obtain,  it  appears 
that  our  manufactures,  though  depressed  immediately  after  the  peace,  have 
considerably  increased,  and  are  still  increasing,  under  the  encouragement 
given  them  by  the  tariff  of  18 1 6,  and  by  subsequent  laws.  Satisfied  1  am, 
whatever  may  be  the  abstract  doctrine  in  favor  of  unrestricted  commerce, 
provided  all  nations  would  concur  in  it  and  it  was  not  liable  to  be  inter- 
rupted by  war,  which  has  never  occurred  and  can  not  be  expected,  that 
there  are  other  strong  reasons  applicable  to  our  situation  and  relations 
with  other  countries,  which  impose  on  us  the  obligation  to  cherish  and 
sustain  our  manufactures.  Satisfied,  however,  I  am,  likewise,  that  the  in- 
terest of  every  part  of  our  Union,  even  of  those  most  benefited  by  manu- 
factures, requires  that  this  subject  should  be  touched  with  the  greatest 
caution,  and  a  critical  knowledge  of  the  effect  to  be  produced  by  the 
slightest  change.  On  full  consideration  of  the  subject,  in  ail  its  relations, 
I  am  persuaded  that  a  further  augmentation  may  now  be  made  of  the  duties 
on  certain  foreign  articles,  in  favor  of  our  own,  and  without  affecting  inju- 
riously any  other  interest.  For  more  precise  details,  I  refer  you  to  the 
communications  which  were  made  to  Congress  during  the  last  session. 

So  great  was  the  amount  of  accounts  for  moneys  advanced  during  the 
late  war,  in  addition  to  others  of  a  previous  date,  which  in  the  regular  op- 
erations of  the  government  necessarily  remained  unsettled,  that  it  requires 
a  considerable  length  of  time  for  their  adjustment.  By  a  report  from  the 
first  comptroller  of  the  treasury  it  appears  that,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1817, 
the  accounts  then  unsettled  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  three  millions 
sixty-eight  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-six  dollars  and  forty-one 
cents,  of  which,  on  the  30th  of  September  of  the  present  year,  ninety-three 
millions  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety- 
six  dollars  and  fifty-six  cents  had  been  settled  ;  leaving  on  that  day  a  bal- 
ance unsettled  of  nine  millions  eight  hundred  and  ninety-three  thousand 
four  hundred  and  seventy-nine  dollars  and  eighty-five  cents.  That  there 
have  been  drawn  from  the  treasury,  in  paying  the  public  debt  and  sustain- 
ing the  government  in  all  its  operations  and  disbursements,  since  the  4th 
of  March,  1817,  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  millions  one  hundred  and 
ninety  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty  dollars  and  ninety-six  cents,  the 
accounts  for  which  have  been  settled  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  millions  five  hundred  and  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  dollars  and  twelve  cents  ;  leaving  a  balance  unsettled  of  nineteen  mill- 
ions six  hundred  and  ninety-seven  thousand  nine  hundred  and  twenty-nine 
dollars  and  eighty-four  cents.  For  precise  details  respecting  each  of 
these  balances,  I  refer  to  the  report  of  the  comptroller,  and  the  documents 
which  accompany  it. 

From  this  view,  it  appears  that  our  commercial  differences  with  France 
and  Great  Britain  have  been  placed  in  a  train  of  amicable  arrangement, 
on  conditions  fair  and  honorable,  in  both  instances,  to  each  party ;  that 
our  finances  are  in  a  very  productive  state,  our  revenue  being  at  present 
fully  competent  to  all  demands  upon  it ;  that  our  military  force  is  well  or- 
ganized in  all  its  branches,  and  capable  of  rendering  the  most  important 
service  in  case  of  emergency  that  its  number  will  admit  of;  that  due 


MONROE'S  SIXTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  449 

progress  has  been  made,  under  existing  appropriations,  in  the  construction 
of  fortifications  and  in  tlie  operation  of  the  ordnance  department :  that 
due  progress  has  in  like  manner  been  made  in  the  construction  of  ships- 
of-war ;  that  our  navy  is  in  the  best  condition,  felt  and  respected  in  every 
sea  in  which  it  is  employed  for  the  protection  of  our  commerce  ;  that  our 
manufactures  have  augmented  in  amount  and  improved  in  quality ;  tha 
great  progress  has  been  made  in  the  settlement  of  accounts,  and  in  the 
recovery  of  the  balances  due  by  individuals  ;  and  that  the  utmost  economy 
is  secured  and  observed  in  every  department  of  the  administration. 

Other  objects  will  likewise  claim  your  attention  ;  because,  from  the 
station  which  the  United  States  hold,  as  a  member  of  the  great  community 
of  nations,  they  have  rights  to  maintain,  duties  to  perform,  and  dangers  to 
encounter. 

A  strong  hope  was  entertained  that  peace  would,  ere  this,  have  been 
concluded  between  Spain  and  the  independent  governments  south  of  the 
United  States  in  this  hemisphere.  Long  experience  having  evinced  the 
competency  of  those  governments  to  maintain  the  independence  which 
they  had  declared,  it  was  presumed  that  the  considerations  which  induced 
their  recognition  by  the  United  States  would  have  had  equal  weight  with 
other  powers,  and  that  Spain  herself,  yielding  to  those  magnanimous  feel- 
ings of  which  her  history  furnishes  so  many  examples,  would  have  termi- 
nated, on  that  basis,  a  controversy  so  unavailing,  and  at  the  same  time  so 
destructive.  We  still  cherish  the  hope  that  this  result  will  not  long  be 
postponed. 

Sustaining  our  neutral  position,  and  allowing  to  each  party,  while  the 
war  continues,  equal  rights,  it  is  incumbent  on  the  United  States  to  claim 
of  each,  with  equal  rigor,  the  faithful  observance  of  our  rights,  according 
to  the  well-known  law  of  nations.  From  each,  therefore,  a  like  co-opera- 
tion is  expected  in  the  suppression  of  the  piratical  practice  which  has 
grown  out  of  this  war,  and  the  blockades  of  extensive  coasts  on  both  seas, 
which,  considering  the  small  force  employed  to  sustain  them,  have  not  the 
slightest  foundation  to  rest  on. 

Europe  is  still  unsettled,  and  although  the  war  long  menaced  between 
Russia  and  Turkey  has  not  broken  out,  there  is  no  certainty  that  the  dif- 
ferences between  those  powers  will  be  amicably  adjusted.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  look  to  the  oppressions  of  the  country,  respecting  which  those  dif- 
ferences arose,  without  being  deeply  affected.  The  mention  of  Greece 
fills  the  mind  with  the  most  exalted  sentiments,  and  arouses  in  our  bosoms 
the  best  feelings  of  which  our  nature  is  susceptible.  Superior  skill  and 
refinement  in  the  arts,  heroic  gallantry  in  action,  disinterested  patriotism, 
enthusiastic  zeal  and  devotion  in  favor  of  public  and  personal  liberty,  are 
associated  with  our  recollections  of  ancient  Greece.  That  such  a  country 
should  have  been  overwhelmed  and  so  long  hidden,  as  it  were,  from  the 
world,  under  a  gloomy  despotism,  has  been  a  cause  of  unceasing  and  deep 
regret  to  generous  minds  for  ages  past.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  the 
reappearance  of  those  people  in  their  original  character,  contending  in 
favor  of  their  liberties,  should  produce  that  great  excitement  and  sympathy 
in  their  favor  which-  have  been  so  signally  displayed  throughout  the  United 
States.  A  strong  hope  is  entertained  that  these  people  will  recover  their 
independence,  and  resume  their  equal  station  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth. 

A  great  effort  has  been  made  in  Spain  and  Portugal  to  improve  the  con 
dition  of  the  people,  and  it  must  be  very  consoling  to  all  benevolent  minds 

VOL.  T.— 29 


450  MOM; (IK'S    SIXTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

to  see  the  extraordinary  moderation  with  which  it  has  been  conducted. 
That  it  may  promote  the  happiness  of  both  nations  is  the  ardent  wish  of 
this  whole  people,  to  the  expression  of  which  we  confine  ourselves  ;  for 
whatever  may  be  the  feelings  or  sentiments  which  every  individual  under 
our  government  has  a  right  to  indulge  and  express,  it  is  nevertheless  a  sa- 
cred maxim,  equally  with  the  government  and  people,  that  the  destiny  of 
every  independent  nation,  in  what  relates  to  such  improvements,  of  right 
belongs  and  ought  to  be  left  exclusively  to  themselves. 

Whether  we  reason  from  the  late  wars,  or  from  those  menacing  symp- 
toms which  now  appear  in  Europe,  it  is  manifest,  that  if  a  convulsion  should 
take  place  in  any  of  those  countries,  it  will  proceed  from  causes  which 
have  no  existence  and  are  utterly  unknown  in  these  states,  in  which  there 
is  but  one  order,  that  of  the  people,  to  whom  the  sovereignty  exclusively 
belongs.  Should  war  break  out  in  any  of  those  countries,  who  can  fore- 
tell the  extent  to  which  it  may  be  carried,  or  the  desolation  which  it  may 
spread  ?  Exempt  as  we  are  from  these  causes,  our  internal  tranquillity  is 
secure  ;  and  distant  as  we  are  from  the  troubled  scene,  and  faithful  to  first 
principles  m  regard  to  other  powers,  we  might  reasonably  presume  that 
we  should  not  be  molested  by  them.  This,  however,  ought  not  to  be  cal- 
culated on  as  certain.  Unprovoked  injuries  are  often  inflicted,  and  even 
the  peculiar  felicity  of  our  situation  might,  with  some,  be  a  cause  for  ex- 
citement and  aggression.  The  history  of  the  late  wars  in  Europe  furnish- 
es a  complete  demonstration  that  no  system  of  conduct,  however  correct 
in  principle,  can  protect  neutral  powers  from  injury  from  any  party ;  that 
a  defenceless  position  and  distinguished  love  of  peace  are  the  surest  invi- 
tations to  war  ;  and  that  there  is  no  way  to  avoid  it  other  than  by  being 
always  prepared,  and  willing  for  a  just  cause  to  meet  it.  If  there  be  a 
people  on  earth  whose  more  especial  duty  it  is  to  be  at  all  times  prepared 
to  defend  the  rights  with  which  they  are  blessed,  and  to  surpass  all  others 
in  sustaining  the  necessary  burdens,  and  in  submitting  to  sacrifices  to  make 
such  preparations,  it  is  undoubtedly  the  people  of  these  states. 

When  we  see  that  a  civil  war  of  the  most  frightful  character  rages  from 
the  Adriatic  to  the  Black  sea ;  that  strong  symptoms  of  war  appear  in 
other  parts,  proceeding  from  causes  which,  should  it  break  out,  may  be- 
come general  and  be  of  long  duration ;  that  the  war  still  continues  be- 
tween Spain  and  the  independent  governments,  her  late  provinces  in  this 
hemisphere  ;  that  it  is  likewise  menaced  between  Portugal  and  Brazil,  in 
consequence  of  the  attempt  of  the  latter  to  dismember  itself  from  the  for- 
mer ;  and  that  a  system  of  piracy  of  great  extent  is  maintained  in  the 
neighboring  seas,  which  will  require  equal  vigilance  and  decision  to  sup- 
press it ;  the  reasons  for  sustaining  the  attitude  which  we  now  hold,  and 
for  pushing  forward  all  our  measures  of  defence  with  the  utmost  vigor,  ap- 
pear to  me  to  acquire  new  force. 

The  United  States  owe  to  the  world  a  great  example,  and,  by  means 
thereof,  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  humanity  a  generous  support.  They 
have  so  far  succeeded  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  virtuous  and  enlightened 
of  every  country.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  their  whole  move- 
ment will  be  regulated  by  a  sacred  regard  to  principle,  all  our  institutions 
being  founded  on  that  basis.  The  ability  to  support  our  own  cause,  under 
any  trial  to  which  it  may  be  exposed,  is  the  great  point  on  which  the  pub- 
lic solicitude  rests.  It  has  been  often  charged  against  free  governments 
that  they  have  neither  the  foresight  nor  the  virtue  to  provide  at  the  proper 
season  for  great  emergencies;  that  their  course  is,. improvident  and  ex- 


MONROE'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  451 

pensive  ;  that  war  will  always  find  them  unprepared,  and  whatever  may' 
be  its  calamities,  that  its  terrible  warnings  will  be  disregarded  and  forgot- 
ten as  soon  as  peace  returns.     I  have  full  confidence  that  this  charge,  so 
far  as  relates  to  the  United  States,  will  be  shown  to  be  utterly  destitute  of 
truth. 


SEVENTH      ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  2,  1823. 

To  the    Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

MANY  important  subjects  will  claim  your  attention  during  the  present 
session,  of  which  I  will  endeavor  to  give,  in  aid  of  your  deliberations,  a 
just  idea  in  this  communication.  I  undertake  this  duty  with  diffidence, 
from  the  vast  extent  of  the  interests  on  which  I  have  to  treat,  and  of  their' 
great  importance  to  every  part  of  our  Union.  I  enter  on  it  with  zeal,  from 
a  thorough  conviction  that  there  never  was  a  period,  since  the  establish- 
ment of  our  revolution,  when,  regarding  the  condition  of  the  civilized 
Avorld,  and  its  bearings  on  us,  there  was  greater  necessity  for  devotion  in 
the  public  servants  to  their  respective  duties,  or  for  virtue,  patriotism,  and 
union,  in  our  constituents. 

Meeting  in  you  a  new  Congress,  I  deem  it  proper  to  present  this  view 
of  public  affairs  in  greater  detail  than  might  otherwise  be  necessary.  I  do 
it,  however,  with  peculiar  satisfaction,  from  a  knowledge  that  in  this  re- 
spect I  shall  comply  more  fully  with  the  sound  principles  of  our  govern- 
ment. The  people  being  with  us  exclusively  the  sovereigns,  it  is  indis- 
pensable that  full  information  be  laid  before  them  on  all  important  subjects, 
to  enable  them  to  exercise  that  high  power  with  complete  effect.  If  kept 
in  the  dark,  they  must  be  incompetent  to  it.  We  are  all  liable  to  error, 
and  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  management  of  public  affairs  are  more 
subject  to  excitement,  and  to  be  led  astray  by  their  particular  interests  and 
passions,  than  the  great  body  of  our  constituents,  who,  being  at  home  in 
the  pursuit  of  their  ordinary  avocations,  are  calm  but  deeply-interested 
spectators  of  events,  and  of  the  conduct  of  those  who  are  parties  to  them. 
To  the  people  every  department  of  the  government,  and  every  individual 
in  each,  are  responsible,  and  the  more  full  their  information,  the  better 
they  can  judge  of  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  pursued  and  of  the  conduct  of 
each  in  regard  to  it.  From  their  dispassionate  judgment,  much  aid  may  be 
always  obtained,  while  their  approbation  will  form  the  greatest  incentive  and 
most  gratifying  reward  for  virtuous  actions,  and  the  dread  of  their  censure, 
the  best  security  against  the  abuse  of  their  confidence.  Their  interests, 
in  all  vital  questions,  are  the  same,  and  the  bond,  by  sentiment  as  well  as 
by  interest,  will  be  proportionably  strengthened  as  they  are  better  informed 
of  the  real  state  of  public  affairs,  especially  in  difficult  conjunctures.  It 
is  by  such  knowledge  that  local  prejudices  and  jealousies  are  surmounted, 
and  that  a  national  policy,  extending  its  fostering  care  and  protection  to 
all  the  great  interests  of  our  Union,  is  formed  and  steadily  adhered  to. 

A  precise  knowledge  of  our  relations  with  foreign  powers,  as  respects 
our  negotiations  and  transactions  with  each,  is  thought  to  be  particularly 
necessary.  Equally  necessary  is  it  that  we  should  form  a  just  estimate 
«>f  our  resources,  revalue,  and  progress  in  every  kind  of  improvement  con- 


452  MONROE'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

Hocted  with  the  national  prosperity  and  public  defence.  It  is  by  render- 
ing justice  to  other  nations  that  we  may  expect  it  from  them.  It  is  by 
our  ability  to  resent  injuries,  and  redress  wrongs,  that  we  may  avoid  them. 

The  commissioners  under  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent  having 
disagreed  in  their  opinions  respecting  that  portion  of  the  boundary  between 
the  territories  of  the  United  States  and  of  Great  Britain,  the  establishment 
of  which  had  been  submitted  to  them,  have  made  their  respective  reports, 
in  compliance  with  that  article,  that  the  same  might  be  referred  to  the  de- 
cision of  a  friendly  power.  It  being  manifest,  however,  that  it  would  be 
dillicult,  if  not  impossible,  for  any  power  to  perform  that  office,  without 
great  delay  and  much  inconvenience  to  itself,  a  proposal  has  been  made 
l>y  this  government,  and  acceded  to  by  that  of  Great  Britain,  to  endeavor 
to  establish  that  boundary  by  amicable  negotiation.  It  appearing,  from 
long  experience,  that  no  satisfactory  arrangement  could  be  formed  of  the 
commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  colonies 
in  this  hemisphere  by  legislative  acts,  while  each  party  pursued  its  own 
.course  without  agreement  or  concert  with  the  other,  a  proposal  has  been 
made  to  the  British  government  to  regulate  this  commerce  by  treaty,  as  it 
has  been  to  arrange,  in  like  manner,  the  just  claim  of  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  inhabiting  the  states  and  territories  bordering  on  the  lakes 
and  rivers  which  empty  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  the  navigation  of  that 
river  to  the  ocean.  For  these  and  other  objects  of  high  importance  to  the 
interests  of  both  parties,  a  negotiation  has  been  opened  with  the  British 
government,  which  it  is  hoped  will  have  a  satisfactory  result. 

The  commissioners  under  the  sixth  and  seventh  articles  of  the  treaty 
of  Ghent,  having  successfully  closed  their  labors  in  relation  to  the  sixth, 
have  proceeded  to  the  discharge  of  those  relating  to  the  seventh.  Their 
progress  in  the  extensive  survey  required  for  the  performance  of  their 
duties,  justifies  the  presumption  that  it  will  be  completed  in  the  ensuing 
year. 

The  negotiation  which  had  long  been  depending  with  the  French  gov- 
ernment on  several  important  subjects,  and  particularly  for  a  just  in- 
demnity for  losses  sustained  in  the  late  wars  by  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  under  unjustifiable  seizures  and  confiscations  of  their  property,  has 
not  as  yet  had  the  desired  effect.  As  this  claim  rests  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple with  others  which  have  been  admitted  by  the  French  government, 
it  is  not  perceived  on  what  just  ground  it  can  be  rejected.  A  minister 
will  be  immediately  appointed  to  proceed  to  France,  and  resume  the  ne- 
gotiation on  this  and  other  subjects  which  may  arise  between  the  two 
nations. 

At  the  proposal  of  the  Russian  imperial  government,  made  through  the 
minister  of  the  emperor  residing  here,  a  full  power  and  instructions  have 
been  transmitted  to  the  minister  of  the  United  States  at  St.  Petersburgh,  to 
iirrange,  by  amicable  negotiation,  the  respective  rights  and  interests  of  the 
two  nations  on  the  northwest  coast  of  this  continent.  A  similar  proposal 
had  been  made  by  his  imperial  majesty  to  the  government  of  Great  Britain, 
v/hich  has  likewise  been  acceded  to.  The  government  of  the  United 
States  has  been  desirous,  by  this  friendly  proceeding,  of  manifesting  the 
great  value  which  they  have  invariably  attached  to  the  friendship  of  the 
emperor,  and  their  solicitude  to  cultivate  the  best  understanding  with  his 
government.  In  the  discussions  to  which  this  interest  has  given  rise,  and 
in  the  arrangements  by  which  they  may  terminate,  the  occasion  has  been 
ludged  proper  for  asserting,  as  a  principle  in  which  tke  rights  and  interests 


MONROE'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  453 

of  the  United  States  are  involved,  that  the  American  continents,  by  the 
free  and  independent  condition  which  they  have  assumed  and  maintain, 
are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future  colonization  by 
any  European  powers. 

Since  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  the  commissioners  and 
arbitrators  for  ascertaining  and  determining  the  amount  of  indemnification 
which  may  be  due  to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  under  the  decision 
of  his  imperial  majesty  the  emperor  of  Russia,  in  conformity  to  the 
convention  concluded  at  St.  Petersburgh  on  the  12th  of  July,  1822,  have 
assembled  in  this  city,  and  organized  themselves  as  a  board  for  the  per- 
formance of  the  duties  assigned  to  them  by  that  treaty.  The  commission 
constituted  under  the  eleventh  article  of  the  treaty  of  the  22d  of  February, 
1819,  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  is  also  in  session  here  ;  and 
as  the  term  of  three  years,  limited  by  the  treaty  for  the  execution  of  the 
trust,  will  expire  before  the  period  of  the  next  regular  meeting  of  Con- 
gress, the  attention  of  the  legislature  will  be  drawn  to  the  measures  which 
may  be  necessary  to  accomplish  the  objects  for  which  the  commission 
was  instituted. 

In  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  house  of  representatives,  adopted 
at  their  last  session,  instructions  have  been  given  to  all  the  ministers  of 
the  United  States,  accredited  to  the  powers  of  Europe  and  America,  to 
propose  the  proscription  of  the  African  slave-trade,  by  classing  it  under 
the  denomination,  and  inflicting  on  its  perpetrators  the  punishment  of 
piracy.  Should  this  proposal  be  acceded  to,  it  is  not  doubted  that  thLs 
odious  and  criminal  practice  will  be  promptly  and  entirely  suppressed.  It 
is  earnestly  hoped  that  it  will  be  acceded  to,  from  the  firm  belief  that  it  is 
the  most  effectual  expedient  that  can  be  adopted  for  the  purpose. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  recent  war  between  France  and  Spain,  it 
was  declared  by  the  French  government  that  it  would  grant  no  commis- 
sions to  privateers,  and  that  neither  the  commerce  of  Spain  herself,  nor  of 
neutral  nations,  should  be  molested  by  the  naval  force  of  France,  except 
in  the  breach  of  a  lawful  blockade.  This  declaration,  which  appears  to 
have  been  faithfully  carried  into  effect,  concurring  with  principles  pro- 
claimed and  cherished  by  the  United  States  from  the  first  establishment  of 
their  independence,  suggested  the  hope  that  the  time  had  arrived  when  the 
proposal  for  adopting  it  as  a  permanent  and  invariable  rule  in  all  future 
maritime  wars  might  meet  the  favorable  consideration  of  the  great  European 
powers.  Instructions  have  accordingly  been  given  to  our  ministers  with 
France,  Russia,  and  Great  Britain,  to  make  those  proposals  to  their  re- 
spective governments;  and  when  the  friends  of  humanity  reflect  on  the 
essential  amelioration  to  the  condition  of  the  human  race  which  would 
result  from  the  abolition  of  private  war  on  the  sea,  and  on  the  great  facility 
by  which  it  might  be  accomplished,  requiring  only  the  consent  of  a  few 
sovereigns,  an  earnest  hope  is  indulged  that  these  overtures  will  meet  with 
an  attention  animated  by  the  spirit  in  which  they  were  made,  and  that  they 
will  ultimately  be  successful. 

The  ministers  who  were  appointed  to  the  republics  of  Colombia  and 
Buenos  Ayres,  during  the  last  session  of  Congress,  proceeded  shortly  af- 
terward to  their  destinations.  Of  their  arrival  there  official  intelligence 
has  not  yet  been  received.  The  minister  appointed  to  the  republic  of' 
Chili  will  sail  in  a  few  days.  An. early  appointment  will  also  be  made  to 
Mexico.  A  minister  has  been  received  from  Colombia,  and  the  other  gov- 
ernments have  been  informed  that  ministers,  or  diplomatic  agents  of  info- 


454  MONROE'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

rior  grade,  would  be  received  from  each,  accordingly  as  they  might  prefer 
the  one  or  the  other. 

The  minister  appointed  to  Spain  proceeded,  soon  after  his  appointment 
for  Cadiz,  the  residence  of  the  sovereign  to  whom  he  was  accredited.  In 
approaching  that  port,  the  frigate  which  conveyed  him  was  warned  off  by 
the  commander  of  the  French  squadron  by  which  it  was  blockaded,  and 
not  permitted  to  enter,  although  apprized  by  the  captain  of  the  frigate  ol 
the  public  character  of  the  person  whom  he  had  on  board,  the  landing  of 
whom  was  the  sole  object  of  his  proposed  entry.  This  act  being  consid- 
ered an  infringement  of  the  rights  of  ambassadors  and  of  nations,  will  form 
a  just  cause  of  complaint  to  the  government  of  France  against  the  officer 
by  whom  it  was  committed. 

The  actual  condition  of  the  public  finances  more  than  realizes  the  favor- 
able anticipations  that  were  entertained  of  it  at  the  opening  of  the  last  ses- 
sion of  Congress.  On  the  first  of  January,  there  was  a  balance  in  the  treas- 
ury of  four  millions  two  hundred  and  thirty-  seven  thousand  four  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  dollars  arid  fifty-five  cents.  From  that  time  to  the  30th 
of  September,  the  receipts  amounted  to  upward  of  sixteen  millions  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the  expenditures,  to  eleven  millions  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  During  the  fourth  quarter  of  the  year  it  is  esti- 
mated that  the  receipts  will  at  least  equal  the  expenditures,  and  that  there 
will  remain  in  the  treasury,  on  the  first  day  of  January  next,  a  surplus  of 
nearly  nine  millions  of  dollars. 

On  the  first  of  January,  1825,  a  large  amount  of  the  war  debt  and  a  part 
of  the  revolutionary  debt  become  redeemable.  Additional  portions  of  the 
former  will  continue  to  become  redeemable  annually,  until  the  year  1835. 
It  is  believed,  however,  that,  if  the  United  States  remain  at  peace,  the 
whole  of  that  debt  may  be  redeemed  by  the  ordinary  revenue  of  those  years 
during  that  period,  under  the  provision  of  the  act  of  March  3d,  1817,  cre- 
ating the  sinking  fund  ;  and  in  that  case,  the  only  part  of  the  debt  that  will 
remain,  after  the  year  1835,  will  be  the  seven  millions  of  five  per  cent, 
stock  subscribed  to  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  and  the  three  per  cent, 
revolutionary  debt,  amounting  to  thirteen  millions  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
six  thousand  and  ninety-nine  dollars  and  six  cents  ;  both  of  which  are 
redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  government. 

The  state  of  the  army,  in  its  organization  and  discipline,  has  been  grad- 
ually improving  for  several  years,  and  has  now  attained  a  high  degree  of 
perfection.  The  military  disbursements  have  been  regularly  made,  and  the 
accounts  regularly  and  promptly  rendered  for  settlement.  The  supplies  of 
various  descriptions  have  been  of  good  quality,  and  regularly  issued  at  all 
of  the  posts.  A  system  of  economy  and  accountability  has  been  introduced 
into  every  branch  of  the  service,  which  admits  of  little  additional  improve- 
ment. This  desirable  state  has  been  attained  by  the  act  reorganizing  the 
staff' of  the  army,  passed  on  the  14th  of  April,  1818. 

The  moneys  appropriated  for  fortifications  have  been  regularly  and  eco- 
nomically applied,  and  all  the  works  advanced  (as  rapidly  as  the  amount 
appropriated  would  admit.  Three  important  works  will  be  completed  in 
the  course  of  this  year,  that  is,  Fort  Washington,  Fort  Delaware,  and  the 
fort  at  the  Rigolets,  in  Louisiana. 

The  board  of  engineers  and  the  topographical  corps  have  been  in  con- 
stant and  active  service,  in  surveying  the  coast  and  projecting  the  works 
necessary  for  its  defence. 

The  military  academy  has  attained  a  degree  of  perfection  in  its  disci- 


MONROE'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  455 

pline   and  instruction  equal,  as  is  believed,  to  any  institution  of  its  kind 
in  any  country. 

The  money  appropriated  for  the  use  of  the  ordnance  department  has 
been  regularly  and  economically  applied.     The  fabrication  of  arms  at  the 
"national  armories,  and  by  contract  with  the  department,  has  been  gradu- 
ally improving  in  quality  and  cheapness.     It  is  believed  that  their  quality 
is  now  such  as  to  admit  of  but  little  improvement.      , 

The  completion  of  the  fortifications  renders  it  necessary  that  there 
should  be  a  suitable  appropriation  for  the  purpose  of  fabricating  the  can- 
non and  carriages  necessary  for  those  works. 

Under  the  appropriation  of  five  thousand  dollars  for  exploring  the  west- 
ern waters  for  the  location  of  a  site  for  a  western  armory,  a  commission 
was  constituted,  consisting  of  Colonel  McRee,  Colonel  Lee,  and  Captain 
Talcott,  who  have  been  engaged  in  exploring  the  country.  They  have 
not  yet  reported  the  result  of  their  labors,  but  it  is  believed  that  they  will 
be  prepared  to  do  it  at  an  early  part  of  the  session  of  Congress. 

During  the  month  of  June  last,  General  Ashley  and  his  party,  who  were 
trading  under  a  license  from  the  government,  were  attacked  by  the  Rica- 
rees,  while  peaceably  trading  with  the  Indians  at  their  request.  Several 
of  the  party  were  killed  and  wounded,  and  their  property  taken  or  de- 
stroyed. 

Colonel  Leavenworth,  who  commanded  Fort  Atkinson,  at  the  Council 
Bluff,  the  most  western  post,  apprehending  that  the  hostile  spirit  of  the 
Ricarees  would  extend  to  other  tribes  in  that  quarter,  and  that  thereby  the 
lives  of  the  traders  on  the  Missouri,  and  the  peace  of  the*  frontier,  would 
be  endangered,  took  immediate  measures  to  check  the  evil. 

With  a  detachment  of  the  regiment  stationed  at  the  Bluff,  he  success- 
fully attacked  the  Ricaree  village,  and  it  is  hoped  that  such  an  impression 
has  been  made  on  them,  as  well  as  on  the  other  tribes  of  the  Missouri,  as 
will  prevent  a  recurrence  of  future  hostility. 

The  report  of  the  secretary  of  war,  which  is  herewith  transmitted,  will 
exhibit  in  greater  detail  the  condition  of  the  department  in  its  various 
branches,  and  the  progress  which  has  been  made  in  its  administration 
during  the  first  three  quarters  of  the  year. 

I  transmit  a  return  of  the  militia  of  the  several  states,  according  to  the 
last  reports  which  have  been  made  by  the  proper  officers  in  each,  to  the 
department  of  war.  By  reference  to  this  return  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is 
not  complete,  although  great  exertions  have  been  made  to  make  it  so.  As 
the  defence  and  even  the  liberties  of  the  country  must  depend  in  times  of 
imminent  danger  on  the  militia,  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  it  be 
well  organized,  armed,  and  disciplined,  throughout  the  Union.  The  report 
of  the  secretary  of  war  shows  the  progress  made  during  the  first  three 
quarters  of  the  present  year,  by  the  application  of  the  fund  appropriated 
for  arming  the  militia.  Much  difficulty  is  found  in  distributing  the  arms 
according  to  the  act  of  Congress  providing  for  it,  from  the  failure  of  the 
proper  department  in  many  of  the  states  to  make  regular  returns.  The 
act  of  May  the  12th,  1820,  provides  that  the  system  of  tactics  and  regu- 
lations of  the  various  corps  of  the  regular  army  shall  be  extended  to  the 
militia.  This  act  has  been  very  imperfectly  executed  from  the  want  of 
uniformity  in  the  organization  of  the  militia,  proceeding  from  the  defects 
of  the  system  itself,  and  especially  in  its  application  to  the  main  arm  of 
the  public  defence.  It  is  thought  that  this  important  subject,  in  all  its. 
branches,  merits  the  attention  of  Congress. 


45b  MONROE'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

The  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  navy,  which  is  now  communicated, 
furnishes  an  account  of  the  administration  of  that  department  for  the  first 
three  quarters  of  the  present  year,  with  the  progress  made  in  augmenting 
the  navy,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  vessels  in  commission  have  been 
employed. 

The  usual  force  has  been  maintained  in  the  Mediterranean  sea,  the  Pa- 
cific ocean,  and  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  has  afforded  the  necessary 
protection  to  our  commerce  in  those  seas. 

In  the  West  Indies  and  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  our  naval  force  has  been 
augmented  by  the  addition  of  several  small  vessels,  provided  for  by  the 
"  act  authorizing  an  additional  naval  force  for  the  suppression  of  piracy," 
passed  by  Congress  at  their  last  session.  That  armament  has  been  emi- 
nently successful  in  the  accomplishment  of  its  object.  The  piracies  by 
which  our  commerce  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  island  of  Cuba  had  been 
afflicted  have  been  repressed,  and  the  confidence  of  our  merchants  in  a 
great  measure  restored. 

The  patriotic  zeal  and  enterprise  of  Commodore  Porter,  to  whom  the 
command  of  the  expedition  was  confided,  has  been  fully  seconded  by  the 
officers  and  men  under  his  command.  And  in  reflecting  with  high  satis- 
faction on  the  honorable  manner  in  which  they  have  sustained  the  reputa- 
tion of  their  country  and  its  navy,  the  sentiment  is  alloyed  only  by  a 
concern  that,  in  the  fulfilment  of  that  arduous  service,  the  diseases  inci- 
dent to  the  season,  and  to  the  climate  in  which  it  was  discharged,  have 
deprived  the  nation  of  many  useful  lives,  and  among  them,  of  several  offi- 
cers-of  great  promise. 

In  the  month  of  August,  a  very  malignant  fever  made  its  appearance  at 
Thompson's  island,  which  threatened  the  destruction  of  our  station  there. 
Many  perished,  and  the  commanding  officer  was  severely  attacked.  Un- 
certain as  to  his  fate,  and  knowing  that  most  of  the  medical  officers  had 
been  rendered  incapable  of  discharging  their  duties,  it  was  thought  expe- 
dient to  send  to  that  post  an  officer  of  rank  and  experience,  with  several 
skilful  surgeons,  to  ascertain  the  origin  of  the  fever,  and  the  probability  of 
its  recurrence  there  in  future  seasons  ;  to  furnish  every  assistance  to  those 
who  were  suffering,  and,  if  practicable,  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  abandon- 
ing so  important  a  station.  Commodore  Rodgers,  with  a  promptitude 
which  did  him  honor,  cheerfully  accepted  that  trust,  and  has  discharged  it 
in  the  manner  anticipated  from  his  skill  and  patriotism.  Before  his  arri- 
val, Commodore  Porter,  with  the  greater  part  of  the  squadron,  had  removed 
from  the  island  and  returned  to  the  United  States,  in  consequence  of  the 
prevailing  sickness.  Much  useful  information  has,  however,  been  ob- 
tained, as  to  the  state  of  the  island,  and  great  relief  afforded  to  those  who 
had  been  necessarily  left  there. 

Although  our  expedition,  co-operating  with  -an  invigorated  administra- 
tion of  the  government  of  the  island  of  Cuba,  and  with  the  corresponding 
active  exertions  of  a  British  naval  force  in  the  same  seas,  have  almost 
entirely  destroyed  the  unlicensed  piracies  from  that  island,  the  success  of 
our  exertions  has  not  been  equally  effectual  to  suppress  the  same  crime, 
under  other  pretences  and  colors,  in  the  neighboring  island  of  Porto  Rico. 
They  have  been  committed  there  under  the  abusive  issue  of  Spanish  com- 
missions. At  an  early  period  of  the  present  year,  remonstrances  were  made 
to  the  governor  of  that  island,  by  an  agent  who  was  sent  for  the  purpose, 
against  those  outrages  on  the  peaceful  commerce  of  the  United  States,  of 
which  many  had  occurred.  That  officer,  professing  his  own  want  of 


MONROE'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  457 

authority  to  make  satisfaction  for  our  just  complaints,  answered  only  by  a 
reference  of  them  to  the  government  of  Spain.  The  minister  of  the  United 
States  to  that  court  was  specially  instructed  to  urge  the  necessity  of  the 
immediate  and  effectual  interposition  of  that  government,  directing  restitu- 
tion and  indemnity  for  wrongs  already  committed,  and  interdicting  the 
repetition  of  them.  The  minister,  as  has  been  seen,  was  debarred  access 
to  the  Spanish  government,  and  in  the  meantime  several  new  >cases  of  fla- 
grant outrage  have  occurred,  and  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  the  island 
of  Porto  Rico  have  suffered,  and  other  have  been  threatened  with  assas- 
sination, for  asserting  their  unquestionable  rights,  even  before  the  lawful 
tribunals  of  the  country. 

The  usual  orders  have  been  given  to  all  our  public  ships  to  seize  Ameri- 
can vessels  engaged  in  the  slave-trade,  and  bring  them  in  for  adjudication  ; 
and  I  have  the  gratification  to  state  that  not  one  so  employed  has  been  dis- 
covered, and  there  is  good  Reason  to  believe  that  our  flag  is  now  seldom, 
if  at  all,  disgraced  by  that  traffic. 

It  is  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  that  we  are  always  enabled  to  recur 
to  the  conduct  of  our  navy  with  pride  and  commendation.  Asa  means  of 
national  defence,  it  enjoys  the  public  confidence,  and  is  steadily  assuming 
additional  importance.  It  is  submitted  whether  a  more  efficient  and 
equally  economical  organization  of  it  might  not,  in  several  respects,  be 
effected.  It  is  supposed  that  higher  grades  than  now  exist  by  law  would 
be  useful.  They  would  afford  well-merited  rewards  to  those  who  have 
long  and  faithfully  served  our  country ;  present  the  best  incentives  to  good 
conduct,  and  the  best  means  of  insuring  a  proper  discipline  ;  destroy  the 
inequality  in  that  respect  between  the  military  and  naval  services ;  and 
relieve  our  officers  from  many  inconveniences  and  mortifications  which 
occur  when  our  vessels  meet  those  of  other  nations — ours  being  the  only 
service  in  which  such  grades  do  not  exist. 

A  report  of  the  postmaster-general,  which  accompanies  this  communica- 
tion, will  show  the  present  state  of  the  postoffice  department  and  its  gen- 
eral operations  for  some  years  past. 

There  is  established  by  law,  eighty-eight  thousand  six  hundred  miles 
of  postroads,  on  which  the  mail  is  now  transported  eighty-five  thousand 
seven  hundred  miles ;  and  contracts  have  been  made  for  its  transportation 
on  all  the  established  routes,  with  one  or  two  exceptions.  There  are  five 
thousand  two  hundred  and  forty  postoffices  in  the  Union,  and  as  many 
postmasters.  The  gross  amount  of  postage  which  accrued  from  the  first 
of  July,  1822,  to  the  first  of  July,  1823,  was  one  million  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty-five  dollars  and  twelve  cents. 
During  the  same  period,  the  expenditures  of  the  postoffice  department 
amounted  to  one  million  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  eighty-five  dollars  and  fifty-one  cents  ;  and  consisted  of  the  fol- 
lowing items :  compensation  to  postmasters,  three  hundred  and  fifty-three 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-five  dollars  and  eighty-eight  cents  ;  in- 
cidental expenses,  thirty  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-six  dollars  and 
thirty-seven  cents  ;  transportation  of  the  mail,  seven  hundred  and  eighty- 
four  thousand  six  hundred  dollars  and  eight  cents  ;  payments  into  the 
treasury,  four  hundred  and  twenty-three  dollars  and  eight  cents.  On  the 
first  of  July  last,  there  was  due  to  the  department,  from  postmasters,  one 
hundred  and  thirty-live  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-five  dollars  and 
twenty-eight  cents  ;  from  late  postmasters  and  contractors,  two  hundred 
.and  fifty-six  thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty-nine  dollars  and  thirty-one 


458  MONROfc's    SEVENTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

cents ;  making  a  total  amount  of  balances  due  to  the  department,  of  three 
hundred  and  ninety-oue  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-four  dollars  and 
fifty-nine  cents.  These  balances  embrace  all  delinquencies  of  postmas- 
ters and  contractors  which  have  taken  place  since  the  organization  of  the 
department.  There  was  due  by  the  department  to  contractors,  on  the  first 
day  of  July  last,  twenty-six  thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-eight  dollars 
and  sixty-lour  cents. 

The  transportation  of  the  mail  within  five  years  past  has  been  greatly 
extended,  and  the  expenditures  of  the  department  proportionably  increased. 
Although  the  postage  which  has  accrued  within  the  last  three  years  has 
fallen  short  of  the  expenditures  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  twenty-one  dollars  and  forty-six  cents,  it  appears  that  collec- 
tions have  been  made  from  the  outstanding  balances  to  meet  the  principal 
part  of  the  current  demands. 

It  is  estimated  that  not  more  than  two  hnndred  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars of  the  above  balances  can  be  collected,  and  that  a  considerable  part 
of  this  sum  can  only  be  realized  by  a  resort  to  legal  process.  Some  im- 
provement in  the  receipts  for  postage  is  expected.  A  prompt  attention  to 
the  collection  of  moneys  received  by  postmasters,  it  is  believed,  will  ena- 
ble the  department  to  continue  its  operations  without  aid  from  the  treasury, 
unless  the  expenditures  shall  be  increased  by  the  establishment  of  new 
mail  routes. 

A  revision  of  some  parts  of  the  postoffice  law  may  be  necessary  ;  and 
it  is  submitted  whether  it  would  not  be  proper  to  provide  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  postmasters,  where  the  compensation  exceeds  a  certain  amount, 
by  nomination  to  the  senate,  as  other  officers  of  the  general  government 
are  appointed. 

Having  communicated  my  views  to  Congress,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  last  session,  respecting  the  encouragement  which  ought  to  be  given  to 
our  manufactures,  and  the  principle  on  which  it  should  be  founded,  1  have 
only  to  add  that  those  views  remain  unchanged,  and  that  the  present  state 
of  those  countries  with  which  we  have  the  most  immediate  political  rela- 
tions and  greatest  commercial  intercourse,  tends  to  confirm  them.  Under 
this  impression  I  recommend  a  review  of  the  tariff,  for  the  purpose  of 
affording  such  additional  protection  to  those  articles  which  we  are  prepared 
to  manufacture,  or  which  are  more  immediately  connected  with  the  defence 
and  independence  of  the  country. 

The  actual  state  of  the  public  accounts  furnishes  additional  evidence  of 
the  efficiency  of  the  present  system  of  accountability,  in  relation  to  the 
public  expenditure.  Of  the  moneys  drawn  from  the  treasury  since  the 
4th  of  March,  1817,  the  sum  remaining  unaccounted  for,  on  the  30th  of 
September  last,  is  more  than  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  less 
than  on  the  30th  of  September  preceding ;  and  during  the  same  period,  a 
reduction  of  nearly  a  million  of  dollars  has  been  made  in  the  amount  of 
the  unsettled  accounts  for  money  advanced  previously  to  the  4th  of  March, 
1817.  It  will  be  obvious  that,  in  proportion  as  the  mass  of  accounts  of 
the  latter  description  is  diminished  by  settlement,  the  difficulty  of  settling 
the  residue  is  increased,  from  the  consideration  that  in  many  instances 
it  can  be  obtained  only  by  legal  process.  For  more*  precise  details  on 
this  subject,  I  refer  to  a  report  from  ihe  first  comptroller  of  the  treasury. 

The  sum  which  was  appropriated  at  the  last  session  for  the  repair  of 
the  Cumberland  road  has  been  applied  with  good  effect  to  that  object. 
A  final  report  has  not  yet  been  received  from  the  agent  who  was  appointed 


MONROE'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  459 

to  superintend  it.     As  soon  as  it  is  received  it  shall  be  communicated  to 
Congress, 

Many  patriotic  and  enlightened  citizens,  who  have  made  the  subject  an 
object  of  particular  investigation,  have  suggested  an  improvement  of  still 
greater  importance.  They  are  of  opinion  that  the  waters  of  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Ohio  may  be  connected  together  by  one  continued  canal,  and 
at  an  expense  far  short  of  the  value  and  importance  of  the  object  to  be  ob- 
tained. If  this  could  be  accomplished,  it  is  impossible  to  calculate  the 
beneficial  consequences  which  would  result  from  it.  A  great  portion  of 
the  produce  of  the  very  fertile  country  through  which  it  would  pass  would 
find  a  market  through  that  channel.  Troops  might  be  moved  with  great 
facility  in  war,  with  cannon  and  every  kind  of  munition,  and  in  either 
direction.  Connecting  the  Atlantic  with  the  western  country,  in  a  "line 
passing  through  the  seat  of  the  national  government,  it  would  contribute 
essentially  to  strengthen  the  bond  of  union  itself.  Believing  as  I  do  that 
Congress  possess  the  right  to  appropriate  money  for  such  a  national  ob- 
ject (the  jurisdiction  remaining  to  the  states  through  which  the  canal 
would  pass),  1  submit  it  to  your  consideration  whether  it  may  not  be  ad- 
visable to  auth6rize,  by  an  adequate  appropriation,  the  employment  of  a 
suitable  number  of  the  officers  of  the  corps  of  engineers,  to  examine  the 
unexplored  ground  during  the  next  session,  and  to  report  thereon.  It  will 
likewise  be  proper  to  extend  their  examination  to  the  several  routes 
through  which  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  may  be  connected  by  canals  with 
those  of  Lake  Erie. 

As  the  Cumberland  road  will  require  annual  repairs,  and  Congress  havo 
not  thought  it  expedient  to  recommend  to  the  states  an  amendment  to  the 
constitution  for  the  purpose  of  vesting  in  the  United  States  a  power  to 
adopt  and  execute  a  system  of  internal  improvement,  it  is  also  submitted 
to  your  consideration  whether  it  may  not  be  expedient  to  authorize  the 
executive  to  enter  into  an  arrangement  with  the  several  states  through 
which  the  road  passes,  to  establish  tolls,  each  within  its  limits,  for  the 
purpose  of  defraying  the  expense  of  future  repairs,  and  of  providing,  also, 
by  suitable  penalties,  for  its  protection  against  future  injuries. 

The  act  of  Congress  of  the  7th  of  May,  1822,  appropriated  the  sum  of 
twenty-two  thousand  seven  hundred  dollars,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting 
two  piers  as  a  shelter  for  vessels  from  ice,  near  Cape  Henlopen,  Delaware 
bay.  To  effect  the  object  of  the  act,  the  officers  of  the  board  of  engineers, 
with  Commodore  Bainbridge,  were  directed  to  prepare  plans  and  estimates 
of  piers  sufficient  to  answer  the  purpose  intended  by  the  act.  It  appears 
by  their  report,  which  accompanies  the  documents  from  the  war  depart- 
ment, that  the  appropriation  is  not  adequate  to  the  purpose  intended  ;  and 
as  the  piers  would  be  of  great  service,  both  to  the  navigation  of  the  Dela- 
ware bay,  and  the  protection  of  vessels  on  the  adjacent  parts  of  the  coast, 
I  submit  for  the  consideration  of  Congress,  whether  additional  and  suffi- 
cient appropriations  should  not  be  made. 

The  board  of  engineers  were  also  directed  to  examine  and  survey  the 
entrance  of  the  harbor  of  the  port  of  Presque  Isle  in  Pennsylvania,  in  order 
to  make  an  estimate  of  the  expense  of  removing  the  obstructions  to  the 
entrance,  with  a  plan  of  the  best  mode  of  effecting  the  same,  under  the 
appropriation  for  that  purpose,  by  act  of  Congress  passed  on  the  3d  of 
March  last.  The  report  of  the  board  accompanies  the  papers  from  the 
war  departrnrnt,  and  is  submitted  for  the  consideration  of  Congress. 
A  strong  hope  has  long  been  entertained,  founded  on  the  heroic  struggle 


4CO  MONROE'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

of  the  Greeks,  that  they  would  succeed  in  their  contest,  and  resume  their 
equal  station  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  is  believed  that  thu  whole 
civilized  world  takes  a  deep  interest  in  their  welfare.  Although  no  power 
has  declared  in  their  favor,  yet  none,  according  to  our  information,  lias 
taken  part  against  them.  Their  cause  and  their  name  have  protected 
them  from  dangers  which  would,  ere  this,  have  overwhelmed -any  other 
people.  The  ordinary  calculations  of  interest,  and  of  acquisition,  with  a 
view  to  aggrandizement,  which  mingles  so  much  in  the  transactions  of 
nations,  seem  to  have  had  no  effect  in  regard  to  them.  From  the  facts 
which  have  come  to  our  knowledge,  there  is  good  cause  to  believe  that 
their  enemy  has  lost,  for  ever,  all  dominion  over  them;  that  Greece  will 
become  again  an  independent  nation.  That  she  may  obtain  that  rank 
is  the  object  of  our  most  ardent  wishes. 

It  was  stated,  at  the  commencement  of  the'  last  session,  that  a  great  effort 
was  then  making  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  to  improve  the  condition  of  the 
people  of  those  countries,  and  that  it  appeared  to  be  conducted  with  extra- 
ordinary moderation.  It  need  scarcely  be  remarked  that  the  result  has 
been,  so  far,  very  different  from  what  was  then  anticipated.  Of  events  in 
that  quarter  of  the  globe,  with  which  we  have  so  much  intercourse  and 
from  which  we  derive  our  origin,  we  have  always  been  anxious  and  in- 
terested spectators.  The  citizens  of  the  United  States  cherish  sentiments 
the  most  friendly  in  favor  of  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  their  fellow-men 
on  that  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  the  wars  of  the  European  powers,  in  mat- 
ters relating  to  themselves,  we  have  never  taken  any  part,  nor  does  it  com- 
port with  our  policy  so  to  do.  It  is  only  when  our  rights  are  invaded  or 
seriously  menaced,  that  we  resent  injuries  or  make  preparation  for  our  de- 
fence. With  the  movements  in  this  hemisphere  we  are  of  necessity  more 
immediately  connected,  and  by  causes  which  must  be  obvious  to  all  en- 
lightened and  impartial  observers.  The  political  system  of  the  allied 
powers  is  essentially  different  in  this  respect  from  that  of  America.  This 
difference  proceeds  from  that  which  exists  in  their  respective  governments. 
And  to  the  defence  of  our  own,  which  has  been  achieved  by  the  loss  of 
so  much  blood  and  treasure,  and  matured  by  the  wisdom  of  their  most  en- 
lightened citizens,  and  under  which  we  have  enjoyed  unexampled  felicity, 
this  whole  nation  is  devoted.  We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor,  and  to  the 
amicable  relations  existing  between  the  United  States  and  those  powers, 
to  declare,  that  we  should  consider  any  attempt  on  their  part  to  extend 
their  system  to  any  portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace 
and  safety.  With  the  existing  colonies  or  dependencies  of  any  European 
power  we  have  not  interfered,  and  shall  not  interfere.  But  with  the  gov- 
ernments who  have  declared  their  independence,  and  maintained  it,  and 
whose  independence  we  have,  on  great  consideration  and  on  just  princi- 
ples, acknowledged,  we  could  not  view  any  interposition  for  the  purpose  of 
oppressing  them,  or  controlling  in  any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any 
European  power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  un- 
friendly disposition  toward  the  United  States.  In  the  war  between  those 
new  governments  and  Spain,  we  declared  our  neutrality  at  the  time  of 
their  recognition,  and  to  this  we  have  adhered,  and  shall  continue  to  adhere, 
provided  no  change  shall  occur  which,  in  the  judgment  of  the  competent 
authorities  of  this  government,  shall  make  a  corresponding  change  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  indispensable  to  their  security. 

The  late  events  in  Spain  and  Portugal  show  that  Europe  is  still  unsettled. 
Of  this  important  fact  no  stronger  proof  can  be  adduced,  than  that  the  allied 


MONROE'S  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  461 

powers  should  have  thought  it  proper,  on  a  principle  satisfactory  to  them- 
selves, to  have  interposed  by  force  in  the  internal  concerns  of  Spain.  To 
what  extent  such  interposition  may  be  carried,  on  the  same  principle,  is  a 
question  to  which  all  independent  powers,  whose  governments  differ  from 
theirs,  are  interested  ;  even  those  most  remote,  and  surely  none  more  so 
than  the  United  States.  Our  policy  in  regard  to  Europe,  which  was 
adopted  at  an  early  stage  of  the  wars  which  have  so  long  agitated  that 
quarter  of  the  globe,  nevertheless  remains  the  same,  which  is,  not  to  ;n- 
terfere  in  the  internal  concerns  of  any  of  its  powers  ;  to  consider  the  gov- 
erment,  de  facto,  as  the  legitimate  government  for  us  ;  to  cultivate  friendly 
relations  with  it,  and  to  preserve  those  relations  by  a  frank,  firm,  and  manly 
policy ;  meeting,  in  all  instances,  the  just  claims  of  every  power,  submit- 
ting to  injuries  from  none.  But  in  regard  to  these  continents,  circumstan- 
ces are  eminently  and  conspicuously  different.  It  is  impossible  that  the 
allied  powers  should  extend  their  political  system  to  any  portion  of  either 
continent  without  endangering  our  peace  and  happiness  ;  nor  can  any  one 
believe  that  our  southern  brethren,  if  left  to  themselves,  would  adopt  it  of 
their  own  accord.  It  is  equally  impossible,  therefore,  that  we  should  be- 
hold such  interposition,  in  any  form,  with  indifference.  If  we  look  to  the 
comparative  strength  and  resources  of  Spain  and  those  new  governments, 
and  their  distance  from  each  other,  it  must  be  obvious  that  she  can  never 
subdue  them.  It  is  still  the  true  policy  of  the  United  States  to  leave  the 
parties  to  themselves,  in  the  hope  that  other  powers  will  pursue  the  same 
course. 

If  we  compare  the  present  condition  of  our  Union  with  its  actual  state 
at  the  close  of  our  revolution,  the  history  of  the  world  furnishes  no  exam- 
ple of  a  progress  in  improvement,  in  all  the  important  circumstances  which 
constitute  the  happiness  of  a  nation,  which  bears  any  resemblance  to  it. 
At  the  first  epoch  our  population  did  not  exceed  three  millions.  By  the 
last  census  it  amounted  to  about  ten  millions,  and  what  is  more  extraordi- 
nary, it  is  almost  altogether  native,  for  the  immigration  from  other  countries 
has  been  inconsiderable.  At  the  first  epoch  half  the  territory  within  our 
acknowledged  limits  was  uninhabited  and  a  wilderness.  Since  then,  new 
territory  has  been  acquired,  of  vast  extent,  comprising  within  it  many 
rivers,  particularly  the  Mississippi,  the  navigation  of  which  to  the  ocean 
was  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  original  states.  Over  this  territory 
our  population  has  expanded  in  every  direction,  and  new  states  have  been 
established,  almost  equal  in  number  to  those  which  formed  the  first  bond 
of  our  Union.  This  expansion  of  our  populatiou  and  accession  of  new 
states  to  our  Union,  have  had  the  happiest  effect  on  all  its  highest  interests. 
That  it  has  eminently  augmented  our  resources,  and  added  to  our  strength 
and  respectability  as  a  power,  is  admitted  by  all.  But  it  is  not  in  these 
important  circumstances  only  that  this  happy  effect  is  felt.  It  is  manifest 
that,  by  enlarging  the  basis  of  our  system,  and  increasing  the  number  of 
states,  the  system  itself  has  been  greatly  strengthened  in  both  its  branches. 
Consolidation  and  disunion  have  thereby  been  rendered  equally  impracti- 
cable. Each  government,  confiding  in  its  own  strength,  has  less  to  appre- 
hend from  the  other ;  and  in  consequence,  each  enjoying  a  greater  free- 
dom of  action,  is  rendered  more  efficient  for  all  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  instituted.  It  is  unnecessary  to  treat  here  of  the  vast  improvement 
made  in  the  system  itself  by  the  adoption  of  this  constitution,  and  of  its 
happy  effect  in  elevating  the  character,  and  in  protecting  the  rights  of  the 
nation,  as  well  as  of  individuals.  To  what  then  do  we  owe  these  bles- 


462  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

sings  ?  It  is  known  to  all  that  we  derive  them  from  the  excellence  of  out 
institutions.  Ought  we  not  then  to  adopt  every  measure  which  may  be 
necessary  to  perpetuate  them. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  24,  1824. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  HEREWITH  transmit  to  Congress  certain  documents  relating  to  a  claim 
of  Massachusetts  for  services  rendered  by  the  military  of  that  state  in  the 
late  war,  and  for  which  the  payment  was  made  by  the  state.  From  the 
particular  circumstances  attending  this  claim,  I  have  thought  it  proper  to 
submit  the  subject  to  the  consideration  of  Congress. 

In  forming  a  just  estimate  of  this  claim,  it  will  be  necessary  to  recur  to 
the  cause  which  prevented  its  admission,  or  the  admission  of  any  part 
thereof,  at  an  earlier  day.  It  will  be  recollected,  that  when  a  call  was  made 
on  the  militia  of  that  state  for  service,  in  the  late  war,  under  an  arrange- 
ment which  was  alike  applicable  to  the  militia  of  all  the  states,  and  in  con- 
formity with  the  acts  of  Congress,  the  executive  of  Massachusetts  refused 
to  comply  with  the  call,  on  the  principle  that  the  power  vested  in  Congress 
by  the  constitution,  to  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the 
laws  of  the  Union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions,  was  not  a 
competent  power  for  those  purposes,  but  conditional,  and  dependent  on 
the  consent  of  the  executives  of  the  several  states ;  and  also,  that  when 
called  into  service,  such  consent  being  given,  they  could  not  be  commanded 
by  a  regular  officer  of  the  United  States,  or  other  officer  than  that  of 
the  militia,  except  by  the  president  in  person.  That  this  decision  of  the 
executive  of  Massachusetts  was  repugnant  to  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  dangerous  tendency,  especially  when  it  is  considered,  that  we 
were  then  engaged  in  a  war  with  a  powerful  nation  for  the  defence  of  our 
common  rights,  was  the  decided  opinion  of  this  government ;  and  when  the 
period  at  which  that  decision  was  formed  was  considered,  it  being  as  early 
as  the  5th  of  August,  1812,  immediately  after  the  war  was  declared,  and 
that  it  was  not  relinquished  during  the  war,  it  was  inferred  by  the  executive 
of  the  United  States  that  the  decision  of  the  executive  of  that  state  was  alike 
applicable  to  all  the  services  that  were  rendered  by  the  militia  of  the  state 
during  the  war. 

In  the  correspondence  with  the  governor  of  Massachusetts  at  that  im- 
portant epoch,  and  on  that  very  interesting  subject,  it  was  announced  to  him 
by  the  secretary  of  Avar,  that  if  the  militia  of  the  state  were  called  into 
service  by  the  executive  of  the  state,  and  not  put  under  the  command  of  the 
major-general  of  the  United  States,  as  the  militia  of  the  other  states  were, 
the  expense  attending  their  service  would  be  chargeable  lo  the  state,  and 
not  the  United  States.  It  was  also  stated  to  him  at  the  same  time,  that 
any  claim  which  the  state  might  have  for  the  reimbursement  of  such  expen- 
ses could  not  be  allowed  by  the  executive  of  the  United  States,  since  it 
would  involve  principles  on  which  that  branch  of  the  government  could 
not  decide. 

Under  these  circumstances  a  decision  on  the  claim  of  the  state  of  Massa- 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  463 

chusetts  has  hitherto  been  suspended,  and  it  need  not  be  remarked  that  the 
suspension  has  proceed  from  a  conviction  that  it  would  be  improper  to 
give  any  sanction  by  its  admission,  or  the  admission  of  any  part  thereof, 
either  to  the  construction  of  the  constitution  contended  for  by  the  then 
executive  of  that  state,  or  to  its  conduct  at  that  period  toward  the  general 
government  and  the  Union. 

In  January,  1823,  the  representatives  in  Congress  from  Massachusetts 
and  Maine  suggested,  by  memorial,  that  the  constitutional  objection  could 
not  apply  to  a  portion  of  the  claim,  and  requested  that  the  accounting  officer 
of  the  government  might  be  instructed  to  audit  and  admit  such  part  as 
might  be  free  from  that  objection.  In  all  cases  where  claims  are  presented 
for  militia  service,  it  is  the  duty  and  the  practice  of  the  accounting  officer  to 
submit  them  to  the  department  for  instruction  as  to  the  legality  of  the  claim  ; 
that  is,  whether  the  service  had  been  rendered  by  order  of  the  competent 
authority,  or  otherwise,  under  circumstances  to  justify  the  claim  against  the 
United  States,  admitting  that  the  evidence  in  support  of  it  should  be  satisfac- 
tory. To  this  request  there  appeared  to  be  no  well-founded  objection,  under 
the  reservation  as  to  the  constitutional  principle,  and  accordingly  an  order 
was  given  to  the  accounting  officers  of  the  treasury  to  proceed  in  auditing 
the  claim  with  that  reservation. 

In  conformity  with  this  arrangement,  the  executive  of  Massachusetts 
appointed  two  citizens  of  that  state  commissioners  to  attend  to  the  settlement 
of  its  claim,  and  who,  in  execution  of  the  trust  reposed  in  them,  have  pre- 
sented to  the  accounting  officer  of  the  treasury  that  portion  comprehending 
the  services  of  the  fifth  division  of  the  militia  of  the  state,  which  has  been 
audited  and  reported  for  consideration,  subject  to  the  objection  above  stated. 
I  have  examined  this  report,  with  the  documents  presented  by  the  commis- 
sioners, and  am  of  opinion  that  the  services  rendered  by  that  division  were 
spontaneous,  patriotic,  and  proper,  necessary  for  self-defence,  to  repel  in 
some  instances  actual  invasion,  and  in  others,  to  meet  by  adequate  prepa- 
ration invasions  that  were  menaced.  The  commissioners  of  the  state  having 
intimated  that  other  portions  of  service  stood  on  similar  ground,  the  account- 
ing officer  has  been  instructed,  in  auditing  the  whole,  to  do  it  in  such  man- 
ner as  to  enable  the  department  to  show  distinctly  under  what  circumstan- 
ces each  portion  of  service  was  rendered — whether  voluntary,  called  out 
hy  invasion,  or  the  menace  of  invasion,  or  by  public  authority  ;  and  in  such 
case,  whether  the  militia  rendering  such  service  was  placed  under  the 
authority  of  the  United  States,  or  retained  under  that  of  the  state. 

It  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  state  that  the  present  executive  of  Massa- 
chusetts has  disclaimed  the  principle  which  was  maintained  by  the  former 
executive,  and  that  in  this  disclaimer  both  branches  of  the  legislature  have 
concurred.  By  this  renunciation,  the  state  is  placed  on  the  same  ground, 
in  this  respect,  with  the  other  states,  and  this  very  distressing  anomaly  in" 
our  system  is  removed.  It  is  well  known  that  the  great  body  of  our  felLow- 
vitizens  in  Massachusetts  are  as  firmly  devoted  to  our  Union,  and  to  the  free 
republican  principles  of  our  government,  as  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  other 
states.  Of  this  important  truth  their  conduct  in  every  stage  of  our  revolu- 
tionary struggle,  and  in  many  other  emergencies,  bears  ample  testimony ; 
and  I  add,  with  profound  interest  and  a  thorough  conviction,  that  although 
the  difficulty  adverted  to,  in  the  late  war,  with  their  executive,  excited 
equal  surprise  and  regret,  it  was  not  believed  to  extend  to  them.  There 
never  was  a  moment  when  the  confidence  of  the  government  in  the  great 
body  of  our  fellow-citizens  of  that  state  was  impaired,  nor  is  a  doubt  enter- 


464  MONROES    SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

tained  that  they  were  at  all  times  willing  and  ready  to  support  their  rights 
and  repel  an  invasion  by  the  enemy. 

The  commissioners  of  Massachusetts  have  urged,  in  compliance  with 
their  instructions,  the  payment  of  so  much  of  their  claim  as  applies  to  the 
services  rendered  to  the  h'flh  division,  which  have  been  audited,  and  I  should 
have  no  hesitation  in  admitting  it  if  I  did  not  think,  under  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  that  the  claim  in  all  its  parts  was  cognizable  by  Congress 
alone.  The  period  at  which  the  constitutional  difficulty  was  raised  by  the 
executive  of  the  state  was  in  the  highest  degree  important,  as  was  the  tenden- 
cy of  the  principle  for  which  it  contended,  and  which  was  adhered  to  dur- 
ing the  war.  The  public  mind  throughout  the  Union  was  much  excited  by 
that  occurrence,  and  great  solicitude  was  felt  as  to  its  consequences.  The 
executive  of  the  United  States  was  bound  to  maintain,  and  did  maintain  a 
just  construction  of  the  constitution  ;  in  doing  which,  it  is  gratifying  to  rec- 
ollect that  the  most  friendly  feelings  were  cherished  toward  their  breth- 
ren of  that  state.  The  executive  of  the  state  was  warned,  in  the  correspond- 
ence which  then  took  place,  of  the  light  in  which  its  conduct  was  viewed, 
and  of  the  effect  it  would  have,  so  far  as  related  to  the  right  of  the  executive 
of  the  United  States,  on  any  claim  which  might  afterward  be  presented  by 
the  state  to  compensation  for  such  services.  Under  these  circumstances, 
the  power  of  the  executive  of  the  United  States  to  settle  any  portion  of  this 
claim  seems  to  be  precluded.  It  seems  proper,  also,  that  this  claim  should 
be  decided  on  full  investigation  before  the  public,  that  the  principle  on  which 
it  is  decided  may  be  thoroughly  understood  by  our  fellow-citizens  of  every 
state,  which  can  be  done  by  Congress  alone  ;  who  alone,  also,  possess  the 
power  to  pass  the  laws  which  may  be  necessary  to  carry  such  decision  into 
effect. 

In  submitting  this  subject  to  the  calm  and  enlightened  judgment  of  Con- 
gress, I  do  it  with  peculiar  satisfaction,  from  a  knowledge  that  you  are  now 
placed,  by  the  course  of  events,  in  a  situation  which  will  enable  you  to  adopt 
such  measures  as  will  not  only  comport  with  the  sound  principles  of  our 
government,  but  likewise  be  conducive  to  further  the  highest  interests  of 
our  Union.  By  the  renunciation  of  the  principle  maintained  by  the  then 
executive  of  Massachusetts,  as  has  been  done  by  its  present  executive  and 
both  branches  of  the  legislature,  in  the  most  formal  manner,  and  in  accord 
with  the  sentiments  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  the  constitution  is  re- 
•  stored  in  a  very  important  feature — that  connected  with  the  public  defence 
and  in  the  most  important  branch,  that  of  the  militia,  to  its  native  strength. 
It  is  very  gratifying  to  know  that  this  renunciation  has  been  produced  by 
the  regular,  orderly,  and  pacific  operation  of  our  republican  system,  where- 
by those  who  were  in  the  right  at  the  moment  of  difficulty,  and  who  sus- 
tained the  government  with  great  firmness,  have  daily  gained  strength  until 
this  result  was  accomplished.  The  points  on  which  you  will  have  to  decide 
are,  what  is  fairly  due  for  the  services  which  were  actually  rendered  ?  By 
what  means  shall  we  contribute  most  to  cement  the  Union  and  give  the 
greatest  support  to  our  most  excellent  constitution  ?  In  seeking  each  object 
separately  we  are  led  to  the  same  result.  All  that  can  be  claimed  by  our 
fellow-citizens  of  Massachusetts  is,  that  the  constitutional  objection  be 
waived,  and  that  they  be  placed  on  the  same  footing  with  their  brethren  in 
the  other  states — that  regarding  the  services  rendered  by  the  militia  of 
other  states,  for  which  compensation  has  been  made,  giving  to  the  rule  the 
most  liberal  construction,  like  compensation  be  made  for  similar  service* 
ren.dered  by  the  militia  of  that  state. 


MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  465 

I  have  been  led  to  conclude,  on  great  consideration,  that  the  principles 
of  justice,  as  well  as  a  due  regard  for  the  great  interests  of  our  Union,  re- 
quire that  this  claim,  in  the  extent  proposed,  should  be  acceded  to.  Essen- 
tial service  was  rendered,  in  the  late  war,  by  the  militia  of  Massachusetts, 
and  with  the  most  patriotic  motives.  It  seems  just,  therefore,  that  they 
should  be  compensated  for  such  services,  in  like  manner  with  the  militia 
of  other  states.  The  constitutional  difficulty  did  not  originate  with  them, 
and  has  now  been  removed.  It  comports  with  our  system  to  I6ok  to  the 
service  rendered  and  to  the  intention  with  which  it  was  rendered,  and  to 
award  the  compensation  accordingly,  especially  as  it  may  now  be  done 
without  the  sacrifice  of  principle.  The  motive,  in  this  instance,  is  the 
stronger,  because  well  satisfied  I  am,  that  by  so  doing  we  shall  give  the 
most  effectual  support  to  our  republican  institutions.  No  latent  cause  of 
discontent  will  be  left  behind.  The  great  body  of  the  people  will  be 
gratified,  and  even  those  who  now  survive,  who  were  then  in  error,  can  not 
fail  to  see  with  interest  and  satisfaction  this  distressing  occurrence  thus 
happily  terminated.  I  therefore  consider  it  my  duty  to  recommend  it  to 
Congress  to  make  provision  for  the  settlement  of  the  claim  of  Massachu 
setts  for  services  rendered  in  the  late  war  by  the  militia  of  the  state,  in 
conformity  with  the  rules  which  have  governed  in  the  settlement  of  tlie 
claims  <br  services  rendered  by  the  militia  of  the  other  states. 


EIGHTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  7,  1824. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

THE  view  which  I  have  now  to  present  to  you,  of  our  affairs,  foreign  and 
domestic,  realizes  the  most  sanguine  anticipations  which  have  been  enter- 
tained of  the  public  prosperity.  If  we  look  to  the  whole,  our  growth  as  a 
nation  continues  to  be  rapid  beyond  example ;  if  to  the  states  which  com- 
pose it,  the  same  gratifying  spectacle  is  exhibited.  Our  expansion  over 
the  vast  territory  within  our  limits  has  been  great,  without  indicating  any 
decline  in  those  sections  from  which  the  emigration  has  been  most  con- 
spicuous. We  have  daily  gained  strength  by  a  native  population  in  every 
quarter — a  population  devoted  to  our  happy  system  of  government,  and 
cherishing  the  bond  of  Union  with  fraternal  affection.  Experience  has 
already  shown,  that  the  difference  of  climate  and  of  industry,  proceeding 
from  that  cause,  inseparable  from  such  vast  domains,  and  which,  under 
other  systems,  might  have  a  repulsive  tendency,  can  not  fail  to  produce 
with  us,  under  wise  regulations,  the  opposite  effect.  What  one  portion 
wants  the  other  may  supply,  and  this  will  be  most  sensibly  felt  by  the 
parts  most  distant  from  each  other  ;  forming,  thereby,  a  domestic  market, 
and  an  active  intercourse  between  the  extremes  and  throughout  every 
portion  of  our  Union.  Thus,  by  a  happy  distribution  of  power  between  the 
national  and  state  governments,  governments  which  rest  exclusively  on  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people  and  are  fully  adequate  to  the  great  purposes  for 
which  they  were  respectively  instituted,  causes  which  might  otherwise 
lead  to  dismemberment  operate  powerfully  to  draw  us  closer  together.  la 
every  other  circumstances,  a  correct  view  of  the  actual  state  of  our  Union 
must  be  equally  gratifying  to  our  constituents.  Our  relations  with  foreign 
VOL.  I.— 30 


166  MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

powers  are  of  a  friendly  character,  although  certain  interesting  differences 
remain  unsettled  with  some.  Our  revenue,  under  the  mild  system  of  im- 
post and  tonnage,  continues  to  be  adequate  to  all  the  purposes  of  the 
government.  Our  agriculture,  commerce,  manufactures,  and  navigation, 
flourish.  Our  fortifications  are  advancing,  in  the  degree  authorized  by 
existing  appropriations,  to  maturity,  and  due  progress  is  made  in  the 
augmentation  of  the  navy  to  the  limit  prescribed  for  it  by  law.  For  these 
blessings  we  owe  to  Almighty  God,  from  whom  we  derive  them,  and  with 
profound  reverence,  our  most  grateful  and  unceasing  acknowledgments. 

In  adverting  to  our  relations  with  foreign  powers,  which  are  always  an 
object  of  the  highest  importance,  I  have  to  remark,  that  of  the  subjects 
which  have  been  brought  into  discussion  with  them  during  the  present 
administration,  some  have  been  satisfactorily  terminated,  others  have  been 
suspended  to  be  resumed  hereafter  under  circumstances  more  favorable  to 
success,  and  others  are  still  in  negotiation,  with  the  hope  that  they  may  be 
adjusted  with  mutual  accommodation  to  the  interests  and  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  respective  parties.  It  has  been  the  invariable  object  of  this  govern- 
ment to  cherish  the  most  friendly  relations  with  every  power,  and  on 
principles  and  conditions  which  might  make  them  permanent.  VA  systematic- 
effort  has  been  made  to  place  our  commerce  with  each  power  on  a  footing 
of  perfect  reciprocity  ;  to  settle  with  each,  in  a  spirit  of  candor  and  liberali- 
ty, all  existing  differences,  and  to  anticipate  and  remove,  so  far  as  it  might 
be  practicable,  all  causes  of  future  variance. 

It  having  been  stipulated  by  the  same  article  of  the  convention  of  navi- 
gation and  commerce,  which  was  concluded  on  the  24th  of  June,  1 822,  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  France,  that  the  said  convention  should  continue 
in  force  for  two  years,  from  the  1st  of  October  of  that  year,  and  for  an  indefi- 
nite term  afterward,  unless  one  of  the  parties  should  declare  its  intention  to 
renounce  it,  in  which  event  it  should  cease  to  operate  at  'the  end  of  six 
months  from  such  declaration ;  and  no  such  intention  havingbeen  announced, 
the  convention  having  been  found  advantageous  to  both  parties,  it  has  since 
remained,  and  still  remains,  in  full  force.  At  the  time  when  that  conven- 
tion was  concluded,  many  interesting  subjects  were  unsettled,  and  particu- 
larly our  claims  to  indemnity  for  spoliations  which  were  committed  on  our 
commerce  in  the  late  wars.  For  these  interests  and  claims  it  was  in  the 
contemplation  of  the  parties  to  make  provision,  at  a  subsequent  day,  by  a 
more  comprehensive  and  definitive  treaty.  The  object  has  been  duly  at- 
tended to  since  by  the  executive,  but  as  yet  it  has  not  been  accomplished. 
It  is  hoped  that  a  favorable  opportunity  will  present  itself  for  opening  a 
negotiation  which  may  embrace  and  arrange  all  existing  differences,  and 
every  other  concern  in  which  they  have  a  common  interest,  upon  the  ac- 
cession of  the  present  king  of  France,  an  event  which  has  occurn  J  since 
the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress. 

With  Great  Britain  our  commercial  intercourse  rests  on  the  same  footing 
that  it  did  at  the  last  session.  By  the  convention  of  1815,  the  commerce 
between  the  United  States  and  the  British  dominions  in  Europe  and  the 
East  Indies  was  arranged  on  the  principle  of  reciprocity.  That  convention 
•was  confirmed  and  continued  in  force,  with  slight  exceptions,  by  a  subse- 
quent treaty,  for  the  term  of  ten  years  from  the  20th  of  October,  1818,  the 
date  of  the  latter.  The  trade  with  the  British  colonies  in  the  West  Indies 
has  not  as  yet  been  arranged,  by  treaty  or  otherwise,  to  our  satisfaction. 
An  approach  to  that  result  has  been  made  by  legislative  acts,  whereby 
.many  serious  impediments  which  had  been  raised  by  the  parties  in  defence 


MONROE'S    EIGHTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE.  467 

of  their  respective  claims  were  removed.  An  earnest  desire  exists,  and 
has  been  manifested  on  the  part  of  this  government,  to  place  the  commerce 
with  the  colonies,  likewise,  on  a  footing  of  reciprocal  advantage,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  the  British  government,  seeing  the  justice  of  the  proposal,  and 
its  importance  to  the  colonies,  will  ere  long  accede  to  it. 

The  commissioners  who  were  appointed  for  the  adjustment  of  the  bound- 
ary between  the  territories  of  the  United  States  and  those  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, specified  in  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  having  disagreed 
in  their  decision,  and  both  governments  having  agreed  to  establish  that 
boundary,  by  amicable  negotiation  between  them,  it  is  hoped  that  it  may 
be  satisfactorily  adjusted  in  that  mode.  The  boundary  specified  by  the 
sixth  article  has  been  established  by  the  decision  of  the  commissioners. 
From  the  progress  made  in  that  provided  for  by  the  seventh,  according  to 
a  report  recently  received,  there  is  good  cause  to  presume  that  it  will  be 
settled  in  the  course  of  the  ensuing  year. 

It  is  a  cause  of  serious  regret  that  no  arrangement  has  yet  been  finally 
concluded  between  the  two  governments,  to  secure,  by  joint  co-operation, 
the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade.     It  was  the  object  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment, in  the  early  stages  of  the  negotiation,  to  adopt  a  plan  for  the  sup- 
pression, which  should  include  the  concession  of  a  mutual  right  of  search, 
by  the  ships-of-war  of  each  party,  of  the  vessels  of  the  other  for  suspected 
offenders.     This  was  objected  to  by  this  government,  on  the  principle  that, 
as  the  right  of  search  was  the  right  of  war  of  a  belligerent  toward  a  neu- 
tral power,  it  might  have  an  ill  effect  to  extend  it  by  treaty,  to  an  offence 
which  had  been  made  comparatively  mild,  to  a  time  of  peace.     Anxious, 
however,  for  the  suppression  of  this  trade,  it  was  thought  advisable,  in 
compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  house  of  representatives,  founded  on 
an  act  of  Congress,  to  propose  to  the  British  government  an  expedient 
which  should  be  free  from  that  objection,  and  more  effectual  for  the  ob- 
ject, by  making  it  piratical.     In  that  mode,  the  enormity  of  the   crime 
would  place  the  offenders  out  of  the  protection  of  their  government,  and 
involve  no  question  of  search,  or  other  question,  between  the  parties,  touch- 
ing their  respective  rights.     It  was  believed,  also,  that  it  would  completely 
suppress  the  trade  in  the  vessels  of  both  the  parties,  and  by  their  respec- 
tive citizens  and  subjects  in  those  of  other  powers,  with  whom,  it  was 
hoped,  that  the  odium  which  would  thereby  be  attached  to  it  would  pro- 
duce a  corresponding  arrangement,  and  by  means  thereof,  its  entire  extir- 
pation for  ever.     A  convention  to  this  effect  was  concluded  and  signed  in 
London,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  March,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
twenty-four,  by  plenipotentiaries  duly  authorized  by  both  governments,  to 
the  ratification  of  which  certain  obstacles  have  arisen  which  are  not  yet 
entirely  removed.     The  differences  between  the  parties  still  remaining 
have  been  reduced  to  a  point  not  of  sufficient  magnitude,  as  is  presumed, 
to  be  permitted  to  defeat  an  object  so  near  to  the  hearts  of  both  nations, 
and  so  desirable  to  the  friends  of  humanity  throughout  the  world.     As  ob- 
jections, however,  to  the  principle  recommended  by  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, or  at  least  to  the  consequences  inseparable  from  it,  and  which 
are  understood  to  apply  to  the  law,  have  been  raised  ;  which  may  deserve 
a  reconsideration  of  the  whole  subject,  I  have  thought  it  proper  to  suspend 
the  conclusion  of  a  new  convention  until  the  definitive  sentiments  of  Con- 
gress may  be  ascertained.     The  documents  relating  to  the  negotiation  are 
with  that  intent  submitted  to  your  consideration. 

Our  commerce  with  Sweden  has  been  placed  on  a  footing  of  perfect 


208  MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

reciprocity  by  treaty,  and  with  Russia,  the  Netherlands,  Prussia,  the  free 
Hanseaiic  cities,  the  dukedom  of  Oldenburg,  and  Sardinia,  by  internal 
regulations  on  each  side,  founded  on  mutual  agreement  between  the  re- 
spective governments. 

The  principles  upon  which  the  commercial  policy  of  the  United  States 
is  founded  are  to  be  traced  to  an  early  period.  They  are  essentially  con- 
nected with  those  upon  which  their  independence  was  declared,  and  owe 
their  origin  to  the  enlightened  men  who  took  the  lead  in  our  affairs  at  that 
important  epoch.  They  are  developed  in  their  first  treaty  of  commerce 
with  France,  of  the  6th  of  February,  1778,  and  by  a  formal  commission 
which  was  instituted  immediately  after  the  conclusion  of  their  revolution- 
ary struggle,  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  treaties  of  commerce  with 
every  European  power.  The  first  treaty  of  the  United  States  with  Prus- 
sia, which  was  negotiated  by  that  commission,  affords  a  signal  illustration 
of  those  principles.  The  act  of  Congress  of  the  3d  of  March,  1815,  adopt- 
ed immediately  after  the  return  of  a  general  peace,  was  a  new  overture  to 
foreign  nations  to  establish  our  commercial  relations  with  them  on  the  basis 
of  free  and  equal  reciprocity.  That  principle  has  pervaded  all  the  acts  of 
Congress  and  all  the  negotiations  of  the  executive  on  the  subject  since. 

A  convention  for  the  settlement  of  important  questions  in  relation  to  the 
northwest  coast  of  this  continent  and  its  adjoining  seas,  was  concluded 
and  signed  at  St.  Petersburgh,  on  the  5th  day  of  April  last,  by  the  minister 
plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  and  plenipotentiaries  of  the  imperial 
government  of  Russia.  It  will  immediately  be  laid  before  the  senate,  for 
the  exercise  of  the  constitutional  authority  of  that  body  with  reference  to 
its  ratification.  It  is  proper  to  add,  that  the  manner  in  which  this  nego- 
tiation was  invited  and  conducted  on  the  part  of  the  emperor  has  been 
?ery  satisfactory. 

The  great  and  extraordinary  changes  which  have  happened  in  the  gov- 
ernments of  Spain  and  Portugal,  within  the  last  two  years,  without  seri- 
ously affecting  the  friendly  relations  which,  under  all  of  them,  have  been 
maintained  with  those  powers  by  the  United  States,  have  been  obstacles 
to  the  adjustment  of  the  particular  subjects  of  discussion  which  have  arisen 
with  each.  A  resolution  of  the  senate,  adopted  at  their  last  session,  called 
for  information  as  to  the  effect  produced  upon  our  relations  with  Spain,  by 
the  recognition,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  of  the  independent  South 
American  governments.  The  papers  containing  that  information  are  now 
communicated  to  Congress. 

A  charge  d'affaires  has  been  received  from  the  independent  government 
of  Brazil.  That  country,  heretofore  a  colonial  possession  of  Portugal,  had 
Home  years  since  been  proclaimed  by  the  sovereign  of  Portugal  himself  an 
independent  kingdom.  Since  his  return  to  Lisbon,  a  revolution  in  Brazil 
has  established  a  new  government  there,  with  an  imperial  title,  at  the  head 
of  which  is  placed  a  prince,  in  whom  the  regency  has  been  vested  by  the 
king  at  the  time  of  his  departure.  There  is  reason  to  expect  that,  by  am- 
icable negotiation,  the  independence  of  Brazil  will,  ere  long.be  recognised 
hy  Portugal  herself. 

With  the  remaining  powers  of  Europe,  with  those  on  the  coast  of  Bar- 
hary,  and  with  all  the  new  South  American  states,  our  relations  are  of  a 
friendly  character.  We  have  ministers  plenipotentiary  residing  with  the 
republics  of  Colombia  and  Chili,  and  have  received  ministers  of  the  same 
rank  from  Colombia,  Guatimala,  Buenos  Ayres,  and  Mexico.  Our  cora- 
raercial  relations  with  all  those  states  are  mutually  beneficial  and  iiicreas- 


MONROE'S    EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  4(59 

ing.  With  the  republic  of  Colombia,  a  treaty  of  commerce  has  been 
formed,  of  which  a  copy  is  received,  and  the  original  daily  expected.  A 
negotiation  for  a  like  treaty  would  have  been  commenced  with  Buenos 
Ayres,  had  it  not  been  prevented  by  the  indisposition,  and  lamented  de- 
cease, of  Mr.  Rodney,  our  minister  there,  and  to  whose  memory  the  most 
respectful  attention  has  been  shown  by  the  government  of  that  republic. 
An  advantageous  alteration  in  our  treaty  with  Tunis  has  been  obtained  by 
our  consular  agent  residing  there,  the  official  documents  of  which,  when 
received,  will  be  laid  before  the  senate. 

The  attention  of  this  government  has  been  drawn  with  great  solicitude 
to  other  subjects,  and  particularly  to  that  relating  to  a  state  of  maritime 
war,  involving  the  relative  rights  of  neutral  and  belligerent  in  such  wars. 
Most  of  the  difficulties  which  we  have  experienced,  and  of  the  losses  which 
we  have  sustained,  since  the  establishment  of  our  independence,  have  pro- 
ceeded from  the  unsettled  state  of  those  rights,  and  the  extent  to  which  the 
belligerent  claim  has  been  carried  against  the  neutral  party.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  look  back  on  the  occurrences  of  the  late  wars  in  Europe,  and  to  be- 
hold the  disregard  which  was  paid  to  our  rights  as  a  neutral  power,  and  the 
waste  which  was  made  of  our  commerce  by  the  parties  to  those  wars,  by 
various  acts  of  their  respective  governments,  and  under  the  pretext  by  each 
that  the  other  had  set  the  example,  without  great  mortification,  and  a  fixed 
purpose  never  to  submit  to  the  like  in  future.  An  attempt  to  remove  those 
causes  of  possible  variance  by  friendly  negotiation,  and  on  just  principles 
which  would  be  applicable  to  all  parties,  could,  it  was  presumed,  be  viewed 
by  none,  other  than  as  a  proof  of  an  earnest  desire  to  preserve  those  TO- 
lations  with  every  power.  In* the  late  war  between  France  and  Spain,  a 
crisis  occurred  in  which  it  seemed  probable  that  all  the  controvertible  prin 
ciples  involved  in  such  wars  might  be  brought  into  discussion  and  set- 
tled to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties.  Propositions  having  this  object  i:\ 
view  have  been  made  to  the  governments  of  Great  Britain,  France,  Russia, 
and  of  other  powers,  which  have  been  received  in  a  friendly  manner  by 
all ;  but  as  yet  no  treaty  has  been  formed  with  either  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. The  policy  will,  it  is  presumed,  be  persevered  in,  and  in  the  hopi? 
that  it  may  be  successful. 

It  will  always  be  recollected  that,  with  one  of  the  parties  to  those  wars, 
und  from  whom  we  received  those  injuries,  we  sought  redress  by  war. 
From  the  other,  by  whose  then  reigning  government  our  vessels  wero 
seized  in  port  as  well  as  at  sea,  and  their  cargoes  confiscated,  indemnity  has 
been  expected,  but  has  not  yet  been  rendered.  It  was  under  the  influence  of 
the  latter  that  our  vessels  were  likewise  seized  by  the  governments  of  Spain, 
Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Naples,  and  from  whom  indemnity  has 
bef-n  claimed  and  is  still  expected,  with  the  exception  of  Spain,  by  whom  it 
lias  been  rendered.  With  both  parties  we  had  abundant  cause  of  war,  but 
we  had  no  alternative  but  to  resist  that  which  was  most  powerful  at  sea, 
and  pressed  us  nearest  at  home.  With  this,  all  differences  were  settled 
by  a  treaty,  founded  on  conditions  fair  and  honorable  to  both,  which  has 
been  so  far  executed  with  perfect  good  faith.  It  has  been  earnestly  hoped 
that  the  other  would,  of  its  own  accord,  and  from  a  sentiment  of  justice 
and  conciliation,  make  to  our  citizens  the  indemnity  to  which  they  are 
entitled,  and  thereby  remove  from  our  relations  any  just  cause  of  discontent 
on  our  side. 

It  ix  estimated  that  the  receipts  in  the  treasury,  during  the  current  year, 
exclusive  of  loans,  will  exceed  eighteen  millions  five  hundred  thousand 


470  MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

dollars ;  which,  with  the  sum  remaining  in  the  treasury  at  the  end  of  th«? 
last  year,  amounting  to  nine  millions  four  hundred  and  sixty-three  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  twenty-two  dollars  eighty -one  cents,  will,  after  dischar- 
ging the  current  disbursements  of  the  year,  the  interest  on  the  public  debt, 
and  upward  of  eleven  millions  six  hundred  and  thirty-three  thousand  and 
eleven  dollars  fifty-two  cents  of  the  principal,  leave  a  balance  of  more  than 
three  millions  dollars  in  the  treasury  on  the  1st  day  of  January  next. 

A  larger  amount  of  the  debt  contracted  during  the  late  war,  bearing  an 
interest  of  six  per  cent,  becoming  redeemable  in  the  course  of  the  ensuing 
year,  than  could  be  discharged  by  the  ordinary  revenue,  the  act  of  the  26th 
of  May  authorized  a  loan  of  five  millions  of  dollars,  at  four  and  a  half  per 
cent.,  to  meet  the  same.  By  this  arrangement  an  annual  saving  will  accrue 
to  the  public  of  seventy-five  thousand  dollars. 

Under  the  act  of  the  24th  of  May  last,  a  loan  of  five  millions  of  dollars 
was  authorized,  in  order  to  meet  the  awards  under  the  Florida  treaty, 
which  was  negotiated  at  par  with  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  at  four 
and  a  half  per  cent.,  the  limit  of  interest  fixed  by  the  act.  By  this  pro- 
vision the  claims  of  our  citizens,  who  had  sustained  so  great  a  loss  by 
spoliations,  and  from  whom  indemnity  had  been  so  long  withheld,  were 
promptly  paid.  For  these  advances  the  public  will  be  amply  repaid,  at  no 
distant  day,  by  the  sale  of  the  lands  in  Florida.  Of  the  great  advantage 
resulting  from  the  acquisition  of  the  territory  in  other  respects,  too  high  an 
estimate  can  not  be  formed. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  receipts  into  the  treasury,  during  the  year  1823. 
will  be  sufficient  to  meet  the  disbursements  of  the  year,  including  the  sum 
of  ten  millions  of  dollars  which  is  annually  appropriated  by  the  act  con- 
stituting the  sinking  fund,  for  the  payment  of  the  principal  and  interest  of 
the  public  debt. 

The  whole  amount  of  the  public  debt,  on  the  1  st  of  January  next,  may  be 
estimated  at  eighty-six  millions  of  dollars,  inclusive  of  two  millions  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  of  the  loan  authorized  by  the  act  of  the  2Gth  of 
May  last.  In  this  estimate  is  included  a  stock  of  seven  millions  of  dollars, 
issued  for  the  purchase  of  that  amount  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States  ;  and  which,  as  the  stock  of  the  bank  still  held  by  the 
government  will  at  least  be  fully  equal  to  its  reimbursement,  ought  not  to 
be  considered  as  constituting  a  part  of  the  public  debt.  Estimating,  then, 
the  whole  amount  of  the  public  debt  at  seventy-nine  millions  of  dollars, 
and  regarding  the  annual  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  government,  a 
well-founded  hope  may  be  entertained,  that,  should  no  unexpected  event 
occur,  the  whole  of  the  public  debt  may  be  discharged  in  the  course  of  ten 
years,  and  the  government  be  left  at  liberty,  thereafter,  to  apply  such  por- 
tion of  the  revenue  as  may  not  be  necessary  for  current  expenses,  to  such 
other  objects  as  may  be  most  conducive  to  the  public  security  and  welfare. 
That  the  sums  applicable  to  these  objects  will  be  very  considerable,  may 
be  fairly  concluded,  when  it  is  recollected  that  a  large  amount  of  the  pub- 
lic revenue  has  been  applied,  since  the  late  war,  to  the  construction  of  the 
public  buildings  in  this  city ;  to  the  erection  of  fortifications  along  the 
coast,  and  of  arsenals  in  different  parts  of  the  Union  ;  to  the  augmentation 
of  the  navy  ;  to  the  extinguishment  of  Indian  title  to  large  tracts  of  fertile 
territory  ;  to  the  acquisition  of  Florida  ;  to  pensions  to  revolutionary  officers 
and  soldiers,  and  to  invalids  of  the  late  war.  On  many  of  these  objects 
the  expense  will  annually  be  diminished,  and,  at  no  distant  period,  cease 
On  most  of  thorn.  On  the  first  of  January,  1817,  the  public  debt  amounted 


MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  471 

to  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  millions  four  hundred  and  ninety-one 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty-five  dollars  and  sixteen  cents  ;  and  not- 
withstanding the  large  sums  which  have  been  applied  to  these  objects,  it 
has  been  reduced,  since  that  period,  thirty-seven  millions  four  hundred  and 
forty-six  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty-one  dollars  and  seventy-eight 
cents.  The  last  portion  of  the  public  debt  will  be  redeemable  on  the  1st 
of  January,  1835  ;  and  while  there  is  the  best  reason  to  believe  that  the 
resources  of  the  government  will  be  continually  adequate  to  such  portion 
of  it  as  may  become  due  in  the  interval,  it  is  recommended  to  Congress 
to  seize  every  opportunity  which  may  present  itself  to  reduce  the  rate  of 
interest  on  every  part  thereof.  The  high  state  of  the  public  credit,  and  the 
great  abundance  of  money,  are  at  this  time  very  favorable  to  such  a  result. 
It  must  be  very  gratifying  to  our  fellow-citizens  to  witness  this  flourishing 
state  of  the  public  finances,  when  it  is  recollected  that  no  burden  whatever 
has  been  imposed  upon  them. 

The  military  establishment,  in  all  its  branches,  in  the  performance  of 
the  various  duties  assigned  to  each,  justifies  the  favorable  view  which  was 
presented  of  the  efficiency  of  its  organization  at  the  last  session.  All  the 
appropriations  have  been  regularly  applied  to  the  object  intended  by  Con- 
gress, and  so  far  as  the  disbursements  have  been  made,  the  accounts  have 
been  rendered  and  settled  without  loss  to  the  public.  The  condition  of 
the  army  itself,  as  relates  to  the  officers  and  men,  in  science  and  disci- 
pline, is  highly  respectable.  The  military  academy,  on  which  the  army 
essentially  rests,  and  to  which  it  is  much  indebted  for  this  state  of  im- 
provement, has  attained,  in  comparison  with  any  other  institution  of  a  like 
kind,  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  Experience,  however,  has  shown,  that 
the  dispersed  condition  of  the  corps  of  artillery  is  unfavorable  to  the  dis- 
cipline of  that  important  branch  of  the  military  establishment.  To  remedy 
this  inconvenience,  eleven  companies  have  been  assembled  at  the  fortifi- 
cations erected  at  Old  Point  Comfort  as  a  school  for  artillery  instruction, 
with  intention,  as  they  shall  be  perfected  in  the  various  duties  of  that  ser- 
vice, to  order  them  to  other  posts,  and  to  supply  their  places  with  other 
companies,  for  instruction  in  like  manner.  In  this  mode  a  complete  knowl- 
edge of  the  science  and  duties  of  this  arm  will  be  extended  throughout 
the  whole  corps  of  artillery.  But  to  carry  this  object  fully  into  effect, 
will  require  the  aid  of  Congress,  to  obtain  which  the  subject  is  now  sub- 
mitted to  your  consideration. 

Of  the  progress  which  has  been  made  in  the  construction  of  fortifica- 
tions for  the  permanent  defence  of  our  maritime  frontier,  according  to  the 
plan  decided  on,  and  to  the  extent  of  the  existing  appropriations,  the  report 
of  the  secretary  of  war,  which  is  herewith  communicated,  will  give  a  detail- 
ed account.  Their  final  completion  can  not  fail  to  give  great  additional 
security  to  that  frontier,  and  to  diminish  proportionably  the  expense  of  de- 
fending it  in  the  event  of  war. 

The  provisions  in  the  several  acts  of  Congress  of  the  last  session,  for 
the  improvement  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Ohio,  of  the 
harbor  of  Presque  isle  on  Lake  Erie,  and  the  repair  of  the  Plymouth 
beach,  are  in  a  course  of  regular  execution  ;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  the  appropriation  in  each  instance  will  be  adequate  to  the  object.  To 
carry  these  improvements  fully  into  effect,  the  superintendence  of  them 
has  been  assigned  to  officers  of  the  corps  of  engineers. 

Under  the  act  of  the  30th  April  last,  authorizing  the  president  to  cause 
a  survey  to  be  made,  with  the  necessary  plans  and  estimates  of  such 


472  MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

roads  and  canals  as  he  might  deem  of  national  importance  in  a  commer- 
cial 6t  military  point  of  view,  or  for  the  transportation  of  the  mail,  a  board 
has  been  instituted,  consisting  of  two  distinguished  officers  of  the  corps  of 
engineers,  .JJP  a  distinguished  civil  engineer,  with  assistants,  who  have 
been  8c"livfly  employed  in  carrying  into  effect  the  objects  of  the  act. 
They  have  carefully  examined  the  route  between  the  Potomac  and  the 
Ohio  rivers  ;  between  the  latter  and  Lake  Erie  ;  between  the  Allegany  and 
the  Susquehannah  ;  and  the  routes  between  the  Delaware  and  the  Raritan, 
Barnstable  and  Buzzard's  bay,  and  between  Boston  harbor  and  Narragan- 
set  bay.  Sych  portions  of  the  corps  of  topographical  engineers  as  could 
be  spared  from  the  survey  of  the  coast,  has  been  employed  in  surveying 
the  very  important  route  between  the  Potomac  and  the  Ohio.  Considera- 
ble progress  has  been  made  in  it,  but  the  survey  can  not  be  completed 
until  the  next  season.  It  is  gratifying  to  add,  from  the  view  already  taken, 
that  there  is  good  cause  to  believe  that  this  great  national  object  may  be 
fully  accomplished. 

It  is  contemplated  to  commence  early  in  the  next  season  the  execution 
of  the  other  branch  of  the  act,  that  which  relates  to  roads,  and  with  the 
survey  of  a  route  from  this  city,  through  the  southern  states,  to  New  Or- 
leans, the  importance  of  which  can  not  be  too  highly  estimated.  All  the 
officers  of  both  the  corps  of  engineers,  who  could  be  spared  from  other 
services,  have  been  employed  in  exploring  and  surveying  the  routes  for 
canals.  To  digest  a  plan  for  both  objects  for  the  great  purposes  specified, 
will  require  a  thorough  knowledge  of  every  part  of  our  Union,  and  of  the 
relation  of  each  part  to  the  others,  and  of  all  to  the  seat  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment. For  such  a  digest,  it  will  be  necessary  that  the  information  he 
full,  minute,  and  precise.  With  a  view  to  these  important  objects,  I  sub- 
mit to  the  consideration  of  Congress  the  propriety  of  enlarging  both  the 
corps  of  engineers,  the  military,  and  topographical.  It  need  scarcely  be 
remarked,  that  the  more  extensively  these  corps  are  engaged  in  the  im- 
provement of  their  country,  in  the  execution  of  the  powers  of  Congress, 
and  in  aid  of  the  states,  and  such  improvements  as  lie  beyond  that  limit, 
when  such  aid  is  desired,  the  happier  the  effect  will  be  in  many  views 
of  which  the  subject  is  susceptible.  By  profiting  of  their  science,  the 
works  will  always  be  well  executed ;  and,  by  giving  to  the  officers  such 
employment,  our  Union  will  derive  all  the  advantage,  in  peace  as  well  as 
in  war,  from  their  talents  and  services,  which  they  can  afford.  In  this 
mode,  also,  the  military  will  be  incorporated  with  the  civil,  and  unfounded 
injurious  distinctions  and  prejudices  of  every  kind  be  done  away.  To  the 
corps  themselves,  this  service  can  not  fail  to  be  equally  useful,  since,  by 
the  knowledge  they  would  thus  acquire,  they  would  be  eminently  better  qual- 
ified, in  the  event  of  war,  for  the  great  purposes  for  which  they  were  instituted. 

Our  relations  with  the  Indian  tribes  within  our  limits  have  not  been 
materially  changed  during  the  year.  The  hostile  disposition  evinced  by 
certain  tribes  on  the  Missouri  during  the  last  year,  still  continues,  and  has 
extended  in  some  degree  to  those  on  the  upper  Mississippi  and  the  upper 
lakes.  Several  parties  of  our  citizens  have  been  plundered  and  murdered 
by  those  tribes.  In  order  to  establish  relations  of  friendship  with  them, 
Congress  at  the  last  session  made  an  appropriation  for  treaties  with  them, 
and  for  the  employment  of  a  suitable  military  escort,  to  accompany  and 
attend  the  commissioners  at  the  places  appointed  for  the  negotiations. 
This  object  has  not  been  effected.  The  season  was  too  far  advanced 
when  the  appiopriation  was  made,  and  the  distance  too  great  to  permit  it ; 


MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  *473 

but  measures  have  been  taken,  and  all  the  preparations  will  be  completed, 
to  accomplish  it  at  an  early  period  next  season. 

Believing  that  the  hostility  of  the  tribes,  particularly  on  the  upper  Mis- 
sissippi and  the  lakes,  is  in  no  small  degree  owing  to  the  wars  which  are 
carried  on  between  the  tribes  residing  in  that  quarter,  measures  haVe  been 
taken  to  bring  about  a  general  peace  among  them,  which,  if  successful,'will 
not  only  tend  to  the  security  of  our  citizens,  but  be  of  great  advantage  to 
the  Indians  themselves. 

With  the  exception  of  the  tribes  referred  to,  our  relations  with  all  the 
others  are  on  the  most  friendly  footing,  and  it  affords  me  great. satisfaction 
to  add,  that  they  are  making  steady  advances  in  civilization  and  the  im- 
provement of  their  condition.  Many  of  the  tribes  have  already  made  great 
progress  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  This  desirable  result  has  been  brought 
about  by  the  humane  and  persevering  policy  of  the  government,  and  par- 
ticularly by  means  of  the  appropriation  for  the  civilization  of  the  Indians. 
There  have  been  established  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  thirty-two 
schools,  containing  nine  hundred  and  sixteen  scholars  who  are  well  in- 
structed in  several  branches  of  literature,  and  likewise  in  agriculture  and 
the  ordinary  arts  of  life. 

Under  the  appropriation  to  authorize  treaties  with  the  Creek  and  Qua- 
paw  Indians,  commissioners  have  been  appointed  and  negotiations  are  now 
pending,  but  the  result  is  not  yet  known. 

For  more  full  information  respecting  the  principle  which  has  been 
adopted  for  carrying  into  effect  the  act  of  Congress  authorizing  surveys, 
with  plans  and  estimates  for  canals  and  roads,  and  on  every  other  branch 
of  duty  incident  to  the  department  of  war,  I  refer  you  to  the  report  of  the 
secretary. 

The  squadron  in  the  Mediterranean  has  been  maintained  in  the  extent 
which  was  proposed  in  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  navy  of  the  last 
year,  and  has  afforded  to  our  commerce  the  necessary  protection  in  that 
sea.  Apprehending,  however,  that  the  unfriendly  relations  which  have 
existed  between  Algiers  and  some  of  the  powers  of  Europe  might  be  ex- 
tended to  us,  it  has  been  thought  expedient  to  augment  the  force  there, 
and,  in  consequence,  the  "  North  Carolina,"  a  ship-of-the-line,  has  been 
prepared  and  will  sail  in  a  few  days  to  join  it. 

The  force  employed  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  in  the  neighboring  seas, 
for  the  suppression  of  piracy,  has  likewise  been  preserved  essentially  in  the 
state  in  which  it  was  during  the  last  year.  A  persevering  effort  has  been 
made  for  the  accomplishment  of  that  object,  and  much  protection  has 
thereby  been  afforded  to  our  commerce  ;  but  still  the  practice  is  far  from 
being  suppressed.  From  every  view  which  has  been  taken  on  the  subject, 
it  is  thought  that  it  will  be  necessary  rather  to  augment  than  to  diminish 
our  force  in  that  quarter.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  piracies  now 
comphined  of  are  committed  by  bands  of  robbers  who  inhabit  the  land, 
and  who,  by  preserving  good  intelligence  with  the  towns,  and  seizing  favor- 
able opportunities,  rush  forth  and  fall  on  unprotected  merchant  vessels,  of 
which  they  make  an  easy  prey.  The  pillage  thus  taken  they  carry  to 
their  lurking  places,  and  dispose  of  afterward  at  prices  tending  to  seduce 
the  neighboring  population.  This  combination  is  understood  to  be  of 
great  extent,  and  is  the  more  to  be  deprecated,  because  the  crime  of 
piracy  is  often  attended  with  the  murder  of  the  crews,  these  robbers  know- 
ing, if  any  survived,  their  lurking  places  would  be  exposed  und  they  be 
caught  and  punished.  That  this  atrocious  practice  should  be  carried  to 


47l  MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

such  an  extent,  is  cause  of  equal  surprise  and  regret.  It  is  presumed  that 
it  must  be  attributed  to  the  relaxed  and  feeble  state  of  the  local  govern- 
ments, since  it  is  not  doubted,  from  the  high  character  of  the  governor  of 
Cuba,  who  is  well  known  and  much  respected  here,  that  if  he  had  the 
power  he  would  promptly  suppress  it.  Whether  those  robbers  should  be 
pursued  on  the  land,  the  local  authorities  be  made  responsible  for  these 
atrocities,  or  any  other  measure  be  resorted  to  to  suppress  them,  is  sub- 
mitted to  the  consideration  of  Congress. 

In  the  execution  of  the  laws  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  a  ves- 
sel has  been  occasionally  sent  from  that  squadron  to  the  coast  of  Africa, 
with  orders  to  return  thence  by  the  usual  track  of  the  slave-ships,  and  to 
seize  any  of  our  vessels  which  maybe  engaged  in  that  trade.  None  have 
been  found,  and  it  is  believed  that  none  are  thus  employed.  It  is  well 
known,  however,  that  the  trade  exists  under  other  flags. 

The  health  of  our  squadron,  while  at  Thompson's  island,  has  been  much 
better  during  the  present  than  it  was  the  last  season.  Some  improvements 
have  been  made,  and  others  are  contemplated  there,  which,  it  is  believed, 
will  have  a  very  salutary  effect. 

On  the  Pacific  our  commerce  has  much  increased,  and  on  that  coast,  as 
well  as  on  that  sea,  the  United  States  have  many  important  interests  which 
require  attention  and  protection.  It  is  thought  that  all  the  considerations 
which  suggested  the  expediency  of  placing  a  squadron  on  that  sea  operate 
with  augmented  force  for  maintaining  it  there,  at  least  in  equal  extent. 

For  detailed  information  respecting  the  state  of  our  maritime  force  on 
each  sea,  the  improvement  necessary  to  be  made  on  either,  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  naval  establishment  generally,  and  of  the  laws  for  its  better  gov- 
ernment, I  refer  you  to  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  navy,  which  is 
herewith  communicated. 

The  revenue  of  the  postoffice  department  has  received  a  considerable 
augmentation  in  the  present  year.  The  current  receipts  will  exceed  the 
expenditures,  although  the  transportation  of  the  mail  within  the  year  has 
been  much  increased.  A  report  of  the  postmaster-general,  which  is  trans- 
mitted, will  furnish  in  detail  the  necessary  information  respecting  the  admin- 
istration and  present  state  of  this  department. 

In  conformity  with  a  resolution  of  Congress  of  the  last  session,  an  invita- 
tion was  given  to  General  Lafayette  to  visit  the  United  States,  with  an 
assurance  that  a  ship-of-war  should  attend  at  any  port  of  France  which  he 
might  designate,  to  receive  and  convey  him  across  the  Atlantic,  whenever 
it  might  be  convenient  for  him  to  sail.  He  declined  the  offer  of  the  public 
ship  from  motives  of  delicacy,  but  assured  me  that  he  had  long  intended,  and 
would  certainly  visit  our  Union  in  the  course  of  the  present  year.  In  Au- 
gust last  he  arrived  at  New  York,  where  he  was  received  with  the  warmth 
of  affection  and  gratitude  to  which  his  very  important  and  disinterested  ser- 
vices and  sacrifices  in  our  revolutionary  struggle  so  eminently  entitled 
him.  A  corresponding  sentiment  has  since  been  manifested  in  his  favor 
throughout  every  portion  of  our  Union,  and  affectionate  invitations  have 
been  given  him  to  extend  his  visits  to  them.  To  these  he  has  yielded  all 
the  accommodation  in  his  power.  At  every  designated  point  of  rendezvous, 
the  whole  population  of  the  neighboring  country  has  been  assembled  to 
greet  him,  among  whom  it  has  excited,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  the  sensi- 
bility of  all,  to  behold  the  surviving  members  of  our  revolutionary  contest, 
civil  and  military,  who  had  shared  witli  him  in  the  toils  and  dangers  of  the 
war,  many  of  them  in  a  decrepit  state.  A  more  interesting  spectacle.it  is 


MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.     «  475 

believed,  was  never  witnessed,  because  none  could  be  founded  on  purer 
principles — none  proceed  from  higher  or  more  disinterested  motives.  That 
the  feelings  of  those  who  had  fought  and  bled  with  him  in  a  common  cause 
should  have  been  much  excited,  was  natural.  There  are,  however,  circum- 
stances attending  these  interviews  which  pervaded  the  whole  community, 
and  touched  the  breasts  of  every  age,  even  the  youngest  among  us.  There 
was  not  an  individual  present  who  had  not  some  relative  who  had  not 
partaken  in  those  scenes,  nor  an  infant  who  had  not  heard  the  relation  of 
them.  But  the  circumstance  which  was  most  sensibly  felt,  and  which  his 
presence  brought  forcibly  to  the  recollection  of  all,  was  the  great  cause 
in  which  we  were  engaged,  and  the  blessings  which  we  have  derived  from 
our  success  in  it.  The  struggle  was  for  independence,  and  liberty  public 
and  personal,  and  in  this  we  succeeded.  The  meeting  with  one  who  had 
borne  so  distinguished  a  part  in  that  great  struggle,  and  from  such  lofty  and 
disinterested  motives,  could  not  fail  to  affect  profoundly  every  individual, 
and  of  every  age.  It  is  natural  that  we  should  all  take  a  deep  interest  in 
his  future  welfare  as  we  do.  His  high  claims  on  our  Union  are  felt,  and 
the  sentiment  universal,  that  they  should  be  met  in  a  generous  spirit.  Un- 
der these  impressions,  I  invite  your  attention  to  the  subject,  with  a  view 
that,  regarding  his  very  important  services,  losses,  and  sacrifices,  a  provis- 
ion may  be  made  and  tendered  to  him  which  shall  correspond  with  the 
sentiments,  and  be  worthy  the  character,  of  the  American  people. 

In  turning  our  attention  to  the  condition  of  the  civilized  world,  in  which 
the  United  States  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest,  it  is  gratifying  to  see 
how  large  a  portion  of  it  is  blessed  with  peace.  The  only  wars  which 
now  exist  within  that  limit  are  those  between  Turkey  and  Greece,  in 
Europe,  and  between  Spain  and  the  new  governments,  our  neighbors,  in 
this  hemisphere.  In  both  these  wars,  the  cause  of  independence,  of  lib- 
erty, and  humanity,  continues  to  prevail.  The  success  of  Greece,  when 
the  relative  population  of  the  contending  parties  is  considered,  commands 
our  admiration  and  applause,  and  that  it  has  had  a  similar  effect  with  the 
neighboring  powers  is  obvious.  The  feeling  of  the  whole  civilized  world 
is  excited  in  a  high  degree  in  their  favor.  May  we  not  hope  that  these 
sentiments,  winning  on  the  hearts  of  their  respective  governments,  may 
lead  to  a  more  decisive  result ;  that  they  may  produce  an  accord  among 
them,  to  replace  Greece  on  the  ground  which  she  formerly  held,  and  to 
which  her  heroic  exertions,  at  this  day,  so  eminently  entitle  her  ? 

With  respect  to  the  contest  to  which  our  neighbors  are  a  party,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  Spain,  as  a  power,  is  scarcely  felt  in  it.  These  new  states  had 
completely  achieved  their  independence  before  it  was  acknowledged  by 
the  United  Slates,  and  they  have  since  maintained  it  with  little  foreign 
pressure.  The  disturbances  which  have  appeared  in  certain  portions  of 
that  vast  territory  have  proceeded  from  internal  causes,  which  had  their 
origin  in  their  former  governments  and  have  not  yet  been  thoroughly  re- 
moved. It  is  manifest  that  these  causes  are  daily  losing  their  effect,  and 
that  these  new  states  are  settling  down  under  governments,  elective  and 
representative  in  every  branch,  similar  to  our  own.  In  this  course  we  ar- 
dently wish  them  to  persevere,  under  a  firm  conviction  that  it  will  promote 
their  happiness.  !n  thi.s,  their  career,  however,  we  have  not  interfered, 
believing  that  every  people  have  a  right  to  institute  for  themselves  the  gov- 
ernment which,  in  their  judgment,  may  suit  them  best.  Our  example  is 
before  them,  of  the  good  effect  of  which,  being  our  neighbors,  they  are 
competent  judges,  and  to  their  judgment  we  leave  it,  in  the  expectation 


476  MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

that  other  powers  will  pursue  the  same  policy.  The  deep  interest  which 
we  take  in  their  independence,  which  we  have  acknowledged,  and  in  their 
enjoyment  of  all  the  rights  incident  thereto,  especially  in  the  very  impor- 
tant oae  of  instituting  their  own  governments,  has  been  declared,  and  is 
known  to  the  world.  Separated  as  we  are  from  Europe,  by  the  great 
Atlantic  ocean,  we  can  have  no  concern  in  the  wars  of  the  European  gov- 
ernments, nor  in  the  causes  which  produce  them.  The  balance  of  power 
between  them,  into  whichever  scale  it  may  turn  in  its  various  vibrations, 
can  not  affect  us.  It  is  the  interest  of  the  United  States  to  preserve  the 
most  friendly  relations  with  every  power,  and  on  conditions  fair,  equal,  and 
applicable  to  all.  But  in  regard  to  our  neighbors  our  situation  is  different. 
It  is  impossible  for  the  European  governments  to  interfere  in  their  con- 
cerns, especially  in  those  alluded  to,  which  are  vital,  without  affecting  us  ; 
indeed,  the  motive  which  might  induce  such  interference  in  the  present 
state  of  the  Wear  between  the  parties,  if  a  war  it  may  be  called,  would  ap- 
pear to  be  equally  applicable  to  us.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  some  of 
the  powers  with  whom  we  enjoy  a  very  friendly  intercourse,  and  to 
whom  these  views  have  been  communicated,  have  appeared  to  acquiesce 
in  them. 

The  augmentation  of  our  population,  with  the  expansion  of  our  Union, 
and  increased  number  of  states,  have  produced  effects  in  certain  branches 
of  our  system  which  merit  the  attention  of  Congress.  Some  of  our  ar- 
rangements, and  particularly  of  the  judiciary  establishment,  were  made 
with  a  view  to  the  original  thirteen  states  only.  Since  then,  the  United 
States  have  acquired  a  vast  extent  of  territory ;  eleven  new  states  have 
been  admitted  into  the  Union,  and  territories  have  been  laid  off  for  three 
others,  which  will  likewise  be  admitted  at  no  distant  day.  An  organiza- 
tion of  the  supreme  court,  which  assigns  to  the  judges  any  portion  of  the 
duties  which  belong  to  the  inferior,  requiring  their  passage  over  so  vast  a 
space,  under  any  distribution  of  the  states  that  may  now  be  made,  if  not 
impracticable  in  the  execution,  must  render  it  impossible  for  them  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  either  branch  with  advantage  to  the  Union.  The  du- 
ties of  the  supreme  court  would  be  of  great  importance,  if  its  decisions 
were  confined  to  the  ordinary  limits  of  other  tribunals,  but  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  this  court  decides,  and  in  the  last  resort,  on  all  the  great  ques- 
tions which  arise  under  our  constitution,  involving  those  between  the 
United  States  individually,  between  the  states  and  the  United  States,  and 
between  the  latter  and  foreign  powers,  too  high  an  estimate  of  their  impor- 
tance can  not  be  formed.  The  great  interests  of  the  nation  seem  to  re- 
quire that  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  should  be  exempt  from  every 
other  duty  than  those  which  are  incident  to  that  high  trust.  The  organi- 
zation of  the  inferior  courts  would  of  course  be  adapted  to  circumstances. 
It  is  presumed  that  such  a  one  might  be  formed  as  would  secure  an  able 
and  faithful  discharge  of  their  duties,  and  without  any  material  augmenta- 
tion of  expense. 

The  condition  of  the  aborigines  within  our  limits,  and  especially  those 
who  are  within  the  limits  of  any  of  the  states,  merits,  likewise,  particular 
attention.  Experience  has  shown,  that  unless  the  tribes  be  civilized  they 
can  never  be  incorporated  into  our  system  in  any  form  whatever.  It  has 
likewise  shown,  that  in  the  regular  augmentation  of  our  population,  with 
the  extension  of  our  settlements,  their  situation  will  become  deplorable  if 
their  extinction  is  not  menaced.  Some  well-digested  plan,  which  wJI 
rescue  them  from  such  calamities,  is  due  to  their  rights,  to  the  rights  of 


MONROE'S    EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  477 

humanity,  and  to  the  honor  of  the  nation.  Their  civilization  is  indis- 
pensable to  their  safety,  and  this  can  be  accomplished  only  by  degrees. 
The  process  must  commence  with  the  infant  state,  through  whom  some 
effect  may  be  wrought  on  the  parental.  Difficulties  of  the  most  serious 
character  present  themselves  to  the  attainment  of  this  very  desirable  re- 
sult, on  the  territory  on  which  they  now  reside.  To  remove  them  from  it 
by  force,  even  .with  a  view  to  their  own  security  and  happiness,  would  be 
revolting  to  humanity,  and  utterly  unjustifiable.  Between  the  limits  of  our 
present  states  and  territories  and  the  Rocky  mountains  and  Mexico,  there 
is  a  vast  territory  to  which  they  might  be  invited,  with  inducements  which 
might  be  successful.  It  is  thought  that  if  that  territory  should  be  divided 
into  districts,  by  previous  agreement  with  the  tribes  now  residing  there, 
and  civil  governments  be  established  in  each,  with  schools  for  every 
branch  of  instruction  in  literature  and  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  that  all 
the  tribes  now  within  our  limits  might  gradually  be  drawn  there.  The 
execution  of  this  plan  would  necessarily  be  attended  with  expense,  and 
that,  not  inconsiderable  ;  but  it  is  doubted  whether  any  other  can  be 
devised  which  would  be  less  liable  to  that  objection,  or  more  likely  to 
succeed. 

In  looking  to  the  interests  which  the  United  States  have  on  the  Pacific 
ocean,  and  on  the  western  coast  of  this  continent,  the  propriety  of  estab- 
lishing a  military  post  at  the  mouth  of  Columbia  river,  or  at  some  other 
point  in  that  quarter,  within  our  acknowledged  limits,  is  submitted  to  the 
consideration  of  Congress.  Our  commerce  and  fisheries  on  that  sea.  and 
along  the  coast,  have  much  increased,  and  are  increasing.  It  is  thought 
that  a  military  post,  to  which  our  ships-of-war  might  resort,  would  afford 
protection  to  every  interest,  and  have  a  tendency  to  conciliate  the  tribes  to 
the  northwest,  with  whom  our  trade  is  extensive.  It  is  thought,  also,  that 
by  the  establishment  of  such  a  post,  the  intercourse  between  our  western 
states  and  territories  and  the  Pacific,  and  our  trade  with  the  tribes  residing 
in  the  interior,  on  each  side  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  would  be  essentially 
promoted.  To  carry  this  object  into  effect,  the  appropriation  of  an  ade- 
quate sum  to  authorize  the  employment  of  a  frigate,  with  an  officer  of  the 
corps  of  engineers,  to  explore  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river,  and  the  coast 
contiguous  thereto,  to  enable  the  executive  to  make  such  establishment  at 
the  most  suitable  point,  is  recommended  to  Congress. 

It  is  thought  that  attention  is  also  due  to  the  improvement  of  this  city. 
The  communication  between  the  public  buildings,  and  in  various  other 
parts,  and  the  grounds  around  those  buildings,  require  it.  It  is  presumed, 
also,  that  the  completion  of  the  canal  from  the  Tiber  to  the  eastern  branch 
would  have  a  very  salutary  effect.  Great  exertions  have  been  made,  and 
expenses  incurred,  by  the  citizens,  in  improvements  of  various  kiiuls  ;  but 
those  which  are  suggested  belong  exclusively  to  the  government,  or  are 
of  a  nature  to  require  expenditures  beyond  their  resources.  The  public 
lots  which  are  still  for  sale,  would,  it  is  not  doubted,  be  more  than  ade- 
quate to  these  purposes. 

From  the  view  above  presented,  it  is  manifest  that  the  situation  of  the 
United  States  is  in  the  highest  degree  prosperous  and  happy.  There  is  no 
object  which,  as  a  people,  we  can  desire,  which  we  do  not  possess  or  which 
is  not  within  our  reach.  Blessed  with  governments  the  happiest  which 
the  world  ever  knew,  with  no  distinct  orders  in  society  or  divided  interests 
in  any  portion  of  the  vast  territory  over  which  their  dominion  extends,  we 
have  every  motive  to  cling  together  which  can  animate  a  virtuous  and  eu- 


478  MONROE'S  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

lightened  people.  The  great  object  is  to  preserve  those  blessings,  and  to 
hand  them  down  to  our  latest  posterity.  Our  experience  ought  to  satisfy 
us,  that  our  progress,  under  the  most  correct  and  provident  policy,  will  not 
be  exempt  from  danger.  Our  institutions  form  an  important  epoch  in  the 
history  of  the  civilized  world.  On  their  preservation,  and  in  their  utmost 
purity,  everything  will  depend.  Extending  as  our  interests  do  to  every 
part  of  the  inhabited  globe,  and  to  every  sea  to  which  our  citizens  are  car- 
ried by  their  industry  and  enterprise,  to  which  they  are  invited  by  the 
wants  of  others,  and  have  a  right  to  go,  we  must  either  protect  them  in 
the  enjoyment  of  their  rights  or  abandon  them,  in  certain  events,  to  waste 
and  desolation.  Our  attitude  is  highly  interesting  as  relates  to  other  pow- 
ers, and  particularly  to  our  southern  neighbors.  We  have  duties  to  per- 
form, with  respect  to  all,  to  which  we  must  be  faithful.  To  every  kind  of 
danger  we  should  pay  the  most  vigilant  and  unceasing  attention  ;  remove 
the  cause  where  it  may  be  practicable,  and  be  prepared  to  meet  it  when 
inevitable. 

Against  foreign  danger,  the  policy  of  the  government  seems  to  be  al- 
ready settled.  The  events  of  the  late  war  admonished  us  to  make  our 
maritime  frontier  impregnable  by  a  well-digested  chain  of  fortifications, 
and  to  give  efficient  protection  to  our  commerce  by  augmenting  our  navy 
to  a  certain  extent,  which  has  been  steadily  pursued,  and  which  it  is  in- 
cumbent upon  us  to  complete  as  soon  as  circumstances  will  permit.  In 
the  event  of  war,  it  is  on  the  maritime  frontier  that  we  shall  be  assailed. 
It  is  in  that  quarter,  therefore,  that  we  should  be  prepared  to  meet  the  at- 
tack. It  is  there  that  our  whole  force  will  be  called  into  action  to  pre- 
vent the  destruction  of  our  towns,  and  the  desolation  and  pillage  of  the 
interior.  To  give  full  effect  to  this  policy,  great  improvements  will  be 
indispensable.  Access  to  those  works,  by  every  practicable  communica- 
tion, should  be  made  easy,  and  in  every  direction.  The  intercourse,  also, 
between  every  part  of  our  Union,  should  be  promoted  and  facilitated  by 
the  exercise  of  those  powers  which  may  comport  with  a  faithful  regard  to 
the  great  principles  of  our  constitution.  With  respect  to  internal  causes, 
these  great  principles  point  out  with  equal  certainty  the  policy  to  be  pur- 
sued. Resting  on  the  people,  as  our  governments  do,  state  and  national, 
with  well-defined  powers,  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  they  sever- 
ally keep  within  the  limits  prescribed  to  them.  Fulfilling  that,  sacred 
duty,  it  is  of  equal  importance  that  the  movement  between  them  be  har- 
monious, and  in  case  of  any  disagreement,  should  any  such  occur,  a  calm 
appeal  be  made  to  the  people  ;  and  their  voice  be  heard  and  promptly 
obeyed.  But  governments  being  instituted  for  the  common  good,  we  can 
not  fail  to  prosper  while  those  who  made  them  are  attentive  to  the  con- 
duct of  their  representatives  and  control  their  measures.  In  the  pursuit 
of  those  great  objects,  let  a  generous  spirit  and  national  news  and  feel- 
ings be  indulged  ;  and  let  every  part  recollect  that,  by  cherishing  that 
spirit  and  improving  the  condition  of  the  others  in  what  relates  to  their 
welfare,  the  general  interest  will  not  only  be  promoted,  but  the  local  ad- 
vantages be  reciprocated. 

I  can  not  conclude  this  communication,  the  last  of  the  kind  which  1  shall 
have  to  make,  without  recollecting,  with  great  sensibility  and  heartfelt 
gratitude,  the  many  instances  of  the  public  confidence  and  the  generous 
support  which  I  have  received  from  my  fellow-citizens  in  the  various  trusts 
with  which  I  have  been  honored.  Having  commenced  my  service  in 
early  youth,  and  continued  it  since  with  few  and  short  intervals,  I  have 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  479 

witnessed  the  great  difficulties  to  which  our  Union  has  been  exposed,  and 
admired  the  virtue  and  courage  with  which  they  were  surmounted.  From 
the  present  prosperous  and  happy  state  I  derive  a  gratification  which  I  can 
not  express.  That  these  blessings  may  be  preserved  and  perpetuated, 
will  be  the  object  of  my  fervent  and  unceasing  prayers  to  the  Supreme 
Ruler  of  the  universe. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

JANUARY   13,   1818. 

To  (he  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  HAVE  the  satisfaction  to  inform  Congress,  that  the  establishment  at 
Amelia  island  has  been  suppressed,  and  without  the  effusion  of  blood. 
The  papers  which  explain  this  transaction,  I  now  lay  before  Congress. 

By  the  suppression  of  this  establishment,  and  that  of  Galvestown,  which 
will  soon  follow,  if  it  has  not  already  ceased  to  exist,  there  is  good  cause 
to  believe  that  the  consummation  of  a  project  fraught  with  much  injury  to 
the  United  States  has  been  prevented. 

When  we  consider  the  persons  engaged  in  it,  being  adventurers  from 
different  countries,  with  very  few,  if  any,  of  the  native  inhabitants  of  the 
Spanish  colonies,  the  territory  on  which  the  establishments  were  made — 
one  on  a  portion  of  that  claimed  by  the  United  States,  westward  of  the 
Mississippi,  the  other  on  a  part  of  East  Florida,  a  province  in  negotiation 
between  the  United  States  and  Spain — the  claim  of  their  leader,  as  an- 
nounced by  his  proclamation  on  taking  possession  of  Amelia  island,  com- 
prising the  whole  of  both  the  Floridas,  without  excepting  that  part  of  West 
Florida  which  is  incorporated  with  the  state  of  Louisiana ;  their  conduct 
while  in  the  possession  of  the  island,  making  it  instrumental  to  every  spe- 
cies of  contraband,  and  in  regard  to  slaves,  of  the  most  odious  and  danger- 
ous character ;  it  may  fairly  be  concluded,  that,  if  the  enterprise  had  suc- 
ceeded on  the  scale  on  which  it  was  formed,  much  annoyance  and  injury 
\*'ould  have  resulted  from  it  to  the  United  States. 

Other  circumstances  were  thought  to  be  no  less  deserving  of  attention. 
The  institution  of  a  government  by  foreign  adventurers  in  the  island,  dis- 
tinct from  the  colonial  governments  of  Buenos  Ayres,  Venezuela,  or  Mex- 
ico, pretending  to  sovereignty,  and  exercising  its  highest  offices,  particu- 
larly in  granting  commissions  to  privateers,  were  acts  which  could  not  fail 
to  draw  after  them  the  most  serious  consequences.  It  was  the  duty  of  the 
executive,  either  to  extend  to  this  establishment  all  the  advantages  of  that 
neutrality  which  the  United  States  had  proclaimed,  and  have  observed  in 
favor  of  the  colonies  of  Spain,  who,  by  the  strength  of  their  own  popula- 
tion and  resources,  had  declared  their  independence,  and  wore  affording 
strong  proof  of  their  ability  to  maintain  it,  or  of  making  the  discrimination 
which  circumstances  require. 

Had  the  first  course  been  pursued,  we  should  not  only  have  sanctioned 
all  the  unlawful  claims  and  practices  of  this  pretended  government  in  re- 
gard to  the  United  States,  but  countenanced  a  system  of  privateering  in 
the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  elsewhere,  the  ill  effects  of  which  might,  and 
probably  would,  have  been  deeply  and  very  extensively  felt. 


480  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

The  path  of  duty  was  plain  from  the  commencement,  but  it  was  painful 
to  enter  upon  it  while  the  obligation  could  be  resisted.  The  law  of  1811, 
lately  published,  and  which  it  is  therefore  proper  now  to  mention,  was 
considered  applicable  to  the  case,  from  the  moment  that  the  proclamation 
of  the  chief  of  the  enterprise  was  seen,  and  its  obligation  was  daily  in- 
creased by  other  considerations  of  high  importance  already  mentioned, 
which  were  deemed  sufficiently  strong  in  themselves  to  dictate  the  course 
which  has  been  pursued. 

Early  intimations  having  been  received  of  the  dangerous  purposes  of 
these  adventurers,  timely  precautions  were  taken  by  the  establishment  of 
a  force  near  the  St.  Mary's,  to  prevent  their  effect,  or  it  is  probable  that  it 
would  have  been  more  sensibly  felt. 

To  such  establishments,  made  so  near  to  our  settlements,  in  the  expecta- 
tion of  deriving  aid  from  them,  it  is  particularly  gratifying  to  find,  that  very 
little  encouragement  was  given.  The  example  so  conspicuously  displayed 
by  our  fellow-citizens,  that  their  sympathies  can  not  be  perverted  to  im- 
proper purposes,  but  that  a  love  of  country,  the  influence  of  moral  princi- 
ples, and  a  respect  for  the  laws,  are  predominant  with  them,  is  a  sure 
pledge,  that  all  the  very  flattering  anticipations  which  have  been  formed  of 
the  success  of  our  institutions  will  be  realized.  This  example  has  proved, 
that  if  our  relations  with  foreign  powers  are  to  be  changed,  it  must  be 
done  by  the  constituted  authorities,  who  alone,  acting  on  a  high  responsi- 
bility, are  competent  to  the  purpose  ;  and  until  such  change  is  thus  made, 
that  our  fellow-citizens  will  respect  the  existing  relations  by  a  faithful  ad- 
herence to  the  laws  which  secure  them. 

Believing  that  this  enterprise,  though  undertaken  by  persons  some  of 
whom  may  have  held  commissions  from  some  of  the  colonies,  was  unau- 
thorized by,  and  unknown  to,  the  colonial  governments,  full  confidence  is 
entertained,  that  it  will  be  disclaimed  by  them,  and  that  effectual  measures 
will  be  taken  to  prevent  the  abuse  of  their  authority  in  all  cases  to  the  in- 
jury of  the  United  States. 

For  these  injuries,  especially  those  proceeding  from  Amelia  island,  Spain 
would  be  responsible,  if  it  was  not  manifest  that,  although  committed  in 
the  latter  instance  through  her  territory,  she  was  utterly  unable  to  prevent 
them.  Her  territory,  however,  ought  not  to  be  made  instrumental,  through 
her  inability  to  defend  it,  to  purposes  so  injurious  to  the  United  States. 
To  a  country  over  which  she  fails  to  maintain  her  authority,  and  which 
she  permits  to  be  converted  to  the  annoyance  of  her  neighbors,  her  juris- 
diction for  the  time  necessarily  ceases  to  exist.  The  territory  of  Spain 
will  nevertheless  be  respected,  so  far  as  it  may  be  done  consistently  with 
the  essential  interests  and  safety  of  the  United  States.  In  expelling  these 
adventurers  from  these  posts,  it  was  not  intended  to  make  any  conquest 
from  Spain,  or  to  injure  in  any  degree  the  cause  of  the  colonies.  Care 
will  be  taken,  tha,t  no  part  of  the  territory  contemplated  by  the  law  of  1811 
shall  be  occupied  by  a  foreign  government  of  any  kind,  or  that  injuries,  of 
the  nature  of  those  complained  of,  shall  be  repeated ;  but  this,  it  is  ex- 
pected, will  be  provided  for,  with  every  other  interest,  in  a  spirit  of  amity, 
in  the  negotiation  now  depending  with  the  government  of  Spain. 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  481 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  17,  1819. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: — 

SOME  doubt  being  entertained  respecting  the  true  intent  and  meaning 
of  the  act  of  the  last  session,  entitled,  "  An  act  in  addition  to  the  acts  pro- 
hibiting the  slave-trade,"  as  to  the  duties  of  the  agents  to  be  appointed  on 
the  coast  of  Africa,  I  think  it  proper  to  state  the  interpretation  which  has 
been  given  of  the  act,  and  the  measures  adopted  to  carry  it  into  effect,  that 
Congress  may,  should  it  be  deemed  advisable,  amend  the  same,  before 
further  proceedings  are  had  under  it. 

The  obligation  to  instruct  the  commanders  of  all  our  armed  vessels  to 
seize  and  bring  into  port  all  ships  or  vessels  of  the  United  States,  where- 
soever found,  having  on  board  any  negro,  mulatto,  or  person  of  color,  in 
violation  of  former  acts  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  being  im- 
perative, was  executed  without  delay.  No  seizures  have  yet  been  made  ; 
but,  as  they  were  contemplated  by  the  law,  and  might  be  presumed,  if 
seemed  proper  to  make  the  necessary  regulations  applicable  to  such  sei 
zures  for  carrying  the  several  provisions  of  the  act  into  effect. 

It  is  enjoined  on  the  executive  to  cause  all  negroes,  mulattoes,  or  per 
sons  of  color,  who  may  be  taken  under  the  act,  to  be  removed  to  Africa. 
It  is  the  obvious  import  of  the  law,  that  none  of  the  persons  thus  taken 
should  remain  within  the  United  States  ;  and  no  place  other  than  the  coast 
of  Africa  being  designated,  their  removal  or  delivery,  whether  carried  from 
the  United  States,  or  landed  immediately  from  the  vessels  in  which  they 
were  taken,  was  supposed  to  be  confined  to  the  coast.  No  settlement  or 
station  being  specified,  the  whole  coast  was  thought  to  be  left  open  for  the 
selection  of  a  proper  place,  at  which  the  persons  thus  taken  should  be  de- 
livered. The  .executive  is  authorized  to  appoint  one  or  more  agents,  re- 
siding there,  to  receive  such  persons  ;  and  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
are  appropriated  for  the  general  purposes  of  the  law. 

On  due  consideration  of  the  several  sections  of  the  act,  and  of  its  hu- 
mane policy,  it  was  supposed  to  be  the  intention  of  Congress,  that  all  the 
persons  above  described,  who  might  be  taken  under  it,  and  landed  in  Afri- 
ca, should  be  aided  in  their  return  to  their  former  homes,  or  in  their  estab- 
lishment at  or  near  the  place  where  landed.  Some  shelter  and  food  would 
be  necessary  for  them  there,  as  soon  as  landed,  let  their  subsequent  dispo- 
sition be  what  it  might.  Should  they  be  landed  without  such  provision 
having  been  previously  made,  they  might  perish. 

It  was  supposed,  by  the  authority  given  to  the  executive  to  appoint 
agents  residing  on  the  coast,  that  they  should  provide  such  shelter  and 
food,  and  perform  the  other  beneficent  and  charitable  offices  contemplated  by 
the  act.  The  coast  of  Africa  having  been  little  explored,  and  no  persons 
residing  there,  who  possessed  the  requisite  qualifications  to  entitle  them 
to  the  trust,  being  known  to  the  executive,  to  none  such  could  it  be  com- 
mitted. It  was  believed  that  citizens  only,  who  would  go  hence,  well  in- 
structed in  the  views  of  the  government,  and  zealous  to  give  them  effect, 
would  be  competent  to  these  duties,  and  that  it  was  not  the  intention  of 
the  law  to  preclude  their  appointment.  It  was  obvious,  that  the  longer 
nese  persons  should  be  detained  in  the  United  States  in  the  hands  of  the 
marshals,  the  greater  would  be  the  expense,  and  that  for  the  same  term 

VOL.  I.— 31 


482  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

would  the  main  purpose  of  the  law  be  suspended.  It  seemed,  therefore, 
to  be  incumbent  on  me  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for  carrying 
this  act  into  effect  in  Africa,  in  time  to  meet  the  delivery  of  any  persons 
who  might  be  taken  by  the  public  vessels  and  landed  there  under  it. 

On  this  view  of  the  policy  and  sanctions  of  the  law,  it  has  been  decided 
to  send  a  public  ship  to  the  coast  of  Africa  with  two  such  agents,  who 
will  take  with  them  tools  and  other  implements,  necessary  for  the  purpo- 
ses above  mentioned.  To  each  of  these  agents  a  small  salary  has  been 
allowed — fifteen  hundred  dollars  to  the  principal,  and  twelve  hundred  to 
the  other. 

All  our  public  agents  on  the  coast  of  Africa  receive  salaries  for  their 
services,  and  it  was  understood  that  none  of  our  citizens,  possessing  the 
requisite  qualifications,  would  accept  these  trusts,  by  which  they  would  be 
confined  to  parts  the  least  frequented  and  civilized,  without  a  reasonable 
compensation.  Such  allowance,  therefore,  seemed  to  be  indispensable  to 
the  execution  of  the  act.  It  is  intended,  also,  to  subject  a  portion  of  the 
sum  appropriated  to  the  order  of  the  principal  agent,  for  the  special  objects 
above  stated,  amounting  in  the  whole,  including  the  salaries  of  the  agent 
for  one  year,  to  rather  less  than  one  third  of  the  appropriation.  Special 
instructions  will  be  given  to  these  agents,  defining,  in  precise  terms,  their 
duties,  in  regard  to  the  persons  thus  delivered  to  them,  the  disbursement 
of  the  money  by  the  principal  agent,  and  his  accountability  for  the  same. 
They  will  also  have  power  to  select  the  most  suitable  place,  on  the  coast 
of  Africa,  at  which  all  persons  who  may  be  taken  under  this  act  shall  be 
delivered  to  them,  with  an  express  injunction  to  exercise  no  power  founded 
on  the  principle  of  colonization,  or  other  power  than  that  of  performing  the 
benevolent  offices  above  recited,  by  the  permission  and  sanction  of  the 
existing  government  under  which  they  may  establish  themselves.  Orders 
will  be  given  to  the  commander  of  the  public  ship  in  which  they  will  sail, 
to  cruise  along  the  coast,  to  give  the  more  complete  effect  to  the  principal 
object  of  the  act. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  25,  1822. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

UNDER  the  appropriation  made  by  the  act  of  Congress  of  the  llth  of 
April,  1820,  for  holding  treaties  with  the  Creek  and  Cherokee  nations  of 
Indians,  for  the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title  to  lands  within  the  state 
of  Georgia,  pursuant  to  the  fourth  condition  of  the  first  article  of  the  arti- 
cles of  agreement  and  cession,  concluded  between  the  United  States  and 
the  state  of  Georgia,  on  the  24th  day  of  April,  1802,  a  treaty  was  held 
with  the  Creek  nation,  the  expense  of  which,  upon  the  settlement  of  the 
accounts  of  the  commissioners  who  were  appointed  to  conduct  the  negoti- 
ation, was  ascertained  to  amount  to  the  sum  of  twenty-four  thousand  six 
hundred  and  ninety-five  dollars,  leaving  an  unexpended  balance  of  the  sum 
appropriated  of  five  thousand  three  hundred  and  five  dollars ;  a  sum  too 
small  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  Cherokees,  as  was  contemplated  by  the 
act  making  the  appropriation. 

The  legislature  of  Georgia  being  still  desirous  that  a  treaty  should  be 
held  for  further  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title  to  lands  within  that 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  483 

state,  and  to  obtain  an  indemnity  to  the  citizens  of  that  state  for  property 
if  considerable  value,  which  has  been  taken  from  them  by  the  Cherokee 
Indians,  I  submit  the  subject  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  that  a  fur- 
ther sum,  which,  in  addition  to  the  balance  of  the  former  appropriation, 
will  be  adequate  to  the  expenses  attending  a  treaty  with  them,  may  be  ap- 
propriated, should  Congress  deem  it  expedient. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  8,  1822. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

IN  transmitting  to  the  house  of  representatives  the  documents  called  for 
by  the  resolution  of  that  house  of  the  30th  of  January,  I  consider  it  my 
duty  to  invite  the  attention  of  Congress  to  a  very  important  subject,  and 
to  communicate  the  sentiments  of  the  executive  on  it,  that,  should  Con- 
gress entertain  similar  sentiments,  there  may  be  such  co-operation  be- 
tween the  two"  departments  of  the  government  as  their  respective  rights 
and  duties  may  require. 

The  revolutionary  movement  in  the  Spanish  provinces  in  this  hemisphere, 
attracted  the  attention  and  excited  the  sympathy  of  our  fellow-citizens  from 
its  commencement.  This  feeling  was  natural  and  honorable  to  them,  from 
causes  which  need  not  be  communicated  to  you.  It  has  been  gratifying 
to  all  to  see  the  general  acquiescence  which  has  been  manifested  in  the 
policy  which  the  constituted  authorities  have  deemed  it  proper  to  pursue 
in  regard  to  this  contest.  As  soon  as  the  movement  assumed  such  a 
steady  and  consistent  form  as  to  make  the  success  of  the  provinces  proba- 
ble, the  rights  to  which  they  were  entitled  by  the  law  of  nations,  as  equal 
parties  to  a  civil  war,  were  extended  to  them.  Each  party  was  permitted 
to  enter  our  ports  with  its  public  and  private  ships,  and  to  take  from  them 
every  article  which  was  the  subject  of  commerce  with  other  nations.  Our 
citizens,  also,  have  carried  on  commerce  with  both  parties,  and  the  gov^ 
ernment  has  protected  it,  with  each,  in  articles  not  contraband  of  war. 
Through  the  whole  of  this  contest  the  United  States  have  remained  nem 
tral,  and  have  fulfilled  with  the  utmost  impartiality  all  the  obligations  in- 
cident to  that  character. 

This  contest  has  now  reached  such  a  stage,  and  been  attended  with 
such  decisive  success  on  the  part  of  the  provinces,  that  it  merits  the  most 
profound  consideration  whether  their  right  to  the  rank  of  independent  na- 
tions, with  all  the  advantages  incident  to  it,  in  their  intercourse  with  the 
United  States,  is  not  complete.  Buenos  Ayres  assumed  that  rank  by  a  for- 
mal declaration  in  1816,  and  has  enjoyed  it  since  1810,  free  from  invasion 
by  the  parent-country.  The  provinces  composing  the  republic  of  Colom- 
bia, after  having  separately  declared  their  independence,  were  united  by  a 
fundamental  law  of  the  17th  of- December,  1819.  A  strong  Spanish  force 
occupied  at  that  time  certain  parts  of  the  territory  within  their  limits,  and 
waged  a  destructive  war.  That  force  has  since  been  repeatedly  defeated, 
and  the  whole  of  it  either  made  prisoners  or  destroyed,  or  expelled  from 
the  coumry,  with  the  exception  of  an  inconsiderable  portion  only,  which  is 
blockaded  by  two  fortresses.  The  provinces  on  the  Pacific  have  likewise 
been  very  successful.  Chili  declared  independence  in  1818,  and  has 


484  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

since  enjoyed  it  undisturbed ;  and  of  late,  by  the  assistance  of  Chili  and 
Buenos  Ayres,  the  revolution  has  extended  to  Peru.  Of  the  movement  of 
Mexico  our  information  is  less  authentic,  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  distinctly 
understood,  that  the  new  government  has  declared  its  independence,  and 
that  there  is  now  no  opposition  to  it  there,  nor  a  force  to  make  any.  For 
the  last  three  years  the  government  of  Spain  has  not  sent  a  single  corps 
of  troops  to  any  part  of  that  country  ;  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  believe 
it  will  send  any  in  future.  Thus,  it  is  manifest  that  all  those  provinces 
are  not  only  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  independence,  but,  considering 
the  state  of  the  war  and  other  circumstances,  that  there  is  not  the  most  re- 
mote prospect  of  their  being  deprived  of  it. 

When  the  result  of  such  a  contest  is  manifestly  settled,  the  new  gov- 
ernments have  a  claim  to  recognition  by  other  powers  which  ought  not  to 
be  resisted.  Civil  wars  too  often  excite  feelings  which  the  parties  can 
not  control.  The  opinion  entertained  by  other  powers  as  to  the  result, 
may  assuage  those  feelings,  and  promote  an  accommodation  between  them, 
useful  and  honorable  to  both.  The  delay  which  has  been  observed  in 
making  a  decision  on  this  important  subject,  will,  it  is  presumed,  have 
afforded  an  unequivocal  proof  to  Spain,  as  it  must  have  done  to  other  pow- 
ers, of  the  high  respect  entertained  by  the  United  States  for  her  rights, 
and  of  their  determination  not  to  interfere  with  them.  The  provinces  be- 
longing to  this  hemisphere  are  our  neighbors,  and  have,  successively,  as 
each  portion  of  the  country  acquired  its  independence,  pressed  their  re- 
cognition by  an  appeal  to  facts  not  to  be  contested,  and  which  they 
thought  gave  them  a  just  title  to  it.  To  motives  of  interest,  this  govern- 
ment has  invariably  disclaimed  all  pretension,  being  resolved  to  take  no 
part  in  the  controversy,  or  other  measure  in  regard  to  it,  which  should  not 
merit  the  sanction  of  the  civilized  world.  To  other  claims  a  just  sensi- 
bility has  been  always  felt  and  frankly  acknowledged,  but  they,  in  them- 
selves, could  never  become  an  adequate  cause  of  action.  It  was  incum- 
bent on  this  government  to  look  to  every  important  fact  and  circumstance 
on  which  a  sound  opinion  could  be  formed,  which  has  been  done.  When 
we  regard,  then,  the  great  length  of  time  which  this  war  has  been  prose- 
cuted, the  complete  success  which  has  attended  it  in  favor  of  the  prov- 
inces, the  present  condition  of  the  parties,  and  the  utter  inability  of  Spain 
to  produce  any  change  in  it,  we  are  compelled  to  conclude  that  its  fate  is 
settled,  and  that  the  provinces  which  have  declared  their  independence, 
and  are  in  the  enjoyment  of  it,  ought  to  be  recognised. 

Of  the  views  of -the  Spanish  government  on  this  subject,  no  particular 
information  has  been  recently  received.  It  may  be  presumed  that  the  suc- 
cessful progress  of  the  revolution,  through  such  a  long  series  of  years, 
gaining  strength  and  extending  annually  in  every  direction,  and  embracing 
by  the  late  important  events,  with  little  exception,  all  the  dominions  of 
Spain,  south  of  the  United  States,  on  this  continent,  placing  thereby  the 
complete  sovereignty  over  the  whole  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  will 
reconcile  the  parent-country  to  an  accommodation  with  them  on  the  basis 
of  their  unqualified  independence.  Nor  has  any  authentic  information 
been  recently  received  of  the  disposition  of  other  powers  respecting  it.  A 
sincere  desire  has  been  cherished  to  act  in  concert  with  them  in  the  pro- 
posed recognition,  of  which  several  were  sometime  past  duly  apprized  ; 
but  it  was  understood  that  they  were  not  prepared  for  it.  The  immense 
space  between  those  powers,  even  those  which  border  on  the  Atlantic,  ann 
these  provinces,  make  the  movement  an  affair  of  less  interest  and  excite- 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  485 

ment  to  them,  than  to  us.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  they  have  been 
less  attentive  to  its  progress  than  we  have  been.  It  may  be  presumed, 
however,  that  the  late  events  will  dispel  all  doubt  of  the  result. 

In  proposing  this  measure,  it  is  not  contemplated  to  change  thereby,  in 
the  slightest  manner,  our  friendly  relations  with  either  of  the  parties,  but 
to  observe  in  all  respects,  as  heretofore,  should  the  war  be  continued,  the 
most  perfect  neutrality  between  them.  Of  this  friendly  disposition,  an 
assurance  will  be  given  to  the  government  of  Spain,  to  whom  it  is  pre- 
sumed it  will  be,  as  it  ought  to  be,  satisfactory.  The  measure  is  proposed 
under  a  thorough  conviction  that  it  is  in  strict  accord  with  the  law  of  na- 
tions ;  that  it  is  just  and  right  as  to  the  parties  ;  and  that  the  United  States 
owe  it  to  their  station  and  character  in  the  world,  as  well  as  to  their  essen- 
tial interests,  to  adopt  it.  Should  Congress  concur  in  the  view  herein 
presented,  they  will  doubtless  see  the  propriety  of  making  the  necessary 
appropriations  for  carrying  it  into  effect. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  26,  1822. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

CONGRESS  having  suspended  the  appropriation,  at  the  last  session,  for 
the  fortification  at  Dauphin  island,  in  consequence  of  a  doubt  which  was 
entertained  of  the  propriety  of  that  position,  the  further  prosecution  of  the 
work  was  suspended,  and  an  order  given,  as  intimated  in  the  message  of 
the  3d  of  December,  to  the  board  of  engineers  and  naval  commissioners, 
to  re-examine  that  part  of  the  coast,  and  particularly  that  position,  as  also 
the  position  at  Mobile  point,  with  which  it  is  connected,  and  to  report 
their  opinion  thereon,  which  has  been  done,  and  which  report  is  herewith 
communicated. 

By  this  report  it  appears  to  be  still  the  opinion  of  the  board,  that  the 
construction  of  works  at  both  these  positions  is  of  great  importance  to  the 
defence  of  New  Orleans,  and  of  all  that  portion  of  our  Union  which  is 
connected  with,  and  dependent  on,  the  Mississippi,  and  on  the  other  wa- 
ters which  empty  into  the  gulf  of^  Mexico,  between  that  river  and  Cape 
Florida.  That  the  subject  may  be  fully  before  Congress,  I  transmit,  also, 
a  copy  of  the  former  report  of  the  board,  being  that  on  which  the  work 
was  undertaken,  and  has  been  in  part  executed.  Approving  as  I  do  the 
opinion  of  the  board,  I  consider  it  my  duty  to  state  the  reasons  on  which 
I  adopted  the  first  report,  especially  as  they  were  in  part  suggested  by  the 
occurrences  of  the  late  war. 

The  policy  which  induced  Congress  to  decide  on  and  provide  for  the 
defence  of  the  coast,  immediately  after  the  war,  was  founded  on  the 
marked  events  of  that  interesting  epoch.  The  vast  body  of  men  which  it 
was  found  necessary  to  call  into  the  field,  through  the  whole  extent  of  our 
maritime  frontier,  and  the  number  who  perished  by  exposure,  with  the 
immense  expenditure  of  money  and  waste  of  property  which  followed, 
were  to  be  traced  in  an  eminent  degree  to  the  defenceless  condition  of 
•he  coast.  It  was  to  mitigate  these  evils  in  future  wars,  and  even  for  the 
iiigher  purpose  of  preventing  war  itself,  that  the  decision  was  formed  to 
make  the  coast,  so  far  as  it  might  be  practicable,  impregnable,  and  that  the 


486  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

i 

measures  necessary  to  that  great  object  have  been  pursued  with  so  much 
zeal  since. 

It  is  known  that  no  part  of  our  Union  is  more  exposed  to  invasion  by 
the  numerous  avenues  leading  to  it,  or  more  defenceless  by  the  thinness 
of  the  neighboring  population,  or  offers  a  greater  temptation  to  invasion, 
either  as  a  permanent  acquisition  or  as  a  prize  to  the  cupidity  of  grasping 
invaders,  from  the  immense  amount  of  produce  deposited  there,  than  the 
city  of  New  Orleans.  It  is  known,  also,  that  the  seizure  of  no  part  of 
our  Union  could  affect  so  deeply  and  vitally  the  immediate  interests  of  so 
many  states,  and  of  so  many  of  our  fellow-citizens,  comprising  all  that 
extensive  territory  and  numerous  population  which  are  connected  with, 
and  dependent  on,  the  Mississippi,  as  the  seizure  of  that  city.  Strong 
works,  well  posted,  were  therefore  deemed  absolutely  necessary  for  its 
protection. 

It  is  not,  however,  by  the  Mississippi  only,  or  the  waters  which  com- 
municate directly  with,  or  approach  nearest  to,  New  Orleans,  that  the  town 
is  assailable.  It  will  be  recollected  that,  in  the  late  war,  the  public  solici- 
tude was  excited,  not  so  much  by  the  danger  which  menaced  it  in  those 
directions,  as  by  the  apprehension  that,  while  a  feint  might  be  made  there, 
the  main  force,  landing  either  in  the  bay  of  Mobile,  or  other  waters  be- 
tween that  bay  and  the  Rigolets,  would  be  thrown  above  the  town,  in  the 
rear  of  the  army  which  had  been  collected  there  for  its  defence.  Full 
confidence  was  entertained  that  that  gallant  army,  led  by  the  gallant  and 
able  chief  who  commanded  it,  would  repel  any  attack  to  which  it  might  be 
exposed  in  front.  But  had  such  a  force  been  thrown  above,  the  town,  and 
a  position  taken  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  the  disadvantage  to  which  our 
troops  would  have  been  subjected,  attacked  in  front  and  rear  as  they  might 
have  been,  may  easily  be  conceived.  As  their  supplies  would  have  been 
cut  off,  they  could  not  long  have  remained  in  the  city,  and  withdrawing 
from  it,  it  must  have  fallen  immediately  into  the  hands  of  the  force  below. 
In  ascending  the  river,  to  attack  the  force  above,  the  attack  must  have 
been  made  to  great  disadvantage,  since  it  must  have  been  on  such  ground, 
and  at  such  a  time,  as  the  enemy  preferred.  These  considerations  show 
that  defences,  other  than  such  as  are  immediately  connected  with  the  city, 
are  of  great  importance  to  its  safety. 

An  attempt  to  seize  New  Orleans  and  the  lower  part  of  the  Mississippi, 
will  be  made  only  by  a  great  power,  or  a  combination  of  several  powers, 
with  a  strong  naval  and  land  force,  the  latter  of  which  must  be  brought  in 
transports  which  may  sail  in  shallow  water.  If  the  defences  around  New 
Orleans  are  well  posted,  and  of  sufficient  strength  to  repel  any  attack  which 
may  be  made  on  them,  the  city  can  be  assailed  only  by  a  land  force,  which 
must  pass  in  the  direction  above  suggested,  between  the  Rigolets  and  the 
bay  of  Mobile.  It  becomes,  therefore,  an  object  of  high  importance  lo 
present  such  an  obstacle  to  such  an  attempt  as  would  defeat  it  should  it 
be  made.  Fortifications  are  useful  for  the  defence  of  posts,  to  prevent  the 
approach  to  cities,  and  the  passage  of  rivers ;  but  as  works,  their  effect 
can  not  be  felt  beyond  the  reach  of  their  cannon.  They  are  formidable  in 
other  respects,  by  the  body  of  men  with  them,  which  may  be  removed  and 
applied  to  other  purposes. 

Between  the  Rigolets  and  the  bay  of  Mobile,  there  is  a  chain  of  islands, 
at  the  extremity  of  which  is  Dauphin  island,  which  forms,  with  Mobile 
point,  from  which  it  is  distant  about  three  and  a  quarier  miles,  the  entrance 
into  the  bay  of  Mobile,  which  leads  through  that  part  of  the  state  of  Ala- 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  487 

bama  to  the  towns  of  Mobile  and  Blakeley.  The  distance  between  Dau- 
phin island  and  the  Rigolets  is  ninety  miles.  The  principal  islands  be- 
tween them  are  Massacre,  Horn,  Ship,  and  Cat  islands,  near  to  which 
there  is  an  anchorage  for  large  ships-of-war.  The  first  object  is  to  pre- 
vent the  landing  of  any  force,  for  the  purposes  above  stated,  between  the 
Rigolets  and  the  bay  of  Mobile  ;  the  second,  to  defeat  that  force  in  case  it 
should  be  landed.  When  the  distance  from  one  point  to  the  other  is  con- 
sidered, it  is  believed  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  establish  works  so 
near  to  each  other  as  to  prevent  the  landing  of  such  a  force.  Its  defeat, 
therefore,  should  be  effectually  provided  for.  If  the  arrangement  should 
be  such  as  to  make  that  result  evident,  it  might  be  fairly  concluded  that 
the  attempt  would  not  be  made,  and  thus  we  should  accomplish  in  the  best 
mode  possible,  and  with  the  least  expense,  the  complete  security  of  this 
important  part  of  our  Union,  the  great  object  of  our  system  of  defence  for 
.he  whole. 

There  are  some  other  views  of  this  subject  which  it  is  thought  will  merit 
particular  attention  in  deciding  the  point  in  question.  Not  being  able  to 
establish  a  chain  of  posts,  at  least  for  the  present,  along  the  whole  coast, 
from  the  Rigolets  to  Dauphin  island,  or  on  all  the  islands  between  them, 
at  which  point  shall  we  begin  ?  Should  an  attack  on  the  city  be  antici- 
pated, it  can  not  be  doubted  that  an  adequate  force  would  immediately  be 
ordered  there  for  its  defence.  If  the  enemy  should  despair  of  making  an 
impression  on  the  works  near  the  town,  it  may  be  presumed  that  they 
would  promptly  decide  to  make  the  attempt  in  the  manner,  and  in  the  line 
above  suggested,  between  the  Rigolets  and  the  bay  of  Mobile.  It  will  be 
obvious  that  the  nearer  the  fortification  is  erected  to  the  Rigblets,  with  a 
view  to  this  subject,  should  it  be  on  Cat  or  Ship  island,  for  example,  the 
wider  would  the  passage  be  left  open  between  that  work  and  the  bay  of 
Mobile,  for  such  an  enterprise.  The  main  army  being  drawn  to  New 
Orleans,  would  be  ready  to  meet  such  an  attempt  near  the  Rigolets,  or 
any  other  point  not  distant  from  the  city.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that 
the  enemy,  profiting  of  a  fair  wind,  would  make  his  attempt  at  the  greatest 
distance  compatible  with  his  object  from  that  point,  and  at  the  bay  of 
Mobile,  should  there  not  be  works  there  of  sufficient  strength  to  prevent 
it.  Should,  however,  strong  works  be  erected  there,  such  as  were  suffi- 
cient not  only  for  their  own  defence  against  any  attack  which  might  be 
made  on  them,  but  to  hold  a  force  connected  with  that  which  might  be 
drawn  from  the  neighboring  country,  capable  of  co-operating  with  the 
force  at  the  city,  and  which  would  doubtless  be  ordered  to  those  works  in 
the  event  of  war,  it  would  be  dangerous  for  the  invading  force  to  land  any- 
where between  the  Rigolets  and  the  bay  of  Mobile,  and  to  pass  toward  the 
Mississippi  above  the  city,  lest  such  a  body  might  be  thrown  in  its  rear  as 
to  cut  off*  its  retreat.  These  considerations  show  the  great  advantage  of 
establishing,  at  the  mouth  of  the  bay  of  Mobile,  very  strong  works,  such 
as  would  be  adequate  to  all  the  purposes  suggested. 

If  fortifications  were  necessary  only  to  protect  our  country  and  cities 
against  the  entry  of  large  ships-of-war  into  our  bays  and  rivers,  they  would 
be  of  little  use  for  the  defence  of  New  Orleans,  since  that  city  can  not  be 
approached  so  near,  either  by  the  Mississippi  or  in  any  other  direction,  by 
such  vessels,  for  them  to  make  an  attack  on  it.  In  the  gulf,  within  our 
limits  west  of  Florida,  which  has  been  acquired  since  these  works  were 
decided  on  and  commenced,  there  is  no  bay  or  river  into  which  large  ships- 
of-war  can  enter.  As  a  defence,  therefore,  against  an  attack  from  such 


488  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

vessels,  extensive  works  would  be  altogether  unnecessary,  either  at  Mobile 
point  or  Dauphin  island,  since  sloops-of-war  only  can  navigate  the  deepest 
channel.  But  it  is  not  for  that  purpose  alone  that  these  works  are  intended. 
It  is  to  provide,  also,  against  a  formidable  invasion,  both  by  land  and  sea, 
the  object  of  which  may  be  to  shake  the  foundation  of  our  system.  Should 
such  small  works  be  erected,  and  such  an  invasion  take  place,  they  would 
be  sure  to  fall  at  once  into  the  hands  of  the  invaders,  and  to  be  turned 
against  us. 

Whether  the  acquisition  of  Florida  may  be  considered  as  affording  an 
inducement  to  make  any  change  in  the  position  or  strength  of  these  works, 
is  a  circumstance  which  also  merits  attention.  From  the  view  which  I 
have  taken  of  the  subject,  I  am  of  opinion  that  it  should  not.  The  de- 
fence of  New  Orleans  and  of  the  river  Mississippi,  against  a  powerful 
invasion,  being  one  of  the  great  objects  of  such  extensive  works,  that 
object  would  be  essentially  abandoned  if  they  should  be  established  east- 
ward of  the  bay  of  Mobile,  since  the  force  to  be  collected  in  them  would 
be  placed  at  too  great  a  distance  to  allow  the  co-operation  necessary  for 
those  purposes,  between  it  and  that  at  the  city.  In  addition  to  which,  it 
may  be  observed,  that  by  carrying  them  to  Pensacola,  or  further  to  the 
east,  that  bay  would  fall  immediately,  in  case  of  such  invasion,  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  whereby  such  co-operation  would  be  rendered  utter- 
ly impossible,  and  the  state  of  Alabama  would  also  be  left  wholly  un- 
protected. 

With  a  view  to  such  formidable  invasion,  of  which  we  should  never  lose 
sight,  and  of  the  great  objects  to  which  it  would  be  directed,  I  think  that 
very  strong  works  at  some  point  within  the  gulf  of  Mexico  will  be  found 
indispensable.  I  think,  also,  that  those  works  ought  to  be  established  at 
the  bay  of  Mobile,  one  at  Mobile  point,  and  the  other  on  Dauphin  island, 
whereby  the  enemy  would  be  excluded,  and  the  complete  command  of  that 
bay,  with  all  the  advantages  attending  it,  be  secured  to  ourselves.  In  the 
case  of  such  invasion,  it  will,  it  is  presumed,  be  deemed  necessary  to  col- 
lect, at  some  point  other  than  at  New  Orleans,  a  strong  force,  capable  of 
moving  in  any  direction,  and  affording  aid  to  any  part  which  may  be 
attacked  ;  and,  in  my  judgment,  no  position  presents  so  many  advantages 
as  a  point  of  rendezvous  for  such  force,  as  the  mouth  of  that  bay.  The 
fortification  at  the  Rigolets  will  defend  the  entrance  by  one  passage  into 
Lake  Pontchartrain,  and  also  into  Pearl  river,  which  empties  into  the  gull 
at  that  point.  Between  the  Rigolets  and  Mobile  bay,  there  are  but  two 
inlets  which  deserve  the  name,  those  at  St.  Louis  and  Pascagola,  the 
entrance  into  which  is  too  shallow  even  for  the  smallest  vessels  ;  and  from 
the  Rigolets  to  Mobile  bay,  the  whole  coast  is  equally  shallow,  affording 
the  depth  of  a  few  feet  of  water  only.  Cat  island,  which  is  nearest  the 
Rigolets,  is  about  seven  and  a  half  miles  distant  from  the  coast,  and  thirty 
from  the  Rigolets.  Ship  island  is  distant  about  ten  miles  from  Cat  island, 
and  twelve  from  the  coast.  Between  these  islands  and  the  coast,  the  water 
is  very  shallow. 

As  to  the  precise  depth  of  water,  in  approaching  those  islands  from  the 
sulf,  the  report  of  the  topographical  engineers  not  having  yet  been  re- 
ceived, it  is  impossible  to  speak  with  precision  ;  but  admitting  it  to  be  such 
as  for  frigates,  and  even  ships-of-the-line  to  enter,  the  anchorage  at  both  is 
unsafe,  being  much  exposed  to  northwest  winds.  Along  the  coast,  there- 
fore, there  is  no  motive  for  such  strong  works  on  our  part ;  no  town  to 
guard  ;  no  inlet  into  the  country  to  defend  ;  and,  if  placed  on  the  islands 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  489 

vand  the  entrance  to  them  is  such  as  to  admit  large  ships-of-war),  distant  as 
they  are  from  the  coast,  it  would  be  more  easy  for  the  enemy  to  assail  them 
with  effect. 

The  position,  however,  at  Mobile  bay  is  essentially  different.  That  bay 
takes  its  name  from  Mobile  river,  which  is  formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
Alabama  and  Tombigbee,  which  extend,  each,  about  three  hundred  miles 
into  the  interior,  approaching,  at  their  head  waters,  near  the  Tennessee 
river.  If  the  enemy  possessed  its  mouth,  and  fortified  Mobile  point  and 
Dauphin  island,  being  superior  at  sea,  it  would  be  very  difficult  for  us  to 
dispossess  him  of  either,  even  of  Mobile  point  ;  and  holding  that  position, 
Pensacola  would  soon  fall,  as,  without  incurring  great  expense  in  the  con- 
struction of  works  there,  it  would  present  but  a  feeble  resistance  to  a  strong 
force  in  its  rear.  If  we  had  a  work  at  Mobile  point  only,  the  enemy 
might  take  Dauphin  island,  which  would  afford  him  great  aid  in  attack- 
ing the  point,  and  enable  him,  even  should  we  succeed  in  repelling  the 
attack,  to  render  us  great  mischief  there,  and  throughout  the  whole  gulf. 
In  every  view  which  can  be  taken  of  the  subject,  it  appears  indispensable 
for  us  to  command  the  entrance  into  Mobile  bay ;  and  that  decision  being 
taken,  I  think  the  considerations  which  favor  the  occupation  of  Dauphin 
island,  by  a  strong  work,  are  conclusive.  It  is  proper  to  observe,  that 
after  the  repulse  before  New  Orleans,  in  the  late  war,  the  British  forces 
took  possession  of  Dauphin  island  and  held  it  till  the  peace.  Under  nei- 
ther of  the  reports  of  the  board  of  engineers  and  naval  commissioners  could 
any  but  sloops-of-war  enter  the  bay,  or  the  anchorage  between  Dauphin 
and  Pelican  islands.  Both  reports  give  to  that  anchorage  eighteen  feet  at 
low  water,  and  twenty  and  a  half  at  high.  The  only  difference  between 
them  consists  in  this :  that  in  the  first,  a  bar  leading  to  the  anchorage, 
reducing  the  depth  of  water  to  twelve  feet  at  low  tide,  was  omitted.  In 
neither  case  could  frigates  enter,  though  sloops-of-vvar  of  larger  size  might. 
The  whole  scope,  however,  of  this  reasoning  turns  on  a  different  principle 
— on  the  works  necessary  to  defend  that  bay,  and  by  means  thereof,  New 
Orleans,  the  Mississippi,  and  all  the  surrounding  country,  against  a  power- 
ful invasion  both  by  land  and  sea,  and  not  on  the  precise  depth  of  water 
in  any  of  the  approaches  to  the  bay  or  to  the  island. 

The  reasoning  which  is  applicable  to  the  works  near  New  Orleans,  and 
at  the  bay  of  Mobile,  is  equally  so,  in  certain  respects,  to  those  which  are 
to  be  erected  for  the  defence  of  all  the  bays  and  rivers  alo'ng  the  other 
parts  of  the  coast.  All  those  works  are  also  erected  on  a  greater  scale 
than  would  be  necessary  for  the  sole  purpose  of  preventing  the  passage 
of  our  inlets  by  large  ships-of-war.  They  are,  in  most  instances,  formed 
for  defence  against  a  more  powerful  invasion,  both  by  land  and  sea.  There 
are,  however,  some  differences  between  the  works  which  are  deemed  ne- 
cessary in  the  gulf,  and  those  in  other  parts  of  our  Union,  founded  on  the 
peculiar  situation  of  that  part  of  the  coast.  The  vast  extent  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, the  great  outlet  and  channel  of  commerce  for  so  many  states,  all 
of  which  may  be  affected  by  the  seizure  of  that  city,  or  of  any  part  of  the 
river  to  a  great  extent  above  it,  is  one  of  those  striking  peculiarities  which 
require  particular  provision.  The  thinness  of  the  population  near  the 
city,  making  it  necessary  that  the  force  requisite  for  its  defence  should  be 
called  from  distant  parts  and  states,  is  another.  The  danger  which  the 
army  assembled  at  New  Orleans  would  be  exposed  to  of  being  cut  off,  in 
case  the  enemy  should  throw  a  force  on  the  river  above  it,  from  the  diffi- 
culty of  ascending  the  river  to  attack  it,  and  of  making  a  retreat  in  any 


490  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

other  direction,  is  a  third.  For  an  attack  on  the  city  of  New  Orleans, 
Mobile  bay,  or  any  part  of  the  intermediate  coast,  ships-of-war  would  be 
necessary  only  as  a  convoy  to  protect  the  transports  against  a  naval  force 
on  their  passage,  and  on  their  approach  to  the  shore  for  the  landing  of  the 
men,  and  on  their  return  home,  in  case  they  should  be  repulsed. 

On  the  important  subject  of  our  defences  generally,  I  think  proper  to  ob- 
serve, that  the  system  was  adopted  immediately  after  the  late  war,  by  Con- 
gress, on  great  consideration  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  effects  of  thai 
war  ;  by  the  enormous  expense  attending  it ;  by  the  waste  of  life,  of  proper- 
ty, and  by  the  general  distress  of  the  country.  The  amount  of  debt  incurred 
in  that  war,  and  due  at  its  conclusion,  without  taking  into  the  estimate  other 
losses,  having  been  heretofore  communicated,  need  not  now  be  repeated. 
The  interest  of  the  debt  thus  incurred  is  four  times  more  than  the  sum 
necessary,  by  annual  appropriations,  for  the  completion  of  our  whole  system 
of  defence,  land  and  naval,  to  the  extent  provided  for,  and  within  the  time 
specified.  When  that  system  shall  be  completed,  the  expense  of  construc- 
tion will  cease,  and  our  expenditures  be  proportionally  diminished.  Should 
another  war  occur  before  it  is  completed,  the  experience  of  the  last  marks, 
in  characters  too  strong  to  be  mistaken,  its  inevitable  consequences  ;  and 
should  such  war  occur,  and  find  us  unprepared  for  it,  what  will  be  our 
justification  to  the  enlightened  body  whom  we  represent,  for  not  having 
completed  these  defences  ?  That  this  system  should  not  have  been  adopted 
before  the  late  war,  can  not  be  a  cause  of  surprise  to  any  one,  because  all 
might  wish  to  avoid  every  expense,  the  necessity  of  which  might  be  in  any 
degree  doubtful.  But  with  the  experience  of  that  war  before  us,  it  is 
thought  there  is  no  cause  of  hesitation.  Will  the  completion  of  these  works, 
and  the  augmentation  of  our  navy  to  the  point  contemplated  by  law, 
require  the  imposition  of  onerous  burdens  on  our  fellow-citizens,  such  as 
they  can  not  or  will  not  bear?  Have  such,  or  any  burdens  been  imposed, 
to  advance  the  system  to  its  present  state  ?  It  is  known  that  no  burdens 
whatever  have  been  imposed  ;  on  the  contrary,  that  all  the  direct  or  inter- 
nal taxes  have  been  long  repealed,  and  none  paid  but  those  which  are  indi- 
rect and  voluntary,  such  as  are  imposed  on  articles  imported  from  foreign 
countries,  most  of  which  are  luxuries,  and  on  the  vessels  employed  in  tke 
transportation — taxes  which  some  of  our  most  enlightened  citizens  think 
ought  to  be  imposed  on  many  of  the  articles,  for  the  encouragement  of  our 
manufactures,  even  if  the  revenue  derived  from  them  could  be  dispensed 
with.  It  is  known  also,  that  in  all  other  respects  our  condition  as  a  nation 
is  in  the  highest  degree  prosperous  and  flourishing  ;  nearly  half  the  debt 
incurred  in  the  late  war  having  already  been  discharged,  and  considerable 
progress  having  also  been  made  in  the  completion  of  this  system  of  de- 
fence, and  in  the  construction  of  other  works  of  great  extent  and  utility,  by 
the  revenue  derived  from  these  sources  and  from  the  sale  of  the  public  lands. 
I  may  add,  also,  that  a  very  generous  provision  has  been  made  from  the 
same  sources,  for  the  surviving  officers  and  soldiers  of  our  revolutionary 
army.  These  important  facts  show  that  this  system  has  been  so  far  exe- 
cuted, and  may  be  completed  without  any  real  inconvenience  to  the  public. 
Were  it,  however,  otherwise,  I  have  full  confidence  that  any  burdens  which 
might  be  found  necessary  for  the  completion  of  this  system,  in  both  its 
branches,  within  the  term  contemplated,  or  much  sooner,  should  any  emer- 
gency require  it,  would  be  called  for  rather  than  complained  of  by  our 
fellow-citizens. 

From  these  views,  applicable  to  the  very  important  subject  of  our  de- 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  491 

fences  generally,  as  well  as  to  the  work  at  Dauphin  island,  I  think  it  iny 
duty  to  recommend  to  Congress  an  appropriation  for  the  latter.  I  consider 
the  withholding  it,  at  the  last  session,  as  the  expression  only  of  a  doubt  by 
Congress  of  the  propriety  of  the  position,  and  not  as  a  definitive  opinion 
Supposing  that  that  question  would  be  decided  at  the  present  session,  I 
caused  the  position,  and  such  parts  of  the  coast  as  are  particularly  connected 
with  it,  to  be  re-examined,  that  all  the  light  on  which  the  decision,  as  to  the 
appropriation,  could  depend,  might  be  fully  before  you.  In  the  first  survey, 
the  report  of  which  was  that  on  which  the  works  intended  for  the  defence 
of  New  Orleans,  the  Mississippi,  the  bay  of  Mobile,  and  all  the  country 
dependent  on  those  waters,  were  sanctioned  by  the  executive,  the  commis- 
sioners were  industriously  engaged  about  six  months.  I  should  have 
communicated  that  very  able  and  interesting  document  then,  but  from  a 
doubt  how  far  the  interest  of  our  country  would  justify  its  publication,  a 
circumstance  which  I  now  mention,  that  the  attention  of  Congress  may  be 
drawn  to  it. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MAY  4,  1822. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

HAVING  duly  considered  the  bill,  entitled,  "  An  act  for  the  preservation 
and  repair  of  the  Cumberland  Road,"  it  is  with  deep  regret,  approving  as 
I  do  the  policy,  that  I  am  compelled  to  object  to  its  passage,  and  to  return 
the  bill  to  the  house  of  representatives,  in  which  it  originated,  under  a 
conviction  that  Congress  do  not  possess  the  power,  under  the  constitution. 
to  pass  such  a  law. 

A  power  to  establish  turnpikes,  with  gates  and  tolls,  and  to  enforce  the 
collection  of  the  tolls  by  penalties,  implies  a  power  to  adopt  and  execute 
a  complete  system  of  internal  improvement.  A  right  to  impose  duties  to 
be  paid  by  all  persons  passing  a  certain  road,  and  on  horses  and  carriages, 
as  is  done  by  this  bill,  involves  the  right  to  take  the  land  from  the  propri- 
etor, on  a  valuation,  and  to  pass  laws  for  the  protection  of  the  road  from 
injuries  ;  and  if  it  exist  as  to  one  road,  it  exists  as  to  any  other,  and  to  as 
many  roads  as  Congress  may  think  proper  to  establish.  A  right  to  legis- 
late for  one  of  these  purposes  is  a  right  to  legislate  for  the  others.  It  is 
a  complete  right  of  jurisdiction  and  sovereignty  for  all  the  purposes  of  in- 
ternal improvement,  and  not  merely  the  right  of  applying  money,  under 
the  power  vested  in  Congress  to  make  appropriations ;  under  which  pow- 
er, with  the  consent  of  the  states  through  which  this  road  passes,  the 
work  was  originally  commenced,  and  has  been  so  far  executed.  1  am  of 
opinion  that  Congress  do  not  possess  this  power — that  the  states,  individu- 
ally, can  not  grant  it ;  for  although  they  may  assent  to  the  appropriation 
of  money  within  their  limits  for  such  purposes,  they  can  grant  no  power 
of  jurisdiction  or  sovereignty  by  special  compacts  with  the  United  States. 
This  power  can  be  granted  only  by  an  amendment  to  the  constitution,  and 
in  the  mode  prescribed  by  it. 

If  the  power  exist,  it  must  be  either  because  it  has  been  specifically 
granted  to  the  United  States,  or  that  it  is  incidental  to  some  power  which 


492  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

has  been  specifically  granted.     If  we  examine  the  specific  grants  of  pow 
cr,  we  do  not  find  it  among  them  ;  nor  is  it  incidental  to  any  power  which 
has  been  specifically  graYited. 

It  has  never  been  contended  that  the  power  was  specifically  granted. 
It  is  claimed  only  as  being  incidental  to  some  one  or  more  of  the  powers 
which  are  specifically  granted.  The  following  are  the  powers  from  which 
it  is  said  to  be  derived  : — 

1st.  From  the  right  to  establish  postofiices  and  postroads.  2d.  From 
the  right  to  declare  war.  3d.  To  regulate  commerce.  4th.  To  pay  the 
debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare.  5th.  From 
the  power  to  make  all  laws  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execu- 
tion all  the  powers  vested  by  the  constitution  in  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  department  or  office  thereof.  6th,  and  lastly. 
From  the  power  to  dispose  of,  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations 
respecting  the  territory  and  other  property  of  the  United  States. 

According  to  my  judgment,  it  can  not  be  derived  from  either  of  those 
powers,  nor  from  all  of  them  united,  and  in  consequence  it  does  not  exist. 

Having  stated  my  objections  to  the  bill,  I  should  now  cheerfully  com- 
municate at  large  the  reasons  on  which  they  are  founded,  if  I  had  time  to 
reduce  them  to  such  form  as  to  include  them  in  this  paper.  The  advanced 
stage  of  the  session  renders  that  impossible.  Having,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  my  service  in  this  high  trust,  considered  it  a  duty  to  express  the 
opinion  that  the  United  States  do  not  possess  the  power  in  question,  and 
to  suggest  for  the  consideration  of  Congress  the  propriety  of  recommend- 
ing to  the  states  an  amendment  to  the  constitution,  to  vest  the  power  in 
the  United  States,  my  attention  has  been  often  drawn  to  the  subject  since, 
in  consequence  whereof  I  have  occasionally  committed  my  sentiments  to 
paper  respecting  it.  The  form  which  this  exposition  has  assumed,  is  not 
such  as  I  should  have  given  it,  had  it  been  intended  for  Congress,  nor  is 
it  concluded.  Nevertheless,  as  it  contains  my  views  on  this  subject,  be- 
ing one  which  I  deem  of  very  high  importance,  and  which,  in  many  of  its 
bearings,  has  now  become  peculiarly  urgent,  I  will  communicate  it  to 
Congress,  if  in  my  power,  in  the  course  of  the  day,  or  certainly  on  Mon- 
day iiext. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

MAY  4,  1822. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

I  TRANSMIT  the  paper,  alluded  to  in  the  message  of  this  day,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  internal  improvements. 


Views  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  on  the  Subject  of  Internal 
Improvements. — It  may  be  presumed  that  the  propositions  relating  to  inter- 
nal improvements,  by  roads  and  canals,  which  has  been  several  times  be- 
fore Congress,  will  be  taken  into  consideration  again  ;  either  for  the  pur- 
pose of  recommending  to  the  states  the  adoption  of  an  amendment  to  the 
constitution,  to  vest  the  necessary  power  in  the  general  government,  or  to 
carry  the  system  into  effect,  on  the  principle  that  the  power  has  already 


MONROE  S    MESSAGE    ON    INTERNAL    IMPROVEMENTS  493 

been  granted.  It  seems  to  be  the  prevailing  opinion,  that  great  advantage 
would  be  derived  from  the  exercise  of  such  a  power  by  Congress.  Re- 
specting the  right  there  is  much  diversity  of  sentiment.  It  is  of  the  highest 
importance  that  this  question  should  be  settled.  If  the  right  exist,  it  oughr. 
forthwith,  to  be  exercised.  If  it  does  not  exist,  surely  those  who  are  friends 
to  the  power  ought  to  unite  in  recommending  an  amendment  to  the  consti- 
tution to  obtain  it.  I  propose  to  examine  this  question. 

The  inquiry  confined  to  its  proper  objects,  and  within  the  most  limited 
scale,  is  extensive.  Our  government  is  unlike  other  governments,  both  in 
its  origin  and  form.  In  analyzing  it,  the  differences,  in  certain  respects, 
between  it  and  those  of  other  nations,  ancient  and  modern,  necessarily 
come  into  view.  I  propose  to  notice  these  differences,  so  far  as  they  are 
connected  with  the  object  of  inquiry,  and  the  consequences  likely  to  result 
from  them,  varying,  in  equal  degree,  from  those  which  have  attended  other 
governments.  The  digression,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  will,  in  every  in- 
stance, be  short,  and  the  transition  to  the  main  object  immediate  and  direct. 

To  do  justice  to  the  subject,  it  will  be  necessary  to  mount  to  the  source 
of  power  in  these  states,  and  to  pursue  this  power  in  its  gradations  and 
distribution  among  the  several  departments  in  which  it  is  now  vested. 
The  great  division  is  between  the  state  goveniments  and  the  general 
government.  If  there  was  a  perfect  accord,  in  every  instance,  as  to  the 
'precise  extent  of  the  powers  granted  to  the  general  government,  we  should 
then  know,  with  equal  certainty,  what  were  the  powers  which  remained 
to  the  state  governments  ;  since  it  would  follow,  that  those  which  were 
not  granted  to  the  one  would  remain  to  the  other.  But  it  is  on  this  point, 
and  particularly  respecting  the  construction  of  these  powers,  and  their  in- 
cidents, that  a  difference  of  opinion  exists  ;  and  hence  it  is  necessary  to 
trace,  distinctly,  the  origin  of  each  government ;  the  purposes  intended  by 
it ;  and  the  means  adopted  to  accomplish  them.  By  having  the  interior 
of  both  governments  fully  before  us,  we  shall  have  all  the  means  which 
can  be  afforded  to  enable  us  to  form  a  correct  opinion  of  the  endowment? 
of  each. 

Before  the  revolution,  the  present  states,  then  colonies,  were  separate 
communities,  unconnected  with  each  other,  except  in  their  common  relation 
to  the  crown.  Their  governments  were  instituted  by  grants  from  the 
crown  ;  which  operated,  according  to  the  conditions  of  each  grant,  in  the 
nature  of  a  compact  between  the  settlers  in  each  colony  and  the  crown. 
All  power  not  retained  \n  the  crown  was  vested,  exclusively,  in  the  colo- 
nies ;  each  having  a  government,  consisting  of  an  executive,  a  judiciary 
and  a  legislative  assembly,  one  branch  of  which  was,  in  every  instance, 
elected  by  the  people.  No  office  was  hereditary,  nor  did  any  title  under 
the  crown  give  rank  or  office  in  any  of  the  colonies.  In  resisting  the  en- 
croachments of  the  parent-country,  and  abrogating  the  power  of  the  crown, 
the  authority  which  had  been  held  by  it,  vested,  exclusively,  in  the  people 
of  the  colonies.  By  them  was  a  Congress  appointed,  composed  of  dele- 
gates from  each  colony  who  managed  the  war,  declared  independence, 
treated  with  foreign  powers,  and  acted,  in  all  things,  according  to  the  sense 
of  their  constituents.  The  declaration  of  independence  confirmed  in  form 
what  had  before  existed  in  substance.  It  announced  to  the  world  new 
states,  possessing  and  exercising  complete  sovereignty,  which  they  were 
resolved  to  maintain.  They  were  soon  after  recognised  by  France  and 
other  powers  ;  and,  finally,  by  Great  Britain  herself,  in  1783. 

Soon  after  the  power  of  the  crown  was  annulled,  the  people  of  each 


494  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

colony  established  a  constitution  or  frame  of  government  for  themselves  ; 
in  which  three  separate  branches,  a  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary, 
were  instituted,  each  independent  of  the  others.  To  these  branches,  each 
having  its  appropriate  portion,  the  whole  power  of  the  people,  not  delegated 
to  Congress,  was  communicated  ;  to  be  exercised  for  their  advantage,  on 
the  representative  principle,  by  persons  of  their  appointment,  or  otherwise 
deriving  their  authority  immediately  from  them,  and  holding  their  offices 
for  stated  terms.  All  the  powers  necessary  for  useful  purposes,  held  by 
any  of  the  strongest  governments  of  the  old  world,  not  vested  in  Congress, 
were  imparted  to  these  state  governments,  without  other  checks  than  such 
as  are  necessary  to  prevent  abuse,  in  the  form  of  fundamental  declarations, 
or  bills  of  right.  The  great  difference  between  our  governments  and 
those  of  the  old  world,  consists  in  this,  that  the  former,  being  representa- 
tive, the  persons  who  exercise  their  powers  do  it,  not  for  themselves,  or 
in  their  own  right,  but  for  the  people  ;  and,  therefore,  while  they  are  in 
the  highest  degree  efficient,  they  can  never  become  oppressive.  It  is  this 
transfer  of  the  power  of  the  people  to  representative  and  responsible  bodies, 
in  every  branch,  which  constitutes  the  great  improvement  in  the  science 
of  government,  and  forms  the  boast  of  our  system.  It  combines  all  the 
advantages  of  every  known  government,  without  any  of  their  disadvantages. 
It  retains  the  sovereignty  in  the  people,  while  it  avoids  the  tumult  and  dis- 
order incident  to  the  exercise  of  that  power  by  the  people  themselves.  It 
possesses  all  the  energy  and  efficiency  of  the  most  despotic  governments, 
while  it  avoids  all  the  oppressions  and  abuses  inseparable  from  those 
governments. 

In  every  stage  of  the  conflict,  from  its  commencement,  until  March, 
1781,  the  powers  of  Congress  were  undefined,  but  of  vast  extent.  The 
assemblies,  or  conventions,  of  the  several  colonies,  being  formed  by  repre- 
sentatives from  every  county  in  each  colony,  and  the  Congress  by  dele- 
gates from  each  colonial  assembly,  the  powers  of  the  latter,  for  general 
purposes,  resembled  those  of  the  former,  for  local.  They  rested  on  the 
same  basis,  the  people,  and  were  complete  for  all  the  purposes  contem- 
plated. Never  was  a  movement  so  spontaneous,  so  patriotic,  so  efficient. 
The  nation  exerted  its  whole  faculties  in  support  of  its  rights  and  of  its 
independence,  after  the  contest  took  that  direction,  and  it  succeeded. 
It  was,  however,  foreseen,  at  a  very  early  stage,  that,  although  the 
patriotism  of  the  country  might  be  relied  on  in  the  struggle  for  its  in- 
dependence, a  well-digested  compact  would  be  necessary  to  preserve  it, 
after  obtained.  A  plan  of  confederation,  was,  in  consequence,  proposed 
and  taken  into  consideration  by  Congress,  even  at  the  moment  when  the 
other  great  act  which  severed  them  from  Great  Britain,  and  declared  their 
independence,  was  proclaimed  to  the  world.  This  compact  was  ratified 
on  the  21st  March,  1781,  by  the  last  state,  and  thereupon  carried  into  im- 
mediate effect 

The  following  powers  were  vested  in  the  United  States  by  the  articles 
of  confederation.  As  this,  the  first  bond  of  union,  was  in  operation  nearly 
eight  years,  during  which  time  a  practical  construction  was  given  to  many 
of  its  powers,  all  of  which  were  adopted  in  the  constitution,  with  important 
additions,  it  is  thought  that  a  correct  view  of  those  powers,  and  of  the 
manner  in  which  they  were  executed,  may  shed  light  on  the  subject  under 
consideration.  It  may  fairly  be  presumed,  that  where  certain  powers  were 
transferred  from  one  instrument  to  the  other,  and  in  the  same  terms,  or 
terms  descriptive  only  of  the  same  powers,  that  it  was  intended  that  they 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ox  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  495 

should  be  construed  in  the  same  sense  in  the  latter,  that  they  were  in  the 
former  : — 

Article  1  declares  that  the  style  of  the  confederacy  shall  be,  The  United 
States  of  America. 

Art.  2.  Each  state  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom  and  independence, 
and  every  power  and  right  which  is  not  expressly  delegated  to  the  United 
States. 

Art.  3.  The  states  severally  enter  into  a  firm  league  of  friendship  with 
each  other,  for  their  common  defence,  the  security  of  their  liberties,  and 
their  mutual  and  general  welfare,  binding  themselves  to  assist  each  other 
against  all  force  offered  to,  or  attacks  made  upon  them,  on  account  of  re- 
ligion, sovereignty,  trade,  &c. 

Art.  4.  The  free  inhabitants  of  each  state,  paupers,  vagabonds,  and 
fugitives  from  justice,  excepted,  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and 
immunities  of  free  citizens  in  the  several  states,  &c.  Fugitives  from  jus- 
,ice  into  any  of  the  states,  shall  be  delivered  up  on  the  demand  of  the  ex- 
ecutive of  the  state  from  which  they  fled.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be 
given,  in  each  state,  to  the  records  and  acts  of  every  other  state. 

Art.  5.  Delegates  shall  be  annually  appointed,  by  the  legislature  of  each 
state,  to  meet  in  Congress  on  the  first  Monday  in  November,  with  a  power 
to  recall,  &c.  No  state  shall  appoint  less  than  two,  nor  more  than  seven, 
nor  shall  any  delegate  hold  his  office  for  more  than  three  in  six  years. 
Each  state  shall  maintain  its  own  delegates.  Each  state  shall  have  one 
vote.  Freedom  of  speech  shall  not  be  impeached,  and  thei  members  shall 
be  protected  from  arrests,  except  for  treason,  &c. 

Art.  6.  No  state  shall  send  or  receive  an  embassy,  or  enter  into  a  treaty 
with  a  foreign  power.  Nor  shall  any  person,  holding  any  office  of  profit 
or  trust  under  the  United  States,  or  any  state,  accept  any  present,  emolu- 
ment, office,  or  title,  from  a  foreign  power.  Nor  shall  the  United  States, 
or  any  state,  grant  any  title  of  nobility.  No  two  states  shall  enter  into  any 
treaty  without  the  consent  of  Congress.  No  state  shall  lay  any  imposts,  or 
duties,  which  may  interfere  with  any  treaties  entered  into  by  the  United 
States.  No  state  shall  engage  in  war,  unless  invaded  or  be  menaced  with 
invasion  by  some  Indian  tribe  ;  nor  grant  lettejs  of  marque  or  reprisal,  un- 
less it  be  against  pirates,  nor  keep  up  vessels-of-war,  nor  any  body  of 
troops,  in  time  of  peace,  without  the  consent  of  Congress  ;  but  every  state 
shall  keep  up  a  well-regulated  militia,  &c. 

Art.  7.  When  land  forces  are  raised  by  any  state  for  the  common  de- 
fence, all  officers  of,  and  under,  the  rank  of  colonel,  shall  be  appointed  by 
the  legislature  of  each  state. 

Art.  8.  All  charges  of  war,  and  all  other  expenses  which  shall  be  incur- 
red for  the  common  defence  or  general  welfare,  shall  be  defrayed  out  of  a 
common  treasury ;  which  shall  be  supplied  by  the  several  states,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  value  of  all  the  land  in  each  state,  granted  to  individuals. 
The  taxes  for  paying  such  proportion  shall  be  levied  by  the  several  states. 

Art.  9.  Congress  shall  have  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  and  power  of 
determining  on  peace  and  war,  except  in  the  cases  mentioned  in  the  6th 
article  ;  of  sending  and  receiving  ambassadors  ;  entering  into  treaties  and 
alliances,  except,  &c. ;  of  establishing  rules  for  deciding  what  captures 
on  land  and  water  shall  be  legal ;  of  granting  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal 
in  time  of  peace  ;  appointing  courts  for  the  trial  of  piracies  and  felonies  on 
the  high  seas  ;  for  deciding  controversies  between  the  states,  and  between 
individuals  claiming  lands  under  two  or  more  states,  whose  jurisdiction  has 


496  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS 

been  adjusted  ;  of  regulating  the  alloy  and  value  of  coin  struck  by  their 
authority,  and  of  foreign  coin  ;  fixing  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures ; 
regulating  the  trade  with  the  Indians ;  establishing  and  regulating  post- 
offices  from  one  state  to  another,  and  throughout  all  the  state,  and  exacting 
such  postage  as  may  be  requisite  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  office  ;  of 
appointing  all  officers  of  the  land  forces,  except  regimental ;  appointing 
all  the  officers  of  the  naval  forces ;  to  ascertain  the  necessary  sums  of 
money  to  be  raised  for  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  appropriate 
the  same  ;  to  borrow  money,  and  emit  bills  of  credit ;  to  build  and  equip 
a  navy ;  to  agree  on  the  number  of  land  forces,  and  to  make  requisitions 
on  each  state  for  its  quota  ;  that  the  assent  of  nine  states  shall  be  requisite 
to  these  great  acts. 

Art.  10  regulates  the  powers  of  the  committee  of  the  states,  to  sit  in  the 
recess  of  Congress. 

Art.  1 1  provides  for  the  admission  of  Canada  into  the  confederation. 

Art.  12  pledges  the  faith  of  the  United  States  for  the  payment  of  all  bills 
of  credit  issued,  and  money  borrowed,  on  their  account. 

Art.  13.  Every  state  shall  abide  by  the  determination  of  the  United 
States,  on  all  questions  submitted  to  them  by  the  confederation.  The  ar- 
ticles of  the  confederation  to  be  perpetual,  and  not  to  be  altered  without 
the  consent  of  every  state. 

This  bond  of  union  was  soon  found  to  be  utterly  incompetent  to  the 
purposes  intended  by  it.  It  was  defective  in  its  powers  ;  it  was  defective 
also  in  the  means  of  executing  the  powers  actually  granted  by  it.  Being 
a  league  of  sovereign  and  independent  states,  its  acts,  like  those  of  all 
other  leagues,  required  the  interposition  of  the  states  composing  it,  to  give 
them  effect  within  their  respective  jurisdictions.  The  acts  of  Congress, 
without  the  aid  of  state  laws  to  enforce  them,  were  altogether  nugatory. 
The  refusal  or  omission,  of  one  state,  to  pass  such  laws,  was  urged  as  a 
reason  to  justify  like  conduct  in  others,  and  thus  the  government  was  soon 
at  a  stand. 

The  experience  of  a  few  years  demonstrated  that  the  confederation 
could  not  be  relied  on,  for  the  security  of  the  blessings  which  had  been 
derived  from  the  revolution.  The  interests  of  the  nation  required  a  more 
efficient  government,  which  the  good  sense  and  virtue  of  the  people  pro- 
vided, by  the  adoption  of  the  present  constitution. 

The  constitution  of  the  United  States  was  formed  by  a  convention  of 
delegates  from  the  several  states,  who  met  in  Philadelphia,  duly  author- 
ized for  the  purpose,  and  it  was  ratified  by  a  convention  in  each  state, 
which  was  especially  called  to  consider  and  decide  on  the  same.  In 
this  progress  the  state  governments  were  never  suspended  in  their  func- 
tions. On  the  contrary,  they  took  the  lead  in  it.  Conscious  of  their  in- 
competency  to  secure  to  the  Union  the  blessings  of  the  revolution,  they 
promoted  the  diminution  of  their  own  powers,  and  the  enlargement  of  those 
of  the  general  government  in  the  way  in  which  they  might  be  most  ade- 
quate and  efficient,  it  is  believed  that  no  other  example  can  be  found  of 
a  government  exerting  its  influence  to  lessen  its  own  powers  ;  of  a  policy 
so  enlightened ;  of  a  patriotism  so  pure  and  disinterested.  The  credit, 
however,  is  more  especially  due  to  the  people  of  each  state,  in  obedience^ 
to  whose  will,  and  under  whose  control,  the  state  governments  acted. 

The  constitution  of  the  United  States  being  ratified  by  the  people  of  the 
several  states,  became,  of  necessity,  to  the  extent  of  its  powers,  the  para- 
mount authority  of  the  Union.  Oa  sound  principles  it  can  be  viewed  in 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  497 

no  other  light.  The  people,  the  highest  authority  known  to  our  system, 
from  whom  all  our  institutions  spring,  and  on  whom  they  depend,  formed  it. 
Had  the  people  of  the  several  states  thought  proper  to  incorporate  them- 
selves into  one  community,  under  one  government,  they  might  have  done 
it.  They  had  the  power,  and  there  was  nothing  then,  nor  is  there  any 
thing  now,  should  they  be  so  disposed,  to  prevent  it.  They  wisely  stopped, 
however,  at  a  certain  point,  extending  the  incorporation  to  that  point,  ma- 
king the  national  government,  thus  far,  a  consolidated  government,  and 
preserving  the  state  governments,  without  that  limit,  perfectly  sovereign 
and  independent  of  the  national  government.  Had  the  people  of  the  sev- 
eral states  incorporated  themselves  into  one  community,  they  must  have 
remained  such ;  their  constitution  becoming  then,  like  the  constitution  of 
the  several  states,  incapable  of  change,  until  altered  by  the  will  of  the  ma- 
jority. In  the  institution  of  a  state  government  by  the  citizens  of  a  state, 
a  compact  is  formed,  to  which  all  and  every  citizen  are  equal  parties.  They 
are  also  the  sole  parties,  and  may  amend  it  at  pleasure.  In  the  institution 
of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  by  the  citizens  of  every  state,  a 
compact  was  formed  between  the  whole  American  people,  which  has  the 
same  force,  and  partakes  of  all  the  qualities,  to  the  extent  of  its  powers, 
as  a  compact  between  the  citizens  of  a  state,  in  the  formation  of  their  own 
constitution.  It  can  not  be  altered,  except  by  those  who  formed  it,  or  in 
the  mode  prescribed  by  the  parties  to  the  compact  itself. 

This  constitution  was  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  remedying  all  the  de 
fects  of  the  confederation,  and  in  this  it  has  succeeded,  beyond  any  calcu- 
lation that  could  have  been  formed  of  any  human  institution.  By  binding 
the  states  together,  the  constitution  performs  the  great  office  of  the  confed- 
eration ;  but  it  is  in  that  sense  only,  that  it  has  any  of  the  properties  of 
that  compact,  and  in  that  it  is  more  effectual,  to  the  purpose,  as  it  holds 
them  together  by  a  much  stronger  bond  ;  and  in  all  other  respects,  in 
which  the  confederation  failed,  the  constitution  has  been  blessed  with  com- 
plete success.  The  confederation  was  a  compact  between  separate  and 
independent  states  ;  the  execution  of  whose  articles,  in  the  powers  which 
operated  internally,  depended  on  the  state  governments.  But  the  great 
office  of  the  constitution  by  incorporating  the  people  of  the  several  states, 
to  the  extent  of  its  powers,  into  one  community,  and  enabling  it  to  act  di- 
rectly on  the  people,  was  to  annul  the  powers  of  the  state  governments  to 
that  extent,  except  in  cases  where  they  were  concurrent,  and  to  preclude 
their  agency  in  giving  effect  to  those  of  the  general  government.  The 
government  of  the  United  States  relies  on  its  own  means  for  the  execu- 
tion of  its  powers,  as  the  state  governments  do  for  the  execution  of  theirs  ; 
both  governments  having  a  common  origin,  or  sovereign,  the  people  ;  the 
state  governments  the  people  of  each  state,  the  national  government  the 
people  of  every  state,  and  being  amenable  to  the  power  which  created  it. 
It  is  by  executing  its  functions  as  a  government,  thus  originating  and  thus 
acting,  that  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  holds  the  states  together, 
and  performs  the  office  of  a  league.  It  is  owing  to  the  nature  of  its  pow- 
ers, and  the  high  source  whence  they  are  derived,  the  people,  that  it  per- 
forms that  office  better  than  the  confederation,  or  any  league  which  ever 
existed,  being  a  compact  which  the  state  governments  did  not  form,  to 
which  they  are  not  parties,  and  which  executes  its  own  powers  indepen- 
dently of  them. 

Thus  were  two  separate  and  independent  governments  established  over 
our  Union,  one  for  local  purposes,  over  each  state,  by  the  people  of  the 

VOL.  I.— 32 


498  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

state ;  the  other,  for  national  purposes,  over  all  the  states,  by  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  The  whole  power  of  the  people,  on  the  represen- 
tative principle,  is  divided  between  them.  The  state  governments  are  in- 
dependent of  each  other ;  and,  to  the  extent  of  their  powers,  are  complete 
sovereignties.  The  national  government  begins  where  the  state  govern- 
ments terminate,  except  in  some  instances  where  there  is  a  concurrent  ju- 
risdiction between  them.  This  government  is  also,  according  to  the  ex- 
tent of  his  powers,  a  complete  sovereignty.  I  speak  here,  as  repeatedly 
mentioned  before,  altogether  of  representative  sovereignties,  for  the  real 
sovereignty  is  in  the  people  alone. 

The  history  of  the  world  affords  no  such  example  of  two  separate  and 
independent  governments  established  over  the  same  people ;  nor  can  it 
exist,  except  in  governments  founded  on  the  sovereignty  of  the  people. 
In  monarchies,  and  other  governments  not  representative,  there  can  be  no 
such  division  of  power.  The  government  is  inherent  in  the  possessor ; 
it  is  his,  and  can  not  be  taken  from  him  without  a  revolution.  In  such 
governments,  alliances  and  leagues  alone  are  practicable.  But  with  us, 
individuals  count  for  nothing  in  the  offices  which  they  hold ;  that  is,  they 
have  no  right  to  them.  They  hold  them  as  representatives,  by  appoint- 
ment from  the  people,  in  whom  the  sovereignty  is  exclusively  vested.  It 
is  impossible  to  speak  too  highly  of  this  system,  taken  in  its  twofold  char- 
acter, and  in  all  its  great  principles  of  two  governments,  completely  dis- 
tinct from,  and  independent  of,  each  other ;  each  constitutional,  founded 
by,  and  acting  directly  on,  the  people  ;  each  competent  to  all  its  purposes, 
administering  all  the  blessings  for  which  it  was  instituted,  without  even 
the  most  remote  danger  of  exercising  any  of  its  powers  in  a  way  to  op- 
press the  people.  A  system  capable  of  expansion  over  a  vast  territory, 
not  only  without  weakening  either  government,  but  enjoying  the  peculiar 
advantage  of  adding  thereby,  new  strength  and  vigor  to  the  faculties  of 
both  ;  possessing,  also,  this  additional  advantage,  that,  while  the  several 
states  enjoy  all  the  rights  reserved  to  them,  of  separate  and  independent 
governments,  and  each  is  secured  by  the  nature  of  the  federal  government, 
which  acts  directly  on  the  people  against  the  failure  of  the  others,  to  bear 
their  equal  share  of  the  public  burdens,  and  thereby  enjoys,  in  a  more 
perfect  degree,  all  the  advantages  of  a  league,  it  holds  them  together  by 
a  bond,  altogether  different  and  much  stronger  than  the  late  confederation, 
or  any  league  that  was  ever  known  before  ;  a  bond  beyond  their  control, 
and  which  can  not  even  be  amended  except  in  the  mode  prescribed  by  it. 
So  great  an  effort  in  favor  of  human  happiness  was  never  made  before  ; 
but  it  became  those  who  made  it.  Established  in  the  new  hemisphere  ; 
descended  from  the  same  ancestors  ;  speaking  the  same  language  ;  having 
the  same  religion  and  universal  toleration ;  born  equal,  and  educated  in 
the  same  principles  of  free  government ;  made  independent  by  a  common 
struggle,'  and  menaced  by  the  same  dangers  ;  ties  existed  between  them 
which  never  applied  before  to  separate  communities.  They  had  every 
motive  to  bind  them  together,  which  could  operate  on  the  interests  and 
affections  of  a  generous,  enlightened,  and  virtuous  people  ;  and  it  affords 
inexpressible  consolation  to  find  that  these  motives  had  their  merited  in- 
fluence. 

In  thus  tracing  our  institution*  to  their  origin,  and  pursuing  them  in 
their  progress  and  modifications,  down  to  the  adoption  of  this  constitution, 
two  important  facts  have  been  disclosed,  on  which  it  may  not  be  improper, 
in  this  stage,  to  make  a  few  observations.  The  first  is,  that,  in  wresting 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  499 

the  power,  or  what  is  called  the  sovereignty,  from  the  crown,  it  passed  di- 
rectly to  the  people.  The  second,  that  it  passed  directly  to  the  people  of 
each  colony,  and  not  to  the  people  of  all  the  colonies,  in  the  Aggregate  ;  to 
thirteen  distinct  communities,  and  not  to  one.  To  these  two  facts,  each  con- 
tributing its  equal  proportion,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  we  are,  in  an  emi- 
nent degree,  indebted  for  the  success  of  our  revolution.  By  passing  to  the 
people,  it  vested  in  a  community,  every  individual  of  which  had  equal  rights, 
nnd  a  common  interest.  There  was  no  family  dethroned  among  us  ;  no 
banished  pretender  in  a  foreign  country,  looking  back  to  his  connexions 
and  adherents  here,  in  the  hope  of  a  recall  ;  no  order  of  nobility,  whose 
hereditary  rights  in  the  government  had  been  violated  ;  no  hierarchy, 
which  had  been  degraded  and  oppressed.  There  was  but  one  order,  that 
of  the  people,  by  whom  everything  was  gained  by  the  change.  I  mention 
it  also  as  a  circumstance  of  peculiar  felicity,  that  the  great  body  of  the 
people  had  been  born  and  educated  under  these  equal  and  original  institu- 
tions. Their  habits,  their  principles,  and  their  prejudices,  were,  therefore, 
all  on  the  side  of  the  revolution,  and  of  free  republican  government. 

Had  distinct  orders  existed,  our  fortune  might,  and  probably  would,  have 
been  different.  It  would  scarcely  have  been  possible  to  have  united,  so 
completely,  the  whole  force  of  the  country  against  a  common  enemy.  A 
contest  would  probably  have  arisen  in  the  outset,  between  the  orders,  for 
the  control.  Had  the  aristocracy  prevailed,  the  people  would  have  been 
heartless.  Had  the  people  prevailed,  the  nobility  would  probably  have 
left  the  country,  or  remaining  behind,  internal  divisions  would  have  taken 
place  in  every  state,  and  a  civil  war  broken  out  more  destructive  even  than 
the  foreign,  which  might  have  defeated  the  whole  movement.  Ancient 
and  modern  history  is  replete  with  examples  proceeding  from  conflicts  be- 
tween distinct  orders ;  of  revolutions  attempted,  which  proved  abortive ; 
of  republics.,  which  have  terminated  in  despotism.  It  is  owing  to  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  elements  of  which  our  system  is  composed,  that  the  attrac- 
tion of  all  the  parts  has  been  to  a  common  centre ;  that  every  change  has 
tended  to  cement  the  union  ;  and,  in  short,  that  we  have  been  blessed  with 
such  glorious  and  happy  success. 

And  that  the  power  wrested  from  the  British  crown  passed  to  the  people 
of  each  colony,  the  whole  history  of  our  political  movement,  from  the  emi- 
gration of  our  ancestors  to  the  present  diiy,  clearly  demonstrates.  What 
produced  the  revolution  ?  The  violation  of  our  rights.  What  rights  ? 
Our  chartered  rights.  To  whom  were  the  charters  granted  ?  To  the 
pt-ople  of  each  colony,  or  to  the  people  of  all  the  colonies  as  a  single  com- 
munity ?  We  know  that  no  such  community  as  the  aggregate  existed  ; 
and,  of  course,  that  no  such  rights  could  be  violated.  It  may  be  added 
that  the  nature  of  the  powers  which  were  given  to  the  delegates  by  each  ' 
colony,  and  the  mariner  in  which  they  were  executed,  show  that  the  sov- 
ereignty was  in  the  people  of  each,  and  not  in  the  aggregate.  They  re- 
spectively presented  credentials,  such  as  are  usual  between  ministers  'of 
separate  powers,  which  were  examined  and  approved,  before  they  entered 
on  the  discharge  of  the  important  duties  committed  to  them.  They  voted, 
also,  by  colonies,  and  not  individually,  all  the  members  from  one  colony 
being  entitled  to  one  vote  only.  This  fact,  alone,  the  first  of  our  political 
association,  and  at  the  period  of  our  greatest  peril,  fixes  beyond  all  con- 
troversy, the  source  whence  the  power  which  has  directed  and  secured 
Kile-cess  to  all  our  measures,  has  proceeded. 

Hud  the  sovereignty  passed  to  the  aggregate,  consequences  might  have 


50J  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

ensued,  admitting  the  success  of  our  revolution,  which  might,  even  yet, 
seriously  affect  our  system.  By  passing  to  the  people  of  each  colony,  the 
opposition  to  Great  Britain,  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  the  declaration  of 
independence*,  the  adoption  of  the  confederation,  and  of  this  constitution, 
ure  all  imputablc  to  them.  Had  it  passed  to  the  aggregate,  every  measure 
would  be  traced  to  that  source ;  even  the  state  governments  might  be  said 
to  have  emanated  from  it,  and  amendments  of  their  constitutions,  on  that 
priiu  iple,  be  proposed  by  the  same  authority.  In  short,  it  is  not  easy  to 
perceive  all  the  consequences  into  which  such  a  doctrine  might  lead.  It 
is  obvious,  that  the  people  in  mass  would  have  much  less  agency  in  all 
the  great  measures  of  the  revolution,  and  in  those  which  followed,  than 
they  actually  had,  and  proportion  ably  less  credit  for  their  patriotism  and 
services,  than  they  are  now  entitled  to  and  enjoy.  By  passing  to  the  peo- 
ple of  each  colony,  the  whole  body  in  each  were  kept  in  constant  and  ac- 
tive deliberation,  on  subjects  of  the  highest  national  importance,  and  in  the 
supervision  of  the  conduct  of  all  the  public  servants,  in  the  discharge  of 
their  respective  duties.  Thus  the  most  effectual  guards  were  provided 
against  abuses  and  dangers  of  every  kind,  which  human  ingenuity  could 
devise,  and  the  whole  people  rendered  more  competent  to  the  self-govern- 
ment which,  by  an  heroic  exertion,  they  had  acquired. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  examine  the  powers  of  the  general  government, 
which,  like  the  governments  of  the  several  states,  is  divided  into  three 
branches,  a  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary,  each  having  its  appropriate 
share.  Of  these,  the  legislative,  from  the  nature  of  its  powers,  all  laws 
proceeding  from  it,  and  the  manner  of  its  appointment,  its  members  being 
elected  immediately  by  the  people,  is  by  far  the  most  important.  The 
whole  system  of  the  national  government  may  be  said  to  rest,  essentially, 
on  the  powers  granted  to  this  branch.  They  mark  the  limit  within  which, 
with  few  exceptions,  all  the  branches  must  move  in  the  discharge  of  their 
respective  functions.  It  will  be  proper,  therefore,  to  take  a  full  and  correct 
view  of  the  powers  granted  to  it. 

By  the  8th  section  of  the  first  article  of  the  constitution,  it  is  declared 
that  Congress  shall  have  power : — 

1st.  To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  ;  to  pay  the 
debts,  and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  the 
United  States  ; 

2d.  To  borrow  money  ; 

3d.  To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several 
states,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes ; 

4th.  To  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform  laws 
respecting  bankruptcies ; 

5th.  To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin,  and 
fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures  ; 

6th.  To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securities  and 
current  coin  of  the  United  States  j 

7th.  To  establish  postofficos  and  postroads  ; 

8th.  To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  by  securing, 
for  limited  times,  to  authors  and  inventors,  the  exclusive  right  to  their  re- 
spective writings  and  discoveries ; 

9th.  To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  supreme  court,  to  define  and 
punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas,  and  offences 
against  the  laws  of  nations  , 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  501 

10.  To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make  rules 
concerning  captures  on  land  and  water  ; 

llth.  To  raise  and  support  armies  ; 

12th.  To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy  ; 

13th.  To  make  rules  for  the  government  of  the  land  and  naval  forces  ; 

14th.  To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the 
union,  suppress  insurrections,  and  repel  invasions  ; 

15th.  To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining,  the  militia, 
and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States,  reserving  to  the  states  the  appointment  of  the  officers,  and  the 
authority  of  training  the  militia  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by 
Congress ; 

16th.  To  exercise  exclusive  legislation,  in  all  cases  whatever,  over  such 
district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square),  as  may,  by  the  cession  of  par- 
ticular states,  and  the  acceptance  of  by  Congress,  become  the  seat  of 
government  of  the  United  States  ;  and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all 
places  purchased,  by  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  state  in  which 
the  same  may  be,  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock-yards, 
and  other  needful  buildings  ; 

17.  And  to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carry- 
ing into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by 
this  constitution  in*the  government  of  th*5  United  States,  or  in  any  depart- 
ment or  officer  thereof. 

To  the  other  branches  of  the  government,  the  powers  properly  belonging 
to  each  are  granted.  The  president,  in  whom  the  executive  power  is 
vested,  is  made1  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  militia, 
when  called  into  the  service  of  the  United  States.  He  is  authorized,  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  two  thirds  of  the  members  present 
concurring,  to  form  treaties  ;  to  nominate,  and,  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  senate,  to  appoint  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls, 
judges  of  the  supreme  court,  and  all  other  officers  whose  appointments  are 
not  otherwise  provided  for  by  law.  He  has  power  to  grant  reprieves  and 
pardons  for  offences  against  the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeach- 
ment. It  is  made  his  duty  to  give  to  Congress,  from  time  to  time,  informa- 
tion of  the  state  of  the  union  ;  to  recommend  to  their  consideration  such 
measures  as  he  may  judge  necessary  and  expedient,  to  convene  both 
houses  on  extraordinary  occasions,  to  receive  ambassadors  ;  and  to  take 
care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed. 

The  judicial  power  is  vested  in  one  supreme  court,  and  in  such  inferior 
courts  as  Congress  may  establish  ;  and  it  is  made  to  extend  to  all  cases, 
in  law  and  equity,  arising  under  the  constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  and  treaties  made  under  their  authority.  Cases  affecting  ambassa- 
dors and  other  public  characters ;  cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime  juris- 
diction ;  causes  in  which  the  United  States  are  a  party ;  between  two  or 
more  states  ;  between  citizens  of  different  states  ;  between  citizens  of  the 
same  state,  claiming  grants  of  land  under  different  states  ;  between  a  state 
•  >r  the  citizens  thereof,  and  foreign  states — are  specially  assigned  to  these 
tribunals. 

Oilier  powers  have  been  granted,  in  other  parts  of  the  constitution, 
which,  although  they  relate  to  specific  objects,  unconnected  with  the  ordi- 
nary administration,  yet,  as  they  form  important  features  in  the  government, 
and  may  shed  useful  light  on  the  construction  which  ought  to  be  given  to 
the  powers  above  enumerated,  it  is  proper  to  bring  into  view. 


502  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

By  article  1,  sect.  9,  clause  1st,  it  is  provided,  that  the  migration  or  im- 
portation of  such  persons,  as  any  of  the  states,  now  existing,  shall  think 
proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  Congress,  prior  to  the  year 
1808,  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not  exceed- 
ing ten  dollars  for  each  person. 

Bv  article  3,  sect.  3,  clause  1st,  new  states  may  be  admitted  by  Congress 
into  the  union,  but  that  no  new  state  shall  be  formed  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  another  state,  nor  any  state  be  formed  by  the  junction  of  two  or 
more  states,  or  parts  of  spates,  without  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of 
the  states  concerned,  as  well  as  of  the  United  States.  And,  by  the  next 
clause  of  the  same  article  and  section,  power  is  vested  in  Congress  to  dis- 
pose of,  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting,  the  territory 
or  other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States,  with  a  proviso,  that 
nothing  in  the  constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims 
of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  state. 

By  article" 4,  sect.  4,  the  United  States  guaranty  to  every  state  a  re- 
publican form  of  government,  and  engage  to  protect  each  of  them  against 
invasion  i  and,  on  application  of  the  legislature,  or  the  executive,  when 
the  legislature  can  not  be  convened,  against  domestic  violence. 

Of  the  other  parts  of  the  constitution,  relating  to  power,  some  form  re- 
straints on  the  exercise  of  the  powers  granted  to  Congress,  and  others  on 
the  exercise  of  the  powers  remaining  to  the  states.  The  object,  in  both 
instances,  is,  to  draw,  more  completely,  the  line  between  the  two  govern- 
ments, and  also  to  prevent  abuses  by  either.  Other  parts  operate  like 
conventional  stipulations  between  the  states,  abolishing  between  them  all 
distinctions,  applicable  to  foreign  powers,  and  securing  to  the  inhabitants 
of  each  state  all  the  rights  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states. 

By  the  fifth  article,  it  is  provided,  that  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds 
of  both  houses  shall  dee.m  it  necessary,  shall  propose  amendments,  or,  on 
the  application  of  the  legislatures  of  two  thirds  of  the  several  states,  shall 
call  a  convention  for  proposing  amendments,  which,  in  either  case,  shall 
be  valid,  as  a  part  of  the  constitution,  when  ratified  by  the  legislatures  ot 
three  fourths  of  the  several  states,  or  by  conventions  in  three  fourths  thereof, 
as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  may  be  proposed  by  Congress  ;  provided 
that  no  state,  without  its  consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  vote  in  the 
senate,  and  that  no  amendment  which  may  be  made  prior  to  the  year 
1808,  shall  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  section  of  the 
first  article. 

By  the  second  section  of  the  sixth  article,  it  is  declared,  that  the  con- 
stitution, and  laws  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  be  made  in  pursuance 
thereof,  and  all  treaties  made  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land ;  and,  that  the  judges  in  every  state 
shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  constitution  or  laws  of  any  state 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  This  right  in  the  national  government  to 
execute  its  powers  was  indispensable  to  its  existence.  If  the  state  govern- 
ments had  not  been  restrained  from  encroaching  on  the  powers  vested  in 
the  national  government,  the  constitution,  like  the  confederation,  would 
soon  have  been  set  at  naught ;  and  it  was  not  within  the  limit  of  the  human 
mind  to  devise  any  plan  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  object,  other  than 
by  making  a  national  constitution,  which  should  be  to  the  extent  of  its 
powers,  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  This  right  in  the  national  govern- 
ment would  have  existed,  under  the  constitution,  to  the  full  extent  provided 
for  by  this  declaration,  had  it  not  been  made.  To  prevent  the  possibility 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  503 

of  a  doubt,  however,  on  so  important  a  subject,  it  was  proper  to  make  the 
declaration. 

Having  presented  above  a  full  view  of  all  the  powers  granted  to  the 
United  States,  it  will  be  proper  to  look  to  those  remaining  to  the  states. 
It  is  by  fixing  the  great  powers  which  are  admitted  to  belong  to  each 
government,  that  we  may  hope  to  come  to  a  right  conclusion  respecting 
those  in  controversy  between  them.  In  regard  to  the  national  government, 
this  task  was  easy,  because  its  powers  were  to  be  found  in  specific  grants 
in  the  constitution  ;  but  it  is  more  difficult  to  give  a  detail  of  the  powers 
of  the  state  governments,  as  their  constitutions,  containing  all  powers 
granted  by  the  people,  not  specifically  taken  from  them  by  grants  to  the 
United  States,  can  not  well  be  enumerated.  Fortunately,  a  precise  detail 
of  all  the  powers  remaining  to  the  state  governments,  is  not  necessary  in 
the  present  instance.  A  knowledge  of  their  great  powers,  only,  will 
answer  every  purpose  contemplated  ;  and  respecting  these  there  can  be  no 
diversity  of  opinion.  They  are  sufficiently  recognised  and  established  by 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States  itself.  In  designating  the  important 
powers  of  the  state  governments,  it  is  proper  to  observe,  first,  that  the 
territory  contemplated  by  the  constitution  belongs  to  each  state,  in  its 
separate  character,  and  not  to  the  United  States  in  their  aggregate  charac- 
ter. Each  state  holds  territory  according  to  its  original  charter,  except  in 
cases  where  cessions  have  been  made  to  the  United  States,  by  individual 
states.  The  United  States  had  none  when  the  constitution  was  adopted, 
which  had  not  been  thus  ceded  to  them,  and  which  they  held  on  the  con- 
ditions on  which  such  cession  had  been  made.  Within  the  individual 
states,  it  is  believed,  that  they  held  not  a  single  acre  ;  but,  if  they  did,  it 
was  as  citizens  held  it,  merely  as  private  property.  The  territory  acquired 
by  cession,  lying  without  the  individual  states,  rests  on  a  different  principle, 
and  is  provided  for  by  a  separate  and  distinct  part  of  the  constitution.  It 
is  the  territory  within  the  individual  states,  to  which  the  constitution,  in 
its  great  principles,  applies  ;  and  it  applies  to  such  territory  as  the  territory 
of  a  state,  and  not  as  that  of  the  United  States.  The  next  circumstance 
to  be  attended  to,  is,  that  the  people  composing  this  union  are  the  people 
of  the  several  states,  and  not  of  the  United  States,  in  the  full  sense  of  a 
consolidated  government.  The  militia  are  the  militia  of  the  several  states  ; 
lands  are  held  under  the  laws  of  the  states  ;  descents,  contracts,  and  all 
the  concerns  of  private  property,  the  administration  of  justice,  and  the 
whole  criminal  code,  except  in  the  cases  of  breaches  of  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  made  under,  and  in  conformity  with,  the  powers  vested  in 
Congress,  and  of  the  laws  of  nations,  are  regulated  by  state  laws.  This 
enumeration  shows  the  great  extent  of  the  powers  of  the  state  govern- 
ments. The  territory  and  the  people  form  the  basis  on  which  all  govern- 
ments are  founded.  The  militia  constitutes  their  effective  force.  The 
regulation  and  protection  of  property,  and  of  personal  liberty,  are  also  among 
the  highest  attributes  of  sovereignty.  This,  without  other  evidence,  is 
sufficient  to  show,  that  the  great  office  of  the  constitution  of  the  United 
Stales  is,  to  unite  the  states  together,  under  a  government  endowed  with 
powers  adequate  to  the  purposes  of  its  institution,  relating,  directly  or  in- 
directly, to  foreign  concerns,  to  the  discharge  of  which,  a  national  govern- 
ment, thus  formed,  alone  could  be  competent. 

This  view  of  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  several  states  over  the 
territory  within  their  respective  limits,  except  in  cases  otherwise  specially 
provided  for,  is  supported  by  the  obvious  intent  of  the  several  powers 


504  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ox  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

granted  to  Congress,  to  which  a  more  particular  attention  is  now  due. 
Of  these,  the  right  to  declare  war  is,  perhaps,  the  most  important,  as  well 
by  the  consequences  attending  war,  as  by  the  other  powers  granted  in  aid 
of  it.  The.  right  to  lay  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  though  neces- 
sary for  the  support  of  the  civil  government,  is  equally  necessary  to  sustain 
the  charges  of  war  ;  the  right  to  raise  and  support  armies,  and  a  navy,  and 
to  call  forth  and  govern  the  militia,  when  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States,  are  altogether  of  the  latter  kind.  They  are  granted  in  aid  of  the 
power  to  make  war,  and  intended  to  give  effect  to  it.  These  several 
powers  are  of  great  force  and  extent,  and  operate  more  directly  within 
the  limits  and  upon  the  resources  of  the  states,  than  any  of  the  other 
powers.  But  still  they  are  means  only  for  given  ends.  War  is  declared, 
and  must  be  maintained.  An  army  and  a  navy  must  be  raised  ;  fortifica- 
tions must  be  erected  for  the  common  defence  ;  debts  must  be  paid.  For 
these  purposes  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  are  levied ;  taxes  are  laid ; 
the  lands,  merchandise,  and  other  property  of  the  citizens,  are  liable  for 
them;  the  money  is  not  paid,  seizures  are  made,  and  the  lands  are  sold. 
The  transaction  is  terminated ;  the  lands  pass  into  other  hands,  who  hold 
them  as  the  former  proprietors  did,  under  the  laws  of  the  individual  states. 
They  were  means  only  to  certain  ends  :  the  United  States  have  nothing 
further  to  do  with  them.  The  same  view  is  applicable  to  the  power  of  the 
general  government  over  persons.  The  militia  is  called  into  the  service 
of  the  United  States;  the  service  is  performed  ;  the  corps  return  to  the 
state  to  which  it  belongs ;  it  is  the  militia  of  such  state,  and  not  of  the 
United  States.  Soldiers  are  required  for  the  army,  who  may  be  obtained 
by  voluntary  enlistment,  or  by  some  other  process,  founded  in  the  princi- 
ples of  equality.  In  cither  case,  the  citizen,  after  the  tour  of  duty  is  per- 
formed, is  restored  to  his  former  station  in  society,  with  his  equal  share  in 
the  common  sovereignty  of  the  nation.  In  all  these  cases,  which  are  the 
strongest  which  can  be  given,  we  see  that  the  right  of  the  general  govern- 
ment is  nothing  more  than  what  it  is  called  in  the  constitution,  a  power  to 
perform  certain  acts  ;  and  that  the  subject  on  which  it  operates  is  a  mean 
only  to  that  end  ;  that  it  was,  both  before  and  after  that  act,  under  the 
protection,  and  subject  to  the  laws,  of  the  individual  state  within  which 
it  was. 

To  the  other  powers  of  the  general  government  the  same  remarks  are 
applicable,  and  with  greater  force.  The  right  to  regulate  commerce  with 
foreign  powers  was  necessary,  as  well  to  enable  Congress  to  lay  and  col- 
lect duties  and  imposts,  as  to  support  the  rights  of  the  nation  in  the  inter- 
course with  foreign  powers.  It  is  executed  at  the  ports  of  the  several 
states,  and  operates  almost  altogether  externally.  The  right  to  borrow 
and  coin  money,  and  to  fix  its  value,  and  that  of  foreign  coin,  are  important 
to  the  establishment  of  the  national  government,  and  particularly  necessary 
in  support  of  the  right  to  declare  war ;  as,  indeed,  may  be  considered  the 
right  to  punish  piracy  and  felonies  on  the  high  seas,  and  offences  against 
the  laws  of  nations.  The  right  to  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturaliza- 
tion, and  uniform  laws  respecting  bankruptcies,  seems  to  be  essentially 
connected  with  the  right  to  regulate  commerce.  The  first  branch  of  it 
relates  to  foreigners  entering  the  country  ;  the  second  to  merchants  who 
have  failed.  The  right  to  promote  the  progress  of  useful  arts  and  sciences 
may  be  executed  without  touching  any  of  the  individual  states.  It  is  ac- 
complished by  granting  patents  to  inventors,  and  preserving  models,  which 
may  be  done  exclusively  within  the  federal  district.  The  right  to  consti- 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  503 

tute  courts  inferior  to  the  supreme  court,  was  a  necessary  consequence  of 
the  judiciary  existing  as  a  separate  branch  of  the  general  government. 
Without  such  inferior  court  in  every  state,  it  would  be  difficult,  and  might 
even  be  impossible,  to  carry  into  effect  the  laws  of  the  general  govern- 
ment. The  right  to  establish  postoffices  and  postroads  is  essentially  of 
the  same  character.  For  political,  commercial  and  social  purposes,  it  was 
important  that  it  should  be  vested  in  the  general  government.  As  a  mere 
matter  of  regulation  and  nothing  more,  I  presume,  was  intended  by  it,  it  is 
a  power  easily  executed,  and  involving  little  authority  within  the  states 
individually.  The  right  to  exercise  exclusive  legislation,  in  all  cases 
whatsoever,  over  the  federal  district,  and  over  forts,  magazines,  arsenals, 
dock-yards,  and  other  needful  buildings,  with  the  consent  of  the  state 
within  which  the  same  may  be,  is  a  power  of  a  peculiar  character,  and  is 
sufficient  in  itself  to  confirm  what  has  been  said  of  all  the  other  powers 
of  the  general  government.  Of  this  particular  grant,  further  notice  will 
hereafter  be  taken. 

I  shall  conclude  my  remarks  on  this  part  of  the  subject  by  observing, 
that  the  view  which  has  been  presented  of  the  powers  and  character  of 
the  two  governments,  is  supported  by  the  marked  difference  which  is  ob- 
servable in  the  manner  of  their  endowment.  The  state  governments  are 
divided  into  three  branches,  a  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary ;  and 
the  appropriate  duties  of  each  assigned  to  it,  without  any  limitation  of 
power,  except  such  as  is  necessary  to  guard  against  abuse,  in  the  form  of 
bills  of  right.  But.  in  instituting  the  national  government,  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent principle  was  adopted  and  pursued.  The  government  itself  is 
organized,  like  the  state  governments,  into  three  branches,  but  its  powers 
are  enumerated  and  defined  in  the  most  precise  form.  The  subject  has 
already  been  too  fully  explained  to  require  illustration  by  a  general  view 
of  the  whole  constitution,  every  part  of  which  affords  proof  of  what  is  here 
advanced.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  advert  to  the  eighth  section  of  the  first 
article,  being  that  more  particularly  which  defines  the  powers,  and  fixes 
the  character  of  the  government  of  the  United  States.  By  this  section,  it 
is  declared  that  Congress  shall  have  power  : — 

1st.  To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  excises,  &c. 

Having  shown  the  origin  of  the  state  governments,  and  their  endow- 
ments, when  first  formed  ;  having  also  shown  the  origin  of  the  national 
government,  and  the  powers  vested  in  it ;  and  having  shown,  lastly,  the 
powers  which  are  admitted  to  have  remained  to  the  state  governments, 
after  those  which  were  taken  from  them  by  the  national  government,  I 
will  now  proceed  to  examine  whether  the  power  to  adopt  and  execute  a 
system  of  internal  improvement,  by  roads  and  canals,  has  been  vested  in 
the  United  States. 

Before  we  can  determine  whether  this  power  has  been  granted  to  the 
general  government,  it  will  be  necessary  to  ascertain,  distinctly,  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  power  requisite  to  make  such  improvements.  When 
that  in  done,  we  shall  be  able  to  decide  whether  such  power  is  vested  in 
the  national  government. 

If  the  power  existed,  it  would,  it  is  presumed,  be  executed  by  a  board 
of  skilful  engineers,  on  a  view  of  the  whole  union,  on  a  plan  which  would 
secure  complete  effect  to  all  the  gre;;t  purposes  of  our  constitution.  It  is 
not  my  intention,  however,  to  take  up  the.  subject  here,  on  this  scale.  I 
shall  state  a  case  for  the  purpose  of  illustration  only.  Let  it  be  supposed 
that  Congress  intended  lo  run  a  road  from  the  city  of  Washington  to 


50G  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

Baltimore,  ami  to  connect  the  Chesapeake  bay  with  the  Delaware,  and  the 
Delaware  with  the  karitan,  by  a  canal ;  what  must  be  done  to  carry  the 
project  into  efl'ect  ?  I  make  here  no  question  of  the  existing  power.  I 
speak  only  of  the  power  necessary  for  the  purpose.  Commissioners  would 
be  appointed  to  trace  a  route,  in  the  most  direct  line,  paying  due  regard  to 
heights,  water-courses,  and  other  obstacles,  and  to  acquire  the  right  to  tlm 
ground  over  which  the  road  and  canal  would  pass,  with  sufficient  breadth 
for  each.  This  must  bo  done  by  voluntary  grants,  or  by  purchases  from 
individuals,  or,  in  case  they  would  not  sell,  or  should  ask  an  exorbitant 
price,  by  condemning  the  property  and  fixing  its  value  by  a  jury  of  the 
vicinage.  The  next  object  to  be  attended  to,  after  the  road  and  canal  are 
laid  out  and  made,  is  to  keep  them  in  repair.  We  know  that  there  are 
people  in  every  community  capable  of  committing  voluntary  injuries ;  of 
pulling  down  walls  that  are  made  to  sustain  the  road  ;  of  breaking  the 
bridges  over  water-courses,  and  breaking  the  road  itself.  Some  living 
near  it  might  be  disappointed  that  it  did  not  pass  through  their  lands,  and 
commit  these  acts  of  violence  and  waste,  from  revenge,  or  in  the  hope  of 
giving  it  that  direction,  though  for  a  short  time.  Injuries  of  this  kind  have 
been  committed,  and  are  still  complained  of,  on  the  road  from  Cumberland 
to  the  Ohio.  To  accomplish  this  object,  Congress  should  have  a  right  to 
pass  laws  to  punish  offenders,  wherever  they  may  be  found.  Jurisdiction 
over  the  road  would  not  be  sufficient,  though  it  were  exclusive.  It  would 
seldom  happen  that  the  parties  would  be  delected  in  the  act.  They  would 
generally  commit  it  in  the  night,  and  fly  far  off  before  the  sun  appeared. 
The  power  to  punish  these  culprits  must,  therefore,  reach  them  wherever 
they  go.  They  must,  also,  be  amenable  to  competent  tribunals,  federal  or 
state.  The  power  must,  likewise,  extend  to  another  object,  not  less  essen- 
tial or  important  than  those  already  mentioned.  Experience  has  shown 
that  the  establishment  of  turnpikes,  with  gates  and  tolls,  and  persons  to 
collect  the  tolls,  is  the  best  expedient  that  can  be  adopted  to  defray  the 
expense  of  these  improvements,  and  the  repairs  which  they  necessarily 
require.  Congress  must,  therefore,  have  power  to  make  such  an  establish- 
ment, and  to  support  it,  by  such  regulations,  with  fines  and  penalties,  in 
the  case  of  injuries,  as  may  be  competent  to  the  purpose.  The  right  must 
extend  to  all  those  objects,  or  it  will  be  utterly  incompetent.  It  is  possess- 
ed and  exercised  by  the  states  individually,  and  it  must  be  possessed  by 
the  United  States,  or  the  pretension  must  be  abandoned. 

Let  it  be  further  supposed  that  Congress,  believing  that  they  do  possess 
the  power,  have  passed  an  act  for  those  purposes,  under  which  commis- 
sioners have  been  appointed,  who  have  begun  the  work.  They  are  met  at 
the  first  farm  on  which  they  enter,  by  the  owner,  who  forbids  them  to 
trespass  on  his  land.  They  offer  to  buy  it  at  a  fair  price,  or  at  twice  or 
thrice  its  value.  He  persists  in  his  refusal.  Can  they,  on  the  principle 
recognised  and  acted  on  by  all  the  state  governments,  that,  in  cases  of 
this  kind,  the  obstinacy  and  perverseness  of  an  individual  must  yield  to 
the  public  welfare,  summon  a  jury  of  upright  and  discreet  men  to  condemn 
the  land,  value  it,  and  compel  the  owner  to  receive  the  amount,  and  to 
deliver  it  up  to  them  ?  I  believe  that  very  few  would  concur  in  the  opinion 
that  such  a  power  exists. 

The  next  object  is  to  preserve  these  improvements  from  injury.  The 
locks  of  the  canal  are  broken  ;  the  walls  which  sustained  the  road  are 
pulled  down  ;  the  bridges  are  broken  ;  the  road  itself  is  ploughed  up ;  toll 
is  refused  to  be  paid  ;  the  gates  of  the  canal  or  turnpike  are  forced.  The 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  507 

offenders  are  pursued,  caught,  and  brought  to  trial.  Can  they  be  punish- 
ed? The  question  of  right  must  be  decided  on  principle.  The  culprits  will 
avail  themselves  of  every  barrier,  that  may  serve  to  screen  them  from 
punishment.  They  will  plead  that  the  law,  under  which  they  stand 
arraigned,  is  unconstitutional,  and  that  question  must  be  decided  by  the 
court,  whether  federal  or  state,  on  a  fair  investigation  of  the  powers  vested 
in  the  general  government  by  the  constitution.  If  the  judges  find  that 
these  powers  have  not  been  granted  to  Congress,  the  prisoners  must  be 
acquitted  ;  and,  by  their  acquittal,  all  claim  to  the  right  to  establish  such 
a  system  is  at  an  end. 

I  have  supposed  an  opposition  to  be  made  to  the  right  in  Congress,  by 
the  owner  of  the  land,  and  other  individuals  charged  with  breaches  of 
statutes  made  to  protect  the  work  from  injury,  because  it  is  the  mildest 
form  in  which  it  can  present  itself.  It  is  not,  however,  the  only  one.  A 
state,  also,  may  contest  the  right,  and  then  the  controversy  assumes  another 
character.  Government  might  contend  against  government ;  for,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  both  the  governments  are  sovereign  and  independent  of  each 
other,  and  in  that  form  it  is  possible,  though  not  probable,  that  opposition 
might  be  made.  To  each  limitations  are  prescribed,  and  should  a  contest 
rise  between  them,  respecting  their  rights,  and  the  people  sustain  it  with 
anything  like  an  equal  division  of  numbers,  the  worst  consequences  might 
ensue. 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  opposition  suggested  by  the  owner  of  the  land, 
or  by  the  states  individually,  may  be  avoided  by  a  satisfactory  arrange- 
ment with  the  parties.  But  a  suppression  of  opposition  in  that  way,  is  no 
proof  of  a  right  in  Congress,  nor  could  it,  if  confined  to  that  limit,  remove 
all  the  impediments  to  the  exercise  of  the  power.  It  is  not  sufficient  that 
Congress  may,  by  the  command  and  application  of  the  public  revenue,  pur- 
chase the  soil,  and  thus  silence  that  class  of  individuals  ;  or,  by  the  ac- 
commodation afforded  to  individual  states,  put  down  opposition  on  their 
part.  Congress  must  be  able  rightfully  to  control  all  opposition,  or  they 
can  not  carry  the  system  into  effect.  Cases  would  inevitably  occur  to  put 
the  right  to  the  test.  The  work  must  be  preserved  from  injury  ;  tolls 
must  be  collected  ;  offenders  must  be  punished.  With  these  culprits  no 
bargain  can  be  made.  When  brought  to  trial,  they  must  deny  the  validity 
of  the  law,  and  that  plea  being  sustained,  all  claim  to  the  right  ceases. 

If  the  United  States  possess  this  power,  it  must  be,  either  because  it 
has  been  specifically  granted,  or  that  it  is -incidental,  and  necessary  to 
carry  into  effect  some  specific  grant.  The  advocates  for  the  power  derive 
it  from  the  following  sources  :  1st,  the  right  to  establish  postoffices  and 
postroads  ;  2d,  to  declare  war  ;  3d,  to  regulate  commerce  among  the 
several  states  ;  4th,  from  the  power  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the 
common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States ;  oth,  from  the 
power  to  make  all  laws  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution 
all  the  powers  vested  by  the  constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof;  6th,  and  lastly,  from  the 
power  to  dispose  of,  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting, 
the  territory  and  other  property  of  the  United  States.  It  is  to  be  observed, 
that  there  is  but  little  accord  among  the  advocates  for  this  power,  as  to 
the  particular  source  whence  it  is  derived.  They  all  agree,  however,  in 
ascribing  it  to  some  one  or  more  of  those  above-mentioned.  I  will  exam- 
ine the  ground  of  the  claim  in  each  instance. 

The  first  of  these  grants  is  in  the  following  words  :  "  Congress  shall  have 


508  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

power  to  establish  postofficos  and  postroads."  What  is  the  just  import  of 
these  words,  and  the  extent  of  the  grant  ?  The  word  "  establish,"  is  the  ruling 
term  ;  "  postoffices  and  postroads"  are  the  subjects  on  which  it  acts.  The 
question,  therefore,  is,  what  power  is  granted  by  that  word  ?  The  sense 
in  which  words  are  commonly  used,  is  that  in  which  they  are  to  be  under- 
stood in  all  transactions  between  public  bodies  and  individuals.  The  in- 
tention of  the  parties  is  to  prevail ;  and  there  is  no  better  way  of  ascer- 
taining it,  than  by  giving  to  the  terms  used  their  ordinary  import.  If  \ve 
were  to  ask  any  number  of  our  most  enlightened  citizens,  who  had  no 
connexion  with  public  affairs,  and  whose  minds  were  unprejudiced,  wh:il 
was  the  import  of  the  word  "  establish,"  and  the  extent  of  the  grant  which 
it  controls,  we  do  not  think  that  there  would  be  any  difference  of  opinion 
among  them.  We  are  satisfied  that  all  of  them  would  answer,  that  a 
power  was  thereby  given  to  Congress,  to  fix  on  the  towns,  courthouses, 
and  other  places,  throughout  our  Union,  at  which  there  should  be  postoffi- 
ces ;  the  routes  by  which  the  mails  should  be  carried  from  one  postoffico 
to  another,  so  as  to  diffuse  intelligence  as  extensively,  and  to  make  the 
institution  as  useful,  as  possible  ;  to  fix  the  postage  to  be  paid  on  every 
letter  and  packet  thus  carried,  to  support  the  establishment,  and  to  protect, 
the  postoffices  and  mails  from  robbery,  by  punishing  those  who  should 
commit  the  offence.  The  idea  of  a  right  to  lay  off  the  roads  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  on  a  general  scale  of  improvement ;  to  take  the  soil  from  the 
proprietor  by  force ;  to  establish  turnpikes  and  tolls,  and  to  punish  offen- 
ders in  the  manner  stated  above,  would  never  occur  to  any  such  person. 
The  use  of  the  existing  road,  by  the  stage,  mail-carrier,  or  postboy,  in 
passing  over  it  as  others  do,  is  all  that  would  be  thought  of;  the  jurisdic- 
tion and  soil  remaining  to  the  state,  with  a  right  in  the  state,  or  those  au- 
thorized by  its  legislature,  to  change  the  road  at  pleasure. 

The  intention  of  the  parties  is  supported  by  other  proof,  which  ought  to 
place  it  beyond  all  doubt.  In  the  former  act  of  government,  the  confed- 
eration, we  find  a  grant  for  the  same  purpose,  expressed  in  the  following 
words:  "The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  have  the  sole 
and  exclusive  right  and  power  of  establishing  and  regulating  postoffices 
from  one  state  to  another,  throughout  the  United  States,  and  of  exacting 
such  postage  on  the  papers  passing  through  the  same,  as  may  be  requisite 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  said  postoffice."  The  term  "  establish"  was 
likewise  the  ruling  one  in  that  instrument,  and  was  evidently  intended,  and 
understood,  to  give  a  power  simply  and  solely  to  fix  where  there  should 
be  postoffices.  By  transferring  this  term  from  the  confederation  into  the 
constitution,  it  was  doubtless  intended  that  it  should  be  understood  in  the 
same  sense  in  the  latter  that  it  was  in  the  former  instrument,  and  to 
be  applied  alike  to  postoffices  and  postroads.  In  whatever  sense  it  is  ap- 
plied to  postoffices,  it  must  be  applied  in  the  same  sense  to  postroads. 
But  it  may  be  asked,  if  such  was  the  intention,  why  were  not  all  the 
other  terms  of  the  grant  transferred  with  it  ?  The  reason  is  obvious.  The 
confederation  being  a  bond  of  union  between  independent  states,  it  was 
necessary,  in  granting  the  powers  which  were  to  be  exercised  over  them, 
to  be  very  explicit  and  minute  in  defining  the  powers  granted.  But  the 
constitution,  to  the  extent  of  its  powers,  having  incorporated  the  states  into 
one  government,  like  the  government  of  the  states,  individually,  fewer 
words  in  defining  the  powers  granted  by  it,  were  not  only  adequate,  but, 
perhaps,  better  adapted  to  the  purpose.  We  find  that  brevity  is  a  charac- 
teristic of  the  instrument.  Had  it  been  intended  to  convey  a  more  en- 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  509 

larged  power  in  the  constitution  than  had  been  granted  in  the  confederation, 
surely  the  same  controlling  term  would  not  have  been  used ;  or  other 
words  would  have  been  added,  to  show  such  intention,  and  to  mark  the 
extent  to  which  the  power  should  be  carried.  It  is  a  liberal  construction 
of  the  powers  granted  in  the  constitution,  by  this  term,  to  include  in  it  all 
the  powers  that  were  granted  in  the  confederation,  by  terms  which  specifi- 
cally defined  and  (as  was  supposed)  extended  their  limits.  It  would  be 
absurd  to  say,  that,  by  omitting  from  the  constitution  any  portion  of  the 
phraseology  which  was  deemed  important  in  the  confederation,  the  import 
of  the  term  was  enlarged,  and,  with  it,  the  powers  of  the  constitution,  in  a 
proportional  degree,  beyond  what  they  were  in  the  confederation.  The 
right  to  exact  postage  and  to  protect  the  postoffices  and  mails  from  rob- 
bery, by  punishing  the  offenders,  may  fairly  be  considered  as  incidents  to 
the  grant,  since,  without  it,  the  object  of  the  grant  might  be  defeated. 
Whatever  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  object  of 
the  grant,  though  not  specified,  may  fairly  be  considered  as  included  in  it. 
Beyond  this,  the  doctrine  of  incidental  power  can  not  be  carried. 

If  we  go  back  to  the  origin  of  our  settlements  and  institutions,  and  trace 
their  progress  down  to  the  revolution,  we  shall  see  that  it  was  in  this 
sense,  and  none  other,  that  the  power  was  exercised  by  all  our  colonial 
governments.  Postoffices  were  made  for  the  country,  and  not  the  country 
for  them.  They  are  the  offspring  of  improvement ;  they  never  go  before 
it.  Settlements  are  first  made ;  after  which  the  progress  is  uniform  and 
simple,  extending  to  objects  in  regular  order,  most  necessary  to  the  com- 
fort of  man — schools,  places  of  worship,  courthouses,  and  markets  ;  post- 
offices  follow.  Roads  may,  indeed,  be  said  to  be  coeval  with  settlements. 
They  lead  to  all  the  places  mentioned,  and  to  every  other  which  the  vari- 
ous and  complicated  interests  of  society  require. 

It  is  believed  that  not  one  example  can  be  given,  from  the  first  settle- 
ment of  our  country  to  the  adoption  of  this  constitution,  of  a  postofEce  being 
established  without  a  view  to  existing  roads  ;  or  of  a  single  road  having 
been  made  by  pavement,  turnpike,  &c..  for  the  sole  purpose  of  accommo- 
dating a  postoffice.  Such,  too,  is  the  uniform  progress  of  all  societies.  In 
granting,  then,  this  power  to  the  United  States,  it  was  undoubtedly  intended 
by  the  framers  and  ratifiers  of  the  constitution,  to  convey  it  in  the  sense 
and  extent  only  in  which  it  had  been  understood  and  exercised  by  the 
previous  authorities  of  the  country. 

This  conclusion  is  confirmed  by  the  object  of  the  grant  and  the  manner 
of  its  execution.  The  object  is  the  transportation  of  the  mail  throughout 
the  United  States,  which  may  be  done  on  horseback,  and  was  so  done 
until  lately,  since  the  establishment  of  stages.  Between  the  great  towns, 
and  in  other  places  where  the  population  is  dense,  stages  are  preferred, 
because  they  afford  an  additional  opportunity  to  make  a  profit  from  passen- 
gers. But  where  the  population  is  sparse,  and  on  crossroads,  it  is  gen- 
erally carried  on  horseback.  Unconnected  with  passengers  and  other  ob- 
jects, it  can  not  be  doubted  that  the  mail  itself  may  be  carried  in  every 
part  of  our  Union,  with  nearly  as  much  economy  and  greater  despatch,  on 
horseback,  than  in  a  stage  ;  and  in  many  parts  with  much  greater.  In 
every  part  of  the  Union  in  which  stages  can  be  preferred,  the  roads  are 
sufficiently  good,  provided  those  which  serve  for  every  other  purpose  will 
accommodate  them.  In  every  other  part,  where  horses  alone  are  used,  if 
other  people  pass  them  on  horseback,  surely  the  mail-carrier  can.  For 
an  object  so  simple  and  so  easy  in  the  execution,  it  would  doubtless  ex- 


510  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

«ite  surprise,  if  it  shoiilJ  be  thought  proper  to  appoint  commissioners  to 
lay  off  the  country  on  a  great  scheme  of  improvement,  with  the  power  to 
shorten  distances,  reduce  heights,  level  mountains,  and  pave  surfaces. 

If  the  United  States  possessed  the  power  contended  for  under  this  grant, 
might  they  not,  in  adopting  the  roads  of  the  individual  states  for  the  car- 
riage of  the  mail,  as  has  been  done,  assume  jurisdiction  over  them,  and 
preclude  a  right  to  interfere  with  or  alter  them  ?  Might  they  not  establish 
turnpike's,  and  exercise  all  the  other  acts  of  sovereignty,  above  stated,  over 
such  roads,  necessary  to  protect  them  from  injury,  and  defray  the  expense 
of  repairing  them  ?  Surely,  if  the  right  exists,  these  consequences  neces- 
sarily followed,  as  soon  as  the  road  was  established.  The  absurdity  of 
such  a  pretension  must  be  apparent  to  all  who  examine  it.  In  this  way  a 
large  portion  of  the  territory  of  every  state  might  be  taken  from  it,  for  there 
is  scarcely  a  road  in  any  state  which  will  not  be  used  for  the  transporta- 
tion of  the  mail.  A  new  field  for  legislation  and  internal  government  would 
thus  be  opened. 

From  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  think  that  we  may  fairly  conclude,  that 
the  right  to  adopt  and  execute  a  system  of  internal  improvement,  or  any 
part  of  it.  has  not  been  granted  to  Congress  under  the  power  to  establish 
postoffices  and  postroads  ;  that  the  common  roads  of  the  country  only  were 
contemplated  by  that  grant,  and  are  fully  competent  to  all  its  purposes. 

The  next  object  of  inquiry  is,  whether  the  right  to  declare  war  includes 
the  right  to  adopt  and  execute  this  system  of  improvement  ?  The  objec- 
tions to  it  are,  I  presume,  not  less  conclusive  than  those  which  are  appli- 
cable to  the  grant  which  we  have  just  examined. 

Under  the  last-mentioned  grant,  a  claim  has  been  set  up  to  as  much  of  that 
system  as  relates  to  roads.  Under  this,  it  extends  alike  to  roads  and  canals. 

We  must  examine  this  grant  by  the  same  rules  of  construction  that  were 
applied  to  the  preceding  one.  The  object  was  to  take  this  power  from 
the  individual  states,  and  to  vest  it  in  the  general  government.  This 
has  been  done  in  clear  and  explicit  terms — first,  by  granting  the 
power  to  Congress,  and,  secondly,  by  prohibiting  the  exercise  of  it 
by  the  states.  Congress  shall  have  a  right  to  declare  war.  This  is 
the  language  of  the  grant.  If  the  right  to  adopt  and  execute  this  system 
of  improvement  is  included  in  it,  it  must  be  by  way  of  incident  only,  since 
there  is  nothing  in  the  grant  itself  which  bears  any  relation  to  roads  and 
canals.  The  following  considerations,  it  is  presumed,  proved,  incontesta- 
bly,  that  this  power  has  not  been  granted  in  that  or  any  other  manner. 

The  United  States  are  exposed  to  invasion  through  the  whole  extent  of 
their  Atlantic  coast,  by  any  European  power  with  whom  we  might  be  en- 
gaged in  war ;  on  the  northern  and  northwestern  frontier,  on  the  side  of 
Canada,  by  Great  Britain,  and  on  the  southern  by  Spain,  or  any  power  in 
alliance  with  her.  If  internal  improvements  are  to  be  carried  to  the  full 
extent  to  which  they  may  be  useful  for  military  purposes,  the  power,  as  it 
exists,  must  apply  to  all  the  roads  of  the  Union,  there  being  no  limitation 
to  it.  Wherever  such  improvements  may  facilitate  the  march  of  troops, 
the  transportation  of  cannon,  or  otherwise  aid  the  operations,  or  mitigate 
the  calamities  of  war,  along  the  coast,  or  in  any  part  of  the  interior,  they 
would  be  useful  for  military  purposes,  and  might  therefore  be  made.  The 
power  following  as  an  incident  to  another  power  can  be  measured,  as  to 
its  extent,  by  reference  only  to  the  obvious  extent  of  the  power  to  which 
it  is  incidental.  So  great  a  scope  was,  it  is  believed,  never  given  to  inci- 
dental power. 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  511 

If  it  had  been  intended  that  the  right  to  declare  war  should  include  all 
the  powers  necessary  to  maintain  war,  it  would  follow  that  nothing  would 
have  been  done  to  impair  the  right,  or  to  restrain  Congress  from  the  exer- 
cise of  any  power  which  the  exigencies  of  war  might  require.  The  na- 
ture and  extent  of  this  exigency  would  mark  the  extent  of  the  power 
granted,  which  should  always  be  construed  liberally,  so  as  to  be  adequate 
to  the  end.  A  right  to  raise  money  by  taxes,  duties,  excises,  and  by  loan  ; 
to  raise  and  support  armies  and  a  navy*;  to  provide  for  calling  forth,  arm- 
ing, disciplining,  and  governing  the  militia,  when  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States  ;  establishing  fortifications,  and  governing  the  troops  stationed 
in  them,  independently  of  the  state  authorities,  and  to  perform  many  other 
acts,  is  indispensable  to  the  maintenance  of  war.  No  war  with  any  great 
power  can  be  prosecuted  with  success  without  the  command  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  Union  in  all  these  respects.  Tnese  powers,  then,  would, 
of  necessity,  and  by  common  consent,  have  fallen  within  the  right  to  de* 
clare  war,  had  it  been  intended  to  convey,  by  way  of  incident  to  that  right, 
the  necessary  powers  to  maintain  war.  But  these  powers  have  all  been 
granted  specifically,  with  many  others,  in  great  detail,  which  experience 
had  shown  were  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  war.  By  specifically  grant- 
ing, then,  these  powers,  it  is  manifest  that  every  power  was  thus  granted 
which  it  was  intended  to  grant,  for  military  purposes  ;  and  that  it  was  also 
intended  that  no  important,  power  should  be  included  in  this  grant  by  way 
of  incident,  however  useful  it  might  be  for  some  of  the  purposes  of  the 
grant. 

By  the  sixteenth  of  the  enumerated  powers,  article  i.,  sect.  8,  Congress 
are  authorized  to  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatever  over 
such  district  as  may,  by  cession  of  particular  states,  and  the  acceptance 
of  Congress,  not  exceeding  ten  miles  square,  become  the  seat  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  ;  and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places 
purchased  by  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  state  in  which  the  same 
shall  be,  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards,  and  other 
useful  buildings.  If  any  doubt  existed  on  a  view  of  the  other  parts  of  the 
constitution  respecting  the  decision  which  ought  to  be  formed  on  the  ques- 
tion under  consideration,  I  should  suppose  that  this  clause  would  com- 
pletely remove  it.  It  has  been  shown,  after  the  most  liberal  construction 
of  all  the  enumerated  powers  of  the  general  government,  that  the  territory 
within  the  limits  of  the  respective  states  belonged  to  them;  that  the  Uni- 
ted States  had  no  right,  under  the  powers  granted  to  them,  with  the  excep- 
tion specified  in  this  grant,  to  any  the  smallest  portion  of  territory  within 
a  state,  all  those  powers  operating  on  a  different  principle,  and  having 
their  full  effect  without  impairing,  in  the  slightest  degree,  this  right  in  the 
states  ;  that  those  powers  were,  in  every  instance,  means  to  ends,  which, 
being  accomplished,  left  the  subject,  that  is,  the  property,  in  which  light 
only  land  could  be  regarded,  where  it  was  before — under  the  jurisdiction, 
;md  subject  to  the  laws,  of  the  state  governments. 

The  second  number  of  the  clause,  which  is  applicable  to  military  and 
naval  purposes  alone,  claims  particular  attention  here.  It  fully  confirms 
the  view  taken  of  the  other  enumerated  powers  ;  for,  had  it  been  intended 
to  include  in  the  right  to  declare  war,  by  way  of  incident,  any  right  of 
jurisdiction  or  legislation  over  territory  within  a  state,  it  would  have  been 
done  as  to  fortifications,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards,  and  other  need- 
ful buildings.  By  specifically  granting  the  right,  as  to  such  small  portions 
of  territory  as  might  be  necessary  for  thcso  purposes,  and  on  certain  con- 


512  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT*. 

ditions,  minutely  and  well  defined,  it  is  manifest  that  it  was  not  intended 
to  grant  it,  as  to  any  other  portion,  on  any  condition,  for  any  purpose,  or 
in  any  manner  whatsoever. 

It  may  be  said  that,  although  the  authority  to  exercise  exclusive  legis- 
lation in  certain  cases,  within  the  states,  with  their  consent,  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  prohibition  to  Congress  to  exercise  like  exclusive  legislation 
in  any  other  case,  although ,  their  consent  should  be  granted,  it  does  not 
prohibit  the  exercise  of  such  jurisdiction  or  power,  within  a  state,  as  would 
be  competent  to  all  the  purposes  of  internal  improvement.  1  can  conceive 
no  ground  on  which  the  idea  of  such  a  power  over  any  part  of  the  terri- 
tory of  a  state  can  be  inferred  from  the  power  to  declare  war.  There 
never  can  be  an  occasion  for  jurisdiction  for  military  purposes,  except  in 
fortifications,  dockyards,  and  the  like  places.  If  the  soldiers  are  in  the 
field,  or  are  quartered  in  garrisons  without  the  fortifications,  the  civil  au- 
thority must  prevail  where  they  are.  The  government  of  the  troops  by 
martial  law  is  not  affected  by  it.  In  war,  when  the  forces  are  increased, 
and  the  movement  is  on  a  greater  scale,  consequences  follow  which  are 
inseparable  from  the  exigencies  of  the  stale.  Moro  freedom  of  action,  and 
a  wider  range  of  power,  in  the  military  commanders,  to  be  exercised  on 
their  own  responsibility,  may  he  necessary  to  the  public  safety  ;  but,  even 
here,  the  civil  authority  of  the  state  never  ceases vto  operate.  It  is  also 
exclusive  for  all  civil  purposes. 

Whether  any  power,  short  of  that  stated,  would  be  adequate  to  the  purpo- 
ses of  internal  improvement,  is  denied.  In  the  case  of  territory,  one  gov- 
ernment must  prevail  for  all  the  purposes  intended  by  the  grant.  The 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  might  be  modified  in  such  manner  as  to 
admit  that  of  the  state  in  all  cases  and  for  all  purposes  not  necessary  to  the 
execution  of  the  proposed  power.  But  the  right  of  the  general  govern- 
ment must  be  complete  for  all  the  purposes  above  stated.  It  must  extend 
to  the  seizure  and  condemnation  of  the  property,  if  necessary  ;  to  the  pun- 
ishment of  offenders  for  injuries  to  the  roads  and  canals  ;  to  the  establish- 
ment and  enforcement  of  tolls,  &c.,  &c.  It  must  be  a  complete  right,  to 
the  extent  above  stated,  or  it  will  be  of  no  avail.  That  right  does  not 
exist. 

The  reasons  which  operate  in  favor  of  the  right  of  exclusive  legislation 
in  forts,  dockyards,  &c.,  do  not  apply  to  any  other  places.  The  safety  of 
such  works,  and  of  the  cities  which  they  are  intended  to  defend,  and  even 
of  whole  communities,  may  sometimes  depend  on  it.  If  spies  are  admit- 
ted within  them  in  time  of  war,  they  might  communicate  intelligence  to 
the  enemy  which  might  be  fatal.  All  nations  surround  such  works  with 
high  walls,  and  keep  their  gates  shut.  Even  here,  however,  three  impor- 
tant conditions  are  indispensable  to  such  exclusive  legislation  :  First.  The 
ground  must  be  requisite  for,  and  be  applied  to,  those  purposes.  Second. 
It  must  be  purchased.  Third.  It  must  be  purchased  by  the  consent  of 
the  state  in  which  it  may  be.  When  we  find  that  so  much  care  has  been 
taken  to  protect  the  sovereignty  of  the  states  over  the  territory  within  their 
respective  limits,  admitting  that  of  the  United  States  over  such  small  por- 
tions, and  for  such  special  and  important  purposes  only,  the  conclusion  is 
irresistible,  not  only  that  the  power  necessary  for  internal  improvements 
has  not  been  granted,  but  that  it  has  been  clearly  prohibited. 

I  come  next  to  the  right  to  regulate  commerce,  the  third  source  from 
whence  the  right  to  make  internal  improvements  is  claimed.  It  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  following  words  :  "  Congress  shall  have  power  to  regulate 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  513 

commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several  states  and  with  the 
Indian  tribes."  The  reasoning  applicable  to  the  preceding  claims  is  equally 
so  to  this.  The  mischief  complained  of  was,  that  this  power  could  not  be 
exercised  with  advantage  by  the  individual  states,  and  the  object  was  to 
transfer  it  to  the  United  States.  The  sense  in  which  the  power  was  un- 
derstood and  exercised  by  the  states,  was  doubtless  that  in  which  it  was 
transferred  to  the  United  States.  The  policy  was  the  same  as  to  three 
branches  of  this  grant,  and  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  separate  the  first  two 
from  each  of  the  other,  in  any  view  which  may  be  taken  of  the  subject. 
The  last,  relating  to  the  Indian  tribes,  is  of  a  nature  distinct  from  the  oth- 
ers, for  reasons  too  well  known  to  require  explanation.  Commerce  be- 
tween independent  powers  or  communities  is  universally  regulated  by  du- 
ties and  imposts.  It  was  so  regulated  by  the  states  before  the  adoption 
of  this  constitution,  equally  in  respect  to  each  other  and  to  foreign  pow- 
ers. The  goods  and  vessels  employed  in  the  trade  are  the  only  sub- 
jects of  regulation.  It  can  act  on  none  other.  A  power  then  to  impose 
such  duties  and  imposts,  in  regard  to  foreign  nations,  and  to  prevent  any 
on  the  trade  between  the  states,  was  the  only  power  granted. 

If  we  recur  to  the  causes  which  produced  the  adoption  of  this  consti- 
tution, we  shall  find  that  injuries,  resulting  from  the  regulation  of  trade  by 
the  states,  respectively,  and  the  advantages  anticipated  from  the  transfer 
of  the  power  to  Congress,  were  among  those  which  had  the  most  weight. 
Instead  of  acting  as  a  nation  in  regard  to  foreign  powers,  the  states,  indi- 
vidually, had  commenced  a  system  of  restraint  on  each  other,  whereby  the 
interests  of  foreign  powers  were  promoted  at  their  expense.  If  one  state 
imposed  high  duties  on  the  goods  or  vessels  of  a  foreign  power,  to  coun- 
tervail the  regulations  of  such  power,  the  next  adjoining  states  imposed 
lower  duties,  to  invite  those  articles  into  their  ports,  that  they  might  be 
transferred  thence  into  the  other  states,  securing  the  duties  to  themselves. 
This  contracted  policy  in  some  of  the  states  was  soon  counteracted  by  oth- 
ers. Restraints  were  immediately  laid  on  such  commerce  by  the  suffer- 
ing states,  and  thus  had  grown  up  a  state  of  affairs,  disorderly  and  unnat- 
ural, the  tendency  of  which  was,  to  destroy  the  Union  itself,  and  with  it. 
all  hope  of  realizing  those  blessings  which  we  had  anticipated  from  the 
glorious  revolution  which  had  been  so  recently  achieved.  From  this  de- 
plorable dilemma,  or  rather  certain  ruin,  we  were  happily  rescued  by  the 
adoption  of  the  constitution. 

Among  the  first  and  most  important  effects  of  this  great  revolution,  was 
the  complete  abolition-of  this  pernicious  policy.  The  states  were  brought 
together  by  the  constitution,  as  to  commerce,  into  one  community,  equally, 
in  regard  to  foreign  nations  and  each  other.  The  regulations  that  were 
adopted,  regarded  us,  in  both  respects,  as  one  people.  The  duties  and  im- 
posts that  were  laid  on  the  vessels  and  merchandise  of  foreign  nations, 
were  all  uniform  throughout  the  United  States,  and,  in  the  intercourse  be- 
tween the  states  themselves,  no  duties  of  any  kind  were  imposed,  other 
than  between  different  ports  and  counties  within  the  same  state. 

This  view  is  supported  by  a  series  of  measures,  all  of  a  marked  char- 
acter, preceding  the  adoption  of  the  constitution.  As  early  as  the  year 
1781,  Congress  recommended  it  to  the  states  to  vest  in  the  United  States 
a  power  to  levy  a  duty  of  five  per  cent,  on  all  goods  imported  from  foreign 
countries  into  the  United  States,  for  the  term  of  fifteen  years.  In  1783, 
this  recommendation,  with  alterations  as  to  the  kind  of  duties,  and  an  ex- 
tension of  this  term  to  twenty-five  years,  was  repeated,  and  more  earnestly 
VOL.  I.— 33 


514  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

urged.  In  1784,  it  was  recommended  to  the  states  to  authorize  Congress 
to  prohibit,  under  certain  modifications,  the  importation  of  goods  from  for- 
eign powers  into  the  United  States  for  fifteen  years.  In  1785,  the  consid- 
eration of  the  subject  was  resumed,  and  a  proposition  presented  in  a  new 
form,  with  an  address  to  the  states,  explaining  fully  the  principles  on  which 
a  grant  of  the  power  to  regulate  trade  was  deemed  indispensable.  In 
1786,  a  meeting  took  place  at  Annapolis,  of  delegates  from  several  of  the 
states,  on  this  subject,  and,  on  their  report,  a  convention  was  formed  at 
Philadelphia,  the  ensuing  year,  from  all  the  states,  to  whose  deliberations 
we  are  indebted  for  the  present  constitution. 

In  none  of  these  measures  was  the  subject  of  internal  improvement 
mentioned,  or  even  glanced  at.  Those  of  1784,  '5,  '6,  and  '7,  leading,  step 
by  step,  to  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  had  in  view,  only,  the  obtain- 
ing of  a  power  to  enable  Congress  to  regulate  trade  with  foreign  powers. 
It  is  manifest  that  the  regulation  of  trade  with  the  several  states,  was  al- 
together a  secondary  object,  suggested  by  and  adopted  in  connexion  with 
the  other.  If  the  power  necessary  to  this  system  of  improvement  is  in- 
cluded under  either  branch  of  this  grant,  I  should  suppose  that  it  was 
the  first,  rather  than  the  second.  The  pretension  to  it,  however,  under 
that  branch,  has  never  been  set  up.  In  support  of  the  claim,  under  the 
second,  no  reason  has  been  assigned  which  appears  to  have  the  least 
weight. 

The  fourth  claim  is  founded  on  the  right  of  Congress  to  "  pay  the  debts 
and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare"  of  the  United 
States.  This  claim  has  less  reason  on  its  side,  than  either  of  those  which 
we  have  already  examined.  The  power  of  which  this  forms  a  part  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  following  words  :  "  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and 
collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises ;  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide 
for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States ;  but 
all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United 
States." 

That  the  second  part  of  this  grant  gives  a  right  to  appropriate  the  public 
money,  and  nothing  more,  is  evident  from  the  following  considerations  : 
First,  if  the  right  of  appropriation  is  not  given  by  this  clause,  it  is  not  given 
at  all,  there  being  no  other  grant  in  the  constitution  which  gives  it  directly, 
or  which  has  any  bearing  on  the  subject,  even  by  implication,  except  the 
two  following :  first,  the  prohibition,  which  is  contained  in  the  eleventh  of 
the  enumerated  powers,  not  to  appropriate  money  for  the  support  of  armies 
for  a  longer  term  than  two  years  ;  and,  secondly,  the  declaration  in  the 
sixth  member  'or  clause  of  the  ninth  section  of  the  first  article,  that  no 
money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury,  but  in  consequence  of  appropria- 
tions made  by  law.  Secondly,  this  part  of  the  grant  has  none  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  a  distinct  and  original  power.  It  is  manifestly  incidental  to 
the  great  objects  of  the  first  branch  of  the  grant,  which  authorizes  Con- 
gress to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  ;  a  power  of 
vast  extent,  not  granted  by  the  confederation,  the  grant  of  which  formed 
one  of  the  principal  inducements  to  the  adoption  of  this  constitution.  If 
both  parts  of  the  grant  are  taken  together,  as  they  must  be,  for  the  one 
follows  immediately  after  the  other  in  the  same  sentence,  it  seems  to  be 
impossible  to  give  to  the  latter  any  other  construction  than  that  contended 
for.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts, 
and  excises.  For  what  purpose  ?  To  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the 
common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States — an  arrange- 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERVAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  515 

ment  and  phraseology  which  clearly  show  that  the  latter  part  of  the  clause 
was  intended  to  enumerate  the  purposes  to  which  the  money  thus  raised 
might  be  appropriated.  Thirdly,  if  this  is  not  the  real  object  and  fair  con- 
struction of  the  second  part  of  this  grant,  it  follows  either  that  it  has  no 
import  or  operation  whatever,  or  one  of  much  greater  extent  than  the  first 
part.  This  presumption  is  evidently  groundless  in  both  instances  ;  in  the 
first,  because  no  part  of  the  constitution  can  be  considered  as  useless  ;  no 
sentence  or  clause  in  it  without  a  meaning.  In  the  second,  because  such 
a  construction  as  made  the  second  part  of  the  clause  an  original  grant,  em- 
bracing the  same  object  with  the  first,  but  with  much  greater  power  than 
it,  would  be  in  the  highest  degree  absurd.  The  order  generally  observed 
in  grants,  an  order  founded  in  common  sense,  since  it  promotes  a  clear 
understanding  of  their  import,  is  to  grant  the  power  intended  to  be  con- 
veyed in  the  most  full  and  explicit  manner,  and  then  to  explain  or  qualify 
it,  if  explanation  or  qualification  should  be  necessary.  This  order  has,  it 
is  believed,  been  invariably  observed,  in  all  the  grants  contained  in  the 
constitution.  In  the  second,  because,  if  the  clause  in  question  is  not  con- 
strued merely  as  an  authority  to  appropriate  the  public  money,  it  must  be 
obvious  that  it  conveys  a  power  of  indefinite  and  unlimited  extent  ;  that 
there  would  have  been  no  use  for  the  special  powers  to  raise  and  support 
armies  and  a  navy ;  to  regulate  commerce ;  to  call  forth  the  militia ;  or 
even  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises.  An  unquali- 
fied power  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  gen- 
eral welfare,  as  the  second  part  of  this  clause  would  be,  if  considered  as  a 
distinct  and  separate  grant,  would  extend  to  every  object  in  which  the 
public  could  be  interested.  A  power  to  provide  for  the  common  defence 
would  give  to  Congress  the  command  of  the  whole  force,  and  of  all  the 
resources  of  the  Union ;  but  a  right  to  provide  for  the  general  welfare 
would  go  much  further.  It  would,  in  effect,  break  down  all  the  barriers 
between  the  states  and  the  general  government,  and  consolidate  the  wholet 
under  the  latter. 

The  powers  specifically  granted  to  Congress,  are  what  are  called  the 
enumerated  powers,  and  are  numbered  in  the  order  in  which  they  stand, 
among  which  that  contained  in  the  first  clause  holds  the  first  place  in  point 
of  importance.  If  the  power  created  by  the  latter  part  of  the  clause  is 
considered  an  original  grant,  unconnected  with,  and  independent  of,  the 
first,  as  in  that  case  it  must  be,  then  the  first  part  is  entirely  done  away, 
as  are  all  the  other  grants  in  the  constitution,  being  completely  absorbed 
in  the  transcendant  posver  granted  in  the  latter  part.  But  if  the  clause  be 
construed  in  the  sense  contended  for,  then  every  part  has  an  important 
mcining  and  effect;  not  a  line,  a  word,  in  it  is  superfluous.  A  power  to 
iny  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  subjects  to  the  call  of 
Congress  every  branch  of  the  public  revenue,  internal  and  external ;  and 
the  addition,  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and 
general  welfare,  gives  the  right  of  applying  the  money  raised,  that  is,  of 
appropriating  it  to  the  purposes  specified,  according  to  a  proper  construc- 
tion of  the  terms.  Honce  it  follows,  that  it  is  the  first  part  of  the  clause 
only,  which  gives  a  power  which  affects  in  any  manner  the  power  remain- 
ing to  the  states  ;  as  the  power  to  raise  money  from  the  people,  whether 
it  be  by  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  or  excises,  though  concurrent  in  the  states, 
as  to  taxes  and  excises,  must  necessarily  do.  But  the  use  or  application 
of  the  money,  after  it  is  raised,  is  a  power  altogether  of  a  different  charac- 
ter. It  imposed  no  burden  on  the  people,  nor  can  it  act  on  them  in  a  sense 


516  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

to  take  power  from  the  states,  or  in  any  sense  in  which  power  can  be  con- 
troverted, or  become  a  question  between  the  two  governments.  The  ap- 
plication of  money,  raised  under  a  lawful  power,  is  a  right  or  grant  which 
may  be  abused.  It  may  be  applied  partially  among  the  states,  or  to  im- 
proper purposes  in  our  foreign  and  domestic  concerns  ;  but,  still,  it  is  a 
power  not  felt  in  the  sense  of  other  powers,  since  the  only  complaint  which 
any  state  can  make  of  such  partiality  and  abuse  is,  that  some  other  state 
or  states  have  obtained  greater  benefit  from  the  application,  than  by  a  just 
rule  of  apportionment  they  were  entitled  to.  The  right  of  appropriation 
is,  therefore,  from  its  nature,  secondary  and  incidental  to  the  right  of  rais- 
ing money,  and  it  was  proper  to  place  it  in  the  same  grant  and  same  clause 
with  that  right.  By  finding  them,  then,  in  that  order,  we  see  a  new  proof 
of  the  sense  in  which  the  grant  was  made,  corresponding  with  the  view- 
herein  taken  of  it. 

The  last  part  of  this  grant,  which  provides  that  all  duties,  imposts,  and 
excises,  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States,  furnishes  another 
strong  proof  that  it  was  not  intended  that  the  second  part  should  constitute 
a  distinct  grant,  in  the  sense  above  stated,  or  convey  any  other  right  than 
that  of  appropriation.  This  provision  operates  exclusively  on  the  power 
granted  in  the  first  part  of  the  clause.  It  recites  three  branches  of  that 
power — duties,  imposts,  and  excises — those  only  on  which  it  could  ope- 
rate ;  the  rule  by  which  the  fourth,  that  is,  taxes,  should  be  laid,  being  al- 
ready provided  for  in  another  part  of  the  constitution.  The  object  of  this 
provision  is,  to  secure  a  just  equality  among  the  states  in  the  exercise  of 
that  power  by  Congress.  By  placing  it  after  both  the  grants,  that  is,  aftei 
that  to  raise  and  that  to  appropriate  the  public  money,  and  making  it  apply 
to  the  first  only,  shows  that  it  was  not  intended  that  the  power  granted  in 
the  second  should  be  paramount  to,  and  destroy  that  granted  in  the  first. 
It  shows,  also,  that  no  such  formidable  power  as  that  suggested  had  been 
granted  in  the  second,  or  any  power,  against  the  abuse  of  which  it  was 
thought  necessary  specially  to  provide.  Surely,  if  it  was  deemed  proper 
to  guard  a  specific  power  of  limited  extent  and  well-known  import,  against 
injustice  and  abuse,  it  would  have  been  much  more  so  to  have  guarded 
against  the  abuse  of  a  power  of  such  vast  extent,  and  so  indefinite,  as  would 
have  been  granted  by  the  second  part  of  the  clause,  if  considered  as  a  dis- 
tinct and  original  grant. 

With  this  construction,  all  the  other  enumerated  grants,  and  indeed  all 
the  grants  of  power,  contained  in  the  constitution,  have  their  full  operation 
and  effect.  They  all  stand  well  together,  fulfilling  the  great  purposes  in- 
tended by  them.  Under  it  we  behold  a  great  scheme,  consistent  in  all  its 
parts,  a  government  instituted  for  national  purposes,  vested  with  adequate 
powers  for  those  purposes,  commencing  with  the  most  important  of  all, 
that  of  revenue,  and  proceeding,  in  regular  order,  to  the  others,  with  which 
it  was  deemed  proper  to  endow  it,  all  too  drawn  with  the  utmost  circum- 
spection and  care.  How  much  more  consistent  is  this  construction,  with 
the  great  objects  of  the  institution,  and  with  the  high  character  of  the  en- 
lightened and  patriotic  citizens  who  framed  it,  as  well  as  of  those  who  rat- 
ified it,  than  one  which  subverts  every  sound  principle  and  rule  of  con- 
struction and  throws  everything  into  confusion. 

I  have  dwelt  thus  long  on  this  part  of  the  subject,  from  an  earnest  desire 
to  fix,  in  a  clear  and  satisfactory  manner,  the  import  of  the  second  part  of 
this  grant,  well  knowing,  from  the  generality  of  the  terms  used,  their  ten- 
dency to  lead  into  error.  I  indulge  a  strong  hope  that  the  view  herein 


MONROErS    MESSAGE    ON    INTERNAL    IMPROVEMENTS.  517 

presented  will  not  be  without  effect,  but  will  tend  to  satisfy  the  unpreju- 
diced and  impartial  that  nothing  more  was  granted,  by  that  part,  than  a 
power  to  appropriate  the  public  money  raised  under  the  other  part.  To 
what  extent  that  power  may  be  carried  will  be  the  next  object  of  inquiry. 

It  is  contended,  on  the  one  side,  that,  as  the  national  government  is  a 
government  of  limited  powers,  it  has  no  right  to  expend  money,  except  in 
the  performance  of  acts  authorized  by  the  other  specific  grants,  according 
to  a  strict  construction  of  their  powers ;  that  this  grant,  in  neither  of  its 
branches,  gives  to  Congress  discretionary  power  of  any  kind,  but  is  a  mere 
instrument,  in  its  hands,  to  carry  into  effect  the  powers  contained  in  the 
other  grants.  To  this  construction  I  was  inclined  in  the  more  early  stage 
of  our  government ;  but,  on  further  reflection  and  observation,  my  mind  has 
undergone  a  change,  for  reasons  which  I  will  frankly  unfold. 

The  grant  consists,  as  heretofore  observed,  of  a  twofold  power  ;  the  first 
to  raise,  and  the  second  to  appropriate,  the  public  money,  and  the  terms 
used  in  both  instances  are  general  and  unquilified.  Each  branch  was  ob- 
viously drawn  with  a  view  to  the  other,  and  the  import  of  each  tends  to 
illustrate  that  of  the  other.  The  grant  to  raise  money  gives  a  power  over 
every  subject  from  which  revenue  may  be  drawn,  and  is  made  in  the  same 
manner  with  the  grants  to  declare  war,  to  raise  and  support  armies  and  a 
navy,  to  regulate  commerce,  to  establish  postoffices  and  postroads,  and 
with  all  the  other  specific  grants  to  the  general  government.  In  the  dis- 
charge of  the  powers  contained  in  any  of  these  grants,  there  is  no  other 
check  than  that  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  great  principles  of  our  system, 
the  responsibility  of  the  representative  to  his  constituents.  If  war,  for 
example,  is  necessary,  and  Congress  declare  it  for  good  cause,  their  con- 
stituents will  support  them  in  it.  A  like  support  will  be  given  them  for 
the  faithful  discharge  of  their  duties  under  any  and  every  other  power 
vested  in  the  United  States.  It  affords  to  the  friends  of  our  free  govern- 
ments the  most  heartfelt  consolation  to  know,  and  from  the  best  evidence, 
our  own  experience,  that,  in  great  emergences,  the  boldest  measures,  such 
as  form  the  strongest  appeals  to  the  virtue  and  patriotism  of  the  people, 
are  sure  to  obtain  their  most  decided  approbation.  But  should  the  repre- 
sentative act  corruptly,  and  betray  his  trust,  or  otherwise  prove  that  he  was 
unworthy  of  the  confidence  of  his  constituents,  he  would  be  equally  sure 
to  lose  it,  and  to  be  removed  and  otherwise  censured,  according  to  his 
deserts.  The  power  to  raise  money  by  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  exci- 
ses, is  alike  unqualified,  nor  do  I  see  any  check  on  the  exercise  of  it, 
other  than  that  which  applies  to  the  other  powers  above  recited,  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  representative  to  his  constituents.  Congress  know  the 
extent  of  the  public  engagements,  and  the  sums  necessary  to  meet  them  ; 
tiiey  know  how  much  may  be  derived  from  each  branch  of  revenue,  with- 
out pressing  it  too  far  ;  and,  paying  due  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  peo- 
ple, they  likewise  know  which  branch  ought  to  be  resorted  to,  in  the  first 
instance.  From  the  commencement  of  the  government,  two  branches  of 
this  power,  duties  arid  imposts,  have  been  in  constant  operation,  the  reve- 
nue from  which  has  supported  the  government  in  its  various  branches,  and 
met  iis  other  ordinary  engagements.  In  great  emergencies,  the  other  two, 
taxes  and  excises,  have  likewise  been  resorted  to,  and  neither  was  the 
right  nor  the  policy  ever  called  in  question. 

if  we  look  to  the  second  branch  of  this  power,  that  which  authorizes 
the  appropriation  of  the  money  thus  raised,  we  find  that  it  is  not  less  gen- 
eral and  unqualified  than  the  power  to  raise  it.  More  comprehensive  terms 


518  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

than  to  "  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general 
welfare,"  could  not  have  been  used.  So  intimately  connected  with,  and 
dependent  on,  each  other,  are  these  two  branches  of  power,  that,  had  either 
been  limited,  the  limitation  would  have  had  the  like  effect  on  the  other. 
Had  the  power  to  raise  money  been  conditional,  or  restricted  to  special 
purposes,  the  appropriation  must  have  corresponded  with  it,  for  none  but 
the  money  raised  could  be  appropriated,  nor  could  it  be  appropriated  to 
other  purposes  than  those  which  were  permitted.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
the  right  of  appropriation  had  been  restricted  to  certain  purposes,  it  would 
be  useless  and  imprdper  to  raise  more  than  would  be  adequate  to  those 
purposes.  It  may  fairly  be  inferred  that  these  restraints  or  checks  have 
been  carefully  and  intentionally  avoided.  The  power,  in  each  branch,  is 
alike  broad  and  unqualified,  and  each  is  drawn  with  peculiar  fitness  to  the 
other  ;  the  latter  requiring  terms  of  great  extent  and  force  to  accommodate 
the  former,  which  have  been  adopted,  and  both  placed  in  the  same  clause 
and  sentence.  Can  it  be  presumed  that  all  these  circumstances  were  so 
nicely  adjusted  by  mere  accident  ?  Is  it  not  more  just  to  conclude  that 
they  were  the  result  of  due  deliberation  and  design  ?  Had  it  been  intended 
that  Congress  should  be  restricted  .in  the  appropriation  of  the  public  money 
to  such  expenditures  as  were  authorized  by  a  rigid  construction  of  the 
other  specific  grants,  how  easy  would  it  have  been  to  have  provided  for  il 
by  a  declaration  to  that  effect.  The  omission  of  such  declaration  is,  there- 
fore, an  additional  proof  that  it  was  not  intended  that  the  grant  should  be 
so  construed. 

It  was  evidently  impossible  to  have  subjected  this  grant,  in  either  branch, 
to  such  restriction,  without  exposing  the  government  to  very  serious  em- 
barrassment. How  carry  it  into  effect  ?  If  the  grant  had  been  made  in 
any  degree  dependent  upon  the  states,  the  government  would  have  expe- 
rienced the  fate  of  the  confederation.  Like  it,  it  would  have  withered  and 
soon  perished.  Had  the  supreme  court  been  authorized,  or  should  any- 
other  tribunal,  distinct  from  the  government,  be  authorized,  to  interpose  its 
veto,  and  to  say,  that  more  money  had  been  raised  under  either  branch  of 
this  power,  that  is,  by  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  or  excises,  than  was  neces- 
sary ;  that  such  a  tax  or  duty  was  useless ;  that  the  appropriation  to  this 
or  that  purpose  was  unconstitutional ;  the  movement  might  have  been  sus- 
pended, and  the  whole  system  disorganized.  It  was  impossible  to  have 
created  a  power  within  the  government,  or  any  other  power  distinct  from 
Congress  and  the  executive,  which  should  control  the  movement  of  the 
government  in  this  respect,  and  not  destroy  it.  Had  it  been  declared,  by 
a.  clause  in  the  constitution,  that  the  expenditures  under  this  grant  should 
be  restricted  to  the  construction  which  might  be  given  of  the  other  grants, 
such  restraint,  though  the  most  innocent,  could  not  have  failed  to  have  had 
an  injurious  effect  on  the  vital  principles  of  the  government,  and  often  on 
its  most  important  measures.  Those  who  might  wish  to  defeat  a  measure 
proposed,  might  construe  the  power  relied  on  in  support  of  it  in  a  narrow 
and  contracted  manner,  and  in  that  way  fix  a  precedent  inconsistent  with 
the  true  import  of  the  grant.  At  other  times,  those  who  favored  a  meas- 
ure, might  give  to  the  power  relied  on  a  forced  or  strained  construction, 
and,  succeeding  in  the  object,  fix  a  precedent  in  the  opposite  extreme. 
Thus  it  is  manifest  that,  if  the  right  of  appropriation  be  confined  to  that 
limit,  measures  may  oftentimes  be  carried,  or  defeated,  by  considerations 
and  motives  altogether  independent  of,  and  unconnected  with,  their  merits, 
and  the  several  powers  of  Congress  receive  constructions  equally  incon- 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  519 

sistent  with  their  true  import.  No  such  declaration,  however,  has  been 
made,  and  from  the  fair  import  of  the  grant,  and,  indeed,  its  positive  terms, 
the  inference  that  such  was  intended  seems  to  be  precluded. 

Many  considerations  of  great  weight  operate  in  favor  of  this  construc- 
tion, while  1  do  not  perceive  any  serious  objection  to  it.  If  it  be  estab- 
lished, it  follows  that  the,  words,  "  to  provide  for  the  common  defence  and 
general  welfare,"  have  a  definite,  safe,  and  useful  meaning.  The  idea  of 
their  forming  an  original  grant,  with  unlimited  power,  superseding  every 
other  grant,  is  abandoned.  They  will  be  considered,  simply,  as  convey- 
ing a  right  of  appropriation  ;  a  right  indispensable  to  that  of  raising  a  reve- 
nue, and  necessary  to  expenditures  under  every  grant.  By  it,  as  already 
observed,  no  new  power  will  be  taken  from  the  states,  the  money  to  be 
appropriated  being  raised  under  a  power  already  granted  to  Congress.  By 
it,  too,  the  motive  for  giving  a  forced  or  strained  construction  to  any  of  the 
other  specific  grants  will,  in  most  instances,  be  diminished,  and,  in  many, 
utterly  destroyed.  The  importance  of  this  consideration  can  not  be  too 
highly  estimated,  since,  in  addition  to  the  examples  already  given,  it  ought 
particularly  to  be  recollected,  that,  to  whatever  extent  any  specific  power 
may  be  carried,  the  right  of  jurisdiction  goes  with  it,  pursuing  it  through 
all  its  incidents.  The  very  important  agency  which  this  grant  has  in  car- 
rying into  effect  every  other  grant,  is  a  strong  argument  in  favor  of  the 
construction  contended  for.  All  the  other  grants  are  limited  by  the  na- 
ture of  the  offices  which  they  have  severally  to  perform,  each  conveying 
a  power  to  do  a  certain  thing,  and  that  only,  whereas  this  is  coextensive 
with  the  great  scheme  of  the  government  itself.  It  is  the  lever  which 
raises  and  puts  the  whole  machinery  in  motion,  and  continues  the  move- 
ment. Should  either  of  the  other  grants  fail,  in  consequence  of  any  con- 
dition or  limitation  attached  to  it,  or  misconstruction  of  its  powers,  much 
injury  might  follow,  but  still  it  would  be  the  failure  of  one  branch  of  power, 
of  one  item  in  the  system  only.  All  the  others  might  move  on.  But 
should  the  right  to  raise  and  appropriate  the  public  money  be  improperly 
restricted,  the  whole  system  might  be  sensibly  affected,  if  not  disorganized. 
Each  of  the  other  grants  is  limited  by  the  nature  of  the  grant  itself.  This, 
by  the  nature  of  the  government  only.  Hence  it  became  necessary  that, 
like  the  power  to  declare  war,  this  power  should  be  commensurate  with 
the  great  scheme  of  the  government,  and  with  all  its  purposes. 

If,  then,  the  right  to  raise  and  appropriate  the  public  money  is  noi  re- 
stricted to  the  expenditures  under  the  other  specific  grants,  according  to  a 
strict  construction  of  their  powers  respectively,  is  there  no  limitation  to  it  ? 
Have  Congress  a  right  to  raise  and  appropriate  the  public  money  to  any 
and  to  every  purpose,  according  to  their  will  and  pleasure  ?  They  cer- 
tainly have  not.  The  government  of  the  United  Slates  is  a  limited  gov- 
ernment, instituted  for  great  national  purposes,  and  for  those  only.  Other 
interests  are  committed  to  the  states  whose  duty  it  is  to  provide  for  them. 
Each  government  should  look  to  the  great  and  essential  purposes  for  which 
it  was  instituted,  and  confine  itself  to  those  purposes.  A  slate  government 
will  rarely,  if  ever,  apply  money  to  national  purposes,  without  making  it  a 
charge  to  the  nation.  The  people  of  the  state  would  not  permit  it.  Nor 
will  Congress  be  apt  to  apply  money  in  aid  of  the  state  administrations,  for 
purposes  strictly  local,  in  which  the  nation  at  large  has  no  interest,  although 
the  states  should  desire  it.  The  people  of  the  other  states  would  condemn 
it.  They  would  declare  that  Congress  had  no  right  to  tax  them  for  such 
*.  purpose,  and  dismiss,  at  the  next  election,  such  of  their  representatives 


520  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  'NTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

as  had  voted  for  the  measure,  especially  if  it  should  be  severely  felt.  1 
do  not  think  that  in  offices  of  this  kind  there  is  much  danger  of  the  two 
governments  mistaking  their  interests  or  their  duties.  I  rather  expect 
that  they  would  soon  have  a  clear  and  distinct  understanding  of  them,  and 
move  on  in  great  harmony. 

Good  roads  and  canals  will  promote  many  very  important  national  pur- 
poses. They  will  facilitate  the  operations  of  war,  the  movements  of 
troops,  the  transportation  of  cannon,  of  provisions,  and  every  warlike  store, 
much  to  our  advantage  and  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  enemy  in  time  of 
war.  Good  roads  will  facilitate  the  transportation  of  the  mail,  and  thereby 
promote  the  purposes  of  commerce  and  political  intelligence  among  the 
people.  They  will,  by  being  properly  directed  to  these  objects,  enhance 
the  value  of  our  vacant  lands,  a  treasure  of  vast  resource  to  the  nation.  To 
the  appropriation  of  the  public  money  to  improvements,  having  these  ob- 
jects in  view,  and  carried  to  a  certain  extent,  I  do  not  see  any  well-founded 
constitutional  objection. 

In  regard  to  our  foreign  concerns,  provided  they  are  managed  with  in- 
tegrity and  ability,  great  liberality  is  allowable  in  the  application  of  the 
public  money.  In  the  managemem-of  these  concerns,  no  state  interests 
can  be  affected,  no  state  rights  violated.  The  complete  and  exclusive 
control  over  them  is  vested  in  Congress.  The  power  to  form  treaties  of 
alliance  and  commerce  with  foreign  powers  ;  to  regulate  by  law  our  com- 
merce with  them  ;  to  determine  on  peace  or  war  ;  to  raise  armies  and  a 
navy ;  to  call  forth  the  militia  and  direct  their  operations  ;  belongs  to  the 
general  government.  These  great  powers,  embracing  the  whole  scope  of 
our  foreign  relations,  being  granted,  on  what  principle  can  it  be  said  that 
the  minor  are  withheld  ?  Are  not  the  latter  clearly  and  evidently  com- 
prised in  the  former  ?  Nations  are  sometimes  called  upon  to  perform  to 
each  other  acts  of  humanity  and  kindness,  of  which  we  see  so  many  illus- 
trious examples  between  individuals  in  private  life.  Great  calamities 
make  appeals  to  the  benevolence  of  mankind,  which  ought  not  to  be  re- 
sisted. Good  offices  in  such  emergences  exalt  the  character  of  the  party 
rendering- them.  By  exciting  grateful  feelings,  they  soften  the  intercourse 
between  nations,  and  tend  to  prevent  war.  Surely,  if  the  United  States 
have  a  right  to  make  war,  they  have  a  right  to  prevent  it.  How  was  it 
possible  to  grant  to  Congress  a  power  for  such  minor  purposes,  other  than 
in  general  terms,  comprising  it  within  the  scope  and  policy  of  that  which 
conveyed  it  for  the  greater  ? 

The  right  of  appropriation  is  nothing  more  than  a  right  to  apply  the 
public  money  to  this  or  that  purpose.  It  has  no  incidental  power,  nor 
does  it  draw  after  it  any  consequences  of  that  kind.  All  that  Congress 
could  do  under  it,  in  the  case  of  internal  improvements,  would  be  to  appro- 
priate the  money  necessary  to  make  them.  For  every  act  requiring  legis- 
lative sanction  or  support  the  state  authority  must  be  relied  on.  The  con- 
demnation of  the  land,  if  the  proprietors  should  refuse  to  sell  it,  the 
establishment  of  turnpikes  and  tolls,  and  the  protection  of  the  work  when 
finished,  must  be  done  by  the  state.  To  these  purposes  the  powers  of  the 
general  government  are  believed  to  be  utterly  incompetent. 

To  the  objection  that  the  United  States  have  no  power,  in  any  instance, 
which  is  not  complete  to  all  the  purposes  to  which  it  may  be  made  instru- 
mental, arid,  in  consequence,  that  they  have  no  right  to  appropriate  any 
portion  of  the  public  money  to  internal  improvements,  because  they  have 
not  the  right  of  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  over  them  when  made,  a  full 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS  521 

answei  has,  it  is  presumed,  been  already  given.  It  may,  however,  be 
proper  to  add,  that,  if  this  objection  was  well  founded,  it  would  riot  be 
confined  to  the  simple  case  of  internal  improvements,  but  would  apply  to 
others  of  high  importance.  Congress  have  a  right  to  regulate  commerce. 
To  give  effect  to  this  power,  it  becomes  necessary  to  establish  custom- 
houses in  every  state  along  the  coast,  and  in  many  parts  of  the  interior. 
The  vast  amount  of  goods  imported,  and  the  duties  to  be  performed  to  ac- 
commodate the  merchants  and  secure  the  revenue,  make  it  necessary  that 
spacious  buildings  should  be  erected,  especially  in  the  great  towns,  for 
their  reception.  This,  it  is  manifest  could  best  be  performed  under  the 
direction  of  the  general  government.  Have  Congress  the  right  to  seize 
the  property  of  individuals,  if  they  should  refuse  to  sell  it,  in  quarters  best 
adapted  to  the  purpose,  to  have  it  valued,  and  to  take  it  at  the  valuation  ? 
Have  they  a  right  to  exercise  jurisdiction  within  those  buildings  ?  Nei- 
ther of  these  claims  has  ever  been  set  up,  nor  could  it,  as  is  presumed,  be 
sustained.  They  have  invariably  either  rented  houses,  where  such  as 
were  suitable  could  be  obtained,  or,  where  they  could  not,  purchased  the 
ground  of  individuals,  erected  the  buildings,  and  held  them  under  the  laws 
of  the  state.  Under  the  power  to  establish  postoffices  and  postroads, 
houses  are  also  requisite  for  the  reception  of  the  mails  and  the  transaction 
of  the  business  of  the  several  offices.  These  have  always  been  rented 
or  purchased,  and  held  under  the  laws  of  the  state,  in  the  same  manner 
as  if  they  had  been  taken  by  a  citizen.  The  United  States  have  a  right 
to  establish  tribunals  inferior  to  the  supreme  court,  and  such  have  been 
established  in  every  state  of  the  Union.  It  is  believed  that  the  houses  for 
these  inferior  courts  have  invariably  been  rented.  No  right  of  jurisdiction 
in  them  has  ever  been  claimed,  nor  other  right  than  that  of  privilege,  and 
that  only  while  the  court  was  in  session.  A  still  stronger  case  may  be 
urged.  Should  Congress  be  compelled,  by  invasion  or  other  cause,  to  re- 
move the  government  to  some  town  within  one  of  the  states,  would  they 
have  a  right  of  jurisdiction  over  such  town,  or  hold  even  the  house  in 
which  they  held  their  session,  under  other  authority  than  the  laws  of 
such  state  ?  It  is  believed  that  they  would  not.  If  th< y  have  a  right  to 
appropriate  money  for  any  of  these  purposes,  to  be  laid  out  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  laws  of  the  state,  surely  they  have  an  equal  right  to  do  it 
for  the  purposes  of  internal  improvements. 

It  is  believed  that  there  is  not  a  corporation  in  the  Union  which  does  not 
exercise  great  discretion  in  the  application  of  the  money  raised  by  it,  to  the 
purposes  of  its  institution.  It  would  be  strange  if  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  which  was  instituted  for  such  important  purposes,  and  en- 
dowed with  such  extensive  powers,  should  not  be  allowed  at  least  equal 
discretion  and  authority.  The  evil  to  be  particularly  avoided  is,  the  vio- 
lation of  state-rights  ;  shunning  that,  it  seems  to  be  reasonable  and  proper 
that  the  powers  of  Congress  should  be  so  construed  as  that  the  general 
government,  in  its  intercourse  with  other  nations,  and  in  our  internal  con- 
cerns, should  be  able  to  adopt  all  such  measures,  lying  within  the  fair 
scope,  and  intended  to  facilitate  the  direct  objects  of  its  powers,  as  the 
public  welfare  may  require,  and  a  sound  and  provident  policy  dictate. 

The  measures  of  Congress  have  been  in  strict  accord  with  tho  view  ta- 
ken of  the  right  of  appropriation,  both  as  to  its  extent  and  limitation,  as 
will  be  shown  by  a  reference  to  the  laws,  commencing  nt  a  very  early  pe- 
riod. Many  roads  have  been  opened,  of  \vhirh  tho  following  are  the  prin- 
c'jKil  :  The  first,  from  Cumberland,  at  the  head  waters  of  tho  Potomac,  in 


522  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

the  state  of  Maryland,  through  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  to  the  state  of 
Ohio,  March  29,  1806.  See  vol.  4th,  page  13,  of  the  late  edition  of  the 
laws.  The  second,  from  the  frontiers  of  Georgia,  on  the  route  from 
Athens  to  New  Orleans,  to  its  intersection  with  the  31st  degree  of  north 
latitude:  April  31st,  1806,  page  58.  The  third,  from  Mississippi,  at  a 
point,  and  by  a  route  described,  to  the  Ohio  :  same  act.  The  fourth,  from 
Nashville,  in  Tennessee,  to  Natchez  :  same  act.  The  fifth,  from  the 
31st  degree  of  north  latitude,  on  the  route  from  Athens  to  New  Orleans, 
under  such  regulations  as  might  be  agreed  on  between  the  executive  and 
the  Spanish  government:  March  3d,  1807,  page  117.  The  sixth,  from 
the  foot  of  the  rapids  of  the  river  Miami,  of  Lake  Erie,  to  the  western 
line  of  the  Connecticut  reserve  :  December  12th,  1811,  page  364.  The 
seventh,  from  the  Lower  Sandusky  to  the  boundary  line  established  by 
the  treaty  of  Greenville  :  same  act.  The  eighth,  from  a  point  where  the 
United  States  road,  leading  from  Vincennes  to  the  Indian  boundary  line, 
established  by  the  treaty  of  Greenville,  strikes  the  said  line,  to  the  North 
Bend,  in  the  state  of  Ohio:  January  8th,  1812,  page  367.  The  ninth,  for 
repairing,  and  keeping  in  repair,  the  road  between  Columbia,  on  Duck 
river,  in  Tennessee,  and  Madisonville,  in  Louisiana ;  and  also  the  road 
between  Fort  Hawkins,  in  Georgia,  and  Fort  Stoddard :  April  27th,  1816, 
page  1 04  of  the  acts  of  that  year.  The  tenth,  from  the  Shawneetown,  on 
the  Ohio  river,  to  the  Sabine,  and  to  Kaskaskias,  in  Illinois :  April  27th, 
1816,  page  112.  The  eleventh,  from  Reynoldsburg,  on  Tennessee  river, 
in  the  state  of  Tennessee,  through  the  Chickasaw  nation,  to  intersect  the 
Natchez  road  near  the  Chickasaw  old  town  :  March  3d,  1817,  page  252. 
The  twelfth :  by  this  act,  authority  was  given  to  the  president  to  appoint 
three  commissioners  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  country,  and  laying 
out  a  road  from  the  termination  of  the  Cumberland  road,  at  Wheeling,  on 
the  Ohio,  through  the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  to  a  point  to 
be  chosen  by  them,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  between  St.  Louis 
and  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  river,  and  to  report  an  accurate  plan  of  the 
said  road,  with  an  estimate  of  the  expense  of  making  it.  It  is,  however, 
declared  by  the  a^t,  that  nothing  was  thereby  intended  to  imply  an  obli- 
gation, on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  to  make,  or  defray  the  expense  of 
making,  the  said  road,  or  any  part  thereof. 

In  the  late  war,  two  other  roads  were  made  by  the  troops,  for  military 
purposes  ;  one  from  the  Upper  Sandusky,  in  the  state  of  Ohio,  through  the 
Black  swamp,  toward  Detroit,  and  another  from  Plattsburg,  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  throgh  the  Chatougee  woods,  toward  Sackett's  harbor,  which  have 
since  been  repaired  and  improved  by  the  troops.  Of  these  latter  there  is 
no  notice  in  the  laws.  The  extra  pay  to  the  soldiers  for  repairing  and 
improving  those  roads,  was  advanced,  in  the  first  instance,  from  the  ap- 
propriation to  the  quartermaster's  department,  and  afterward  provided  for 
by  a  specific  appropriation  by  Congress.  The  necessity  of  keeping  those 
roads  open  and  in  good  repair,  being,  on  the  frontier,  to  facilitate  a  com- 
munication between  our  posts,  is  apparent. 

All  of  these  roads,  except  the  first,  were  formed  merely  by  cutting  down 
the  trees,  and  throwing  logs  across  so  as  to  make  causeways  over  such 
parts  as  were  otherwise  impassable.  The  execution  was  of  the  coarsest 
kind.  The  Cumberland  road  is  the  only  regular  work  which  has  been 
undertaken  by  the  general  government,  or  which  could  give  rise  to  any 
question  between  the  two  governments  respecting  its  powers.  It  is  a 
great  work,  over  the  highest  mountains  in  our  Union,  connecting,  from  the 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  523 

seat  of  government,  the  eastern  with  the  western  waters,  and  more  inti- 
mately the  Atlantic  with  the  western  states,  in  the  formation  of  which 
1,800,000  dollars  have  been  expended.  The  measures  pursued  in  this 
case  require  to  be  particularly  noticed,  as  fixing  the  opinion  of  the  parties. 
and  particularly  of  Congress,  on  the  important  question  of  the  right. 
Passing  through  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia,  it  was  thought, 
necessary  and  proper  to  bring  the  subject  before  their  respective  legisla- 
tures, to  obtain  their  sanction,  which  was  granted  by  each  state,  by  a  legis- 
lative act,  approving  the  route  and  providing  for  the  purchase  and  con- 
demnation of  the  land.  This  road  was  founded  on  an  article  of  compact 
between  the  United  States  and  the  state  of  Ohio,  under  which  that  state 
came  into  the  Union,  and  by  which  the  expense  attending  it  was  to  be  de- 
frayed by  the  application  of  a  certain  portion  of  the  money  arising  from 
the  sale  of  the  public  lands  within  that  state.  In  this  instance,  which  is 
by  far  the  strongest,  in  respect  to  the  expense,  extent,  and  nature  of  the 
work  done,  the  United  States  have  exercised  no  act  of  jurisdiction  or 
sovereignty  within  either  of  the  states,  by  taking  the  land  from  the  pro- 
prietors by  force  ;  by  passing  acts  for  the  protection  of  the  road  ;  or  to 
raise  a  revenue  from  it  by  the  establishment  of  turnpikes  and  tolls  ;  or  any 
other  act  founded  on  the  principle  of  jurisdiction  or  right.  Whatever 
they  have  done  has,  on  the  contrary,  been  founded  on  the  opposite  prin- 
ciple ;  on  the  voluntary  and  unqualified  admission  that  the  sovereignty  be- 
longed to  the  state  and  not  to  the  United  States  ;  and  that  they  could  per- 
form no  act  which  should  tend  to  weaken  the  power  of  the  state,  or  to  as- 
sume any  to  themselves.  All  that  they  have  done  has  been  to  appropriate 
the  public  money  to  the  construction  of  this  road,  and  to  cause  it  to  be 
constructed  ;  for  I  presume  that  no  distinction  can  be  taken  between  the 
appropriation  of  money  raised  by  the  sale  of  the  public  lands,  and  of  that 
which  arises  from  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises ;  nor  can  I  believe 
that  the  power  to  appropriate  derives  any  sanction  from  a  provision  to 
that  efFect  having  been  made  by  an  article  of  compact  between  the  United 
States  and  the  people  of  the  then  territory  of  Ohio.  This  point  may, 
however,  be  placed  in  a  clearer  light  by  a  more  particular  notice  of  the 
article  itself. 

By  an  act  of  April  30,  1802,  entitled,  "  An  act  to  enable  the  people  of 
the  eastern  division  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio  to  form  a 
constitution  and  state  government,  and  for  the  admission  of  such  state  into 
the  Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  states,  and  for  other  pur- 
poses," after  describing  the  limits  of  the  proposed  new  state,  and  authori- 
zing the  people  thereof  to  elect  a  convention  to  form  a  constitution,  the 
three  following  propositions  were  made  to  the  convention,  to  be  obligatory 
on  the  United  States,  if  accepted  by  it:  first,  that  section  number  sixteen 
of  every  township,  or,  where  such  section  had  been  sold,  other  lands 
equivalent  thereto,  should  be  granted  to  the  inhabitants  of  such  tqwiiship 
for  the  use  of  free  schools.  Second,  that  the  six  miles  reservation,  in- 
cluding the  salt  springs  commonly  called  the  Sciota  salt  springs ;  the 
salt  springs  near  the  Muskingum  river,  and  in  the  military  tract,  with  tlie 
sections  which  include  the  same,  should  be  granted  to  the  said  state,  tor 
the  use  of  the  people  thereof,  under  such  regulations  as  the  legislature  of 
the  state  should  prescribe  :  provided,  that  it  should  never  sell  or  lease  the 
same  lor  more  than  ten  years.  Third,  that  one  twentieth  part  of  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  public  lands  lying  within  the  said  slate,  which  might  be  sold 
by  Congress,  from  and  after  the  30th  June  enduing,  should  be  applied  to 


524  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERVAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

the  laying  out  and  making  public  roads  from  the  navigable  waters  empty- 
ing into  the  Atlantic,  to  the  Ohio,  and  through  the  state  of  Ohio  ;  such 
roads  to  be  laid  out  under  the  authority  of  Congress,  with  the  consent  of 
the  several  states  through  which  they  should  pass. 

These  three  propositions  were  made  on  the  condition  that  the  conven- 
tion of  the  state  should  provide,  by  an  ordinance,  irrevocable  without  the 
consent  of  the  United  States,  that  every  tract  of  land  sold  by  Congress, 
after  the  30th  of  June  ensuing,  should  remain,  for  the  term  of  five  years 
after  sale,  exempt  from  every  species  of  tax  whatsoever. 

It  is  impossible  to  read  the  ordinance  of  the  2!id  of  April,  1781,  or  the 
provisions  of  the  act  of  April  30th,  1802,  which  are  founded  on  it,  without 
being  profoundly  impressed  with  the  enlightened  and  magnanimous  policy 
which  dictated  them.  Anticipating  that  the  new  states  would  be  settled 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  original  states  and  their  offspring,  no  narrow  or 
contracted  jealousy  was  entertained  of  their  admission  into  the  Union,  in 
equal  participation  in  the  national  sovereignty  with  the  original  states.  It 
was  foreseen  at  the  early  period  at  which  that  ordinance  passed,  that  the 
expansion  of  our  Union  to  the  lakes  and  to  the  Mississippi  and  all  its 
waters,  would  not  only  make  us  a  greater  power,  but  cement  the  Union 
itself.  These  three  propositions  were  well  calculated  to  promote  these 
great  results.  A  grant  of  land  to  each  township,  for  free  schools,  and  of 
the  salt  springs  to  the  state,  which  were  within  its  limits,  for  the  use  of 
its  citizens,  with  five  per  cent,  of  the  money  to  be  raised  from  the  sale  of 
lands  within  the  state,  for  the  construction  of  roads  between  the  original 
states  and  the  new  state,  and  of  other  roads  within  the  state,  indicated  a 
spirit  not  to  be  mistaken,  nor  could  it  fail  to  produce  a  corresponding  effect 
in  the  bosoms  of  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed.  For  these  considera- 
tions the  sole  return  required  of  the  convention  was,  that  the  new  state 
should  not  tax  the  public  lands  which  might  be  sold  by  the  United  States 
within  it,  for  the  term  of  five  years  after  they  should  be  sold.  As  the 
value  of  these  lands  would  be  enhanced  by  this  exemption  from  taxes  for 
that  term,  and  from  which  the  new  state  would  derive  its  proportionable 
benefit,  and  as  it  would  also  promote  the  rapid  sale  of  those  lands,  and 
with  it  the  augmentation  of  its  own  population,  it  can  not  be  doubted,  had 
this  exemption  been  suggested,  unaccompanied  by  any  propositions  of 
particular  advantage,  that  the  convention  would,  in  consideration  of  the 
relation  which  had  before  existed  between  the  parties,  and  was  about  to 
be  so  much  improved,  most  willingly  have  acceded  to  it,  and  without  re- 
garding it  as  an  onerous  condition. 

Since,  then,  it  appears  that  the  whole  of  the  money  to  be  employed  in 
making  this  road,  was  to  be  raised  from  the  sale  of  the  public  lands,  and 
which  would  still  belong  to  the  United  States  ;  although  no  mention  had 
been  made  of  them  in  the  compact,  it  follows  that  the  application  of  the 
money  to  that  purpose  stands  upon  the  same  grounds  as  if  such  compact 
had  not  been  made,  and,  in  consequence,  that  the  example  in  favor  of  the 
right  of  appropriation  is  in  no  manner  affected  by  it. 

The  same  rule  of  construction  of  the  right  of  appropriation  has  boen  ob 
served,  and  the  same  liberal  policy  pursued,  toward  the  other  new  states, 
with  certain  modifications  adapted  to  the  situation  of  each,  which  were 
adopted  with  the  state  of  Ohio.  As,  however,  the  reasoning  which  is  ap 
plicable  to  the  compact  with  Ohio,  in  relntion  to  the  right  of  appropriation, 
in  which  light  only  I  have  adverted  to  it,  is  equally  applicable  to  the  several 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  525 

compacts  with  the  other  new  states,  I  deem  it  unnecessary  to  take  a  par- 
ticular notice  of  them. 

It  is  proper  to  observe  that  the  money  which  was  employed  in  tlv.-j  con- 
struction of  all  the  other  roads,  was  taken  directly  from  the  treasury.  This 
fact  affords  an  additional  proof,  that,  in  the  contemplation  of  Congress,  no 
difference  existed  in  the  application  of  money  to  those  roads,  between  that 
•which  was  raised  by  the  sale  of  lands,  and  that  which  was  derived  from 
taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises. 

So  far,  I  have  confined  my  remarks  to  the  acts  of  Congress  respecting  the 
right  of  appropriation  to  such  measures  only  as  operate  internally  and  affect 
the  territory  of  the  individual  states.  In  adverting  to  those  which  operate 
externally  and  relate  to  foreign  powers,  I  find  only  two  which  appear  to 
merit  particular  attention.  These  were  gratuitous  grants  of  money  for  the 
relief  of  foreigners  in  distress  ;  the  first  in  1794,  to  the  inhabitants  of  St. 
Domingo,  who  sought  an  asylum  on  our  coast  from  the  convulsions  and 
calamities  of  the  island  ;  the  second,  in  1812,  to  the  people  of  Caraccas, 
reduced  to  misery  by  an  earthquake.  The  considerations  which  were 
applicable  to  these  grants  have  already  been  noticed  and  need  not  be 
repeated. 

In  this  examination  of  the  right  of  appropriation,  I  thought  it  proper  to 
present  to  view,  also,  the  practice  of  the  government  under  it,  and  to  ex- 
plore the  ground  on  which  each  example  rested,  that  the  precise  nature 
and  extent  of  the  construction  thereby  given  of  the  right  might  be  clearly 
understood.  The  right  to  raise  money  would  have  given,  as  is  presumed, 
the  right  to  use  it,  although  nothing  had  been  said  to  that  effect  in  the 
constitution.  And  where  the  right  to  raise  it  is  granted,  without  special 
limitation,  we  must  look  for  such  limitation  toother  causes.  Our  attention 
is  first  drawn  to  the  right  to  appropriate,  and  not  finding  it  there,  we  must 
then  look  to  the  general  powers  of  the  government,  as  designated  by  the 
specific  grants,  and  to  the  purposes  contemplated  by  them,  allowing  to  this 
the  right  to  raise  money,  the  first  and  most  important  of  the  enumerated 
powers,  a  scope  which  will  be  competent  to  those  purposes.  The  practice 
of  the  government,  as  illustrated  by  numerous  and  strong  examples  directly 
applicable,  ought  surely  to  have  great  weight  in  fixing  the  construction  of 
each  grant.  It  ought,  I  presume,  to  settle  it,  especially  where  it  is  ac- 
quiesced in  by  the  nation,  and  produces  a  manifest  and  positive  good.  A 
practical  construction,  thus  supported,  shows  that  it  has  reason  on  its  side, 
and  is  called  for  by  the  interests  of  the  Union.  Hence,  too,  the  presump- 
tion that  it  will  be  persevered  in.  It  will,  surely,  be  better  to  admit  that 
the  construction  given  by  these  examples  has  been  just  and  proper,  than 
to  deny  that  construction  and  still  to  practise  on  it — to  say  one  thing  and 
to  do  another. 

Wherein  consists  the  danger  of  giving  a  liberal  construction  to  the  right 
of  Congress  to  raise  and  appropriate  the  public  money  .'  It  has  been 
shown  that  its  obvious  effect  is  to  secure  the  rights  of  the  states  from  en- 
croachment and  greater  harmony  in  the  political  movement  between  the  two 
governments,  while  it  enlarges,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  the  most  harmless  way, 
the  useful  agency  of  the  general  government  for  all  the  purposes  of  its  insti- 
tution. Is  not  the  responsibility  of  the  representative  to  his  constituent,  in 
every  branch  of  the  general  government,  equally  strong,  and  as  sensibly 
felt,  as  in  the  state  governments?  and  is  not  the  security  against  abuse  an 
effectual  in  the  one  as  in  the  other  government  ?  The  history  of  the 
general  government,  in  all  its  measures,  fully  demonstrates  that  Congress 


526  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS 

will  never  venture  to  impose  unnecessary  burdens  on  the  people,  or  any 
that  can  be  avoided.  Duties  and  imposts  have  always  been  light,  not 
greater,  perhaps,  than  would  have  been  imposed  for  the  encouragement  of 
our  manufactures,  had  there  been  no  occasion  for  the  revenue  arising  from 
them  ;  and  taxes  and  excises  have  never  been  laid,  except  in  cases  of 
necessity,  and  repealed  as  soon  as  the  necessity  ceased.  Under  this  mild 
process,  and  the  sale  of  some  hundreds  of  millions  of  acres  of  good  land,  the 
government  will  be  possessed  of  money,  which  may  be  applied  with  great 
ad  vantage  to  national  purposes.  Within  the  states  only  will  it  be  applied, and, 
of  course,  for  their  benefit,  it  not  being  presumable  that  such  appeals  as  were 
made  to  the  benevolence  of  the  country,  in  the  instances  of  the  inhabitants 
of  St.  Domingo  and  Caraccas,  will  often  occur.  How,  then,  shall  this 
revenue  be  applied  ?  Should  it  be  idle  in  the  treasury  ?  That  our  resour- 
ces will  be  equal  to  such  useful  purposes,  I  have  no  doubt,  especially  if, 
by  completing  our  fortifications,  and  raising  and  maintaining  our  navy  at 
the  point  provided  for,  immediately  after  the  war.  we  sustain  our  present 
altitude,  and  preserve,  by  means  thereof,  for  any  length  of  time,  the  peace 
of  the  Union. 

When  we  hear  charges  raised  against  other  governments  of  breaches 
of  their  constitutions,  or  rather  of  their  charters,  we  always  anticipate  the 
most  serious  consequences  :  communities  deprived  of  privileges  which 
they  have  long  enjoyed,  or  individuals  oppressed  and  punished,  in  violation 
of  the  ordinary  forms  and  guards  of  trial  to  which  they  were  accustomed 
and  entitled.  How  different  is  the  situation  of  the  United  States!  Nor 
can  anything  mark  more  strongly  the  great  characteristics  of  that  differ- 
ence, than  the  grounds  on  which  like  charges  are  raised  against  this 
government.  It  is  not  alleged  that  any  portion  of  the  community,  or  any 
individual,  has  been  oppressed,  or  that  money  has  been  raised  under  a 
doubtful  title.  The  principal  charges  are,  that  a  work  of  great  utility  to 
the  Union,  and  affecting,  immediately,  arid  with  like  advantage,  many  of 
the  states,  has  been  constructed  ;  that  pensions  to  the  surviving  patriots  of 
our  revolution,  to  patriots  who  fought  the  battles  and  promoted  the  inde- 
pendence of  their  country,  have  been  granted,  by  money,  too,  raised  not 
only  without  oppression,  but  almost  without  being  felt,  and  under  an  ac 
knowledged  constitutional  power. 

From  this  view  of  the  right  to  appropriate,  and  of  the  practice  under  it, 
I  think  that  I  am  authorized  to  conclude,  that  the  right  to  make  internal 
improvements  has  not  been  granted  by  the  power  "  to  pay  the  debts,  and 
provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare,"  included  in  the  first 
of  the  enumerated  powers  ;  that  that  grant  conveys  nothing  more  than  a  right 
to  appropriate  the  public  money,  and  stands  on  the  same  ground  with  the 
right  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  conveyed  by  the 
first  branch  of  that  power  ;  that  the  government  itself  being  limited,  both 
branches  of  the  power  to  raise  and  appropriate  the  public  moneys  are  also 
limited  ;  the  extent  of  the  government,  as  designated  by  the  specific  grants, 
marking  the  extent  of  the  power  in  both  branches,  extending,  however,  to 
every  object  embraced  by  the  fair  scope  of  those  grants,  and  not  confined 
to  a  strict  construction  of  their  respective  powers,  it  being  safer  to  aid  the 
purposes  of  those  grants  by  the  appropriation  of  money,  than  to  ejctend,  by 
a  forced  construction,  the  grant  itself.  That,  although  the  right  to  appro- 
priate the  public  money  to  such  improvements,  affords  a  resource  indis- 
pensably necessary  to  such  a  scheme,  it  is,  nevertheless,  deficient  as  a 
power  in  the  great  characteristics  on  which  its  execution  depends 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  o.v  INTERNAL.  IMPROVEMENTS.  527 

The  substance  of  what  has  been  urged  on  this  subject  may  be  expressed 
in  a  few  words.  My  idea  is,  that  Congress  have  an  unlimited  power  to 
raise  money,  and  that  in  its  appropriation,  they  have  a  discretionary  power, 
restricted  only  by  the  duty  to  appropriate  it  to  purposes  of  common  defence, 
and  of  general,  not  local,  national,  not  state,  benefit. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  the  fifth  source  from  which  the  power  is  said  to 
be  derived,  viz.  The  power  to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary 
and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  all  the  power  vested  by  the  con- 
stitution in  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  department  or 
officer  thereof.  This  is  the  17th  and  last  of  the  enumerated  powers 
granted  to  Congress. 

I  have  always  considered  this  power  as  having  been  granted  on  a  princi- 
ple of  greater  caution  to  secure  the  complete  execution  of  all  the  powers 
which  had  been  vested  in  the  general  government.  It  contains  no  distinct 
and  specific  power,  as  every  other  grant  does,  such  as  to  lay  and  collect 
taxes,  to  declare  war,  to  regulate  commerce,  and  the  like.  Looking  to  the 
whole  scheme  of  the  general  government,  it  gives  to  Congress  authority  to 
make  all  laws  which  should  be  deemed  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying 
all  its  powers  into  effect.  My  impression  has  been  invariably,  that  this 
power  would  have  existed,  substantially,  if  this  grant  had  not  been  made ; 
for  why  is  any  power  granted,  unless  it  be  to  be  executed  when  required, 
and  how  can  it  be  executed  under  our  government,  unless  it  be  by  laws 
necessary  and  proper  for  the  purpose,  that  is,  well  adapted  to  the  end  ? 
It  is  a  principle  universally  admitted,  that  a  grant  of  a  power  conveys,  as 
a  necessary  consequence  or  incident  to  it,  the  means  of  carrying  it  into 
effect,  by  a  fair  construction  of  its  import.  In  the  formation,  however,  of 
a  constitution  which  was  to  act  directly  upon  the  people,  and  be  paramount, 
to  the  extent  of  its  powers,  to  the  constitutions  of  the  states,  it  was  wise 
in  its  framers  to  leave  nothing  to  implication  which  might  be  reduced  to 
certainty.  It  is  known  that  all  power  which  rests  solely  on  that  ground 
has  been  systematically  and  zealously  opposed  under  all  governments  with 
which  we  have  any  acquaintance  ;  and  it  was  reasonable  to  presume  that, 
under  our  system,  where  there  was  a  division  of  the  sovereignty  between 
two  independent  governments,  the  measures  of  the  general  government 
would  excite  equal  jealousy,  and  produce  an  opposition  not  less  systematic, 
though,  perhaps,  less  violent.  Hence  the  policy,  by  the  framers  of  our 
government,  of  securing,  by  a  fundamental  declaration  in  the  constitution,  a 
principle  which,  in  all  other  governments,  had  been  left  to  implication 
only.  The  terms  necessary  and  proper  secure  to  the  powers  of  all  the 
grants,  to  which  the  authority  given  in  this  is  applicable,  a  fair  and  sound 
construction,  which  is  equally  binding,  as  a  rule,  on  both  governments, 
and  on  all  their  departments. 

In  examining  the  right  of  the  general  government  to  adopt  and  execute, 
under  this  grant,  a  system  of  internal  improvement,  the  sole  question  to  be 
decided  is,  whether  the  power  has  been  granted  under  any  of  the  other 
grants.  If  it  has,  this  power  is  applicable  to  it,  to  the  extent  stated.  If  it 
has  not,  it  does  not  exist  at  all,  for  it  has  not  been  hereby  granted.  I  have 
already  examined  all  the  other  grants  (one  only  excepted,  which  will  next 
cl'iim  attention),  and  shown,  as  I  presume,  on  the  most  liberal  construction 
of  their  powers,  that  the  right  has  not  been  granted  by  any  of  them 
Hence  it  follows,  that,  in  regard  to  them,  it  has  not  been  granted  by  this. 

I  come  now  to  the  last  source  from  which  this  power  is  said  to  be  de- 
rived, viz.,  the  power  to  dispose  of,  and  nvike  all  needful  rules  and  regu- 


c-28  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS 

lations  respecting,  the  territory  or  other  property  of  the  United  States 
which  is  contained  in  the  second  clause  of  the  third  section  of  the  fourth 
article  of  the  constitution. 

To  form  a  just  opinion  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  this  power,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  bring  into  view  the  provisions  contained  in  the  first  clause  of 
the  section  of  the  article  referred  to,  which  makes  an  essential  part  of  the 
policy  in  question.  By  this  it  is  declared,  that  new  states  shall  be  ad- 
mitted into  the  Union,  but  that  no  new  state  shall  be  formed,  or  erected, 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  state  :  nor  any  state  be  formed  by  the 
junction  of  two  or  more  states,  or  parts  of  states,  without  the  consent  of 
the  legislatures  of  the  states  concerned,  as  well  as  of  the  United  States. 

If  we  recur  to  the  condition  of  our  country,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
revolution,  we  shall  see  the  origin  and  cause  of  these  provisions.  By  the 
charters  of  the  several  colonies,  limits  by  latitude  and  other  descriptions, 
were  assigned  to  each.  In  commencing  the  revolution,  the  colonies,  as 
has  already  been  observed,  claimed  by  those  limits,  although  their  popula- 
tion extended,  in  many  instances,  to  a  small  portion  of  the  territory  lying 
within  them.  It  was  contended,  by  some  of  the  states,  after  the  declara- 
tion of  independence,  that  the  vacant  lands,  lying  within  any  of  the  states, 
should  become  the  property  of  the  Union,  as,  by  a  common  exertion,  they 
would  be  acquired.  This  claim  was  resisted  by  the  others,  on  the  princi- 
ple that  all  the  states  entered  into  the  contest  in  the  full  extent  of  their 
"chartered  rights,  and  that  they  ought  to  have  the  full  benefit  of  those  rights 
in  the  event  of  success.  Happily,  this  controversy  was  settled,  as  all 
interfering* claims  and  pretensions,  between  the  members  of  our  Union, 
and  between  the  general  government,  and  any  of  these  members,  have 
been,  in  the  most  amicable  manner,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties. 
On  the  recommendation  of  Congress,  the  individual  states,  having  such 
territory  within  their  chartered  limits,  ceded  large  portions  thereof  to  the 
United  States,  on  condition  that  it  should  be  laid  off  into  districts  of  proper 
dimensions,  the  lands  to  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States ;  and 
that  the  districts  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  when  they  should  obtain  such 
a  population  as  it  might  be  thought  proper  and  reasonable  to  prescribe. 
This  is  the  territory,  and  this  the  property,  referred  to  in  the  second  clause 
of  the  4th  article  of  the  constitution. 

All  the  states  which  had  made  cessions  of  vacant  territory,  except 
Georgia,  had  made  them  before  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  and  that 
state  had  made  a  proposition  to  Congress  to  that  effect,  which  was  under 
consideration  at  the  time  the  constitution  was  adopted.  The  cession  was 
completed  after  the  adoption  of  the  constitution.  It  was  made  on  the  same 
principle,  and  on  similar  conditions,  with  those  which  had  been  already 
made  by  the  other  states.  As  differences  might  arise  respecting  the  right 
or  the  policy  in  Congress  to  admit  new  states  into  the  Union,  under  the 
new  government,  or  to  make  regulations  for  the  government  of  the  territory 
ceded  in  the  intermediate  state,  or  for  the  improvement  and  sale  of  the 
public  lands,  or  to  accept  other  cessions,  it  was  thought  proper  to  make 
special  provisions  for  these  objects,  which  was  accordingly  done  by  the 
above  recited  clause  in  the  constitution. 

Thus  the  power  of  Congress  over  the  ceded  territory  was  not  only 
limited  to  these  special  objects,  but  was  also* temporary.  As  soon  as  the 
territory  became  a  state,  the  jurisdiction  over  it,  as  it  had  before  existed, 
ceased.  It  extended  afterward  only  to  the  unsold  lands,  and  as  soon  as  the 
whole  were  sold,  it  ceased  in  that  sense,  also,  altogether.  From  that 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  529 

moment,  the  United  States  have  no  jurisdiction  or  power  in  the  new  states, 
other  than  in  the  old,  nor  can  it  be  obtained  except  by  an  amendment  of 
the  constitution. 

Since  then  it  is  manifest  that  the  power  granted  to  Congress  to  dispose 
of,  and  make  all  needful  regulations  respecting,  the  territory  and  other 
property  of  the  United  States,  relates  solely  to  the  territory  and  property 
which  had  been  ceded  by  individual  states,  and  which,  after  such  cession, 
lay  without  their  respective  limits,  and  for  which  special  provision  was 
deemed  necessary,  the  main  powers  of  the  constitution  operating  internally, 
not  being  applicable  or  adequate  thereto,  it  follows  that  this  power  gives 
no  authority,  and  has  even  no  bearing  on  the  question  of  internal  improve- 
ment. The  authority  to  admit  new  states  and  to  dispose  of  the  property 
and  regulate  the  territory,  is  not  among  the  enumerated  powers  granted  to 
Congress,  because  the  duties  to  be  performed  under  it  are  not  among  the 
ordinary  duties  of  that  body,  like  the  imposition  of  taxes,  the  regulation 
of  commerce,  and  the  like.  They  are  objects  in  their  nature  special,  and 
for  which  special  provision  was  more  suitable  and  proper. 

Having  now  examined  all  the  powers  of  Congress,  under  which  the 
right  to  adopt  and  execute  a  system  of  internal  improvement  is  claimed, 
and  the  reasons  in  support  of  it,  in  each  instance,  I  think  that  it  may  fairly 
be  concluded  that  such  a  right  has  not  been  granted.  It  appears,  and  is 
admitted,  that  much  may  be  done  in  aid  of  such  a  system,  by  the  right 
which  is  derived  from  several  of  the  existing  grants,  and  more  especially 
from  that  to  appropriate  the  public  money.  But  still  it  is  manifest,  that, 
as  a  system  for  the  United  States,  it  can  never  be  carried  into  effect,  under 
that  grant,  nor  under  all  of  them  united,  the  great  and  essential  power  be- 
ing deficient ;  consisting  of  a  right  to  take  up  the  subject  on  principle  ;  to 
cause  our  Union  to  be  examined  by  men  of  science,  with  a  view  to  such 
improvements  ;  to  authorize  commissioners  to  lay  off  the  roads  and  canals 
in  all  proper  directions  ;  to  take  the  land  at  a  valuation  if  necessary,  and 
to  construct  the  works  ;  to  pass  laws,  with  suitable  penalties  for  their 
protection  ;  and  to  raise  a  revenue  from  them  ;  to  keep  them  in  repair,  and 
make  further  improvement,  by  the  establishment  of  turnpikes  and  tolls, 
with  gates  to  be  placed  at  the  proper  distances. 

It  need  scarcely  be  remarked,  that  this  power  will  operate,  like  many 
others  now  existing,  without  affecting  the  sovereignty  of  the  states,  except 
in  the  particular  offices  to  be  performed.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  several 
states  may  still  exist  over  the  roads  and  canals  within  their  respective 
limits,  extending  alike  to  persons  and  property,  as  if  the  right  to  make  and 
protect  such  improvements  bad  not  been  vested  in  Congress.  The  right 
being  made  commensurate  simply  with  the  purposes  indispensable  to  the 
system,  may  be  strictly  confined  to  them.  The  right  of  Congress  to  pro- 
tect the  works,  by  laws,  imposing  penalties,  would  operate  on  the  same 
principle  as  the  right  to  protect  the  mail.  The  act  being  punishable  only, 
a  jurisdiction  over  the  place  would  be  altogether  unnecessary  and  even 
absurd. 

In  the  preceding  inquiry,  little  has  been  said  of  the  advantages  which 
would  attend  the  exercise  of  such  a  power  by  the  general  government.  I 
have  made  the  inquiry  under  a  deep  conviction  that  they  are  almost  incal- 
culable, and  that  there  was  a  general  concurrence  of  opinion  among  our 
fellow-citizens  to  that  effect.  Still  it  may  not  be  improper  for  me  to  state 
the  grounds  upon  which  my  own  impression  is  founded.  If  it  sheds  no 
additional  light  on  this  interesting  part  of  the  subject,  it  will,  at  least 
VOL.  I.— 34 


530  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ox  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

show  that  I  have  had  more  than  one  powerful  motive  for  making  the  in- 
quiry.    A  general  idea  is  all  that  I  shall  attempt. 

The  advantages  of  such  a  system  must  depend  upon  the  interests  to  be 
affected  by  it,  and  the  extent  to  which  they  may  be  affected,  and  those 
must  depend  on  the  capacity  of  our  country  for  improvement,  and  the 
means  at  its  command  applicable  to  that  object. 

I  think  that  I  may  venture  to  affirm  that  there  is  no  part  of  our  globe, 
comprehending  so  many  degrees  of  latitude  on  the  main  ocean,  and  so 
many  degrees  of  longitude  into  the  interior,  that  admits  of  such  great  im- 
provement, and  at  so  little  expense.  The  Atlantic,  on  the  one  side,  and 
the  lakes,  forming  almost  inland  seas,  on  the  other  ;  separated  by  high 
mountains  which  rise  in  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  terminate  in 
that  of  the  Mississippi,  traversing  from  north  to  south,  almost  the  whole 
interior  ;  with  innumerable  rivers  on  every  side  of  those  mountains,  some 
of  vast  extent,  many  of  which  take  their  sources  near  to  each  other,  give 
the  great  outline  ;  the  details  are  to  be  seen  on  the  valuable  maps  of  our 
country. 

It  appears,  by  the  light  already  before  the  public,  that  it  is  practicable  and 
easy  to  connect,  by  canals,  the  whole  coast,  from  its  southern  to  its 
northern  extremity,  in  one  continued  inland  navigation ;  and  to  connect, 
in  like  manner,  in  many  parts,  the  western  lakes  and  rivers  with  each 
other.  It  is  equally  practicable  and  easy  to  facilitate  the  intercourse  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  and  the  western  country,  by  improving  the  navigation 
of  many  of  the  rivers,  which  have  their  sources  near  to  each  other  in  the 
mountains,  on  each  side,  and  by  good  roads  across  the  mountains,  between 
the  highest  navigable  points  of  those  rivers.  In  addition  to  the  example 
of  the  Cumberland  road,  already  noticed,  another  of  this  kind  is  now  in 
train,  from  the  head  waters  of  the  river  James  to  those  of  the  Kanawha  ; 
and  in  like  manner  may  the  Savannah  be  connected  with  the  Tennessee. 
In  some  instances  it  is  understand  that  the  eastern  and  western  waters 
may  be  connected  together  directly,  by  canals.  One  great  work  of  this 
kind  is  now  in  its  progress,  and  far  advanced  in  the  state  of  New  York, 
and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  two  others  may  be  formed,  one  at 
each  extremity  of  the  high  mountains  abovementioned,  connecting  in  the 
one  instance  the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  with  Lake  Champlain,  and  in 
the  other,  some  of  the  most  important  of  the  western  rivers  with  those 
emptying  into  the  gulf  of  Mexico ;  the  advantage  of  which  will  be  seen 
at  the  first  glance,  by  an  enlightened  observer. 

Great  improvements  may  also  be  made  by  good  roads,  in  proper  direc- 
tions, through  the  interior  of  the  country.  As  these  roads  would  be  laid 
out  on  principle,  on  a  full  view  of  the  country,  its  mountains,  rivers,  &c., 
it  would  be  tiseless,  if  I  had  the  knowledge,  to  go  into  detail  respecting 
them. — Much  has  been  done  by  some  of  the  states,  but  yet  much  remains 
to  be  done  with  a  view  to  the  Union. 

Under  the  colonial  governments,  improvements  of  this  kind  were  not 
thought  of.  There  was,  it  is  believed,  riot  one  canal,  and  little  communi- 
cation from  colony  to  colony.  It  was  their  policy  to  encourage  the  inter- 
course between  each  colony  and  the  parent-country  only.  The  roads 
which  were  attended  to,  were  those  which  led  from  the  interior  of  each 
colony,  to  its  principal  towns  on  the  navigable  waters.  By  those  routes 
the  produce  of  the  country  was  carried  to  the  coast,  and  shipped  thence 
to  the  mercantile  houses  in  London,  Liverpool,  Glasgow,  or  other  towns 
to  which  the  trade  was  earned  on.  It  is  believed  that  there  was  but  one 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  o.v  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  531 

connected  route  from  north  to  south  at  the  commencement  of  the  revolu- 
tion ;  and  that  a  very  imperfect  one.  The  existence  and  principle  of  our 
union  point  out  the  necessity  of  a  very  different  policy. 

The  advantages  which  would  be  derived  from  such  improvements  are 
incalculable.  The  facility  which  would  thereby  be  afforded  to  the  trans- 
portation of  the  whole  of  the  rich  productions  of  our  country  to  market, 
would  alone  more  than  amply  compensate  for  all  the  labor  and  expense 
attending  them.  Great,  however,  as  is  that  advantage,  it  is  one  only  of 
many,  and  by  no  means  the  most  important.  Every  power  of  the  general 
government  and  of  the  state  governments,  connected  with  the  strength  and 
resources  of  the  country,  would  be  made  more  efficient  for  the  purposes 
intended  by  them.  In  war,  they  would  facilitate  the  transportation  of 
men,  ordnance,  and  provisions,  and  munitions  of  war,  of  every  kind,  to 
every  part  of  our  extensive  coast  and  interior,  on  which  an  attack  might 
be  made  or  threatened.  Those  who  have  any  knowledge  of  the  occur- 
rences of  the  late  war,  must  know  the  good  effect  which  would  result  in 
the  event  of  another  war,  from  the  command  of  an  interior  navigation 
alone,  along  the  coast,  for  all  the  purposes  of  war,  as  well  as  of  commerce, 
between  the  different  parts  of  our  Union.  The  impediments  to  all  mili- 
tary operations,  which  proceeded  from  the  want  of  such  a  navigation,  and 
the  reliance  which  was  placed,  notwithstanding  those  impediments,  on 
such  a  commerce,  can  not  be  forgotten.  In  every  other  line  their  good 
effect  would  be  most  sensibly  felt.  Intelligence  by  means  of  the  postof- 
fice  department  would  be  more  easily,  extensively,  and  rapidly  diffused. 
Parts  the  most  remote  from  each  other  would  be  brought  more  closely  to- 
gether. Distant  lands  would  be  made  more  valuable,  and  the  industry  of 
our  fellow-citizens,  on  every  portion  of  our  soil,  be  better  rewarded. 

It  is  natural  in  so  great  a  variety  of  climate,  that  there  should  be  a  cor- 
responding difference  in  the  produce  of  the  soil ;  that  one  part  should 
raise  what  the  other  might  want.  It  is  equally  natural  that  the  pursuits 
of  industry  should  vary  in  like  manner  ;  that  labor  should  be  cheaper,  and 
manufactures  succeed  better,  in  one  part  than  in  another.  That  where 
the  climate  was  most  severe  and  the  soil  less  productive,  navigation,  the 
fisheries,  and  commerce,  should  be  most  relied  on.  Hence,  the  motive 
for  an  exchange  for  mutual  accommodation,  and  active  intercourse,  be- 
tween them.  Each  part  would  thus  find  for  the  surplus  of  its  labor,  in 
whatever  article  it  consisted,  an  extensive  market  at  home,  which  would 
bo  the  most  profitable  because  free  from  duty. 

There  is  another  view  in  which  these  improvements  are  still  of  more 
vital  importance.  The  effect  which  they  would  have  on  the  bond  of 
union  itself,  affords  an  inducement  for  them,  more  powerful  than  any 
which  have  been  urged,  or  than  all  of  them  united.  The  only  danger  to 
which  our  system  is  exposed  arises  from  its  expansion  over  a  va<t  terri- 
tory. Our  Union  is  not  held  together  by  standing  armies,  or  by  any  ties, 
other  than  the  positive  interests  and  powerful  attractions  of  its  parts  tow- 
ard e:ic'li  other.  Ambitious  men  may  hereafter  <:ro\v  up  among  us,  who 
may  promise  to  themselves  advancement  from  a  change,  and  by  practising 
upon  the  sectional  interests,  feelings,  and  prejudices,  endeavor,  under  vari- 
ous pretexts,  to  promote  it.  The  history  of  the  world  is  replete  with  ex- 
amples of  this  kind  ;  of  military  commanders  and  demagogues  becoming 
usurpers  an  1  tyrants,  and  of  their  fellow-citizens  becoming  their  instru- 
ments and  slaves.  I  have  little  fear  of  this  danger,  knowing  well  how 
strong  the  bond  which  holds  us  together  is,  and  who  the  people  are,  who 


532  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ox  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

are  thus  held  together  ;  but  still  it  is  proper  to  look  at,  and  to  provide 
against  it,  and  it  is  not  within  the  compass  of  human  wisdom  to  make  a 
more  effectual  provision,  than  would  be  made  by  the  proposed  improve- 
ments. With  their  aid,  and  the  intercourse  which  would  grow  out  of 
them,  the  parts  would  soon  become  so  compacted  and  bound  together  that 
nothing  could  break  it. 

The  expansion  of  our  Union  over  a  vast  territory  can  not  operate  unfa- 
vorably to  the  states  individually.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  believed  that  the 
greater  the  expansion,  within  practicable  limits,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  say 
what  are  not  so,  the  greater  the  advantage  which  the  states  individually 
will  derive  from  it.  With  governments  separate,  vigorous,  and  efficient 
for  all  local  purposes,  their  distance  from  each  other  can  have  no  injuri- 
ous effect  upon  their  respective  interests.  It  has  already  been  shown, 
that,  in  some  important  circumstances,  especially  with  the  aid  of  these 
improvements,  they  must  derive  great  advantage  from  that  cause  alone,  that 
is,  from  their  distance  from  each  other.  In  every  other  way,  the  expansion 
of  our  system  must  operate  favorably  for  every  state,  in  proportion  as  it  ope- 
rates favorably  for  the  Union.  It  is  in  that  sense  only  that  it  can  become  a 
question  with  the  states,  or  rather  with  the  people  who  compose  them.  As 
states,  they  can  be  affected  by  it  only  by  their  relation  to  each  other  through 
the  general  government,  and  by  its  effect  on  the  operations  of  that  govern- 
ment. Manifest  it  is,  that  to  any  extent  to  which  the  general  government 
can  sustain  and  execute  its  functions  with  complete  effect,  will  the  states, 
that  is,  the  people  who  compose  them,  be  benefited.  It  is  only  when  the 
expansion  shall  be  carried  beyond  the  faculties  of  the  general  government, 
so  as  to  enfeeble  its  operations,  to  the  injury  of  the  whole,  that  any  of  the 
parts  can  be  injured.  The  tendency,  in  that  stage,  will  be  to  dismember- 
ment, and  not  to  consolidation.  This  danger  should,  therefore,  be  looked 
at  with  profound  attention,  as  one  of  a  very  serious  character.  I  will  re- 
mark here,  that,  as  the  operations  of  the  national  government  are  of  a  gen- 
eral nature,  the  states  having  complete  power  for  internal  and  local  pur- 
poses, the  expansion  may  be  carried  to  very  great  extent,  and  with  per- 
fect safety.  It  must  be  obvious  to  all,  that  the  further  the  expansion  is 
carried,  provided  it  be  not  beyond  the  just  limit,  the  greater  will  be  the 
freedom  of  action  to  both  governments,  and  the  more  perfect  their  secu- 
rity ;  and  in  all  other  respects,  the  better  the  effect  will  be  to  the  whole 
American  people.  Extent  of  territory,  whether  it  be  great  or  small,  gives 
to  a  nation  many  of  its  characteristics.  It  marks  the  extent  of  its  resour- 
ces, of  its  population,  of  its  physical  force.  It  marks,  in  short,  the  dif- 
ference between  a  great  and  a  small  power. 

To  what  extent  it  may  be  proper  to  expand  our  system  of  government, 
is  a  question  which  does  not  press  for  a  decision,  at  this  time.  At  the 
end  of  the  revolutionary  war,  in  1783,  we  had,  as  we  contended  and  be- 
lieved, a  right  to  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  but  it  was  not 
until  after  the  expiration  of  twelve  years,  in  1795,  that  that  right  was 
acknowledged  and  enjoyed.  Further  difficulties  occurred,  in  the  bustling 
of  a  contentious  world,  when,  at  the  expiration  of  eight  years  more,  the 
United  States,  sustaining  the  strength  and  energy  of  their  character,  ac- 
quired the  province  of  Louisiana,  with  the  free  navigation  of  the  river, 
from  its  source  to  the  ocean,  and  a  liberal  boundary  on  the  western  side. 
To  this,  Florida  has  since  been  added,  so  that  we  now  possess  all  the  ter- 
ritory in  which  the  original  states  had  any  interest,  or  in  which  the  exist- 
ing states  can  be  said,  either  in  a  national  or  local  point  of  view,  to  be  in 


MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  533 

any  way  interested.  A  range  of  states,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, which  already  is  provided  for,  puts  us  essentially  at  ease.  Whether 
it  will  be  wise  to  go  further,  will  turn  on  other  considerations  than  those 
which  have  dictated  the  course  heretofore  pursued.  At  whatever  point 
we  may  stop,  whether  it  be  at  a  single  range  of  states  beyond  the  Missis- 
sippi, or  by  taking  a  greater  scope,  the  advantage  of  such  improvements  is 
deemed  of  the  highest  importance.  It  is  so,  on  the  present  scale.  The 
further  we  go,  the  greater  will  be  the  necessity  for  them. 

It  can  not  be  doubted,  that  improvements  for  great  national  purposes 
would  be  better  made  by  the  national  government,  than  by  the  govern- 
ments of  the  several  states.  Our  experience,  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the 
constitution,  demonstrated,  that,  in  the  exercise  by  the  individual  states  of 
most  of  the  powers  granted  to  the  United  States,  a  contracted  rivalry  of 
interests,  and  misapplied  jealousy  of  each  other,  had  an  important  influ- 
ence on  all  their  measures,  to  the  great  injury  of  the  whole.  This  was 
particularly  exemplified  by  the  regulations  which  they  severally  made,  of 
their  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  with  each  other.  It  was  this 
utter  incapacity  in  the  state  governments,  proceeding  from  these  and  other 
causes,  to  act  as  a  nation,  and  to  perform  all  the  duties  which  the  nation 
owed  to  itself,  under  any  system  which  left  the  general  government  de- 
pendent on  the  states,  which  produced  the  transfer  of  these  powers  to  the 
United  States,  by  the  establishment  of  the  present,  constitution. — The 
reasoning  which  was  applicable  to  the  grant  of  any  of  the  powers  now 
vested  in  Congress,  is  likewise  so,  at  least  to  a  certain  extent,  to  that  in 
question.  It  is  natural  that  the  states,  individually,  in  making  improve- 
ments, should  look  to  their  particular  and  local  interests.  The  members 
composing  their  respective  legislatures  represent  the  people  of  each  state, 
only,  and  might  not  feel  themselves  at  liberty  to  look  to  objects,  in  these 
respects,  beyond  that  limit.  If  the  resources  of  the  Union  were  to  be 
brought  into  operation  under  the  direction  of  the  state  assemblies,  or  in 
concert  with  them,  it  may  be  apprehended  that  every  measure  would  be- 
come the  object  of  negotiation,  of  bargain  and  barter,  much  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  the  system,  as  well  as  discredit  to  both  governments.  But 
Congress  would  look  to  the  whole,  and  make  improvements  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  the  whole.  It  is  the  peculiar  felicity  of  the  proposed  amend- 
ment, that  while  it  will  enable  the  United  States  to  accomplish  every 
national  object,  the  improvements  made  with  that  view  will  eminently 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  individual  states,  who  may  also  add  such  others 
as  their  own  particular  interests  may  require. 

The  situation  of  the  Cumberland  road  requires  the  particular  and  early 
attention  of  Congress.  Being  formed  over  very  lofty  mountains,  and  in 
many  instances  over  deep  and  wide  streams,  across  which  valuable  bridges 
have  been  erected,  which  are  sustained  by  stone  walls,  as  are  many  other 
parts  of  the  road,  all  these  works  are  subject  to  decay,  have  decayed,  and 
will  decay  rapidly,  unless  timely  and  effectual  measures  are  adopted  to 
prevent  it. 

The  declivities  from  the  mountains,  and  all  the  heights,  must  suffer 
from  the  frequent  and  heavy  falls  of  water,  and  its  descent  to  the  valleys, 
as  also  from  the  deep  congelations  during  our  severe  winters.  Other 
injuries  have  also  been  experienced  on  this  road,  such  as  the  displacing 
the  capping  of  the  walls,  and  other  works,  committed  by  worthless  people, 
either  from  a  desire  to  render  the  road  impassable,  or  to  have  the  transport- 
ation in  another  direction,  or  from  a  spirit  of  wantonness  to  create  employ- 


534  MONROE'S  MESSAGE  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

inent  for  idlers.  These  considerations  show,  that  an  active  and  strict 
police  ought  to  be  established  over  the  whole  road,  with  power  to  make 
repairs  when  necessary  ;  to  establish  turnpikes  and  tolls,  as  the  means  of 
raising  money  to  make  them  ;  and  to  prosecute  and  punish  those  who  com- 
mit waste  and  other  injuries. 

Should  the  United  States  be  willing  to  abandon  this  road  to  the  states 
through  which  it  passes,  would  they  take  charge  of  it,  each  of  that  portion 
within  its  limits,  and  keep  it  in  repair  ?  It  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  they 
would,  since  the  advantages  attending  it  are  exclusively  national,  by  con- 
necting, as  it  does,  the  Atlantic  with  the  western  states,  and  in  a  line  with 
the  seat  of  the  national  government.  The  most  expensive  parts  of  this 
road  lie  within  Pennyslvania  and  Virginia,  very  near  the  confines  of 
each  state,  and  in  a  route  not  essentially  connected  with  the  commerce 
of  either. 

If  it  is  thought  proper  to  vest  this  power  in  the  United  States,  the  only 
mode  in  which  it  can  be  done,  is,  by  an  amendment  of  the  constitution. 
The  states,  individually,  can  not  transfer  the  power  to  the  United  States,  nor 
can  the  United  States  receive  it.  The  constitution  forms  an  equal  and  the 
sole  relation  between  the  general  government  and  the  several  states  ;  and  it 
recognises  no  change  in  it,  which  shall  not,  in  like  manner  apply  to  all.  If  it 
is  once  admitted,  that  the  general  government  may  form  compact^  with  in- 
dividual states,  not  common  to  the  others,  and  which  the  others  might  even 
disapprove,  into  what  pernicious  consequences  might  it  not  lead  ?  Such 
compacts  are  utterly  repugnant  to  the  principles  of  the  constitution,  and  of  the 
most  dangerous  tendency.  The  states,  through  which  this  road  passes,  have 
given  their  sanction  only  to  the  route,  and  to  the  acquisition  of  the  soil  by 
the  United  States — a  right  very  different  from  that  of  jurisdiction,  which 
can  not  be  granted  without  an  amendment  to  the  constitution,  and  which 
need  not  be  granted  for  the  purposes  of  this  system,  except  in  the  limited 
manner  heretofore  stated.  On  full  consideration,  therefore,  of  the  whole 
subject,  I  am  of  opinion  that  such  an  amendment  ought  to  be  recommended 
to  the  several  states  for  their  adoption. 

I  have  now  essentially  executed  that  part  of  the  task,  which  I  imposed 
on  myself,  of  examining  the  right  of  Congress  to  adopt  and  execute  a 
system  of  internal  improvement,  and  I  presume  have  shown  that  it  does 
not  exist.  It  is,  I  think,  equally  manifest,  that  such  a  power  vested  in 
Congress,  and  wisely  executed,  would  have  the  happiest  effect,  on  all  the 
great  interests  of  our  Union.  It  is,  however,  my  opinion  that  the  power 
should  be  confined  to  great  national  works  only,  since,  if  it  were  unlimited, 
it  would  be  liable  to  abuse,  and  might  be  productive  of  evil.  For  all 
minor  improvements,  the  resources  of  the  states  individually,  would  be 
fully  adequate,  and  by  the  states  such  improvements  might  be  made  with 
greater  advantage  than  by  the  Union ;  as  they  would  understand  better 
such  as  their  more  immediate  and  local  interests  required. 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  535 

SPECIAL    ME  S  S.A  OE. 

JANUARY  5,  1825. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

As  the  term  of  my  service  in  this  high  trust  will  expire  at  the  end  of 
the  present  session  of  Congress,  I  think  it  proper  to  invite  your  attention 
to  an  object  very  interesting  to  me,  and  which,  in  the  movement  of  our 
government,  is  deemed,  on  principle,  equally  interesting  to  the  public.  I 
have  been  long  in  the  service  of  my  country,  and  in  its  difficult  conjunc- 
tures, as  well  abroad  as  at  home,  in  the  course  of  which  I  have  had  a 
control  over  public  moneys  to  a  vast  amount.  If,  in  the  course  of  my  ser- 
vice, it  shall  appear,  on  the  most  severe  scrutiny,  which  I  invite,  that  the 
public  have  sustained  any  loss  by  any  act  of  mine,  or  of  others,  for  which 
I  ought  to  be  held  responsible,  I  am  willing  to  bear  it.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  shall  appear,  on  a  view  of  the  law,  and  of  precedents  in  other 
cases,  that  justice  has  been  withheld  from  me,  in  any  instance,  as  I  have 
believed  it  to  be  in  many,  and  greatly  to  my  injury,  it  is  submitted  whether 
it  ought  not  to  be  rendered.  It  is  my  wish  that  all  matters  of  account 
and  claims  between  my  country  and  myself  be  settled,  with  that' strict  re- 
gard to  justice  which  is  observed  in  settlements  between  individuals  in 
private  life.  It  would  be  gratifying  to  me,  and  it  appears  to  be  just,  that 
the  subject  should  be  now  examined,  in  both  respects,  with  a  view  to  a 
decision  hereafter.  No  bill  would,  it  is  presumed,  be  presented  for  my 
signature,  which  would  operate  either  for  or  against  me,  and  I  would  cer- 
tainly sanction  none  in  my  favor.  While  here,  I  can  furnish  testimony, 
applicable  to  any  case,  in  both  views,  which  a  full  investigation  may  re- 
quire, and  the  committee  to  whom  the  subject  may  be  referred,  by  report- 
ing facts  now,  with  a  view  to  a  decision  after  my  retirement,  will  al- 
low time  for  further  information,  and  due  consideration  of  all  matters 
relating  thereto.  Settlements  with  a  person  in  this  trust,  which  could  not 
be  made  with  the  accounting  officers  of  government,  should  always  be 
made  by  Congress,  and  before  the  public.  The  cause  of  the  delay  in  pre- 
senting these  claims  will  be  explained  to  the  committee  to  whom  the  sub- 
ject may  be  referred.  It  will,  I  presume,  be  made  apparent  that  it  was 
inevitable  ;  that,  from  the  peculiar  circumstances  attending  each  case, 
Congress  alone  could  decide  on  it ;  and  that,  from  considerations  of  deli- 
icaoy,  it  would  have  been  highly  improper  for  me  to  have  sought  it  from 
Congress  at  an  earlier  period  than  that  which  is  now  proposed — the  expi- 
ration of  my  term  in  this  high  trust. 

Other  considerations  appear  to  me  to  operate  with  great  force  in  favor 
of  the  measure  which  I  now  propose.  A  citizen  who  has  long  served  his 
country  in  its  highest  trusts,  has  a  right,  if  he  has  served  with  fidelity,  to 
enjoy  undisturbed  tranquillity  and  peace  in  his  retirement.  This  he  can 
not  expect  to  do,  unless  his  conduct,  in  all  pecuniary  concerns,  shall  be 
placed,  by  severe  scrutiny,  on  a  basis  not  to  be  shaken.  This,  therefore, 
forms  a  strong  motive  with  me  for  the  inquiry  which  1  now  invite.  The 
.public  may  also  derive  considerable  advantage  from  the  precedent,  in  the 
future  movement  of  the  government.  It  being  known  that  such  scrutiny 
was  made  in  my  case,  it  may  form  a  new,  strong  barrier  against  the  abuse 
of  the  public  confidence  in  future. 


530  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  10,  1825. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

I  SHOULD  hasten  to  communicate  to  you  the  documents  called  for  by  the 
resolution  of  the  house  of  representatives  of  the  4th  instant,  relating  to  the 
conduct  of  the  officers  of  the  navy  of  the  United  States  on  the  Pacific 
ocean,  and  of  other  public  agents  in  South  America,  if  such  communica- 
tion might  now  be  made  consistently  with  the  public  interest,  or  with  jus- 
tice to  the  parties  concerned.  In  consequence  of  several  charges  which 
have  been  alleged  against  Commodore  Stewart,  touching  his  conduct  while 
commanding  the  squadron  of  the  United  States  on  that  sea,  it  has  been 
deemed  proper  to  suspend  him  from  duty,  and  to  subject  him  to  trial  on 
these  charges.  It  appearing,  also,  that  some  of  those  charges  have  been 
communicated  to  the  department  by  Mr.  Provost,  political  agent  at  this 
time  of  the  United  States  at  Peru,  and  heretofore  at  Buenos  Ayres  and 
Chili,  and  apparently  with  his  sanction,  and  that  charges  have  likewise 
been  made  against  him  by  citizens  of  the  United  States  engaged  in  com- 
merce in  that  quarter,  it  has  been  thought  equally  just  and  proper  that  he 
should  attend  here,  as  well  to  furnish  the  evidence  in  his  possession  ap- 
plicable to  the  charges  exhibited  against  Commodore  Stewart,  as  to  answer 
such  as  have  been  ^exhibited  against  himself. 

In  this  stage,  the  publication  of  those  documents  might  tend  to  excite 
prejudices,  which  might  operate  to  the  injury  of  both.  It  is  important  that 
the  public  servants,  in  every  station,  should  perform  their  duty  with  fidel- 
ity, according  to  the  injunctions  of  the  law,  and  the  orders  of  the  executive 
in  fulfilment  thereof.  It  is  peculiarly  so  that  this  should  be  done  by  the 
commanders  of  our  squadrons,  especially  on  distant  seas,  and  by  political 
agents,  who  represent  the  United  States  with  foreign  powers,  for  reasons 
that  are  obvious  in  both  instances.  It  is  due  to  their  rights  and  to  the 
character  of  the  government,  that  they  be  not  censured  without  just  cause, 
which  can  not  be  ascertained  until,  on  a  view  of  the  charges,  they  are 
heard  in  their  defence,  and  after  a  thorough  and  impartial  investigation  of 
their  conduct.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  thought  that  a  communi- 
cation, at  this  time,  of  those  documents  would  not  comport  with  the  public 
interest,  nor  with  what  is  due  to  the  parties  concerned. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  27,  1825. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

BEING  deeply  impressed  with  the  opinion,  that  the  removal  of  the  Indian 
tribes  from  the  lands  which  they  now  occupy  within  the  limits  of  the  sev- 
eral states  and  territories,  to  the  country  lying  westward  and  northward 
thereof,  within  our  acknowledged  boundaries,  is  of  very  high  importance 
to  our  Union,  and  may  be  accomplished  on  conditions  and  in  a  manner  to 
promote  the  interest  and  happiness  of  those  tribes,  the  attention  of  the 
government  has  been  long  drawn,  with  great  solicitude,  to  the  object.  For 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  537 

the  removal  of  the  tribes  within  the  limits  of  the  state  of  Georgia  the  mo- 
tive has  been  peculiarly  strong,  arising  from  the  compact  with  that  state, 
whereby  the  United  States  are  bound  to  extinguish  the  Indian  title  to  the 
lands  within  it,  whenever  it  may  be  done  peaceably  and  on  reasonable  con- 
ditions. In  the  fulfilment  of  this  compact,  I  have  thought  that  the  United 
States  should  act  with  a  generous  spirit ;  that  they  should  omit  nothing 
which  should  comport  with  a  liberal  construction  of  the  instrument,  and 
likewise  be  in  accordance  with  the  just  rights  of  those  tribes.  From  the 
view  which  I  have  taken  of  the  subject,  I  am  satisfied  that,  in  the  dis- 
charge of  these  important  duties,  in  regard  to  both  the  parties  alluded  to, 
the  United  States  will  have  to  encounter  no  conflicting  interests  with  either. 
On  the  contrary,  that  the  removal  of  the  tribes  from  the  territory  which 
they  now  inhabit,  to  that  which  was  designated  in  the  message  at  the 
commencement  of  the  session,  which  would  accomplish  the  object  for 
Georgia,  under  a  well-digested  plan  for  their  government  and  civilization, 
which  should  be  agreeable  to  themselves,  would  not  only  shield  them  from 
impending  ruin,  but  promote  their  welfare  and  happiness.  Experience 
has  clearly  demonstrated  that,  in  their  present  state,  it  is  impossible  to  in- 
corporate them  in  such  masses,  in  any  form  whatever,  into  our  system.  It 
has  also  demonstrated,  with  equal  certainty,  that,  without  a  timely  antici- 
pation of,  and  provision  against,  the  dangers  to  which  they  are  exposed, 
under  causes  which  it  will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible  to  control,  their 
degradation  and  extermination  will  be  inevitable. 

The  great  object  to  be  accomplished  is,  the  removal  of  those  tribes  to 
the  territory  designated,  on  conditions  which  shall  be  satisfactory  to  them- 
selves, and  honorable  to  the  United  States.  This  can  be  done  only  by 
conveying  to  each  tribe  a  good  title  to  an  adequate  portion  of  land,  to 
which  it  may  consent  to  remove,  and  by  providing  for  it  there  a  system 
of  internal  government,  which  shall  protect  their  property  from  invasion, 
and,  by  the  regular  progress  of  improvement  and  civilization,  prevent  that 
degeneracy  which  has  generally  marked  the  transition  from  the  one  to 
tiie  other  state. 

I  transmit,  herewith,  a  report  from  the  secretary  of  war.  which  presents 
the  best  estimate  which  can  be  formed,  from  the  documents  in  that  de- 
partment, of  the  number  of  Indians  within  our  states  and  territories,  and 
of  the  amount  of  lands  held  by  the  several  tribes  within  each ;  of  the 
state  of  the  country  lying  northward  and  westward  thereof,  within  our  ac- 
knowledged boundaries  ;  of  the  parts  to  which  the  Indian  title  has  already 
been  extinguished,  and  of  the  conditions  on  which  other  parts,  in  an 
amount  which  may  be  adequate  to  the  obje.ct  contemplated,  may  be  ob- 
tained. By  this  report  it  appears,  that  the  Indian  title  has  already  been 
extinguished  to  extensive  tracts  in  that  quarter,  and  that  other  portions 
may  be  acquired,  to  the  extent  desired,  on  very  moderate  conditions.  Sat- 
isfied I  also  am,  that  the  removal  proposed  is  not  only  practicable,  but  that 
the  advantages  attending  it,  to  the  Indians,  may  be  made  so  apparent  to 
them,  that  all  the  tribes,  even  those  most  opposed,  may  be  induced  to  ac- 
cede to  it  at  no  very  distant  day. 

The  digest  of  such  a  government,  with  the  consent  of  the  Indians, 
which  should  be  endowed  with  sufficient  powers  to  meet  all  the  objects 
contemplated ;  to  connect  the  several  tribes  together  in  a  bond  of  unity, 
and  preserve  order  in  each  ;  to  prevent  intrusions  on  their  property  ;  to 
teach  them,  by  regular  instructions,  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  make 
them  a  civilized  people,  is  an  object  of  very  high  importance.  It  is  the 


538  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

powerful  consideration  which  we  have  to  offer  to  these  tribes,  as  an  in- 
ducement to  relinquish  the  lands  on  which  they  now  reside,  and  to  remove 
to  those  which  are  designated.  It  is  not  doubted  that  this  arrangement 
will  present  considerations  of  sufficient  force  to  surmount  all  their  preju- 
dices in  favor  of  the  soil  of  their  nativity,  however  strong  they  may  be. 
Their  elders  have  sufficient  intelligence  to  discern  the  certain  progress  of 
events  in  the  present  train,  and  sufficient  virtue,  by  yielding  to  momentary 
sacrifices,  to  protect  their  families  and  posterity  from  inevitable  destruc- 
tion. They  will  also  perceive,  that  they  may  thus  attain  an  elevation  to 
which,  as  communities,  they  could  not  otherwise  aspire. 

To  the  United  States,  the  proposed  arrangement  offers  many  important 
advantages,  in  addition  to  those  which  have  been  already  enumerated.  By 
the  establishment  of  such  a  government  over  these  tribes,  with  their  con- 
sent, we  become  in  reality  their  benefactors.  The  relation  of  conflicting 
interests,  which  has  heretofore  existed  between  them  and  our  frontier  set- 
tlements, will  cease.  There  will  be  no  more  wars  between  them  and 
the  United  States.  Adopting  such  a  government,  their  movements  will 
be  in  harmony  with  us,  and  its  good  effect  be  felt  throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  our  territory,  to  the  Pacific.  It  may  fairly  be  presumed  that, 
through  the  agency  of  such,  a  government,  the  condition  of  all  the  tribes 
inhabiting  that  vast  region  may  be  essentially  improved ;  that  permanent 
peace  may  be  preserved  with  them,  and  our  commerce  be  much  extended. 

With  a  view  to  this  important  object,  I  recommend  it  to  Congress  to 
adopt,  by  solemn  declaration,  certain  fundamental  principles  in  accord 
with  those  above  suggested,  as  the  basis  of  such  arrangements  as  may  be 
entered  into  with  the  several  tribes,  to  the  strict  observance  of  which,  the 
faith  of  the  nation  shall  be  pledged  I  recommend  it  also  to  Congress  to 
provide  by  law  for  the  appointment  of  a  suitable  number  of  commission- 
ers, who  shall,  under  the  directions  of  the  president,  be  authorized  to  visit 
and  explain  to  the  several  tribes,  the  objects  of  the  government,  and  to 
make  with  them,  according  to  their  instructions,  such  arrangements  as  shall 
be  best  calculated  to  carry  those  objects  into  effect. 

A  negotiation  is  now  depending  with  the  Creek  nation,  for  the  cession 
of  lands  held  by  it,  within  the  limits  of  Georgia,  and  with  a  reasonable 
prospect  of  success.  It  is  presumed,  however,  that  the  result  will  not  be 
known  during  the  present  session  of  Congress.  To  give  effect  to  this 
negotiation,  and  to  the  negotiations  which  it  is  proposed  to  hold  with  all 
the  other  tribes  within  the  limits  of  the  several  states  and  territories,  on 
the  principles  and  for  the  purposes  stated,  it  is  recommended  that  an  ad 
equate  appropriation  be  now  made  by  Congress. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  14,  1825. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

I  HEREWITH  transmit  a  report  from  the  secretary  of  war,  with  a  report  * 
him  by  the  chief  engineer,  of  the  examination  which  has  been  made  by 
the  board  of  engineers  for  internal  improvement,  in  obedience  to  their  in- 
structions, of  the  country  between  the  Potomac  and  Ohio  rivers  ;  be- 
tween the  latter  and  Lake  Erie  ;  between  the  Allegany  and  Schuylkill 


MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  539 

rivers  ;  the  Delaware  and  the  Raritan ;  between  Buzzard's  and  Barnsta- 
ble  bays,  and  the  Narraganset  roads  and  Boston  harbor ;  with  explana- 
tory observations  on  each  route.  From  the  view  which  I  have  taken  of 
these  reports,  I  contemplate  results  of  incalculable  advantage  to  our  Union, 
because  I  see  in  them  the  most  satisfactory  proof  that  certain  impediments 
which  had  a  tendency  to  embarrass  the  intercourse  between  some  of  its 
most  important  sections,  may  be  removed  without  serious  difficulty ;  and 
that  facilities  may  be  afforded  in  other  quarters,  which  will  have  the  hap- 
piest effect.  Of  the  right  in  Congress  to  promote  these  great  results,  by 
the  appropriation  of  the  public  money,  in  harmony  with  the  states  to  be 
affected  by  them,  having  already  communicated  my  sentiments  fully,  and 
on  mature  consideration,  I  deem  it  unnecessary  to  enlarge  at  this  time. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

FEBRUARY   17,  1825. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  INVITE  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  peculiar  situation  of  this  dis- 
trict, in  regard  to  the  exposure  of  its  inhabitants  to  contagious  diseases 
from  abroad  ;  against  which  it  is  thought  that  adequate  provisions  should 
now  be  made.  The  exposure  being  common  to  the  whole  district,  the 
regulation  should  apply  to  the  whole  ;  to  make  which,  Congress  alone 
possesses  the  adequate  power.  That  the  regulations  should  be  made  by 
Congress,  is  the  more  necessary,  from  the  consideration,  that  this  being  the 
seat  of  government,  its  protection  against  such  diseases  must  form  one  of 
its  principal  objects. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

FEBRUARY  21,  1825. 

To  the    Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  TRANSMIT,  herewith,  a  report  from  the  secretary  of  war,  with  a  report 
to  him  from  the  third  auditor,  of  the  settlements,  in  the  amount  stated,  of 
the  claims  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts,  for  services  rendered  by  the  mi- 
litia of  that  state,  in  the  late  war,  the  payment  of  which  has  hitherto  been 
prevented  by  causes  which  are  well  known  to  Congress.  Having  com- 
municated my  sentiments  on  this  subject  fully,  in  a  message  bearing  date 
on  the  23d  of  February,  1824,  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  in  detail,  here, 
what  I  then  advanced.  By  recurring  to  that  message,  and  to  the  docu- 
ments referred  to  in  it,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  conduct  of  the  executive  of 
that  state,  in  refusing  to  place  the  militia  thereof,  at  that  difficult  conjunc- 
ture, under  the  direction  of  the  executive  of  the  United  States,  as  he  was 
bound  to  do  by  a  fair  construction  of  the  constitution,  and  ;is  tint  other 
states  did,  is  the  great  cause  to  which  the  dillioulty  adverted  to  is  to  be 
ascribed.  It  will  also  be  seen,  on  a  view  of  those  documents,  that  the 
executive  of  the  state  was  warned  at  the  tinio,  if  it  persevered  in  the  re- 


540  MONROE'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

fusal,  that  the  consequences  which  have  followed  would  be  inevitable  ; 
that  the  attitude  assumed  by  the  state,  formed  a  case  which  was  not  con- 
templated by  the  existing  laws  of  the  United  States,  relating  to  the  militia 
services ;  that  the  payment  of  the  claims  of  the  state,  for  such  services,  could 
be  provided  for  by  Congress  only,  and  by  a  special  law  for  the  purpose. 
Having  made  this  communication  while  acting  in  the  department  of  war, 
to  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  with  the  sanction  and  under  the  direc- 
tion of  my  enlightened  and  virtuous  predecessor,  it  would  be  improper,  in 
any  view  which  may  be  taken  of  the  subject,  for  me  to  change  the  ground 
there  assumed,  to  withdraw  this  great  question  from  the  consideration  of 
Congress,  and  to  act  on  it  myself.  Had  the  executive  been  in  error,  it  is 
entitled  to  censure,  making  a  just  allowance  for  the  motive  which  guided 
it.  If  its  conduct  was  correct,  the  ground  then  assumed  ought  to  be 
maintained  by  it.  It  belongs  to  Congress  alone  to  determine  this  dis- 
tressing incident  on  just  principles,  with  a  view  to  the  highest  interests 
of  our  Union. 

From  the  view  which  I  have  taken  of  the  subject,  I  am  confirmed  in 
the  opinion  that  Congress  should  now  decide  on  the  claim,  and  allow  to 
the  state  such  portions  thereof  as  are  founded  on  the  principles  laid  down 
in  the  former  message.  If  those  principles  are  correct,  as,  on  great  con- 
sideration, I  am  satisfied  they  are,  it  appears  to  me  to  be  just  in  itself,  and 
of  high  importance,  that  the  sums  which  may  be  due,  in  conformity  there- 
with, should  no  longer  be  withheld  from  the  state. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  26,  1825. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

JUST  before  the  termination  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  an  act,  en- 
titled, "  An  act  concerning  wrecks  on  the  coast  of  Florida,"  which  then 
passed,  was  presented  to  me,  with  many  others,  and  approved ;  and,  as  I 
thought,  signed  ;  a  report  to  that  effect  was  then  made  to  Congress.  It 
appeared,  however,  after  the  adjournment,  that  the  evidence  of  such  ap- 
probation had  not  been  attached  to  it.  Whether  the  act  may  be  consid- 
ered in  force,  under  such  circumstances,  is  a  point  on  which  it  belongs 
not  to  me  to  decide.  To  remove  all  doubts  on  the  subject,  I  submit  to 
the  consideration  of  Congress,  the  propriety  of  passing  a  declaratory  act 
to  that  effect. 


ADMINISTRATION   OF  MONROE, 


ON  the  fourth  of  March,  1817,  the  president  elect,  James  Monroe,  ac- 
companied by  the  vice-president  elect,  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  left  the 
residence  of  the  former,  attended  by  a  large  concourse  of  citizens  on 
horseback,  and  marshalled  by  the  gentlemen  appointed  to  that  duty,  and 
proceeded  to  Congress  Hall,  in  Washington  city,  where  the  usual  cere- 
monies of  inauguration  were  performed.  The  ex-president,  Mr.  Madison, 
and  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court,  were  present  on  the  occasion.  All 
entered  the  chamber  of  the  senate,  which  body  was  then  in  session,  and 
the  vice-president  took  the  chair,  the  oath  of  office  being  administered  to 
him,  when  he  delivered  a  short  address. 

This  ceremony  being  ended,  the  senate  adjourned,  and  the  president 
and  vice-president,  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court,  and  the  senators  pres- 
ent, attended  the  president  to  the  elevated  portico  temporarily  erected  for 
the  occasion,  where,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  concourse  of  citizens 
and  strangers,  including  the  government  officers  and  foreign  ministers,  he 
delivered  his  inaugural  address. 

Having  concluded  his  address,  the  oath  of  office  was  administered  to 
the  president  by  Chief- Justice  Marshall. 

The  liberal  tone  of  the  president's  address,  and  the  course  of  policy  in- 
dicated by  it,  gave  general  satisfaction  to  citizens  of  all  political  opinions, 
and  the  commencement  of  the  new  administration  was  hailed  as  the  dawn 
of  an  era  of  good  feelings. 

The  individuals  selected  by  the  president  to  form  his  cabinet,  were  all 
of  the  republican,  or  democratic  school  of  politics,  and  distinguished  for 
their  ability  as  statesmen,  in  various  public  stations  which  they  had  pre- 
viously held.  John  Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  was  appointed  sec- 
retary of  state,  William  H.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  secretary  of  war,  and  William  Wirt, 
of  Virginia,  attorney-general.  The  two  latter  gentlemen  were  appointed 
in  December,  1817,  Mr.  Calhoun  having  been  named  in  place  of  Governor 
Isaac  Shelby,  of  Kentucky,  who  declined  the  offer  of  head  of  the  war 
department,  which  was  first  offered  to  him.  Benjamin  W.  Crowninshield, 
of  Massachusetts,  was  continued  as  secretary  of  the  navy  (which  appoint- 


542  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE. 

ment  he  had  received  from  Mr.  Madison)  until  November  30,  1818,  when 
Smith  Thompson,  of  New  York,  was  appointed  in  his  place.  Return  Jon- 
athan Meigs,  of  Ohio,  was  also  continued  as  postmaster-general  (not  then 
a  cabinet  officer),  and  held  that  office  from  March,  1814,  until  December, 
1823,  when  John  M'Lean,  of  Ohio,  succeeded  him.  The  foregoing  were 
the  only  changes  made  by  Mr.  Monroe  in  the  cabinet  or  heads  of  depart- 
ments, in  the  eight  years  of  his  administration,  showing  greater  permanency 
and  harmony  in  the  affairs  of  the  national  government,  during  that  period, 
than  at  any  other  time  since  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution. 

During  the  late  war  with  Great  Britain,  a  practical  opportunitv  was 
afforded  to  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  discover  the  relative 
importance  of  the  defences  erected  along  the  frontier,  and  the  strength  and 
utility  of  the  various  fortified  places  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  frequent  and 
sometimes  successful  incursions  of  the  late  enemy,  enforced  the  necessity 
of  selecting  new  points  for  the  erection  of  strong  and  efficient  batteries  to 
protect  the  country  against  future  invasion  ;  of  demolishing  such  works  as 
were  thence  found  to  have  been  constructed  in  improper  situations ;  and 
of  concentrating  the  regular  forces  at  such  positions  as  should  render  their 
co-operation  speedy  and  effective. 

Impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  this  subject,  Mr.  Monroe  had  no 
sooner  passed  through  the  forms  of  inauguration,  than  he  directed  his  at- 
tention to  the  means  by  which  to  accomplish  so  desirable  an  object.  A 
mere  theoretical  knowledge  would  be  insufficient  for  the  consummation  of 
his  views  ;  and,  indeed,  could  not  be  entirely  depended  upon.  Availing 
himself,  therefore,  of  the  experience  acquired  before  the  close  of  the  late 
contest,  he  determined  to  engage  in  a  personal  examination  of  the  situa- 
tion, strength,  and  condition  of  all  the  citadels  and  military  posts  in  the 
northern  and  eastern  departments  of  the  Union.  To  the  early  execution 
of  this  intention  he  was  urged,  as  he  himself  intimated,  by  a  desire  to 
look  into  the  economical  expenditures  of  the  public  moneys,  which  had 
been  liberally  appropriated  by  Congress  ;  to  facilitate  the  completion  of 
these  measures  ;  and  to  ascertain  the  propriety  of  adopting  plans  suggested 
by  the  agents  employed  in  the  service  of  fortification. 

Taking  advantage  of  a  season  of  comparative  leisure,  the  president  left 
Washington  city  on  the  31st  of  May,  1817,  entered  upon  his  laudable  under- 
taking, and  prosecuted  his  route  through  all  the  principal  towns  and  cities 
which  he  had  marked  out  for  his  first  tour  of  observation.  Departing  from 
the  capital,  he  passed  through  Baltimore  to  the  state  of  Delaware,  to  the 
cities  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and  the  chief  towns  in  Connecticut 
and  Rhode  Island,  to  Boston  and  other  parts  of  Massachusetts  ;  to  the 
capital  and  other  towns  in  New  Hampshire  ;  and  through  the  province  of 
Maine  to  Portland.  Thence  he  extended  his  journey  westward  through 
Vermont ;  inspected  the  works  at  Plattsburgh  ;  and  passing  through  the 
forest  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  he  embarked  for  Lake  Ontario ;  visited  Sack- 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE.  543 

ett's  Harbor  and  Fort  Niagara ;  and  advancing  along  the  strait  to  Buffalo, 
sailed  through  Lake  Erie,  and  landed  at  Detroit,  the  extremity  of  his  tour. 
He  took  a  direction  thence  through  the  woods  of  the  Michigan  territory, 
and  through  the  states  of  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland,  toward  the 
District  of  Columbia,  where  he  arrived  after  an  absence  of  more  than  three 
months. 

The  persevering  manner  in  which  this  long,  laborious,  and  fatiguing 
journey  was  performed,  are  strong  and  certain  indications  of  its  beneficial 
results. 

With  an  alacrity  paralleled  only  by  the  prompt  aid  of  the  citizens  to 
accelerate  his  movements,  the  president  inspected  garrisons  ;  examined 
fortifications  ;  reviewed  infantry  regiments  at  cantonments  ;  and  obtained 
a  knowledge  of  the  condition  of  the  military  arsenals  and  naval  depots  along 
the  Atlantic  and  inland  frontiers.  To  these  numerous  duties  he  added  the 
desire  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  people ;  to  correct  abuses  in  the 
public  offices  ;  to  avert  the  calamities  incident  to  any  future  period  of  hos- 
tilities ;  to  meliorate  the  condition  of  the  poorer  classes  of  society  ;  and  to 
unite  and  harmonize  the  sentiments  and  affections  of  the  citizens  of  one 
section  with  those  of  another.  A  considerable  part  of  his  journey  in  return- 
ing from  the  northwestern  frontier,  was  through  a  succession  of  forests  and 
Indian  settlements.  He  sustained,  however,  all  the  inconveniences  of 
comfortless  lodgings,  and  unpleasant  and  fatiguing  travelling,  without  any 
abatement  of  that  cheerfulness  and  sense  of  public  duty  manifested  in  the 
commencement  of  his  tour,  the  advantageous  results  of  which  will  long 
be  remembered  and  acknowledged  by  the  nation.* 

The  visit  of  the  president  to  the  principal  cities  and  towns  of  the  mid- 
dle and  eastern  states,  possessed  the  charm  of  novelty,  neither  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son nor  Mr.  Madison  having  followed  the  example  set  by  General  Wash- 
ington, during  their  presidential  terms.  They,  consequently,  were  per- 
sonally unknown  to  the  great  body  of  the  people.  Mr.  Monroe  was  eve- 
rywhere received  with  enthusiasm  by  the  people,  and  honored  with  civic 
and  military  escorts  and  processions,  in  the  cities,  towns,  and  villages, 
through  which  he  passed.  His  ordinary  costume  on  these  occasions  was 
the  undress  uniform  formerly  worn  by  officers  of  the  American  revolution, 
namely,  a  military  blue  coat  of  domestic  manufacture,  light  underclothes, 
and  a  cocked  hat ;  a  becoming  taste  for  a  president  who  had  lu-en  a  sol- 
dier of  the  revolution,  and  which  tended  to  awaken  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  the  remembrance  of  the  days  of  Washington.  In  his  reply  to  an 
address  Irom  the  New  York  society  of  the  Cincinnati,  the  president  said  : 
"  The  opportunity  which  my  visit  to  this  city  has  presented  of  meeting  the 
Xew  York  society  of  the  Cincinnati,  with  many  of  whom  I  was  well  ac- 
quainted in  our  revolution,  affords  me  heartfelt  satisfaction.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  meet  any  of  those  patriotic  citizens,  whose  valuable  services  were 
•  Narrative  of  President's  Tour. 


544  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE. 

so  intimately  connected  with  that  great  event,  without  recollections  which 
it  is  equally  just  and  honorable  to  cherish." 

To  an  address  of  the  president  of  the  American  Society  for  the  Encour- 
agement of  Manufactures,  at  New  York,  the  president  replied,  that  he  duly 
appreciated  the  objects  of  the  institution,  which  were  particularly  dear  to 
him  from  their  being  intimately  connected  with  the  real  independence  of 
our  country ;  and  closed  with  an  assurance  that  he  would  use  his  efforts, 
as  far  as  the  general  interest  of  the  country  would  permit,  to  promote  the 
patriotic  and  laudable  objects  of  the  society. 

The  citizens  of  Kennebunk  and  its  vicinity,  in  Maine,  having  in  their 
address  alluded  to  the  prospects  of  a  political  union  among  the  people,  in 
support  of  the  administration,  the  president  said,  in  reply :  "  You  are 
pleased  to  express  a  confident  hope  that  a  spirit  of  mutual  conciliation 
may  be  one  of  the  blessings  which  may  result  from  my  administration. 
This  indeed  would  be  an  eminent  blessing,  and  I  pray  it  may  be  realized. 
Nothing  but  union  is  wanting  to  make  us  a  great  people.  The  present 
time  affords  the  happiest  presage  that  this  union  is  fast  consummating. 
It  can  not  be  otherwise  ;  I  daily  see  greater  proofs  of  it.  The  further  I 
advance  in  my  progress  in  the  country,  the  more  I  perceive  that  we  are 
all  Americans — that  we  compose  but  one  family — that  our  republican  in- 
stitutions will  be  supported  and  perpetuated  by  the  united  zeal  and  patri- 
otism of  all.  Nothing  could  give  me  greater  satisfaction  than  to  behold  a 
perfect  union  among  ourselves — a  union  which  is  necessary  to  restore  to 
social  intercourse  its  former  charms,  and  to  render  our  happiness,  as  a 
nation,  unmixed  and  complete.  To  promote  this  desirable  result  requires 
no  compromise  of  principle,  and  I  promise  to  give  it  my  continued  atten- 
tion, and  my  best  endeavors." 

No  part  of  his  subsequent  official  conduct  contradicted  the  magnanimous 
spirit  which  Mr.  Monroe  discovered  at  the  commencement  of  his  admin- 
istration, excepting  that  he  seems  to  have  considered  that  his  duty  to  the 
party  to  which  he  owed  his  election,  and  to  which  he  had  been  attached 
through  life,  required  him,  in  his  selections  for  public  office,  to  confine 
himself  to  men  professing  democracy,  and  the  continued  exclusion  of  fed- 
eralists from  the  favor  of  the  national  government.  The  federal  party, 
however,  was  almost  entirely  prostrated  soon  after  the  peace  of  1815,  and 
continued  their  organization  in  but  few  of  the  states,  after  a  feeble  strug- 
gle of  three  or  four  years.  Those  who  had  acted  with  the  party  were 
satisfied  with  the  principles  and  views  generally  adopted  by  the  adminis- 
tration of  Mr.  Monroe ;  and  those  who  might  have  sought  office,  if  in  the 
majority,  had  been  so  long  accustomed  to  the  ban  of  proscription,  that 
they  did  not  probably  complain  at  being  still  placed  without  the  pale  of 
governmental  favor. 

Had  the  president  followed  the  advice  of  General  Jackson,  who,  in  a 
correspondence  with  him  preceding  and  immediately  after  his  election. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE.  545 

advised  him  to  select  his  cabinet  without  any  regard  to  party,  it  is  not 
probable  that  the  measures  of  the  administration  would  have  been  different 
from  those  which  were  adopted  by  the  recommendations  of  the  cabinet 
composed  of  Messrs.  Adams,  Crawford,  Calhoun,  Crowninshield,  and  Win. 
Those  gentlemen  were  all  understood,  while  in  the  cabinet,  to  have  been 
in  favor  of  the  policy  adopted,  which  was  similar  to  that  advocated  by  the 
federal  party,  commencing  with  the  measures  of  Washington  and  Ham- 
ilton in  the  organization  and  early  movements  of  the  national  government. 

General  Jackson's  advice  to  Mr.  Monroe  is  contained  in  a  letter  to  the  lat- 
ter, dated  November  12, 1816,  when  Mr.  Monroe  was  considered  the  presi- 
dent elect.  The  following  is  an  extract :  "  Your  happiness  and  the  na- 
tion's welfare  materially  depend  upon  the  selections  which  are  to  be  made 
to  fill  the  heads  of  departments.  Everything  depends  on  the  selection 
of  your  ministry.  In  every  selection,  party  and  party  feelings  should  be 
avoided.  Now  is  the  time  to  exterminate  that  monster  called  party  spirit. 
By  selecting  characters  most  conspicuous  for  their  probity,  virtue,  capa 
city,  and  firmness,  without  any  regard  to  party,  you  will  go  far  to,  if  not 
entirely,  eradicate  those  feelings  which,  on  former  occasions,  threw  so 
many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  government ;  and  perhaps  have  the  pleasurt 
and  honor  of  uniting  a  people  heretofore  politically  divided.  The  chief 
magistrate  of  a  great  and  powerful  nation  should  never  indulge  in  party 
feelings.  His  conduct  should  be  liberal  and  disinterested,  always  bearing 
in  mind  that  he  acts  for  the  whole  and  not  a  part  of  the  community." 

The  president,  in  his  reply,  discusses  the  subject  of  parties  and  ap 
pointments  at  great  length,  and  in  the  course  of  his  remarks  says  :  "  The 
election  of  a  successor  to  Mr.  Madison  has  taken  place,  and  a  new  admin- 
istration is  to  commence  its  service.  The  election  has  been  made  by  the 
republican  party,  and  of  a  person  known  to  be  devoted  that  cause.  How 
shall  he  act  ?  How  organize  the  administration  ?  How  fill  the  vacancies 
existing  at  the  time  ? 

"  The  distinction  between  republicans  and  federalists,  even  in  the 
southern,  and  middle,  and  western  states,  has  not  been  fully  done  away. 
To  give  effect  to  free  government,  and  secure  it  from  future  danger,  ought 
not  its  decided  friends,  who  stood  firm  in  the  day  of  trial,  to  be  principally 
relied  on  ?  Would  not  the  association  of  any  of  their  opponents  in  the  ad- 
ministration, itself  wound  their  feelings,  or,  at  least,  of  very  many  of  them, 
to  the  injury  of  the  republican  cause  ?  Might  it  not  be  considered,  by  the 
other  party,  as  an  offer  of  compromise  with  them,  which  would  lessen  the 
ignominy  due  to  the  counsels  which  produced  the  Hartford  convention, 
and  thereby  have  a  tendency  to  revive  that  party  on  its  former  principles  ? 
My  impression  is,  that  the  administration  should  rest  strongly  on  the  re- 
publican party,  indulging  toward  the  other  a  spirit  of  moderation,  and 
evincing  a  desire  to  discriminate  between  its  members,  and  to  bring  the 
whole  into  the  republican  fold,  as  quietly  as  possible.  Many  men,  very 

VOL.  I.— 35 


546  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE. 

distinguished  for  their  talents,  are  of  opinion  that  the  existence  of  the 
federal  party  is  necessary  to  keep  union  and  order  in  the  republican  ranks  ; 
that  is,  that  free  government  can  not  exist  without  parties.  This  is  not 
my  opinion.  The  first  object  is  to  save  the  cause,  which  can  be  done  by 
those  who  are  devoted  to  it  only,  and  of  course  by  keeping  them  together ; 
or,  in  other  words,  by  not  disgusting  them  by  too  hasty  an  act  of  liberality 
to  the  other  party,  thereby  breaking  the  generous  spirit  of  the  republican 
party,  and  keeping  alive  that  of  the  federal  party.  The  second  is,  to  pre- 
vent the  reorganization  and  revival  of  the  federal  party,  which,  if  my  hy- 
pothesis is  true,  that  the  existence  of  party  is  not  necessary  to  a  free  gov- 
ernment, and  the  other  opinion  which  I  have  advanced  is  well  founded, 
that  the  great  body  of  the  federal  party  are  republican,  will  not  be  found 
impracticable.  To  accomplish  both  objects,  and  thereby  exterminate  all 
party  divisions  in  our  country,  and  give  new  strength  and  stability  to  our 
government,  is  a  great  undertaking,  not  easily  executed.  I  am,  neverthe- 
less, decidedly  of  opinion  that  it  may  be  done  ;  and  should  the  experiment 
fail,  I  shall  conclude  that  its  failure  was  imputable  more  to  the  want  of  a 
correct  knowledge  of  all  circumstances  claiming  attention,  and  of  sound 
judgment  in  the  measures  adopted,  than  to  any  other  cause.  I  agree,  I 
think,  perfectly  with  you,  in  the  grand  object,  that  moderation  should  be 
shown  to  the  federal  party,  and  even  a  generous  policy  be  adopted  toward 
it ;  the  only  difference  between  us  seems  to  be,  how  far  shall  that  spirit 
be  indulged  in  the  outset ;  and  it  is  to  make  you  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  my  views  on  this  highly  important  subject,  that  I  have  written  you 
so  freely  upon  it."* 

The  first  session  of  the  fifteenth  Congress  commenced  on  the  1st  of 
December,  1817,  and  continued  until  the  20th  of  April,  1818.  The  dem- 
ocratic majority  in  both  senate  and  house  was  overwhelming,  the  number 
of  federalists  in  this  Congress  being  few  indeed.  And  after  this  period, 
it  may  be  remarked  that  former  party  lines  became  entirely  extinct  in  the 
national  legislature.  Mr.  Clay  was  re-elected  speaker  of  the  house  of 
representatives,  by  a  vote  nearly  unanimous.  The  vice-president,  Daniel 
D.  Tompkins,  of  course  presided  in  the  senate,  and  in  his  absence  John 
Gaillard  acted  as  president  pro  tern. 

The  president's  message  involved  many  subjects  of  great  interest  to 
the  nation,  many  of  which  were  taken  up  and  acted  upon  by  Congress. 
The  first  act  of  the  session  was  one  to  abolish  the  internal  duties  imposed 
during  the  war,  namely,  duties  on  licenses  to  distillers,  on  refined  sugar, 
licenses  to  retailers,  sales  at  auction,  on  pleasure  carriages,  and  stamps. 
Most  of  the  measures  recommended  by  the  president  were  approved  by  a 
large  majority  of  Congress ;  and  there  was  much  harmony  among  mem- 
bers of  different  political  views.  There  was  much  less  crimination  and 
bitterness  manifested  in  debate  than  had  appeared  at  former  sessions  of 
•  .Viles't  Register,  rol.  irri.,  pp.  165,  166. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE.  547 

Congress.  The  compensation  for  members  of  both  houses  was  fixed  at 
eight  dollars  a  day,  and  eight  dollars  for  every  twenty  miles'  travel ;  and 
the  act  of  March,  1816,  providing  a  salary  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  per 
annum  for  each  member  was  repealed. 

An  act  granting  pensions  to  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  revolutionary 
war  was  passed  at  this  session,  in  conformity  to  the  suggestion  of  the 
president.  The  law  was  modified,  and  in  some  measure  restricted,  by  an 
act  two  years  after,  which  confined  the  pensions  to  those  who  were  in 
destitute  circumstances.  But,  with  this  modification,  the  law  afforded  re- 
lief to  a  great  number,  not  less  than  thirteen  thousand,  who  had  given  their 
personal  services  and  hazarded  their  lives  for  the  liberties  oFthe  country, 
in  the  war  of  the  revolution.*  This  act  of  justice  and  equity  had  been  long 
delayed  through  the  inability  of  the  government,  but  the  feelings  of  the 
people  were  at  last  strongly  expressed  in  favor  of  doing  something  for  the 
benefit  of  those  to  whom  the  country  owed  so  much,  and  who  had  never 
received  an  adequate  compensation  for  their  invaluable  services. 

An  additional  act  was  passed  on  the  subject  of  the  importation  of  slaves 
into  the  United  States,  which  modified,  in  some  particulars,  the  law  of 
1807  on  the  same  subject,  but  did  not  materially  change  its  prohibitions 
and  penalties.  And  a  law  was  enacted  forbidding  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  to  engage  in  any  hostile  enterprise  against  the  subjects  of 
a  government  which  was  on  terms  of  peace  and  amity  with  the  United 
States,'  There  were  some  attempts  at  that  time  to  introduce  slaves  into 
the  country  through  southwestern  ports ;  and  an  expedition  was  appre- 
hended to  be  in  preparation  to  invade  the  Mexican  territory. 

The  state  of  Mississippi  was,  by  a  resolution  of  Congress,  admitted  into 
the  Union  on  the  10th  of  December,  1817,  and  an  act  was  passed  in  April 
following,  authorizing  the  people  of  Illinois  territory  to  form  a  constitution 
and  state  government,  preparatory  to  admission  as  a  state.  An  act  con- 
cerning navigation  closed  the  ports  of  the  United  States  against  any  Brit- 
ish vessel  coming  from  any  colony  of  Great  Britain  the  ports  of  which 
were  closed  against  vessels  of  the  United  States.  This  was  done  as  a 
retaliatory  measure,  in  consequence  of  the  British  government  having  re- 
fused to  allow  a  direct  trade  from  the  United  States  to  the  British  West 
Indies  and  other  American  colonies.  An  act  respecting  the  flag  of  the 
United  States  fixed  the  number  of  stripes,  alternate  red  and  white,  at  thir- 
teen, and  directed  that  the  Union  be  represented  by  stars  equal  to  the 
number  of  states,  white  in  a  blue  field.  Three  per  cent,  of  the  net  pro- 
ceeds of  sales  of  public  lands  in  Indiana  was  directed  to  be  paid  to  that 
state  for  the  purpose  of  making  roads  and  canals.  The  duties  on  certain 
manufactures,  viz.,  copper,  cut-glass,  Russia  sheetings,  iron,  nails,  and 
alum,  were  increased,  and  the  majority  in  favor  of  protection  to  domestic 
manufactures  was  large  in  this  Congress.  In  the  senate  all  but  three, 

•  Bradford. 


548  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MOHROE 

and  in  the  house  of  representatives  all  but  sixteen  members,  voted  for  a 
bill  to  continue  for  seven  years  the  duty  laid  in  1816  on  imports  of  cotton 
and  woollen  manufactures.  That  duty,  in  1816,  was  fixed  at  twenty-five 
per  cent,  on  cottons  and  woollens  for  three  years,  and  the  minimum  value 
of  a  square  yard  of  cotton  was  then  fixed  at  twenty-five  cents.  Still  the 
amount  of  protection  afforded  by  the  tariff  of  1816  to  the  manufacturers  of 
cottons  and  woollens,  was  not  found  adequate  to  the.  purpose,  and  the  ex- 
cessive importations  of  foreign  manufactured  goods  for  several  years  after 
the  peace,  prostrated  numerous  American  manufacturers,  and  spread  ruin 
and  desolation  among  the  industrious  classes,  including  agriculturists  as 
well  as  mechanics  and  manufacturers.  The  bankruptcies  among  the  mer- 
cantile portion  of  the  community  were  also  extensive. 

The  subject  of  internal  improvements  by  the  general  government  was 
discussed  in  Congress  at  this  session.  A  committee  who  had  the  subject 
under  consideration  reported,  that  "  the  dividends  of  the  United  States  in 
the  national  bank  be  appropriated  to  such  objects ;"  but  there  was  a  strong 
opposition  to  the  measure  ;  and  after  repeated  debates,  relating  principally 
to  the  constitutionality  of  such  appropriations,  the  subject  was  postponed 
to  a  future  day.  And  yet  a  vote  was  taken  in  the  house,  at  one  stage  of 
the  bill,  when  there  appeared  a  majority  of  fifteen  in  favor  of  appropriating 
the  public  funds  for  canals,  and  for  military  and  postroads.  The  speaker, 
Mr.  Clay,  was  one  of  the  ablest  advocates  of  internal  improvement,  but  it 
was  understood  that  the  opinion  and  influence  of  the  president  were 
against  the  measure. 

A  motion  was  made  in  the  house  of  representatives,  when  in  commit- 
tee of  the  whole,  by  the  speaker,  Mr.  Clay,  for  a  mission  to  South  Amer- 
ica, to  express  the  sympathy  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  for 
the  colonies  there  which  had  declared  their  independence,  with  a  view  to 
enter  into  friendly  political  relations  with  them  at  a  future  day.  The  spe- 
cific appropriation  was  to  provide  for  a  minister  to  Buenos  Ayres  and  the 
provinces  of  La  Plata,  should  the  executive  deem  it  expedient  and  proper 
to  appoint  one.  The  proposition  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  115  to  45. 
The  inhabitants  of  Spanish  America  had  long  been  in  a  degraded  condi- 
tion, and  subject  to  oppression  by  the  mother-country.  Their  situation 
was  commiserated  by  our  citizens,  and  they  were  generally  desirous  that 
the  people  of  that  section  of  America  might  succeed  in  throwing  off  the 
Spanish  yoke,  and  obtaining  their  independence.  But  the  policy  and  pro- 
priety of  a  formal  declaration  in  their  favor  by  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  at  that  period,  and  in  their  then  unsettled  state,  was  doubted 
both  in  Congress  and  by  a  large  portion  of  the  people.  Mr.  Clay's  speech 
ia  favor  of  the  measure,  however,  was  marked  by  statesmanlike  views 
and  philanthropic  and  liberal  feelings ;  which  he  expressed  in  his  usual 
style  of  eloquence  and  powerful  argument.  He  was  answered  by  Mr. 
Forsyth,  of  Georgia,  who  opposed  the  projected  measure  with  great  ability. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE.  549 

The  views  of  Mr.  Clay  were  subsequetly  sanctioned  by  the  course  of 
events,  which  resulted  in  South  American  independence. 

The  president,  soon  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  visited  the  towns 
and  coasts  of  Chesapeake  bay,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  into  the  state 
of  the  forts  and  other  means  of  defence  in  that  quarter,  and  the  proper  lo- 
cation for  a  naval  depot.  Having  accomplished  the  principal  object  of  his 
tour,  he  returned  to  Washington  on  the  17th  of  June,  through  the  interior 
of  Virginia. 

A  treaty  having  been  concluded  between  the  United  States  and  Swe- 
den, which  was  negotiated  by  Mr.  Jonathan  Russell,  minister  to  Stock- 
holm, the  same  was  ratified  by  the  president  and  senate,  in  May,  1818. 
During  this  year,  and  while  negotiations  for  a  treaty  with  Spain  were 
pending,  serious  difficulties  arose  in  Florida,  on  account  of  the  invasion 
of  the  territory  then  in  possession  of  the  Spanish  government,  by  United 
States  troops  under  General  Andrew  Jackson,  and  of  the  seizure  of  the 
fortified  towns  of  St.  Marks  and  Pensacola.  General  Jackson  had  been 
directed  to  subdue  the  Seminole  Indians,  who  were  then  troublesome  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States  in  Alabama  and  vicinity,  and  strong 
measures  were  deemed  advisable  and  necessary  by  him  to  effect  the 
object  of  the  government.  His  excuse  for  entering  the  Spanish  terri- 
tory was,  that  the  hostile  Indians  fled  to  the  Spanish  commanders  for 
protection  ;  that  they  were  encouraged  by  them ;  and  that  the  safety  of 
the  inhabitants  in  that  part  of  the  United  States  required  such  proceed- 
ings. The  president  afterward  caused  the  instructions  given  to  Gen- 
eral Jackson  to  be  laid  before  Congress  ;  and  he  also  gave  orders  im- 
mediately for  the  restoration  of  the  forts  and  places  to  the  Spanish 
authorities. 

Congress  again  assembled  on  the  16th  of  November,  1818,  and  contin- 
ued in  session  until  the  3d  of  March,  1819,  when  their  term  of  service  ex- 
pired. The  state  of  Illinois  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  by  a  resolution 
passed  on  the  3d  of  December,  1818.  The  people  of  Alabama  were  au- 
thorized to  form  a  constitution  and  state  government,  preparatory  to  admis- 
sion as  a  state.  An  act  was  passed  establishing  a  territorial  government 
for  Arkansas,  then  a  part  of  the  territory  of  Missouri.  The  citizens  of 
Michigan  territory  were  authorized  to  elect  a  delegate  to  Congress.  Other 
important  laws  were  the  following  :  To  protect  the  commerce  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  and  to  punish  piracy  ;  to  regulate  the  duties  on  imported 
wines,  reducing  the  rates  thereon  ;  to  provide  for  the  civilization  of  the 
Indian  tribes  adjoining  the  frontiers,  by  which  the  president  was  author- 
ized to  employ  suitable  persons  to  teach  and  encourage  them  in  agriculture, 
and  also  to  instruct  their  children  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  and 
ten  thousand  dollars  were  appropriated  for  such  purpose ;  an  additional 
act  concerning  the  coasting  trade ;  an  act  to  authorize  the  president  to 
take  possession  of  East  and  West  Florida,  and  U>  establish  a  temporary 


550  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE. 

government  therein ;  and  an  act  to  provide  for  the  prompt  settlement  of 
public  accounts. 

The  conduct  of  General  Jackson  with  regard  to  the  Seminole  war  in 
Florida,  was  a  subject  of  inquiry  in  both  houses  of  Congress.  In  the 
house  of  representatives  a  report  was  made  on  the  subject  by  the  commit- 
tee on  military  affairs,  disapproving  of  the  general's  proceedings,  and  con- 
cluding with  resolutions  of  censure.  After  an  able  and  protracted  debate, 
the  report  and  resolutions  were  rejected  by  a  large  majority. 

A  treaty  with  Spain  was  concluded  at  Washington  on  the  22d  of  February, 
1819,  by  John  Quincy  Adams,  secretary  of  state,  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  Don  Luis  de  Onis  on  the  part  of  Spain,  by  which  East  and 
West  Florida,  with  all  the  islands  adjacent,  were  ceded  by  Spain  to  the 
United  States.  The  boundary  between  the  territories  of  the  two  powers 
was  also  settled  by  this  treaty.  A  sum  not  exceeding  five  millions  of  dol- 
lars was  to  be  paid  by  the  United  States,  out  of  the  proceeds  of  sales  of 
lands  in  Florida,  or  in  stock,  or  money,  to  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
on  account  of  former  spoliations  on  American  commerce  by  Spanish 
vessels-of-war.  This  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  king  of  Spain  in  Octo- 
ber^ 1820. 

A  convention  was  concluded  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Brit- 
ain, in  October,  1818,  and  afterward  ratified  by  both  governments  ;  but  the 
subject  of  impressment  was  not  embraced  in  the  treaty,  nor  that  of  the 
trade  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  colonies,  though  both 
points  were  urged  by  the  negotiators  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 
The  principal  articles  related  to  the  Newfoundland  and  other  fisheries, 
to  the  northern  boundary  line  between  the  territories  of  each  nation,  from 
the  lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Rocky  mountains ;  to  the  renewal  and  con- 
tinuance of  the  convention  of  1815  for  the  term  of  ten  years ;  and  to  the 
restoration  of  slaves  belonging  to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  taken  in 
the  course  of  the  war  of  1812,  as  formerly  stipulated  by  the  treaty  of  Ghent. 

During  the  summer  of  1819,  the  president  made  a  tour  through  the 
southern  section  of  the  country,  for  similar  objects  to  those  which  had  in- 
duced his  visit  to  the  north  in  1817.  In  his  southern  tour  the  president 
visited  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  Augusta ;  after  which  he  proceeded 
through  the  Cherokee  nation  to  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  thence  to  Lou- 
isville and  Lexington,  Kentucky  ;  returning  to  Washington  in  the  month 
of  August. 

The  attention  of  the  government  continued  to  be  directed  chiefly  to  the 
financial  concerns  of  the  country,  by  effecting  sales  of  the  public  lands, 
and  reducing  the  national  debt,  as  well  as  to  a  gradual  completion  of  for- 
tifications for  defence.  The  demands  on  the  treasury  had  increased,  on 
account  of  the  great  number  of  pensioners  under  the  law  of  1818.  More 
than  a  million  of  dollars  were  paid  to  the  veterans  of  the  revolution  in  one 
year;  and  the  revenue  arising  from  imports  in  1817  was  less  than  in  the 


ADMINISTRATION    9F    MONROE.  551 

preceding  year.  Embarrassments  of  a  pecuniary  nature  affected  most 
parts  of  the  United  States,  in  1818  and  1819,  and  the  influence  to  some 
extent  was  felt  in  the  revenue.* 

At  this  period  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the  United  States  were  in 
a  state  of  extreme  depression,  owing  to  the  importations  of  foreign  goods 
at  constantly  reduced  prices,  and  the  general  pressure  in  the  monetary 
affairs  of  the  nation.  The  president  was  known  to  be  friendly  to  further 
protection  of  domestic  manufactures,  by  a  proper  revision  of  the  tariff  on 
imports,  and  great  efforts  were  made  in  the  northern  and  middle  states  to 
influence  public  opinion  and  the  action  of  Congress  in  favor  of  the  na- 
tional industry. 

The  sixteenth  Congress  assembled  on  the  6th  of  December,  1819,  and, 
being  the  first  session,  was  continued  until  the  15th  of  May,  1820.  Mr. 
Clay  was  again  elected  speaker,  by  nearly  a  unanimous  vote,  and  Mr. 
Gaillard  was  continued  as  president  pro  tempore  of  the  senate.  The 
former  distinctions  of  party  having  almost  if  not  quite  disappeared  in 
Congress,  new  questions  of  great  national  interest  arose  to  divide  the 
members.  Additional  protection  to  American  manufactures  ;  internal  im- 
provements by  the  general  government ;  and  the  acknowledgment  of  the 
independence  of  the  South  American  republics ;  were  among  the  most 
prominent  of  the  subjects  agitated.  To  these  was  soon  added  the  Mis- 
souri question,  which  involved  the  propriety  and  expediency  of  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery  in  new  states  west  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  state  of  Alabama  was  admitted  into  the  Union  by  a  resolution 
passed  December  14,  1819  ;  and  an  act  was  passed  on  the  3d  of  March, 
1820,  admitting  the  state  of  Maine  into  the  Union,  that  state  having  formed 
a  constitution  by  consent  of  Massachusetts,  with  which  state  Maine,  as  a 
province,  had  been  connected  since  1652.  An  act  was  also  passed,  on  the 
6th  of  March,  1820,  authorizing  the  people  of  Missouri  territory  to  form  a 
constitution  and  state  government,  preparatory  to  admission  into  the  Union. 
It  was  proposed  to  amend  the  bill  on  that  subject  by  inserting  a  clause 
imposing  it  as  a  condition  of  admission,  that  the  future  removal  or  trans- 
portation of  slaves  into  that  territory  should  be  prohibited.  This  question 
gave  rise  to  the  most  exciting  and  animated  debates  in  both  houses  of 
Congress.  In  the  progress  of  the  discussion  in  the  senate,  the  Missouri 
bill  was  annexed  to  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  Maine,  but  the  proposi- 
tion was  rejected  by  the  house  of  representatives,  after  which  the  bills 
were  separated.  On  the  last  day  of  February,  1820,  the  amendment  pro- 
posed in  the  house  to  the  Missouri  bill,  restricting  slavery,  after  a  very 
long  and  able  debate,  was  carried,  by  a  majority  of  eight  votes,  but  on  the 
next  day  the  same  amendment  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  four.  The  bill 
was  then  passed  without  restrictions,  and  on  the  6th  of  March  approved  by 
the  president,  Maine  having  been  previously  admitted  on  the  3d  of  March. 

•  Bradford. 


553  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  pass  a  new  tariff  act  at  this  session,  giving  ad- 
ditional protection  to  American  manufactures.  The  bill  was  adopted  in 
the  house  of  representatives  by  a  majority  of  twenty,  but  did  not  receive 
the  concurrence  of  the  senate.  Great  disappointment  was  felt  by  the  man- 
ufacturers at  this  result,  the  pressure  and  pecuniary  distress  at  the  time 
being  great.  The  heavy  importations  of  foreign  manufactures  tended  to 
depress  prices,  and  to  ruin  those  engaged  in  manufactures  in  the  United 
States.  The  currency  was  also  in  a  deranged  state.  A  spirit  for  bank- 
ing companies  prevailed,  and  an  unusual  number  of  those  corporations 
were  authorized  in  many  of  the  states  of  the  Union.  The  country  was 
flooded  with  paper-money  issued  by  these  banks,  many  of  which  were 
unable  to  redeem  their  bills  when  presented  ;  and  the  most  disastrous  re- 
sults soon  followed.  The  national  bank  had  been  in  operation  between  two 
and  three  years,  but  it  had  not  yet  gathered  sufficient  strength  to  regulate 
the  currency,  which  indeed  was  impracticable,  when  the  balance  of  trade 
was  largely  against  the  United  States,  from  excessive  importations. 

An  act  respecting  the  public  lands,  passed  at  this  session,  authorized 
sales  in  half  quarter  sections,  or  eighty  acres,  fixed  the  price  at  one  dol- 
lar and  twenty-five  cents  per  acre,  and  abolished  the  credit  system  on 
sales  of  lands,  directing  that  after  July  1 ,  1 820,  all  such  sales  should  be 
made  for  cash  only,  The  principle  of  internal  improvement  by  the  gen- 
eral government  was  sanctioned  by  an  act  to  authorize  a  survey  of  a  route 
for  a  continuation  of  the  Cumberland  road  from  the  Ohio  river,  opposite 
Wheeling,  Virginia,  through  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  to  the  Mississippi, 
between  St.  Louis  and  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  river,  for  which  survey  an 
appropriation  of  ten  thousand  dollars  was  made.  The  navigation  act  of  April, 
1818,  was  amended  so  as  to  extend  the  prohibition  of  British  vessels  from 
the  colonies,  to  all  places  in  the  British  provinces  in  America  and  the 
West  Indies.  This  and  the  former  act,  which  were  proposed  by  Rufus 
King,  a  senator  from  New  York,  were  not  designed  as  hostile  acts,  but  as 
measures  called  for  by  a  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  navigation  of  the 
United  States,  and  in  the  expectation  that  they  might  eventually  lead  to 
the  adoption  of  liberal  principles  and  a  reciprocity  in  trade.  The  presi- 
dent was  authorized,  by  an  act  passed  at  this  session,  to  borrow  three 
millions  of  dollars  for  the  public  service,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  hav- 
ing stated  that  a  deficiency  might  be  expected  in  the  revenue.  Attempts 
were  made  to  pass  a  bill  for  establishing  a  uniform  system  of  bankruptcy  ; 
also  amending  the  constitution  so  as  to  provide  for  a  uniform  mode  of 
choosing  electors  of  president  and  vice-president,  but,  after  much  discus- 
sion, both  of  these  propositions  were  rejected.  The  members  from  the 
northern  and  eastern  states  were  generally  in  favor  of  a  bankrupt  law,  but 
those  from  the  south  and  west  were  opposed  to  it. 

The  presidential  election  coming  on  in  1820,  Messrs.  Monroe  and 
Tompkins  were  nominated  for  re-election  as  president  and  vice-president. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE.  553 

They  were  again  chosen  to  those  high  offices  by  the  electoral  colleges, 
with  great  unanimity,  only  one, vote  having  been  given  against  Mr.  Mon- 
roe, while  he  received  231  ;  and  14  against  Mr.  Tompkins,  who  received 
218  votes. 

The  second  session  of  the  sixteenth  Congress  commenced  on  the  13th 
of  November,  1820,  and  ended  on  the  3d  of  March,  1821.  Mr.  Clay  having 
sent  a  letter  of  resignation  as  speaker,  to  the  clerk  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, indispensable  private  business  requiring  his  attention  in  the  early 
part  of  the  session,  the  house  proceeded  to  ballot  for  a  new  speaker,  but  after 
seven  trials  without  effecting  a  choice,  an  adjournment  took  place  until  the 
following  day,  when,  after  nineteen  unsuccessful  ballots,  the  election  of 
speaker  was  postponed  until  the  third  day.  The  prominent  candidates  voted 
for  were  John  W.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  Mr.  Lowndes.  of  South  Carolina, 
Mr.  Sergeant,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Smith,  of  Maryland.  On 
the  third  day  a  choice  of  speaker  was  effected,  Mr.  John  W.  Taylor  being 
elected  by  a  small  majority  over  all  other  candidates.  Mr.  Taylor  was 
of  that  section  of  republicans  in  the  state  of  New  York  who  supported 
De  Witt  Clinton,  then  governor  of  that  state.  He  was  decidedly  favora- 
ble to  a  tariff  for  protection  to  domestic  manufactures,  and  opposed  to  the 
extension  of  slavery  in  Missouri.  The  election  of  a  speaker  with  these 
news,  was  of  course  the  cause  of  some  excitement  and  dissatisfaction,  at 
a  time  when  questions  of  great  interest  were  to  be  determined  by  the  ac- 
tion of  Congress,  which  for  a  time  seemed  even  to  threaten  a  dissolution 
of  the  Union.  The  mild,  impartial,  and  conciliatory  course  of  the  new 
speaker,  however,  tended  to  allay  much  of  the  feeling  at  first  excited, 
at  the  same  time  that  the  respect  of  the  members  was  elicited  toward 
himself. 

The  most  important  question  agitated  in  Congress  at  this  session,  was 
the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the  Union.  The  constitution  framed  by  the 
people  of  that  state  was  communicated  to  Congress  in  the  early  part  of  the 
session,  and  referred  to  a  committee  who,  through  Mr.  Lowndes,  made  an 
able  report  on  the  subject,  declaring  the  constitution  of  the  state  repub- 
lican, and  concluding  with  a  resolution  that  Missouri  be  admitted  into  the 
Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  states,  in  all  respects  whatever. 
Mr.  Lowndes,  in  moving  to  refer  the  resolution  to  a  committee  of  the 
whole,  stated  that  the  report  was  the  act  of  a  majority  of  the  committee, 
and  not  of  every  individual  of  the  committee.  The  debate  on  the  subject 
continued  a  week,  and  the  discussion  was  managed  with  great  ability  and 
good  temper.  It  was  decided  by  a  majority  of  fourteen,  in  the  house,  that 
Missouri  could  not  be  admitted  into  the  Union  with  the  constitution  as 
presented.  Those  who  voted  against  the  admission,  did  so  on  the  ground 
that  the  constitution  of  the  state  permitted  slavery,  and  that  there  were 
other  objectionable  features  in  that  instrument,  particularly  in  relation  to 
free  persons  of  color.  The  members  from  the  slave  states  voted  unani- 


554  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE. 

inously  for  the  admission  of  Missouri,  while  those  from  the  northern  and 
middle  states,  with  few  exceptions,  voted  against  it. 

Matters  were  in  this  situation,  when  the  Missouri  question  again  pre- 
sented itself,  on  the  fourteenth  of  February,  1821,  the  day  appointed  by 
law  for  opening  and  counting  the  votes  for  president  and  vice-president. 
Missouri  having  chosen  presidential  electors,  and  transmitted  her  votes  fox1 
president  and  vice-president  to  Congress,  a  resolution  passed  the  senate 
directing  that  in  case  any  objection  should  be  made  to  counting  the  votes 
from  Missouri,  the  president  of  the  senate  should  declare  that,  if  the  votes 
of  Missouri  were  counted,  the  number  of  votes  for  A.  B.  for  president 
would  be  so  many,  and  if  the  votes  of  Missouri  were  not  counted,  the  num- 
ber would  be  so  many,  and  that  in  either  case  A.  B.  is  elected.  The 
same  course  to  be  pursued  in  relation  to  vice-president.  This  resolution 
was  taken  up  in  the  house  on  the  morning  of  the  day  when  the  votes 
were  to  be  counted.  Mr.  Clay  having  by  this  time  taken  his  seal  as  a 
member,  warmly  supported  the  resolution  as  the  only  mode  of  avoiding 
the  difficulty.  It  was  also  generally  supported  by  the  members  in  favor 
of  restricting  Missouri  as  to  slavery,  but  opposed  by  most  of  those  from  the 
slave  states.  It  was  finally  agreed  to  on  the  part  of  the  house,  sometime 
after  the  hour  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the  two  houses  to  count  the 
votes.  Considerable  delay  and  confusion  took  place  while  the  votes  were 
being  counted,  and  some  of  the  southern  members,  particularly  John  Ran- 
dolph, of  Virginia,  made  an  effort  to  compel  the  house  to  declare  that  Mis- 
souri was  a  state  of  the  Union.  The  course  recommended  by  the  joint 
resolution  was  finally  adopted,  and  the  president  of  the  senate  declared 
James  Monroe  and  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  duly  elected  president  and  vice- 
president,  for  the  term  of  four  years  from  the  4th  of  March,  1821. 

On  the  26th  of  February,  Mr.  Clay,  from  a  joint  committee  of  the  two 
houses  appointed  on  the  Missouri  question,  reported  a  resolution  for  the 
admission  of  the  state  into  the  Union,  on  condition  that  the  said  state,  by 
their  legislature,  should  assent  to  a  condition  that  a  part  of  the  state  con- 
stitution should  never  be  construed  to  authorize  the  passage  of  a  law  by 
which  any  citizen  of  either  of  the  states  in  the  Union  should  be  excluded 
from  the  enjoyment  of  any  of  the  privileges  and  immunities  to  which  such 
citizen  is  entitled  under  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  After  debate, 
the  final  question  was  taken  on  this  resolution,  which  was  carried  in  the 
house  by  a  vote  of  87  to  81,  and  was  concurred  in  by  the  senate  on  the 
28th  of  February,  and  being  approved  by  the  president  on  the  2d  of 
March,  1821,  Missouri  was  admitted  into  the  Union.  Thus  this  exciting 
question  was  finally  settled,  principally  through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Clay, 
who  had  also  at  the  former  session  proposed  and  procured  the  adoption 
of  a  resolution,  or  section  of  compromise,  in  the  act  authorizing  Missouri 
to  form  a  constitution,  by  which  slavery  was  to  be  for  ever  prohibited  in 
that  part  of  the  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  (excepting  the  state 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE.  555 

of  Missouri),  lying  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes  north 
latitude. 

On  the  22d  of  February  the  president  issued  his  proclamation  on  the 
subject  of  the  treaty  which  had  been  made  with  Spain,  arid  announced 
that  the  same  had  been  finally  ratified  by  both  the  governments  of  the 
United  States  and  Spain.  Thus,  another  important  matter  was  happily 
brought  to  a  conclusion. 

Mr.  Clay  again  brought  before  Congress  the  question  of  acknowledging 
the  independence  of  the  Spanish  provinces  of  South  America,  and  in  the 
house  of  representatives  resolutions  to  that  effect  were  adopted. 

In  the  senate  a  motion  to  declare  the  sedition  act  of  1798  unconstitu- 
tional, and  to  pay  back  the  fines  imposed  by  the  United  States  courts  for 
violations  of  the  law,  was  offered  by  Mr.  Barbour,  of  Virginia.  After  a 
warm  debate  the  resolution  was  rejected,  and  the  constitutionality  of  the 
law  therefore  sustained,  by  a  vote  of  24  to  19. 

At  this  session  of  Congress  the  peace  establishment  of  the  army  was 
reduced  by  law  to  seven  regiments  of  infantry,  and  four  regiments  of  ar- 
tillery, with  officers  for  the  ordnance  and  engineering  departments.  The 
annual  appropriation  for  the  increase  of  the  navy,  which  had  been  fixed 
in  1816  at  one  million  of  dollars,  was  reduced  to  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars. 

Propositions  introduced  into  Congress  to  prohibit  the  reception  for  pay- 
ments to  government  in  bills  of  state  banks  which  issued  those  of  a  less 
denomination  than  five  dollars ;  and  to  establish  a  national  system  of  edu- 
cation by  funds  accruing  from  the  sale  of  the  public  lands,  were  rejected. 

An  act  was  passed  at  this  session  for  carrying  into  effect  the  treaty  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Spain,  authorizing  the  president  to  take  pos- 
session of  Florida,  establishing  a  temporary  government  in  the  territory, 
and  extending  the  laws  of  the  United  States  to  the  same.  A  similar  act 
had  been  passed  by  the  fifteenth  Congress,  two  years  before,  namely, 
March  3,  1819,  to  take  effect  when  the  treaty  with  Spain  should  be  rati- 
fied. The  provisions  of  the  present  act  were  somewhat  extended.  A  board 
of  three  commissioners,  to  settle  claims  under  the  treaty,  was  directed 
to  be  appointed,  and  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  were  appropriated  for 
carrying  the  act  into  effect. 

On  Monday  the  5th  of  March,  1821,  Mr.  Monroe  was  again  inducted 
into  office,  for  the  term  of  four  years.  In  the  presence  of  a  large  con- 
course of  his  fellow-citizens,  assembled  in  the  hall  of  representatives  at 
Washington,  he  delivered  an  inaugural  address  of  more  than  ordinary 
length.  The  oath  of  office  was  administered  to  him  by  Chief-Justice 
Marshall. 

The  seventeenth  Congress  held  its  first  session  from  the  3d  of  Decem- 
ber, 1821,  until  the  8th  of  May,  1822.  Mr.  Clay  not  being  a  member  of 
the  house  of  representatives  for  this  Congress,  an  attempt  was  made,  prin- 


556  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE. 

cipally  by  the  friends  of  a  protective  tariff,  to  again  elect  Mr.  John  W. 
Taylor  speaker.  Numerous  ballottings  took  place  without  effecting  a 
choice  ;  but  finally,  most  of  the  opposition  to  Mr.  Taylor  being  concentra- 
ted on  Mr.  Philip  P.  Barbour,  of  Virginia,  he  was  chosen  speaker  by 
a  small  majority,  over  Mr.  Taylor  and  a  few  scattering  votes.  The 
views  of  Mr.  Barbour  were  known  to  be  opposed  to  a  protective  tariff,  and 
to  a  system  of  internal  improvements  by  the  general  government,  and  he 
had  voted  against  the  proposed  restrictions  respecting  slavery  on  the 
admission  of  Missouri. 

The  most  important  acts  of  Congress  passed  at  this  session,  were  as 
follows :  A  territorial  government  was  established  in  Florida,  and  a  law 
was  enacted  for  the  preservation  of  timber  on  the  public  lands  in  that  ter- 
ritory. Another  act  established  a  board  of  three  commissioners,  to  ascer- 
tain the  claims  and  titles  to  land  in  Florida.  A  law  was  also  passed  to 
relieve  the  people  from  the  operation  of  certain  ordinances,  one  of  which 
was  made  by  General  Jackson,  while  governor  of  Florida,  in  1821,  and 
another  passed  by  the  city  council  of  St.  Augustine,  in  1821.  These 
ordinances  were  repealed,  and  declared  null  and  void,  and  any  person  at- 
tempting to  enforce  them  was  to  be  punished  by  fine  or  imprisonment. 
Provision  was  made  for  receiving  subscriptions  to  a  loan  of  twenty-six 
millions  of  dollars,  at  five  per  cent.,  in  exchange  for  stock  then  bearing 
an  interest  of  six  and  seven  per  cent.  The  state  of  Illinois  was  author- 
ized to  open  a  canal  through  the  public  lands  to  connect  the  Illinois  river 
with  Lake  Michigan,  and  ninety  feet  of  land  on  each  side  of  said  canal 
was  reserved  from  any  sale  to  be  made  by  the  United  States ;  every  sec- 
tion of  land  through  which  the  canal  route  might  pass,  was  reserved  from 
future  sale,  until  specially  directed  by  law.  Three  per  cent,  of  the  net 
proceeds  of  sales  of  the  public  lands  in  the  state  of  Missouri,  Mississippi, 
and  Alabama,  was  directed  to  be  paid  to  the  said  states,  to  be  applied  to 
the  making  of  roads  and  canals  within  the  same.  The  apportionment  of 
representatives  to  Congress  among  the  several  states  was  fixed  at  one 
member  for  every  forty  thousand  of  federal  population.  The  president 
was  authorized  to  declare  the  ports  of  the  United  States  open  to  British 
vessels  from  the  colonies,  on  satisfactory  evidence  being  given  that  the 
ports  in  the  British  West  Indies  have  been  opened  to  the  vessels  of  the 
United  States. 

The  subject  of  a  general  bankrupt  law  was  again  debated,  and  occupied 
much  of  the  time  of  this  Congress.  It  was  finally  rejected,  by  a  vote  of 
99  to  72.  The  question  of  a  further  protection  to  manufactures,  particularly 
cottons  and  woollens,  by  additional  duties  on  importations  of  those  arti- 
cles, was  rejected,  but  the  standing  committee  to  whom  the  subject  was 
referred,  having  been  appointed  by  a  speaker  who  was  opposed  to  protec 
tion,  reported  that  any  additional  legislation  was  inexpedient.  The  tariff" 
question  excited  great  attention  and  interest  throughout  the  United  States 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE.,  557 

The  friends  of  protection  to  American  manufactures  were  zealous  and  ac- 
tive in  spreading  their  views  among  the  people,  and  in  many  of  the  north- 
ern and  western  states  the  agriculturists  were  convinced  that  their  inter- 
ests were  promoted  by  protection,  as  well  as  that  of  the  manufacturers. 
Members  of  Congress  from  the  southern,  and  from  some  of  the  eastern 
states,  at  that  time,  were  opposed  to  an  increase  of  the  tariff  on  foreign 
goods,  from  an  impression  that  high  duties  operated  unequally  on  different 
classes  and  sections  of  the  community. 

In  accordance  with  the  recommendation  of  the  president,  a  resolution 
was  offered  in  the  house  of  representatives,  in  January,  1822,  for  recogni- 
zing the  independence  of  Mexico,  and  five  provinces  in  South  America, 
formerly  under  the  dominion  of  Spain.  The  vote  in  the  house  was  nearly 
unanimous,  and  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  were  appropriated  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  envoys  to  those  republics,  who  were  soon  afterward  ap- 
pointed by  the  president.  A  bill  was  passed  by  Congress  at  this  session, 
making  an  appropriation  for  continuing  the  Cumberland  road,  but  was 
returned  by  the  president,  with  his  objections,  which  were  that  the  con- 
stitution did  not  authorize  such  appropriations. 

But  few  acts  of  general  interest  were  passed  at  the  second  session  of 
the  seventeenth  Congress,  which  was  held  from  the  2d  of  December,  1822, 
to  the  3d  of  March,  1823.  An  additional  naval  force  was  authorized  for 
the  suppression  of  piracy ;  the  state  of  Ohio  was  authorized  to  construct 
a  road  from  the  lower  rapids  of  the  Miami  of  Lake  Erie  to  the  western 
boundary  of  the  Connecticut  western  reserve,  and  the  lands  for  one  mile 
on  each  side  of  the  road  were  granted  to  the  state  to  aid  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  road  ;  an  act  of  great  length  was  also  passed,  directing  the 
manner  of  doing  business  at  the  customhouses  of  the  United  States  in  the 
collection  of  duties.  Certain  sections  of  the  act  of  May,  1820,  prohibit- 
ing British  vessels  from  the  colonies  to  enter  the  ports  of  the  United 
States,  were  suspended  ;  and  the  ports  of  the  United  States  were  declared 
open  to  British  vessels  from  the  ports  in  the  British  colonies  and  West 
India  islands  named  in  the  acts. 

A  bill  was  introduced  in  the  senate  by  Colonel  R.  M.  Johnson,  of  Ken- 
tucky, for  abolishing  imprisonment  for  debts  due  to  the  United  States. 
This  measure  was  advocated  with  zeal  by  the  mover,  and  it  was  supported 
by  several  of  the  senators,  but  it  was  not  adopted  at  this  session.  Colonel 
Johnson  advocated  it  for  several  successive  sessions,  and  it  became  a  law 
in  1 828.  The  question  of  additional  duties  on  imports,  particularly  wool- 
len goods,  was  again  agitated  at  this  session,  and  debated  with  much 
warmth  and  zeal,  but  finally  the  bill  to  increase  the  duty  on  woollens  was 
rejected. 

The  subject  of  internal  improvements  was  before  Congress  at  this  ses- 
sion, in  various  forms.  It  was  proposed  to  cause  surveys  for  canals  across 
Cape  Cod — from  the  river  Raritan  to  the  Delaware — from  the  Delaware 


558  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE. 

to  Chesapeake  bay — from  the  Chesapeake  to  Albemarle  sound — and  from 
Lake  Erie  to  the  Ohio  river.  But  the  proposal  was  not  sanctioned  by 
Congress.  The  opposition  was  principally  on  the  ground  of  unconstitu- 
tionally. A  discussion  also  arose  on  the  motion  to  appropriate  money  for 
the  repairs  of  the  Cumberland  road.  Large  sums  had  been  expended  on 
that  work,  which  was  deemed  of  national  importance,  but  it  was  then  in 
such  a  state  as  to  be  nearly  impassable  in  some  parts.  The  president  had 
intimated  a  willingness  to  favor  a  bill  for  repairing  the  road,  though  op- 
posed to  extending  it.  The  session  closed  without  any  definite  action  on 
the  question. 

A  convention  of  navigation  and  commerce  was  made  and  concluded  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  France,  in  1822  ;  which  was  ratified  by  the 
president  and  senate,  and  a  law  passed  by  both  houses  of  Congress  to 
carry  its  provisions  into  effect.  This  treaty  was  negotiated  by  the  secre- 
tary of  state,  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  the  Baron  Hyde  de  Neuville,  min- 
ister plenipotentiary  of  the  king  of  France.  Efforts  had  been  made  for  a 
long  time  by  the  government  of  the  United  States,  to  form  a  treaty  with 
France  ;  but  the  French  court  had  manifested  great  reluctance  to  enter 
into  a  convention  for  the  purpose.  The  trade  of  that  nation  did  not  suffer 
from  want  of  such  a  treaty,  but  the  United  States  lost  many  advantages 
by  the  omission. 

After  the  peace  of  1815,  the  commerce  and  navigation  of  the  United 
States  did  not  reap  all  the  advantages  from  that  event  which  might  justly  have 
been  hoped.  A  restrictive  and  monopolizing  policy  was  adopted  by  both 
France  and  -Great  Britain  ;  and  these  countries  derived  great  benefits  from 
the  trade  to  the  United  States,  while  reciprocal  advantages  were  not  real- 
ized by  the  merchants  of  the  latter.  It  was  a  constant  object,  for  some 
years,  particularly  in  1820-'22,  with  enlightened  politicians  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  who  were  favorable  to  commerce,  to  devise  measures  for  re- 
moving the  embarrassments  produced  by  the  policy  of  European  powers  ; 
or  to  make  regulations  respecting  the  navigation  and  trade  of  foreigners 
to  American  ports,  which  should  prove  to  be  countervailing,  in  some  de- 
gree, of  the  restrictive  system  of  those  governments.  The  principal 
measures  adopted  by  Congress,  with  this  view,  were  proposed  or  advo- 
cated by  Mr.  Rufus  King,  a  senator  from  the  state  of  New  York ;  than 
whom  no  one  in  Congress  was  more  active  in  favor  of  commerce,  or  had 
more  correct  and  enlarged  views  on  the  subject.* 

As  early  as  1822,  when  three  years  of  Mr.  Monroe's  second  term  as 
president  were  yet  unexpired,  the  question  relative  to  his  successor 
already  occupied  most  intensely  the  minds  of  politicians  at  Washington, 
disturbed  legislation,  and  embarrassed  the  action  of  Congress.  The  ex- 
citement on  the  subject  steadily  increased  at  the  seat  of  government,  and 
rapidly  spread  through  the  nation.  Of  the  several  candidates  spoken  of 

•  Bradford. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE.  559 

for  president,  none  were  supported  or  opposed  on  account  of  any  particu- 
lar measures  which  they  respectively  advocated  or  condemned.  The  ques- 
tion about  the  selection  of  a  candidate  was,  in  fact,  personal,  not  political ; 
but  this  circumstance,  instead  of  rendering  it  less,  caused  it  to  be  more 
exciting.  The  names  of  many  gentlemen  were  mentioned  as  candidates, 
but  the  number  gradually  diminished,  until  the  contest  finally  seemed  to  be 
confined  to  William  H.  Crawford,  secretary  of  the  treasury  ;  John  Quincy 
Adams,  secretary  of  state  ;  Henry  Clay,  speaker  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives ;  John  C.  Calhoun,  secretary  of  war ;  and  General  Andrew 
Jackson,  at  that  time  a  private  citizen.  Each  of  these  candidates,  during 
the  war  with  Great  Britain,  were  warm  and  efficient  supporters  of  Mr. 
Madison's  administration,  and  zealous  members  of  the  democratic  party.* 

In  this  state  of  things,  the  elections  for  members  of  the  eighteenth  Con- 
gress took  place.  Most  of  the  members,  however,  were  chosen  before 
the  public  mind  had  become  fixed,  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  on  either 
of  the  candidates  ;  consequently  the  individual  preferences  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  members  of  Congress  were  unknown  to  the  people  by  whom 
they  were  elected.  It  was  apparent  to  observing  politicians,  that  the  final 
choice  of  president  would  probably  fall  on  Congress,  in  consequence  of 
the  number  of  candidates  preventing  a  choice  by  the  electoral  colleges. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  old  politicians  of 
the  democratic  party  had  decided  to  support  Mr.  Crawford  for  the  succes- 
sion. He  had  been,  it  will  be  recollected,  a  formidable  candidate  against 
Mr.  Monroe  in  the  congressional  caucus  in  1816.  Since  the  election  of 
the  latter,  Mr.  Crawford  had  been  a  prominent  member  of  his  cabinet,  as 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  it  was  well  known  that  he  would  now  be 
sustained  by  Virginia  and  Georgia,  and  it  was  believed  that  he  would  also 
be  supported  by  most  of  the  southern  democracy.  The  general  impres- 
sion among  political  men  was,  that  a  majority  of  the  leading  and  influen- 
tial democrats  in  the  Union  concurred  in  the  policy  of  supporting  Mr. 
Crawford.  Among  these  was  Mr.  Van  Buren,  then  a  senator  in  Congress 
from  the  state  of  New  York,  and  a  leading  democrat  in  that  state,  with 
whom  other  prominent  men  of  the  same  party  acted,  sufficient  in  power 
and  influence,  as  it  was  thought,  to  give  the  electoral  vote  of  the  state  to 
Mr.  Crawford. 

Previous  to  the  meeting  of  Congress,  the  annual  election  took  place  in 
the  state  of  New  York,  in  November,  1823,  for  members  of  the  legisla- 
ture, by  whom  the  electors  of  president  were  to  be  chosen.  The  result 
was  unexpected  and  very  unsatisfactory  to  the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford, 
for  although  they  claimed  a  majority  of  the  members  elect,  yet  the  city 
and  county  of  New  York,  and  many  other  counties,  had  decided  against 
them,  and  the  anti-Crawford  men  likewise  claimed  a  majority  in  the  legisla- 
ture. The  latter,  moreover,  rested  their  hopes  of  success  on  the  passage 
•  Hammond's  History  of  Parties. 


060  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE. 

of  a  law  by  the  legislature,  giving  the  choice  of  electors  to  the  people 
This  question,  which  was  for  many  months  agitated  in  New  York,  gave 
rise  to  what  was  called  the  people's  party,  which  comprised  in  its  ranks 
most  of  the  people  opposed  to  Mr.  Crawford  for  the  presidency. 

On  the  1st  day  of  December,  1823,  the  eighteenth  Congress  held  their 
first  session,  which  continued  until  the  26th  of  May,  1824.  Mr.  Clay, 
who  was  again  elected  a  member  from  Kentucky,  was  chosen  speaker  of 
the  house,  by  a  large  majority,  over  Mr.  Barbour,  speaker  of  the  last 
Congress. 

The  most  important  acts  passed  at  this  session  were  those  relating  to 
the  protection  of  American  manufactures,  and  internal  improvement.  The 
president  was  authorized  to  cause  the  necessary  surveys,  plans,  and  esti- 
mates, to  be  made  of  the  routes  of  such  roads  and  canals  as  he  might 
deem  of  national  importance,  for  which  purpose  the  sum  of  thirty  thou- 
sand dollars  was  appropriated.  The  president,  after  mature  deliberation, 
changed  his  former  views  on  the  subject  of  internal  improvements  by  the 
general  government,  and  gave  this  bill  his  approval,  which  proved  a  model 
and  precedent  for  future  legislation  on  this  subject.  There  was  a  very 
general  opinion  at  that  time  in  favor  of  internal  improvements.  The 
tariff  act  passed  at  this  session  was  intended  as  a  protection  to  American 
manufactures ;  it  raised  the  duties  on  many  articles  of  imports  from  for- 
eign countries  coming  in  contact  with  articles  manufactured  in  the  United 
States.  It  was  the  result  of  the  combined  efforts  of  the  advocates  of  pro- 
tection to  domestic  industry  throughout  the  Union,  added  to  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  president  and  the  support  of  members  of  Congress  prin- 
cipally from  the  northern,  middle,  and  western  states.  The  bill  was  de- 
bated for  weeks  in  both  houses,  and  called  forth  the  first  talent  in  Con- 
gress. The  most  strenuous  opposition  was  made  by  the  members  from 
the  southern  states.  Some  northern  members  voted  against  the  bill,  be- 
cause they  were  dissatisfied  with  its  details,  rather  than  with  its  general 
principles.  The  majority  in  its  favor  in  the  senate  was  four,  andjn  the 
house  five  only. 

An  act  was  passed  to  provide  for  the  extinguishment  of  the  debt  due  to 
the  United  States  by  the  purchasers  of  public  lands,  by  which  persons 
who  had  bought  these  lands  on  credit,  of  the  United  States,  could  receive 
a  discharge  of  the  debt,  or  part  thereof,  by  relinquishing  to  the  United 
States  the  lands  so  purchased,  or  part  of  the  lands,  according  to  the 
amount  due.  Donations  of  lands  were  granted  to  certain  actual  settlers 
in  Florida. 

The  state  of  Indiana  was  authorized  to  open  a  canal  through  the  public 
lands,  to  connect  the  navigation  of  the  waters  of  the  Wabash  river  with 
those  of  Lake  Erie ;  and  every  section  of  land  through  which  the  said 
canal  route  might  pass  was  reserved  from  future  sale.  The  naturalization 
laws  were  amended  so  as  to  allow  aliens  being  minors  to  become  citizens 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE.  561 

of  the  United  States  after  arriving  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  provided 
they  had  resided  five  years  in  the  United  States. 

The  presidential  question  was  at  this  time  the  all-absorbing  subject  of 
interest,  both  among  members  of  Congress  and  the  people.  One  great 
point,  about  which  the  members  of  Congress  were  divided,  was  whether 
an  attempt  should  be  made  to  nominate  candidates  for  president  and  vice- 
president  by  a  congressional  caucus,  as  had  been  the  uniform  practice  of 
the  democratic  party.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford,  with  Mr.  Van  Buren 
at  their  head,  were  in  favor  of  a  caucus,  and  disposed  to  denounce  all 
those  who  were  opposed  to  this  mode,  which  they  called  "  regular  nomi- 
nation," as  enemies  of  the  democratic  party.  A  committee  of  members 
opposed  to  Mr.  Crawford  stated,  in  the  National  Intelligencer  newspaper, 
that  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-one  members,  it  was  ascertained  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-one  were  opposed  to  a  caucus ;  and  it  was  added,  that 
many  others  would  not  attend  should  such  a  meeting  be  called. 

Notwithstanding  this  statement,  a  meeting  of  the  democratic  members  of 
Congress  was  called  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford,  and  on  the  14th  of  Feb 
ruary,  1824, the  assemblage  took  place.  Only  sixty-six  members  attended,  ol 
whom  forty-eight  were  from  the  four  states  of  New  York,  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  and  Georgia.  On  a  ballot  for  president,  Mr.  Crawford  received  64 
votes,  Mr.  Adams  2,  General  Jackson  l,and  Mr.  Macon,  of  North  Carol! 
na,  1 .  Mr.  Gallatin  was  nominated  for  vice-president,  but  afterward  declined 

The  issue  of  this  attempt  to  nominate  Mr.  Crawford  proved  injurious  tc 
his  prospects,  and  about  the  same  time  his  health  became  so  much  im 
paired  that  serious  donbts  were  entertained  of  his  capability  on  that  accomv 
to  perform  the  duties  of  the  office  of  president  in  case  of  his  election.  In 
.he  state  of  New  York  the  Crawford  party  became  very  unpopular,  in  con 
sequence  of  some  of  their  leading  men  having  rejected  a  law  proposed  bv 
the  people's  party  in  the  legislature,  providing  for  the  choice  of  presi- 
dential electors  by  the  people.  The  electors  in  the  state  of  New  York 
were  therefore  chosen  by  the  legislature  ;  but  owing  principally  to  the  ef- 
forts of  General  James  Tallmadge,  the  champion  of  the  people's  party  in  the 
legislature  on  that  occasion,  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Henry  Wheaton  and  other 
zealous  members  of  that  body,  the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford  met  with  an 
unexpected  defeat,  and  the  electoral  vote  of  the  state  was  given  as  fol- 
lows :  for  Adams  26,  for  Crawford  5,  for  Clay  4,  for  Jackson  1 . 

This  election  in  New  York,  with  the  result  in  other  states,  showed  thai 
no  choice  had  been  made  for  president  by  the  electoral  colleges,  and  ac- 
cording to  the  provisions  of  the  constitution,  the  decision  was  referred  to 
the  house  of  representatives.  The  total  votes  of  the  colleges  of  electors 
for  president,  were,  for  Jackson  99,  Adams  84,  Crawford  41,  Clay  37. 
John  C.  Calhoun  was  elected  vice-president,  having  received  182  votes, 
against  78  for  all  others.  The  choice  of  president  by  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives was,  as  the  constitution  requires,  confined  to  the  three  highest 

Vor,.   I.— 36 


562  ADMINISTRATION    OF    MONROE. 

candidates.  The  election  by  the  house  was  held  in  February,  1825,  when 
Mr.  Adams  received  the  votes  of  13  states  on  the  first  ballot,  General  Jack- 
son 7  states,  and  Mr.  Crawford  4  states.  John  Quincy  Adams  was  there- 
fore declared  elected  president  of  the  United  States  for  four  years,  from 
the  4th  of  March,  1825. 

The  second  session  of  the  eighteenth  Congress  was  held  from  the  6th  of 
December,  1824,  to  the  expiration  of  their  term  on  the  3d  of  March,  1825. 
But  few  acts  of  general  interest  were  passed  ;  among  them  was  one  to  re- 
duce into  one  the  several  acts  regulating  the  postoffice  department.  An 
act  was  also  passed  respecting  drawbacks  of  duties  on  goods  re-exported  ; 
another  to  provide  for  the  punishment  of  certain  crimes  against  the  United 
States  ;  and  an  act  concerning  wrecks  on  the  coast  of  Florida. 

A  resolution  was  offered  in  the  senate,  in  February,  1825,  by  Mr.  King, 
of  New  York,  proposing  that  after  the  payment  of  the  public  debt,  for 
which  the  public  lands  were  pledged,  should  be  made,  the  proceeds  of  the 
sales  should  be  applied  to  the  emancipation  of  such  slaves  within  any  of 
the  United  States,  and  to  aid  in  the  removal  of  such  free  persons  of  color 
as  by  the  laws  of  any  state  were  allowed  to  be  emancipated  or  removed, 
to  any  territory  without  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  The  resolution, 
which  did  not  receive  the  sanction  of  the  senate,  was  not  designed  to  in- 
:erfere  with  the  laws  and  usages  of  any  state  relating  to  slaves.  Had  it 
been  adopted,  the  effect  would  have  been  similar  to  that  the  Colonization 
Society  have  in  view ;  and  would  have  secured  funds  for  the  purpose. 

The  last  year  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration  was  distinguished  by  the 
risit  to  the  United  States  of  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  the  friend  and  ally 
of  the  Americans  during  their  struggle  with  Great  Britain  in  the  war  of 
ihe  revolution. 

The  administration  of  Mr.  Monroe,  which  closed  on  the  3d  of  March, 
1 825,  was  eminently  prosperous  and  advantageous  to  the  nation.  At  no 
period  in  our  history  has  party  spirit  been  so  much  subdued,  and  the  at- 
tention of  the  national  legislature  more  exclusively  devoted  to  objects  of 
public  benefit.  In  the  language  of  his  successor,  Mr.  Adams,  President 
Monroe  "  strengthened  his  country  for  defence,  by  a  system  of  combined 
fortifications,  military  and  naval,  sustaining  her  rights,  her  dignity  and 
honor  abroad  ;  soothing  her  dissensions,  and  conciliating  her  acerbities  at 
home  ;  controlling  by  a  firm  though  peaceful  policy,  the  hostile  spirit  of 
the  European  alliance  against  republican  Southern  America ;  extorting,  by 
the  mild  compulsion  of  reason,  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  from  the  stipula- 
ted acknowledgment  of  Spain ;  and  leading  back  the  Imperial  Autocrat 
of  the  north,  to  his  lawful  boundaries,  from  his  hastily-asserted  dominion 
over  the  southern  ocean.  Thus  strengthening  and  consolidating  the  fed- 
erative edifice  of  his  country's  union,  till  he  was  entitled  to  say,  like  Augus- 
tus Caesar  of  his  imperial  city,  that  he  had  found  her  build  of  brick,  and 
left  her  constructed  of  marble." 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH 


OF 


JOHN    QUINCY   ADAMS 


WHEN  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  was  formed,  in  1787,  and 
the  question  of  its  adoption  was  before  the  people,  the  opponents  of  a  con- 
solidated government,  and  those  who  preferred  the  old  confederation,  rep- 
resented the  executive  established  by  the  constitution,  as  the  chief  of 
an  elective  monarchy.  Mr.  Jefferson  considered  him  a  bad  edition  of  a  Po- 
lish king,  as  he  expressed  it.  But  no  one  apprehended  any  danger  of  the 
office  of  president  ever  becoming  hereditary.  It  is,  however,  a  curious 
circumstance,  that  the  only  one  of  the  first  five  presidents  of  !he  United 
States  who  had  a  son,  should  have  lived  to  see  his  eldest  son  elected  to 
the  presidency.  It  must  not  from  this  be  supposed  that  the  circumstances 
of  the  birth  and  family  of  John  Quincy  Adams  had  any  influence  in  con- 
tributing to  his  elevation  to  the  same  high  office  which  his  father  had 
previously  filled.  OR  the  contrary,  the  jealousy  of  the  American  people 
on  the  subject  of  any  supposed  preference  in  consequence  of  family  or 
rank,  probably  operated  to  the  prejudice  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  diminished 
the  popular  support  which  he  would  otherwise  have  received  ;  for  no 
American  was  ever  more  fully  qualified  by  talents  and  education  for  the 
various  important  stations  which  he  has  been  called  to  fill,  than  the  dis- 
tinguished statesman  who  is  the  subject  of  the  present  memoir. 

Born  in  the  year  1767,  on  the  llth  day  of  July,  at  the  mansion  of  his 
father,  John  Adams,  who  then  resided  in  Boston,  although  the  family-seat 
was  in  the  present  town  of  Quincy,  Massachusetts,  John  Quincy  Adams 
(who  afterward  became  the  sixth  president  of  the  United  States)  took  the 
name  of  John  Quincy,  his"  great  grandfather,  who  bore  a  distinguished  part 
in  the  councils  of  the  province,  at  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth 
century.* 

In  the  very  dawn  of  his  existence  the  principles  of  American  indepen- 
dence and  freedom  were  instilled  into  the  mind  of  the  younger  Adams 

•  A  nnrt  of  this  sketch  is  an  abstract  of  a  memoir  of  Mr.  Adams  published  in  1828 


564  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    Q.   ADAMS. 

Both  his  father  and  mother  were  the  most  zealous  promoters  of  the  cause 
of  their  country  in  the  struggle  with  Great  Britain.  When  the  father  of 
Mr.  Adams  repaired  to  France  as  joint  commissioner  with  Franklin  and  Lee, 
he  was  accompanied  by  his  son  John  Quincy,  then  in  his  eleventh  year. 
In  that  country  he  passed  a  year  and  a  half  with  his  father,  and  enjoyed 
the  privilege  of  the  daily  intercourse  and  parental  attentions  of  Doctor 
Franklin,  whose  kind  notice  of  the  young  was  a  peculiar  trait  in  his  char- 
acter, and  whose  primitive  simplicity  of  manners  and  methodical  habits 
left  a  lasting  impression  on  the  mind  of  his  youthful  countryman. 

After  a  residence  of  about  eighteen  months  in  France,  young  Adams 
returned  to  America  with  his  father,  who  assisted  in  forming  a  constitu- 
tion for  Massachusetts,  but  was  soon  called  upon  again  by  Congress  to 
repair  to  Europe,  as  a  commissioner  for  negotiating  treaties  with  Holland 
and  other  powers,  but  particularly  with  Great  Britain,  as  soon  as  she  was 
disposed  to  put  an  end  to  the  war. 

He  again  took  his  son  with  him,  and  sailed  in  a  French  frigate,  which 
in  consequence  of  springing  a  dangerous  leak,  was  compelled  to  put  into 
Ferrol,  in  Spain.  From  that  place  Mr.  Adams  and  his  son  travelled  by 
land  to  Paris,  where  they  arrived  in  January,  1780.  For  a  few  months 
Mr.  Adams  sent  his  son  to  school  in  Paris  ;  but  in  July,  the  same  year,  he 
took  him  with  him  to  Holland,  where  he  was  called  to  negotiate  a  loan 
for  the  United  States.  He  placed  his  son  first  in  the  public  school  of  the 
city  of  Amsterdam,  and  afterward  in  the  city  university  of  Leyden.  In 
July,  1761,  Mr.  Francis  Dana  (afterward  chief-justice  of  the  state  of  Mas- 
sachusetts), who  had  gone  out  with  Mr.  Adams  as  secretary  of  legation, 
received  from  the  continental  Congress  the  appointment  of  minister  to  the 
court  of  the  empress  of  Russia,  and  John  Quincy  Adams  was  selected  by 
Mr.  Dana  as  a  private  secretary  of  this  mission.  After  spending  four- 
teen months  with  Mr.  Dana,  he  left  him  to  return  through  Sweden,  Den- 
mark, Hamburg,  and  Bremen,  to  Holland,  where  his  father  had  been  pub- 
licly received  as  minister  from  the  United  States,  and  had  concluded  a 
commercial  treaty  with  the  republic  of  the  Netherlands.  He  performed 
this  journey  during  the  winter  of  1782-'3,  being  only  sixteen  years  of  age, 
without  a  companion.  He  reached  the  Hague  in  April,  1783,  his  father 
being  at  that  time  engaged  at  Paris  in  the  negotiation  of  peace.  From 
April  to  July  his  son  remained  at  the  Hague,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Du- 
mas, a  native  of  Switzerland,  who  then  filled  the  office  of  an  agent  of  the 
United  States.  The  negotiations  for  peace  being  suspended  in  July,  Mr. 
Adams's  father  repaired  on  business  to  Amsterdam  ;  and  on  his  return  to 
Paris  he  took  his  son  with  him.  The  definitive  treaty  of  peace  was 
signed  in  September,  1783,  from  which  time  till  May,  1785,  he  was  chiefly 
with  his  father  in  England,  Holland,  and  France. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Jefferson, 
then  residing  in  France  as  American  minister.  The  intercourse  of  Mr. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    Q.  ADAMS.  565 

Jefferson  with  his  former  colleague  in  Congress, -the  father  of  Mr.  Adams 
was  of  an  intimate  and  confidential  kind,  and  led  to  a  friendship  for  his 
son  which,  formed  in  early  life,  scarcely  suffered  an  interruption  from  sub- 
sequent political  dissensions,  and  revived  with  original  strength  during  the 
last  years  of  the  life  of  this  venerable  statesman. 

Mr.  Adams  was,  at  the  period  last  mentioned,  about  eighteen  years  of 
age.  Born  in  the  crisis  of  his  country's  fortunes,  he  had  led  a  life  of 
wandering  and  vicissitude,  unusual  at  any  age.  His  education,  in  every- 
thing but  the  school  of  liberty,  had  been  interrupted  and  irregular.  He 
had  seen  much  of  the  world — much  of  men — and  had  enjoyed  but  little 
leisure  for  books.  Anxious  to  complete  his  education,  and  still  more  anx- 
ious to  return  to  his  native  land,  when  his  father  was,  in  1785,  appointed 
minister  to  the  court  of  St.  James,  his  son,  at  that  period  of  life  when  the 
pleasures  and  splendor  of  a  city  like  London  are  most  calculated  to  fasci- 
nate and  mislead,  asked  permission  of  his  father  to  go  back  to  his  native 
shores.  This  he  accordingly  did.  On  his  return  to  America  he  became 
a  member  of  the  ancient  college  of  Harvard,  at  Cambridge,  Massachu- 
setts, where  he  graduated  in  July,  1787. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Adams  entered  the  office  of  Theophilus  Par- 
sons, afterward  chief  justice  of  the  state,  as  a  student  of  law,  at  Newbu- 
ryport.  On  a  visit  of  General  Washington  to  that  town,  in  1789,  Mr. 
Parsons,  being  chosen  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  be  the  medium  of  expres- 
sing their  sentiments  to  the  general,  called  upon  his  pupils  each  to  pre- 
pare an  address.  This  call  was  obeyed  by  Mr.  Adams,  and  his  address 
was  delivered  by  Mr.  Parsons. 

After  completing  his  law  studies,  at  Newburyport,  Mr.  Adams  removed 
to  Boston,  with  view  of  -commencing  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  the 
bar.  His  time  not  being  fully  occupied,  Mr.  Adams  employed  his  leisure 
hours  in  speculations  upon  the  great  political  questions  of  the  day. 

In  April,  1793,  on  the  first  intimation  that  war  between  Great  Britain 
and  France  had  been  declared,  Mr.  Adams  published  a  short  series  of 
papers,  the  object  of  which  was,  to  prove  that  the  duty  and  interest  of  the 
United  States  required  them  to  remain  neutral  in  the  contest.  These 
papers  were  published  before  General  Washington's  proclamation  of 
neutrality,  and  without  any  knowledge  that  a  proclamation  would  be 
issued.  The  opinions  they  expressed  were  in  opposition  to  the  views 
generally  prevailing,  that  the  treaty  of  alliance  of  1778  obliged  us  to  take 
part  in  the  wars  of  France.  But  the  proclamation  of  neutrality  by  Gen- 
eral Washington,  sanctioned  by  all  his  cabinet,  including  Mr.  Jefferson, 
was  shortly  made  public,  and  confirmed  the  justice  of  the  views  which 
Mr.  Adams  had  been  (it  is  believed)  the  first  to  express  before  the  public 
on  this  new  and  difficult  topic  of  national  law. 

In  the  winter  of  1793  and  1794,  the  inflammatory  appeals  of  the  French 
minister  to  the  United  States,  Mr.  Genet,  caused  much  excitement  in  the 


566  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    Q.   ADAMS. 

public  mind.  Among  those  who  co-operated  in  support  of  the  admin- 
istration of  Washington  in  resisting  Mr.  Genet,  none  was  more  conspicu- 
ous than  Mr.  Adams,  whose  essays  in  favor  of  neutrality  were  read  and 
admired  throughout  the  country. 

His  reputation  was  soon  established,  as  an  American  statesman  and 
political  writer.  Before  his  retirement  from  the  department  of  state,  Mr. 
Jeflerson  recommended  him  to  General  Washington,  as  a  proper  person 
to  be  introduced  into  the  public  service  of  the  country.  The  acquaintance 
between  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Adams  which  had  been  formed  in  France, 
had  lately  been  renewed,  on  occasion  of  a  visit  to  Philadelphia  in  1792; 
and  the  promptitude  and  ability  with  which  he  had  seconded  the  efforts 
of  the  secretary  of  state  in  enforcing  neutrality,  no  doubt  led  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son thus  to  recommend  him  to  General  Washington. 

The  publications  of  Mr.  Adams  above  alluded  to,  had  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  General  Washington.  He  had  in  private  expressed  the  high- 
est opinion  of  them,  and  had  made  particular  inquiries  with  respect  to 
their  author.  Thus  honorably  identified,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-seven, 
with  the  first  great  and  decisive  step  of  the  foreign  policy  of  the  United 
States,  and  thus  early  attracting  the  notice,  and  enjoying  the  confidence 
of  Washington,  Mr.  Adams  was,  in  May,  1794,  appointed  minister  resi- 
dent to  the  Netherlands,  an  office  corresponding  in  rank  and  salary  with 
that  of  a  charge  d'affaires  at  the  present  day.  The  father  of  Mr.  Adams 
was  at  this  time  vice-president  of  the  United  States  ;  but  the  appointment 
of  his  son  was  made  by  General  Washington,  unexpectedly  to  the  vice- 
president,  and  without  any  previous  intimation  that  it  would  take  place. 

Mr.  Adams  remained  at  his  post  in  Holland  about  two  years.  He  was 
an  attentive  observer  of  the  great  events  then  occurring  in  Europe,  and 
his  official  correspondence  with  the  government  was  regarded  by  General 
Washington  as  of  the  highest  importance. 

Toward  the  close  of  General  Washington's  administration,  he  appointed 
Mr.  Adams  minister  plenipotentiary  to  Portugal.  On  his  way  from  the 
Hague  to  Lisbon,  he  received  a  new  commission,  changing  his  destination 
to  Berlin.  This  latter  appointment  was  made  by  Mr.  Adams's  father,  then 
president  of  the  United  States,  and  in  a  manner  highly  honorable  to  the 
restraint  of  his  parental  feelings,  in  the  discharge  of  an  act  of  public  duty. 
Although  Mr.  Adams's  appointment  to  Portugal  was  made  by  General 
Washington,  and  President  Adams  did  no  more  than  propose  his  transfer 
to  Berlin,  yet  feelings  of  delicacy  led  him  to  hesitate,  before  he  took 
even  this  step.  He  consulted  his  predecessor  and  friend,  then  retired 
from  office,  and  placed  in  a  situation  beyond  the  reach  of  any  of  the  mo- 
tives which  can  possibly  prejudice  the  minds  of  men  in  power.  The  fol- 
lowing letter  from  General  Washington,  is  the  reply  to  President  Adams's 
inquiry,  and  will  ever  remain  an  honorable  testimony  to  the  character  of 
Mr.  Adams  : — 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    Q.  ADAMS.  567 

"MONDAY, February  20,  1797. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  I  thank  you  for  giving  me  a  perusal  of  the  enclosed.  The 
sentiments  do  honor  to  the  head  and  heart  of  the  writer  ;  and  if  my  wishes 
would  be  of  any  avail,  they  should  go  to  you  ia  a  strong  hope  that  you 
will  not  withhold  merited  promotion  from  John  Q.  Adams  because  he  is 
your  son.  For,  without  intending  to  compliment  the  father  or  the  mother, 
or  to  censure  any  others,  I  give  it  as  my  decided  opinion,  that  Mr.  Adams 
is  the  most  valuable  public  character  we  have  abroad  ;  and  that  there  re- 
mains no  doubt  in  my  mind,  that  he  will  prove  himself  to  be  the  ablest  of 
all  our  diplomatic  corps.  If  he  was  now  to  be  brought  into  that  line,  or 
into  any  other  public  walk,  I  could  not,  upon  the  principle  which  has  reg- 
ulated my  own  conduct,  disapprove  of  the  caution  which  is  hinted  at  in 
the  letter.  But  he*  is  already  entered  ;  the  public,  more  and  more,  as  he 
is  known,  are  appreciating  his  talents  and  worth ;  and  his  country  would 
sustain  a  loss,  if  these  were  to  be  checked  by  over-delicacy  on  your  part. 
"  With  sincere  esteem,  and  affectionate  regard, 

"  I  am  ever  yours, 

."  GEORGE  WASHINGTON." 

The  principal  object  of  Mr.  Adams's  mission  to  Berlin  was  effected  by 
the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  Prussia.  He  remained  at 
that  court  till  the  spring  of  1801,  when  he  was  recalled  by  his  father,  an<?. 
returned  to  America.  During  the  last  year  of  his  residence  in  Prussia, 
he  made  an  excursion  into  the  province  of  Silesia,  which  he  described  in 
a  series  of  letters  that  were  afterward  collected  and  published  in  a  volume, 
and  have  been  translated  into  French  and  German,  and  extensively  circu- 
lated in  Europe.  In  March,  1798,  while  he  was  at  Berlin,  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  president  and  senate,  commissioner  to  renew  the  treaty 
with  Sweden. 

The  advantages  enjoyed  by  Mr.  Adams,  during  his  residence  on  the 
continent  of  Europe,  from  1794  to  1801,  he  did  not  fail  to  improve,  and 
they  were  of  great  importance  in  extending  his  political  knowledge,  and 
in  their  influence  upon  his  character  and  feelings.  He  contemplated  with 
the  eye  of  a  careful  observer  the  great  movements  in  the  political  world 
which  were  then  taking  place,  and  which  included  many  of  the  m6st  im- 
portant events  of  the  French  revolution.  A  c6mbination  of  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances enabled  him  to  hold  an  important  and  truly  American  course 
between  the  violent  extremes  to  which  public  opinion  in  America  ran,  on 
the  great  question  of  our  foreign  relations.  It  was  also  fortunate  that  he 
was  absent  from  the  country  during  the  period  when  domestic  parties 
were  organized  and  arrayed  against  each  other.  His  situation  secured 
him  from  the  necessity  of  taking  part  in  those  political  contentions  in 
which  he  must  either  have  been  placed  in  the  painful  position  of  acting 
with  tin.-  party  opposed  to  his  father,  or  he  would  have  been  obliged  to 
encounter  the  natural  imputation  of  being  biased  in  support  of  him  by 


568  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    Q.  ADAMS. 

filial  attachment.  From  this  alternative  Mr.  Adams  was  spared  by  ms 
residence  abroad  during  the  whole  period  in  which  our  domestic  parties 
were  acquiring  their  organization ;  and  he  returned  to  his  native  land  a 
stranger  to  local  parties,  and  a  friend  to  his  country. 

In  1802,  Mr.  Adams  was  elected  to  the  senate  of  Massachusetts  from 
the  district  of  Boston ;  and  signalized  that  fearless  independence  which 
has  ever  characterized  his  political  course,  by  his  strong,  though  ineffec- 
tual opposition  to  a  powerful  combination  of  banking  interests,  of  which 
the  centre  was  placed  among  his  immediate  constituents. 

In  1803,  he  was  elected  by  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  a  senator 
of  the  United  States.  There  was  a  federal  majority  in  that  body,  but  Mr. 
Adams  was  not  elected  by  a  party  vote.  He  was  considered  a  moderate 
federalist,  but,  when  elected,  was  unpledged,  either  aS  to  opposition  or 
support,  to  any  men  or  measures  other  than  those  which  his  own  sense  of 
duty  should  dictate  to  him  to  be  supported  or  opposed. 

His  conduct  in  the  United  States  senate  was  such  as  might  have 
been  expected  from  his  position.  He  neither  had  principles  to  permit, 
nor  passions  to  drive  him  into  indiscriminate  opposition  or  blind  support. 
He  supported  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson  in  every  measure  which 
his  judgment  approved.  With  the  democratic  party  in  the  senate  he  vo- 
ted for  the  embargo  recommended  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  believing  that  the  hos- 
tile decrees  of  France  and  England  against  American  commerce  called  for 
retaliatory  or  restrictive  measures.  For  his  course  in  this  particular,  Mr. 
Adams  was  censured  by  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  in  a  series  of 
resolutions  passed  by  that  body,  which  also,  in  May,  1808,  elected  Mr. 
Lloyd  as  senator  from  the  period  of  the  expiration  of  Mr.  Adams's  term. 
Not  choosing  to  represent  constituents  who  had  lost  their  confidence  in 
him,  Mr.  Adams  resigned  his  place  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States. 

The  support  of  a  man  holding  the  position  and  possessing  the  talents 
of  Mr.  Adams,  was  peculiarly  acceptable  to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson, at  a  crisis  when  a  defection  in  the  ranks  of  the  democratic  party 
wore  an  alarming  aspect  to  those  in  power.  His  course  was,  however, 
severely  censured  by  his  former  political  friends,  the  federalists  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, who  considered  his  support  of  the  embargo,  and  other  meas- 
ures of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration,  as  an  act  of  separation  from  the 
federal  party.  His  father  had  previously  indicated  similar  views  to  those 
of  his  son,  and  finally  became  a  zealous  supporter  of  democratic  men  and 
measures. 

Previous  to  retiring  from  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  namely,  in 
1806,  Mr.  Adams  was  called  to  the  chair  of  rhetoric  and  oratory  in  Har- 
vard college,  and  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  art  of  speaking 
loell ;  an  important  art  to  the  youth  of  a  free  country. 

But  Mr.  Adams  was  not  destined  to  remain  long  in  retirement.  Soon 
after  the  accession  of  Mr.  Madison  to  the  presidency,  he  appointed  Mr. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    Q.  ADAMS.  569 

Adams,  with  the  senate's  concurrence,  in  June,  1809,  minister  plenipo- 
tentiary to  the  court  of  the  emperor  of  Russia.  He  was  the  first  minister 
from  the  United  States  to  that  country.  Mr.  Jefferson,  perceiving  the 
importance  to  the  United  States  of  both  political  amity  and  commercial 
intercourse  with  the  great  Russian  empire,  sent  Levett  Harris  as  American 
consul  to  St.  Petersburg,  through  whom  a  correspondence  ensued  between 
the  Russian  emperor  and  the  American  president,  which  began  the  good 
relations  that  have  subsisted  without  interruption  between  the  two  coun- 
tries. One  of  the  last  acts  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration  was  to  nomi- 
nate an  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary  to  Russia,  whom 
the  senate  rejected. 

The  emperor  Alexander,  who  was  then  on  the  throne  of  Russia, 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  the  age  ;  well  educated, 
well  informed,  liberal,  and  generous,  he  regarded  the  United  States 
with  such  kindness  that,  on  the  most  despotic  throne  in  the  old  world, 
he  freely  expressed  his  admiration  of  the  republican  institutions  of  the 
new.* 

The  intelligence  of  the  declaration  of  war  by  the  United  States  against 
Great  Britain,  was  known  in  Russia  in  September,  1812.  Mr.  Adams 
had  the  good  fortune  to  acquire  the  confidence  of  the  emperor,  who  ad- 
mitted him  to  a  degree  of  intimacy  rarely  enjoyed  with  despotic  monarchs, 
even  by  their  own  ministers.  On  the  20th  of  September,  1812,  the  Rus- 
sian minister  Romanzoff  informed  Mr.  Adams  that,  having  made  peace 
with  Great  Britain,  the  emperor  was  much  concerned  and  disappointed  to 
find  the  commercial  benefits  which  he  expected  his  subjects  would  derive 
from  that  event,  defeated  and  lost  by  the  war  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain.  He  therefore  suggested  a  settlement  of  the  difficulties 
by  mediation,  offering  himself  to  act  as  mediator,  in  terms  of  great  good- 
will, which  Mr.  Adams  met  and  answered  with  corresponding  cordiality. 
In  the  course  of  his  conversation  with  the  Russian  minister,  the  Ameri- 
can envoy  stated  that  he  knew  his  government  engaged  in  the  war  with 
reluctance ;  that  it  would  be  highly  injurious,  both  to  the  United  States 
and  to  England  ;  that  he  could  see  no  good  result  as  likely  to  arise  from 
it  to  any  one.  The  minister  from  Russia  to  the  United  States  was  di- 
rected to  proffer  the  mediation  to  the  American  government,  which  was 
formally  accepted  in  March,  1813,  by  the  latter,  but  it  was  declined  by  the 
British  government.  It  was  unquestionably  owing  to  the  confidential  re- 
lation between  Mr.  Adams  and  the  emperor,  that  the  mediation  of  Russia 
was  tendered  ;  and  though  it  was  declined  by  England,  the  mediation  pro- 
duced an  offer  from  that  country  to  treat  directly  with  the  United  States, 
and  thus  led  to  peace. 

It  was  for  this  reason  that  Mr.  Adams  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
five  commissioners  by  whom  the  treaty  of  peace  was  negotiated  at  Ghent, 

*  Ingersoll. 


570  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    Q.  ADAMS. 

in  1814  ;  his  associates  on  that  commission  being  James  A.  Bayard, 
Henry  Clay,  Jonathan  Russell,  and  Albert  Gallatm. 

The  skill  with  which  that  negotiation  was  conducted,  is  well  known. 
Mr.  Adams  bore  a  full  part  in  its  counsels  and  labors ;  and  a  proportion- 
ate share  of  the  credit  is  due  to  him  for  that  cogency  and  skill  which 
drew  from  the  marquis  of  Wellesley,  in  the  British  house  of  lords,  the 
declaration,  that  "  in  his  opinion  the  American  commissioners  had  shown 
the  most  astonishing  superiority  over  the  British,  during  the  whole  of  the 
correspondence." 

This  tribute  is  the  more  honorable  to  Mr.  Adams  and  his  colleagues, 
from  the  circumstance  that,  on  every  important  point,  the  British  commis- 
sioners received  special  instructions  from  the  ministry  at  London,  direct- 
ing the  terms  in  which  the  American  envoys  were  to  be  answered. 

Having  borne  this  distinguished  part,  in  bringing  the  war  to  a  close  by 
an  honorable  peace,  Mr.  Adams  was  employed,  in  conjunction  with 
Messrs.  Clay  and  Gallatin,  in  negotiating  a  convention  of  commerce  with 
Great  Britain,  on  the  basis  of  which  our  commercial  intercourse  with  that 
country  has  since  been  conducted. 

On  the  28th  of  February,  1815,  Mr.  Madison  gave  a  further  proof  of 
his  confidence  in  Mr.  Adams,  by  appointing  him  (with  the  consent  of  the 
senate)  minister  to  Great  Britain,  and  he  continued  to  represent  the  United 
States  at  that  court  until  the  accession  of  Mr.  Monroe  to  the  presidency, 
in  March,  1817. 

In  the  formation  of  his  cabinet,  Mr.  Monroe  consulted  with  several  of 
the  most  distinguished  of  his  friends,  among  others  with  General  Jack- 
son, to  whom  he  wrote  as  follows :  "  I  shall  take  a  person  for  the  de- 
partment of  state  from  the  eastward ;  and  Mr.  Adams's  long  service  in 
our  diplomatic  concerns  appearing  to  entitle  him  to  the  preference,  sup- 
ported by  his  acknowledged  talents  and  integrity,  his  nomination  will  go  to 
the  senate."  To  this  General  Jackson  replied:  "I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying,  you  have  made  the  best  selection  to  fill  the  department  of  state 
that  could  be  made.  Mr.  Adams  in  the  hour  of  difficulty  will  be  an  able 
helpmate,  and  I  am  convinced  his  appointment  will  afford  general  satis- 
faction." 

In  pursuance  of  the  above  intimation  of  Mr.  Monroe,  Mr.  Adams  was 
called  home  from  England,  and  appointed  secretary  of  state  in  March, 
1817.  On  this  arduous  office  he  entered  with  the  general  approbation  of 
the  people.  During  the  eight  years  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  Mr. 
Adams  remained  in  the  department  of  state,  retaining  the  entire  confi- 
dence of  Mr.  Monroe,  and  acquiring  that  of  his  colleagues  in  the  cabinet. 
In  reference  to  all  questions  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the  country,  he 
was  the  influential  member  of  the  government ;  and  is,  consequently,  more 
than  any  other  individual  connected  with  the  executive,  entitled  to  the  credit 
of  the  measures  which,  during  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  were  adopted 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    Q.  ADAMS.  571 

in  reference  to  the  foreign  policy  of  the  government.  One  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  these  measures  was  the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the 
new  republics  of  Spanish  America.  The  credit  of  first  effectually  propo- 
sing that  measure  in  the  house  of  representatives  is  due  to  Mr.  Clay, 
while  speaker  of  that  body  ;  that  of  choosing  the  propitious  moment  when 
it  could  be  proposed  with  the  unanimous  consent  of  Congress,  and  the 
nation,  belongs  to  Mr.  Adams.  Nor  is  he  entitled  to  less  credit  for  the 
successful  termination  of  our  differences  with  Spain.  A  controversy  of 
thirty  years'  standing,  which  had  resisted  the  skill  of  every  preceding 
administration  of  the  government,  was  brought  to  an  honorable  close.  In- 
demnity was  procured  for  our  merchants,  and  East  and  West  Florida  ad- 
ded to  our  republic.  Next  to  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  the  acquisition 
of  Florida  may  be  viewed  as  one  of  the  most  important  measures  in  our 
history  as  a  nation.  Among  his  reports  while  secretary  of  state,  may  be 
mentioned  that  on  weights  and  measures,  made  to  the  United  States  sen- 
ate in  1821,  in  conformity  with  a  resolution  of  that  body,  passed  in  1817. 
This  report  is  distinguished  for  its  ability  and  research. 

On  every  important  occasion  and  question  that  arose  during  Mr.  Mon- 
roe's administration,  the  voice  of  Mr.  Adams  was  for  his  country,  for 
mild  councils,  and  for  union.  In  the  agitation  of  the  Missouri  question, 
his  influence  was  exerted  for  conciliation.  He  believed  that  by  the  con- 
stitution and  the  treaty  of  cession  of  1803,  Congress  was  barred  from 
adopting  the  proposed  restrictions  on  the  admission  of  Missouri.  Of  in- 
ternal improvement  by  roads  and  canals,  he  was  ever  the  friend,  and 
moved  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States  the  first  project  of  their  system- 
atic construction.  • 

When  the  question  of  a  successor  to  Mr.  Monroe  in  the  presidency  be- 
came the  subject  of  agitation,  the  claims  of  Mr.  Adams  to  that  high  office 
were  admitted  to  be  strong  and  decided,  by  a  large  portion  of  his  coun- 
trymen. His  elevation  was  desired  by  a  numerous  body  of  calm,  re- 
flecting men,  throughout  the  Union,  who  desired  to  see  the  government 
administered  with  the  ability  and  integrity  which  belonged,  as  they  knew, 
to  the  character  of  Mr.  Adams.  The  other  rival  candidates  for  the  presi- 
dency, Andrew  Jackson,  William  H.  Crawford,  and  Henry  Clay,  also  pre- 
sented severally  strong  claims  for  the  support  of  the  people.  Of  these 
several  candidates,  Mr.  Adams  was  the  only  one  who  represented  the 
non-slaveholding  interest,  and  he  was  the  second  choice  of  an  immense 
proportion  of  the  people,  who,  for  various  causes,  preferred  one  of  the 
other  candidates. 

In  consequence  of  the  number  in  nomination  for  president,  no  choice 
was  effected  by  the  electoral  colleges,  and  neither  candidate  approached 
nearer  than  within  thirty-two  votes  of  a  majority.  General  Jackson  re- 
ceived 99  votes,  Mr.  Adams  84,  Mr.  Crawford  41,  and  Mr.  Clay  37.  For 
the  vice-presidency,  John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  received  183 


572  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS. 

votes,  and  was  consequently  elected.  The  choice  of  the  president,  ac- 
cording to  constitutional  provisions,  was  referred  to  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, and,  contrary  to  general  expectation,  an  election  was  made  on 
the  first  ballot ;  Mr.  Adams  having  received  the  votes  of  thirteen  states, 
General  Jackson  seven  states,  and  Mr.  Crawford  four  states.  In  this 
election  by  the  house,  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  having  voted  for  Mr.  Ad- 
ams, great  indignation  was  expressed  by  the  supporters  of  General  Jack- 
son, but  the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford,  generally,  at  first  appeared  satisfied 
with  the  result,  as  they  preferred  Mr.  Adams  to  General  Jackson,  and  the 
health  of  Mr.  Crawford  was  then  so  precarious  as  to  render  him  nearly,  if 
not  quite,  incompetent  for  the  office. 

A  committee  of  the  house  was  appointed  to  wait  on  Mr.  Adams  and  no- 
tify him  of  his  election  to  the  presidency  ;  to  this  notification  he  made  the 
following  reply:  — 

"  GENTLEMEN  :  In  receiving  this  testimonial  from  the  representatives 
of  the  pepple,  and  states  of  this  Union,  I  am  deeply  sensible  to  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  it  has  been  given.  All  my  predecessors  in  the 
high  station  to  which  the  favor  of  the  house  now  calls  me,  have  been  hon 
ored  with  majorities  of  the  electoral  voices  in  their  primary  colleges.  -It 
has  been  my  fortune  to  be  placed,  by  the  divisions  of  sentiment  prevailing 
among  our  countrymen  on  this  occasion,  in  competition,  friendly  and  hon- 
orable, with  three  of  my  fellow-citizens,  all  justly  enjoying,  in  an  eminent 
degree,  the  public  favor  ;  and  of  whose  worth,  talents,  and  services,  no 
one  entertains  a  higher  and  more  respectful  sense  than  myself.  The 
names  of  two  of  them  were,  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  provisions  of  the 
constitution,  presented  to  the  selection  of  the  house,  in  concurrence  with 
my  own  ;  names  closely  associated  with  the  glory  of  the  nation,  and  one 
of  them  further  recommended  by  a  larger  majority  of  the  primary  electo- 
ral suffrages  than  mine. 

"  In  this  state  of  things,  could  my  refusal  to  accept  the  trust  thus  dele- 
gated to  me,  give  an  immediate  opportunity  to  the  people  to  form  and  to 
express  with  a  nearer  approach  to  unanimity,  the  object  of  their  prefer- 
ence, I  should  not  hesitate  to  decline  the  acceptance  of  this  eminent 
charge,  and  to  submit  the  decision  of  this  momentous  question  again  to 
their  determination.  But  the  constitution  itself  has  not  so  disposed  of  the 
contingency  which  would  arise  in  the  event  of  my  refusal ;  I  shall,  there- 
fore, repair  to  the  post  assigned  me  by  the  call  of  my  country  signified 
through  her  constitutional  organs  ;  oppressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the 
task  before  me,  but  cheered  with  the  hope  of  tha'  generous  support  from 
my  fellow-citizens  which,  in  the  vicissitudes  of  a  life  devoted  to  their  ser- 
vice, has  never  failed  to  sustain  me — confident  in  the  trust,  that  the  wis- 
dom of  the  legislative  councils  will  guide  and  direct  me  in  the  path  of  my 
official  duty,  and  relying,  above  all,  upon  the  superintending  providence  of 
that  Being,  in  whose  hand  our  breath  is,  and  whose  are  all  our  ways. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    Q.  ADAMS.  573 

':  Gentlemen,  I  pray  you  to  make  acceptable  to  the  house  the  assurance 
of  my  profound  gratitude  for  their  confidence,  and  to  accept  yourselves  my 
thanks  for  the  friendly  terms  in  which  you  have  communicated  to  me  their 
decision." 

The  administration  of  Mr.  Adams  as  president  of  the  United  States, 
commenced  on  the  4th  of  March,  1825,  and  continued  four  years.  A  com- 
bination having  taken  place  immediately  after  the  election,  of  a  majority  of 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford  with  those  of  General  Jackson,  it  was  soon  appa- 
rent that  the  new  administration  was  destined  to  meet  with  a  systematic 
and  violent  opposition.  Every  effort  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Adams  to  con- 
ciliate his  opponents,  and  to  conduct  the  public  affairs  with  integrity  and 
usefulness,  proved  ineffectual  to  turn  the  torrent  of  popular  opinion  which 
set  steadily  against  him.  In  the  third  year  of  his  term  the  administration 
was  in  the  minority  in  both  branches  of  Congress,  and  the  opposition  be- 
ing concentrated  on  General  Jackson  as  a  candidate  for  president,  he  was 
in  1828  elected,  by  a  large  majority,  over  Mr.  Adams. 

In  March,  1829,  Mr.  Adams  retired  to  private  life,  carrying  with  him 
the  esteem  of  his  political  friends,  and  the  respect  of  his  opponents,  who 
generally  gave  him  the  credit  of  good  intentions,  however  they  might  have 
differed  with  him  in  his  views  of  public  policy.  While  holding  the  high 
office  of  president,  he  uniformly  declined  the  exercise  of  a  prescriptive 
spirit  toward  those  of  his  political  opponents  whom  he  found  in  office  ; 
magnanimously  conceding  to  all  the  right  of  exercising  their  own  free  will 
in  the  choice  of  rulers,  and  in  supporting  or  opposing  the  administration. 

After  the  inauguration  of  his  successor,  General  Jackson,  Mr.  Adams 
continued  a  short  time  at  Washington  city.  He  then  repaired  to  his  family 
mansion,  and  the  scenes  of  his  early  youth,  at  Quincy,  near  Boston,  Mas- 
sachusetts, where,  in  the  possession  of  a  competent  fortune,  and  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  pleasures  of  domestic  life  with  his  family,  he  might  have 
expected  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  days.  But  the  people  of  his  own 
immediate  neighborhood  were  not  willing  to  allow  him  to  remain  long  in 
retirement.  In  1830  he  was  elected  to  represent  the  district  in  which  he 
resided,  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  the  following  year, 
namely,  in  December,  1831,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  house  of  representa- 
tives at  Washington  city,  being  then  in  the  65th  year  of  his  age,  and  hav- 
ing already  passed  about  forty  years  in  the  public  service.  In  the  national 
legislature  he  has  taken  the  stand  to  which  his  eminent  talents  and  distin- 
guished services  fully  entitle  him.  The  continued  confidence  of  his  con- 
stituents has  been  manifested  by  seven  re-elections  to  the  house,  of  which 
he  has  now  been  a  member  fourteen  years. 

His  reports  as  chairman  of  committees  on  various  subjects,  particularly 
on  those  of  manufactures  and  finance,  are  among  the  ablest  papers  to  be 
found  among  the  national  records.  He  distinguished  himself  especially 
on  the  organization  of  the  twenty-sixth  Congress,  in  December,  1839, 


574  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JOHN    Q.  ADAMS. 

when  difficulties  of  a  novel  character  occurred,  in  consequence  of  dispu- 
ted seats  from  the  state  of  New  Jersey,  which  prevented  for  many  days 
the  choice  of  a  speaker.  On  that  occasion  Mr.  Adams  was  chosen,  by 
unanimous  consent,  chairman  of  the  house  while  it  was  in  a  state  of  con- 
fusion and  disorder.  By  his  skill  and  commanding  influence,  he  was  en- 
abled to  calm  the  turbulent  elements  of  a  disorganized  house,  and  to  bring 
about  a  settlement  of  the  difficulties  which  threatened  a  dissolution  of  the 
government. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  feature  of  Mr.  Adams's  career  as  a  member 
of  the  house  of  representatives,  has  been  his  firm  adherence  to  the  right 
of  the  people  to  petition  Congress,  and  to  be  heard  through  their  repre- 
sentatives, on  any  subject  whatsoever.  He  has  taken  an  active  part  in 
debate  on  nearly  every  topic  of  public  interest,  and  his  speeches  have 
been  frequently  marked  with  the  most  fervid  eloquence,  and  with  that 
stern  and  peculiar  independence  which  has  characterized  his  whole  life, 
and  command  the  respect  and  attention  which  is  due  to  a  man  of  great 
experience,  and  of  fearless  and  uncompromising  integrity. 

The  private  character  of  Mr.  Adams  has  always  been  above  reproach, 
in  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men,  and  in  all  the  various  duties  of  a 
long  life.  Without  any  uncommon  professions,  he  has  uniformly  shown  a 
great  respect  for  the  Christian  religion,  and,  like  his  father,  giving  a  pref- 
erence to  the  doctrines  of  the  Unitarian  church. 

In  his  personal  appearance,  Mr.  Adams  is  of  middle  stature  and  full  per- 
son, his  eyes  dark  and  piercing,  his  countenance  pleasing,  and  beaming 
with  intelligence  ;  his  manners  rather  awkward  and  distant.  He  has  al- 
ways led  the  most  active  life,  and  enjoyed  good  health,  and,  accustomed 
from  his  youth  to  habits  of  early  rising  and  constant  improvement  of  his 
mind  in  literary  and  scientific  knowledge,  he  is  at  this  day  considered  one 
of  the  most  (if  not  the  most)  accomplished  scholars  in  America. 

Mr.  Adams  has  a  numerous  family  of  children.  In  early  life,  and  when 
engaged  in  a  foreign  embassy,  he  was  married  in  London,  to  Miss  John- 
son, a  highly-accomplished  lady,  and  daughter  of  a  gentleman  of  Mary- 
land. During  his  presidential  term,  the  president's  levees  were  always 
rendered  attractive  by  the  courteous  manners  and  polite  attentions  of  his 
lady. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir  is  now  in  his  seventy-ninth  year,  and, 
although  "  his  eye  is  dim,  and  his  natural  force  somewhat  abated,"  he  is 
still  found  at  his  post  in  the  public  service,  where,  like  the  earl  of  Chat- 
ham, it  may  be  expected  his  mortal  career  will  finally  close. 


JOHN   QUINCY    ADAMS'S 

ADDRESSES   AND   MESSAGES 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 
MARCH  4,  1825. 

IN  compliance  with  a  usage  coeval  with  the  existence  of  our  federal 
constitution,  and  sanctioned  by  the  example  of  my  predecessors  in  the 
career  upon  which  I  am  about  to  enter,  I  appear,  my  fellow-citizens,  in  your 
presence,  and  in  that  of  Heaven,  to  bind  myself,  by  the  solemnities  of  a  re- 
ligious obligation,  to  the  faithful  performance  of  the  duties  allotted  to  me 
in  the  station  to  which  I  have  been  called. 

In  unfolding  to  my  countrymen  the  principles  by  which  I  shall  be  gov- 
erned in  the  fulfilment  of  those  duties,  my  first  resort  will  be  to  that  con- 
stitution which  I  shall  swear,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  to  preserve,  protect, 
and  defend.  That  revered  instrument  enumerates  the  powers  and  prescribes 
the  duties  of  the  executive  magistrate  ;  and,  in  its  first  words,  declares  the 
purposes  to  which  these,  and  the  whole  action  of  the  government  instituted 
by  it,  should  be  invariably  and  sacredly  devoted — to  form  a  more  perfect 
union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  com- 
mon defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  lib- 
erty to  the  people  of  this  Union,  in  their  successive  generations.  Since 
the  adoption  of  this  social  compact,  one  of  these  generations  has  passed 
away.  It  is  the  work  of  our  forefathers.  Administered  by  some  of  the 
most  eminent  men  who  contributed  to  its  formation,  through  a  most  event- 
ful period  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  and  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
peace  and  war,  incidental  to  the  condition  of  associated  man,  it  has  not  dis- 
appointed the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  those  illustrious  benefactors  of  their 
age  and  nation.  It  has  promoted  the  lasting  welfare  of  that  country,  so 
dear  to  us  all ;  it  has,  to  an  extent  far  beyond  the  ordinary  lot  of  humanity, 
secured  the  freedom  and  happiness  of  this  people.  We  now  receive  it  as 
a  precious  inheritance  from  those  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  its  estab- 
lishment, doubly  bound  by  the  examples  which  they  have  left  us,  and  by 
the  blessings  which  we  have  enjoyed,  as  the  fniits  of  their  labors,  to  trans- 
mit the  same,  unimpaired,  to  the  succeeding  generation. 

In  the  compass  of  thirty-six  years,  since  this  great  national  covenant  was 
instituted,  a  body  of  laws  enacted  under  its  authority,  and  in  conformity  with 
its  provisions,  has  unfolded  its  powers  and  carried  into  practical  operation 
its  effective  energies.  Subordinate  departments  have  distributed  the  ex- 


576  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

ecutive  functions  in  their  various  relations  to  foreign  affairs,  to  the  revenue 
and  expenditures,  and  to  the  military  force  of  the  Union,  by  land  and  sea. 
A  co-ordinate  department  of  the  judiciary  has  expounded  the  constitution 
and  the  laws  ;  settling,  in  harmonious  coincidence  with  the  legislative  will, 
numerous  weighty  questions  of  construction  which  the  imperfection  of 
human  language  had  rendered  unavoidable.  The  year  of  jubilee  since  the 
first  formation  of  our  Union  has  just  elapsed  ;  that  of  the  declaration  of  our 
independence  is  at  hand.  The  consummation  of  both  was  effected  by  this 
constitution.  Since  that  period,  a  population  of  four  millions  has  multiplied 
to  twelve.  A  territory,  bounded  by  the  Mississippi,  has  been  extended  from 
sea  to  sea.  New  states  have  been  admitted  to  the  Union,  in  numbers  nearly 
equal  to  those  of  the  first  confederation.  Treaties  of  peace,  amity  and  com- 
merce, have  been  concluded  with  the  principal  dominions  of  the  earth. 
The  people  of  other  nations,  inhabitants  of  regions  acquired,  not  by  conquest 
but  by  compact,  have  been  united  with  us  in  the  participation  of  our  rights 
and  duties,  of  our  burdens  and  blessings.  The  forest  has  fallen  by  the  axe 
of  our  woodsmen — the  soil  has  been  made  to  teem  by  the  tillage  of  our 
farmers  ;  our  commerce  has  whitened  every  ocean.  The  dominion  of  man 
over  physical  nature  has  been  extended  by  the  invention  of  our  artists. 
Liberty  and  law  have  marched  hand  in  hand.  All  the  purposes  of  human 
association  have  been  accomplished  as  effectively  as  under  any  other  gov- 
ernment on  the  globe  ;  and  at  a  cost  little  exceeding,  in  a  whole  generation, 
the  expenditures  of  other  nations  in  a  single  year. 

Such  is  the  unexaggerated  picture  of  our  condition  under  a  constitution 
founded  upon  the  republican  principle  of  equal  rights.  To  admit  that  this 
picture  has  its  shades,  is  but  to  say  that  it  is  still  the  condition  of  men  upon 
earth.  From  evil,  physical,  moral,  and  political,  it  is  not  our  claim  to  be 
exempt.  We  have  suffered  sometimes  by  the  visitation  of  Heaven,  through 
disease  ;  often  by  the  wrongs  and  injustices  of  other  nations,  even  to  the 
extremities  of  war ;  and  lastly,  by  dissensions  among  ourselves — dissen- 
sions, perhaps,  inseparable  from  the  enjoyment  of  freedom,  but  which  have 
more  than  once  appeared  to  threaten  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and,  with 
it,  the  overthrow  of  all  the  enjoyments  of  our  present  lot,  and  all  our  earthly 
hopes  of  the  future.  The  causes  of  these  dissensions  have  been  various, 
founded  upon  differences  of  speculation  in  the  theory  of  republican  govern- 
ment ;  upon  conflicting  views  of  policy,  in  our  relations  with  foreign  na- 
tions ;  upon  jealousies  of  partial  and  sectional  interests,  aggravated  by  prej- 
udices and  prepossessions,  which  strangers  to  each  other  are  ever  apt  to 
entertain. 

It  is  a  source  of  gratification  and  of  encouragement  to  me  to  observe,  that 
the  great  result  of  this  experiment  upon  the  theory  of  human  rights  has,  at 
the  close  of  that  generation  by  which  it  was  formed,  been  crowned  with 
success  equal  to  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  its  founders.  Union, 
justice,  tranquillity,  the  common  defence,  the  general  welfare,  and  the  bles- 
sings of  liberty — all  have  been  promoted  by  the  government  under  which 
we  have  lived.  Standing  at  this  point  of  time,  looking  back  to  that  gene- 
ration which  has  gone  by,  and  forward  to  that  which  is  advancing,  we  may  at 
once  indulge  in  grateful  exultation  and  in  cheering  hope.  From  the  expe- 
rience of  the  past,  we  derive  instructive  lessons  for  the  future.  Of  the  two 
great  political  parties  which  have  divided  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  our 
country,  the  candid  and  the  just  will  now  admit,  that  both  have  contributed 
splendid  talents,  spotless  integrity,  ardent  patriotism,  and  disinterested  sac- 
rifices, to  the  formation  and  administration  of  this  government ;  and  tha/ 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  577 

both  have  required  a  liberal  indulgence  for  a  portion  of  human  infirmity  and 
error.  The  revolutionary  wars  of  Europe,  commencing  precisely  at  the 
moment  when  the  government  of  the  United  States  first  went  into  opera- 
tion under  this  constitution,  excited  a  collision  of  sentiments  and  of  sympa- 
thies which  kindled  all  the  passions,  and  embittered  the  conflict  of  parties, 
till  the  nation  was  involved  in  war,  and  the  Union  was  shaken  to  its  centre. 
This  time  of  trial  embraced  a  period  of  five-and-twenty  years,  during  which 
the  policy  of  the  Union,  in  its  relations  with  Europe,  constituted  the  prin- 
cipal basis  of  our  political  divisions,  and  the  most  arduous  part  of  the  action 
of  our  federal  government.  With  the  catastrophe  in  which  the  wars  of  the 
French  revolution  terminated,  and  our  own  subsequent  peace  with  Great 
Britain,  this  baneful  weed  of  party  strife  was  uprooted.  From  that  time, 
no  difference  of  principle,  connected  either  with  the  theory  of  government 
or  with  our  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  has  existed  or  been  called  forth 
in  force  sufficient  to  sustain  a  continued  combination  of  parties,  or  give  more 
than  wholesome  animation  to  public  sentiment  or  legislative  debate.  Our 
political  creed  is,  without  a  dissenting  voice  that  can  be  heard,  that  the  will 
of  the  people  is  the  source,  and  the  happiness  of  the  people  the  end,  of  all 
legitimate  government  upon  earth.  That  the  best  security  for  the  benefi- 
cence, and  the  best  guarantee  against  the  abuse  of  power,  consists  in  the 
freedom,  the  purity,  and  the  frequency  of  popular  elections.  That  the  gene 
ral  government  of  the  Union,  and  the  separate  governments  of  the  states, 
are  all  sovereignties  of  legitimated  powers  ;  fellow-servants  of  the  same 
masters,  uncontrolled  within  their  respective  spheres,  uncontrollable  b\ 
encroachments  upon  each  other.  That  the  firmest  security  of  peace,  is  the 
preparation  during  peace  of  the  defences  of  war.  That  a  rigorous  economy, 
and  accountability  of  public  expenditures,  should  guard  against  the  aggra- 
vation, and  alleviate,  when  possible,  the  burden  of  taxation.  That  the  mili- 
tary should  be  kept  in  strict  subordination  to  the  civil  power.  That  the 
freedom  of  the  press  and  of  religious  opinion  should  be  inviolate.  That 
the  policy  of  our  country  is  peace?  and  the  ark  of  our  salvation,  union,  are 
articles  of  faith  upon  which  we  are  all  agreed.  If  there  have  been  those 
who  doubted  whether  a  confederated  representative  democracy  were  a 
government  competent  to  the  wise  and  orderly  management  of  the  common 
concerns  of  a  mighty  nation,  those  doubts  have  been  dispelled.  If  there 
have  been  projects  of  partial  confederacies  to  be  erected  upon  the  ruins  of 
the  Union,  they  have  been  scattered  to  the  winds.  If  there  have  been  dan- 
gerous attachments  to  one  foreign  nation,  and  antipathies  against  another, 
they  have  been  extinguished.  Ten  years  of  peace,  at  home  and  abroad, 
have  assuaged  the  animosities  of  political  contention,  and  blended  into  har- 
mony the  most  discordant  elements  of  public  opinion.  There  still  remains 
one  effort  of  magnanimity,  one  sacrifice  of  prejudice  and  passion,  to  be  made 
by  the  individual*  throughout  the  nation,  who  have  heretofore  followed  the 
standards  of  politi«vl  party.  It  is  that  of  discarding  every  remnant  of  rancor 
against  each  other  ;  -\  embracing  as  countrymen  and  friends  ;  and  of  yield- 
ing lo  talents  and  virtue  -ilrMie  that  confidence  which,  in  times  of  conten- 
tion for  principle,  was  bestowe'3  only  upon  those  who  bore  the  badge  of  party 
communion. 

The  collisions  of  party  spirit,  which  originate  in  speculative  opinions  or 
in  different  views  of  administrative  policy,  are  in  their  nature  transitory. 
Those  which  are  founded  on  geographical  divisions,  adverse  interests  of 
•oil,  climate,  and  modes  of  domestic  life,  arc  more  permanent,  and  therefore 
perhaps  more  dangerous.  It  is  this  which  gives  inestimable  value  to  the 

VOL.  I.— 37 


578  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

character  of  our  government,  at  once  federal  and  national.  It  holds  out  to 
us  a  perpetual  admonition  to  preserve  alike,  and  with  equal  anxiety,  the 
rights  of  each  individual  state  in  its  own  government,  and  the  rights  of  the 
whole  nation  in  that  of  the  Union.  Whatever  is  of  domestic  concernment 
unconnected  with  the  other  members  of  the  Union,  or  with  foreign  lands, 
belongs  exclusively  to  the  administration  of  the  state  governments.  What- 
soever directly  involves  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  federative  fraternity, 
or  of  foreign  powers,  is  of  the  resort  of  this  general  government.  The 
duties  of  both  are  obvious  in  the  general  principle,  though  sometimes  per- 
plexed with  difficulties  in  the  detail.  To  respect  the  rights  of  the  state 
governments  is  the  inviolable  duty  of  that  of  the  Union  ;  the  government 
of  every  state  will  feel  its  own  obligation  to  respect  and  preserve  the  rights 
of  the  whole.  The  prejudices  everywhere  too  commonly  entertained  against 
distant  strangers  are  worn  away,  and  the  jealousies  of  jarring  interests  are 
allayed  by  the  composition  and  functions  of  the  great  national  councils 
annually  assembled  from  all  quarters  of  the  Union  at  this  place.  Here 
the  distinguished  men  from  every  section  of  our  country,  while  meeting  to 
deliberate  upon  the  great  interests  of  those  by  whom  they  are  deputed, 
learn  to  estimate  the  talents,  and  do  justice  to  the  virtues  of  each  other. 
The  harmony  of  the  nation  is  promoted,  and  the  whole  Union  is  knit 
together  by  the  sentiments  of  mutual  respect,  the  habits  of  social  inter- 
course, and  the  ties  of  personal  friendship,  formed  between  the  represent- 
atives of  its  several  parts  in  the  performance  of  their  service  at  this 
metropolis. 

Passing  from  this  general  review  of  the  purposes  and  injunctions  of  the 
federal  constitution,  and  their  results,  as  indicating  the  first  traces  of  the 
path  of  duty  in  the  discharge  of  my  public  trust,  I  turn  to  the  administration 
of  my  immediate  predecessor,  as  the  second.  It  has  passed  away  in  a  period 
of  profound  peace  ;  how  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  our  country,  and  to  the 
honor  of  our  country's  name,  is  known  to  you  all.  The  great  features  of 
its  policy,  in  general  concurrence  with  th*e  will  of  the  legislature  have  been  : 
To  cherish  peace  while  preparing  for  defensive  war  ;  to  yield  exact  justice 
to  other  nations,  and  maintain  the  rights  of  our  own  ;  to  cherish  the  prin- 
ciples of  freedom  and  of  equal  rights,  wherever  they  were  proclaimed  ;  to 
discharge  with  all  possible  promptitude  the  national  debt ;  to  reduce  with- 
in the  narrowest  limits  of  efficiency  the  military  force ;  to  improve  the 
organization  and  discipline  of  the  army  ;  to  provide  and  sustain  a  school  of 
military  science ;  to  extend  equal  protection  of  all  the  great  interests  of 
the  nation  ;  to  promote  the  civilization  of  the  Indian  tribes  ;  and  to  proceed 
in  the  great  system  of  internal  improvements  within  the  limits  of  the  con- 
stitutional power  of  the  Union.  Under  the  pledge  of  these  promises,  made 
by  that  eminent  citizen  at  the  time  of  his  first  induction  to  this  office,  in 
his  career  of  eight  years,  the  internal  taxes  have  been  repealed  ;  sixty  mill- 
ions of  the  public  debt  have  been  discharged  ;  provision  has  been  made  for 
the  comfort  and  relief  of  the  aged  and  indigent  among  the  surviving  war- 
riors of  the  revolution ;  the  regular  armed  force  has  been  reduced,  and  its 
constitution  revised  and  perfected  ;  the  accountability  for  the  expenditures 
of  public  moneys  has  been  made  more  effective  ;  the  Floridas  have  been 
peaceably  acquired,  and  our  boundary  has  been  extended  to  the  Pacific 
ocean  ;  the  independence  of  the  southern  nations  of  this  hemisphere  has 
been  recognised,  and  recommended  by  example  and  by  counsel  to  the  poten- 
tates of  Europe  ;  progress  has  been  made  in  the  defence  of  the  country  by 
fortifications  and  the  increase  of  the  navy — toward  the  effectual  suppres- 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS.  579 

sion  of  the  African  traffic  in  slaves — in  alluring  the  aboriginal  hunters  of 
our  land  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  and  of  the  mind — in  exploring  the 
interior  regions  of  the  Union,  and  in  preparing,  by  scientific  researches  and 
surveys,  for  the  further  application  of  our  national  resources  to  the  internal 
improvement  of  our  country. 

In  this  brief  outline  of  the  promise  and  performance  of  my  immediate  pred- 
ecessor, the  line  of  duty  for  his  successor  is  clearly  delineated.  To  pursue 
to  their  consummation  those  purposes  of  improvement  in  our  common  con- 
dition, instituted  or  recommended  by  him,  will  embrace  the  whole  sphere 
of  my  obligations.  To  the  topic  of  internal  improvement,  emphatically 
urged  by  him  at  his  inauguration,  I  recur  with  peculiar  satisfaction.  It  is 
that  from  which  I  am  convinced  that  the  unborn  millions  of  our  posterity, 
who  are  in  future  ages  to  people  this  continent,  will  derive  their  most  fer- 
vent gratitude  lo  the  founders  of  the  Union  ;  that  in  which  the  beneficent 
action  of  its  government  will  be  most  deeply  felt  and  acknowledged.  The 
magnificence  and  splendor  of  their  public  works  are  among  the  imperishable 
glories  of  the  ancient  republics.  The  roads  and  aqueducts  of  Rome  have 
been  the  admiration  of  all  after-ages,  and  have  survived  thousands  of  years, 
after  all  her  conquests  have  been  swallowed  up  in  despotism,  or  become  the 
spoil  of  barbarians.  Some  diversity  of  opinion  has  prevailed  with  regard  to 
the  powers  of  Congress  for  legislation  upon  objects  of  this  nature.  The 
most  respectful  deference  is  due  to  doubts  originating  in  pure  patriotism, 
and  sustained  by  venerated  authority.  But  nearly  twenty  years  have  passed 
since  the  construction  of  the  first  national  road  was  commenced.  The  au- 
thority for  its  construction  was  then  unquestioned.  To  how  many  thou- 
sands of  our  countrymen  has  it  proved  a  benefit  ?  To  what  single  individual 
has  it  ever  proved  an  injury  ?  Repeated,  liberal,  and  candid  discussions 
in  the  legislature  have  conciliated  the  sentiments  and  approximated  the 
opinions  of  enlightened  minds,  upon  the  question  of  constitutional  power. 
I  can  not  but  hope  that,  by  the  same  process  of  friendly,  patient,  and  perse- 
vering deliberation,  all  constitutional  objections  will  ultimately  be  removed. 
The  extent  and  limitation  of  the  powers  of  the  general  government,  in  rela- 
tion to  this  transcendently  important  interest,  will  be  settled  and  acknowl- 
edged to  the  common  satisfaction  of  all ;  and  every  speculative  scruple  will- 
be  solved  by  a  practical  public  blessing. 

Fellow-citizens,  you  are  acquainted  with  the  peculiar  circumstances  of 
the  recent  elections,  which  have  resulted  in  affording  me  the  opportunity  of 
addressing  you  at  this  time.  You  have  heard  the  exposition  of  the  princi- 
ples which  will  direct  me  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  high  and  solemn  trust 
imposed  upon  me  in  this  station.  Less  possessed  of  your  confidence  in 
advance  than  any  of  my  predecessors,  1  am  deeply  conscious  of  the  prospect 
that  1  shall  stand,  more  and  oftener,  in  need  of  your  indulgence.  Inten- 
tions upright  and  pure,  a  heart  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  our  country,  and 
the  unceasing  application  of  the  faculties  allotted  to  me  to  her  service,  are 
all  the  pledges  that  I  can  give  to  the  faithful  performance  of  the  arduous 
duties  I  am  to  undertake.  To  the  guidance  of  the  legislative  councils  ;  to 
the  assistance  of  the  executit'e  and  subordinate  departments  ;  to  the  friendly 
co-operation  of  the  respective  state  governments  ;  to  the  candid  and  liberal 
.support  of  the  people,  so  far  as  it  may  be  deserved  by  honest  industry  and 
/eal,  I  shall  look  for  whatever  success  may  attend  my  public  service  ;  and 
knowing  that,  except  the  Lord  keep  the  city,  the  watchman  waketh  but  in 
vain,  with  fervent  supplications  for  his  favor,  to  his  overruling  providence 
1  commit,  with  humble  but  fearless  confidence,  my  own  fate,  and  the  future 
destinies  of  my  country. 


580  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAOE 

FIRST    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

DECEMBER  6,  1825. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

IN  taking  a  general  survey  of  the  concerns  of  our  beloved  country,  with 
reference  to  subjects  interesting  to  the  common  welfare,  the  first  sentiment 
which  impresses  itself  upon  the  mind,  is  of  gratitude  to  the  Omnipotent 
Dispenser  of  all  good,  for  the  continuance  of  the  signal  blessings  of  his 
providence,  and  especially  for  that  health  which,  to  an  unusual  extent,  has 
prevailed  within  our  borders  ;  and  for  that  abundance  which,  in  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  seasons,  has  been  scattered  with  profusion  over  our  lands.  Nor 
ought  we  less  to  ascribe  to  him  the  glory,  that  we  are  permitted  to  enjoy 
the  bounties  of  his  hand  in  peace  and  tranquillity — in  peace  with  all  the 
other  nations  of  the  earth,  in  tranquillity  among  ourselves.  There  has, 
indeed,  rarely  been  a  period  in  the  history  of  civilized  man,  in  which  the 
general  condition  of  the  Christian  nations  has  been  marked  so  extensively 
by  peace  and  prosperity. 

Europe,  with  a  few  partial  and  unhappy  exceptions,  has  enjoyed  ten  yearn 
of  peace  ;  during  which,  all  her  governments,  whatever  the  theory  of  their 
constitutions  may  have  been,  are  successively  taught  to  feel  that  the  end  of 
their  institutions  is  the  happiness  of  the  people,  and  that  the  exercise  of 
power  among  men  can  be  justified  only  by  the  blessings  it  confers  upon 
those  over  whom  it  is  extended. 

During  the  same  period,  our  intercourse  with  all  those  nations  has  been 
pacific  and  friendly  ;  it  so  continues.  Since  the  close  of  your  late  session, 
no  material  variation  has  occurred  in  our  relations  with  any  one  of  them. 
In  the  commercial  and  navigation  system  of  Great  Britain,  important  changes 
of  municipal  regulations  have  recently  been  sanctioned  by  acts  of  parliament, 
the  effect  of  which  upon  the  interests  of  other  nations,  and  particularly  upon 
oars,  has  not  yet  been  fully  developed.  In  the  recent  renewal  of  the  diplo- 
matic missions,  on  both  sides,  between  the  two  governments,  assurances  have 
been  given  and  received  of  the  continuance  and  increase  of  that  mutual  con- 
fidence and  cordiality  by  which  the  adjustment  of  many  points  of  difference 
had  already  been  effected,  and  which  affords  the  surest  pledge  for  the  ulti- 
mate satisfactory  adjustment  of  those  which  still  remain  open,  or  may  here- 
after arise. 

The  policy  of  the  United  States,  in  their  commercial  intercourse  with 
other  nations,  has  always  been  of  the  most  liberal  character.  In  the  mutual 
exchange  of  their  respective  productions,  they  have  abstained  altogether 
from  prohibitions ;  they  have  interdicted  themselves  the  power  of  laying 
taxes  upon  exports,  and  whenever  they  have  favored  their  own  shipping, 
by  special  preferences  or  exclusive  privileges  in  their  own  ports,  it  has 
been  only  with  a  view  to  countervail  similar  favors  and  exclusions  granted 
by  the  nations  with  whom  we  have  been  engaged  in  traffic,  to  their  own 
people  or  shipping,  and  to  the  disadvantage  of  ours.  Immediately  after  the 
dose  of  the  last  war,  a  proposal  was  fairly  made  by  the  act  of  Congress 
of  the  3d  of  March,  1815,  to  all  the  maritime  nations,  to  lay  aside  the 
system  of  retaliating  restrictions  and  exclusions,  and  to  place  the  shipping 
of  both  panics  to  the  common  trade  on  a  footing  of  equality  in  respect  to 
the  duties  of  tonnage  and  impost.  This  offer  was  partially  and  succes- 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  581 

8>ively  accepted  by  Great  Britain,  Sweden,  the  Netherlands,  the  Hanseatic 
cities,  Prussia,  Sardinia,  the  duke  of  Oldenburg,  and  Russia.  It  was  also 
adopted,  under  certain  modifications,  in  our  late  commercial  convention 
with  France.  And  by  the  act  of  Congress  of  the  8th  of  January,  1 824,  it 
has  received  a  new  confirmation  with  all  the  nations  who  had  acceded  to 
it,  and  has  been  offered  again  to  all  those  who  are  or  may  hereafter  be 
willing  to  abide  in  reciprocity  by  it.  But  all  these  regulations,  whether 
established  by  treaty  or  by  municipal  enactments,  are  still  subject  to  one 
important  restriction. 

The  removal  of  discriminating  duties  of  tonnage  and  of  impost  is  limit- 
ed to  articles  of  the  growth,  produce,  or  manufacture  of  the  country  to 
which  the  vessel  belongs,  or  to  such  articles  as  are  most  universally  first 
shipped  from  her  ports.  It  will  deserve  the  serious  consideration  of  Con- 
gress, whether  even  this  remnant  of  restriction  may  not  be  safely  abandoned, 
and  whether  the  general  tender  of  equal  competition,  made  in  the  act  of  the 
8th  of  January,  1824,  may  not  be  extended  to  include  all  articles  of  mer- 
chandise not  prohibited,  of  what  country  soever  they  may  be  the  product 
or  manufacture.  Propositions  to  this  effect  have  already  been  made  to  us 
by  more  than  one  European  government ;  and  it  is  probable  that,  if  once 
established  by  legislation  or  compact  with  any  distinguished  maritime  state, 
it  would  recommend  itself,  by  the  experience  of  its  advantages,  to  the  gen- 
eral accession  of  all. 

The  convention  of  commerce  and  navigation  between  the  United  States 
and  France,  concluded  on  the  24th  of  June,  1822,  was,  in  the  understand- 
ing and  intent  of  both  parties,  as  appears  upon  its  face,  only  a  temporary 
arrangement  of  the  points  of  difference  between  them  of  the  most  imme- 
diate and  pressing  urgency.  It  was  limited,  in  the  first  instance,  to  two 
years  from  the  first  of  October,  1822,  but  with  a  proviso,  that  it  should 
further  continue  in  force  till  the  conclusion  of  a  general  and  definitive  treaty 
of  commerce,  unless  terminated  by  a  notice  six  months  in  advance,  of  either 
of  the  parties  to  the  other.  Its  operation,  so  far  as  it  extended,  has  been 
mutually  advantageous  ;  and  it  still  continues  in  force,  by  common  consent. 
Hut  it  left  unadjusted  several  objects  of  great  interest  to  the  citizens  and 
subjects  of  both  countries,  and  particularly  a  mass  of  claims,  to  considerable 
amount,  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  upon  the  government  of  France, 
of  indemnity  for  property  taken  or  destroyed,  under  circumstances  of  the 
most  aggravated  and  outrageous  character.  In  the  long  period,  during 
which  continual  and  earnest  appeals  have  been  made  to  the  equity  and 
magnanimity  of  France,  in  behalf  of  these  claims,  their  justice  has  not  been, 
as  it  could  not  be,  denied.  It  was  hoped  that  the  accession  of  a  new  sov- 
ereign to  the  throne  would  have  afforded  a  favorable  opportunity  for  pre- 
senting them  to  the  consideration  of  his  government.  They  have  been 
presented  and  urged,  hitherto,  without  effect.  The  repeated  and  earnest 
representations  of  our  minister  at  the  court  of  France  remains  as  yet  even 
without  any  answer.  Were  the  demands  of  nations  upon  the  justice  of 
each  other  susceptible  of  adjudication  by  the  sentence  of  an  impartial  tribu- 
nal, those  to  which  I  now  refer  would  long  since  have  been  settled,  and 
adequate  indemnity  would  have  been  obtained.  There  are  large  amounts 
of  similar  claims  upon  the  Netherlands,  Naples,  and  Denmark.  For  those 
upon  Spam,  prior  to  1819,  indemnity  was,  after  many  years  of  patient  for- 
ucorance  obtained  ;  and  those  upon  Sweden  have  been  lately  compromised 
by  a  private  settlement,  in  which  the  claimants  themselves  have  acquiesced. 
The  governments  of  Denmark  and  of  iNaples  have  been  recently  reminded 


582  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

of  those  yet  existing  against  them ;  nor  will  any  of  them  be  forgotten 
while  a  hope  may  be  indulged  of  obtaining  justice  by  the  means  within 
the  constitutional  power  of  the  executive,  and  without  resorting  to  those 
measures  of  self-redress  which,  as  well  as  the  time,  circumstances,  and 
occasion,  which  may  require  them,  are  within  the  exclusive  competency 
of  tin;  legislature. 

It  is  with  great  satisfaction  that  I  am  enabled  to  bear  witness  to  the  liberal 
.spirit  with  which  the  republic  of  Colombia  has  made  satisfaction  for  well- 
i-stablished  claims  of  a  similar  character.  And  among  the  documents  now 
communicated  to  Congress,  will  be  distinguished  a  treaty  of  commerce  and 
navigation  with  that  republic,  the  ratifications  of  which  have  been  ex- 
changed since  the  last  recess  of  the  legislature.  The  negotiation  of  similar 
treaties  with  all  the  independent  South  American  states  has  been  contem- 
plated, and  may  yet  be  accomplished.  The  basis  of  them  all,  as  proposed 
by  the  United  States,  has  been  laid  in  two  principles :  the  one,  of  entire 
and  unqualified  reciprocity  ;  the  other,  the  mutual  obligation  of  the  parties 
to  place  each  other  permanently  on  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nation. 
These  principles  are,  indeed,  indispensable  to  the  effectual  emancipation 
of  the  American  hemisphere  from  the  thraldom  of  colonizing  monopolies 
and  exclusions — an  event  rapidly  realizing  in  the  progress  of  human  affairs, 
and  which  the  resistance  still  opposed  in  certain  parts  of  Europe  to  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  South  American  republics  as  independent  states,  will, 
it  is  believed,  contribute  more  effectually  to  accomplish.  The  time  has  been, 
and  that  not  remote,  when  some  of  those  states  might,  in  their  anxious  desire 
to  obtain  a  nominal  recognition,  have  accepted  of  a  nominal  independence, 
clogged  with  burdensome  conditions,  and  exclusive  commercial  privileges 
granted  to  the  nation  from  which  they  have  separated,  to  the  disadvantage 
of  all  others.  They  are  now  all  aware  that  such  concessions  to  any  Euro- 
pean nation  would  be  incompatible  with  that  independence  which  they  have 
declared  and  maintained. 

Among  the  measures  which  have  been  suggested  to  them  by  the  new 
relations  with  one  another,  resulting  from  the  recent  changes  of  their  condi- 
tion, is  that  of  assembling  at  the  isthmus  of  Panama,  a  congress,  at  which 
each  of  them  should  be  represented,  to  deliberate  upon  objects  important  to 
the  welfare  of  all.  The  republics  of  Colombia,  of  Mexico,  and  of  Central 
America,  have  already  deputed  plenipotentiaries  to  such  a  meeting,  and 
they  have  invited  the  United  States  to  be  also  represented  there  by  their 
ministers.  The  invitation  has  been  accepted,  and  ministers  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States  will  be  commissioned  to  attend  at  those  deliberations,  and 
to  take  part  in  them,  so  far  as  may  be  compatible  with  that  neutrality,  from 
which  it  is  neither  our  intention,  nor  the  desire  of  the  other  American  states, 
that  we  should  depart. 

The  commissioners  under  the  seventh  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent  have 
so  nearly  completed  their  labors  that,  by  the  report  recently  received  from 
the  agent  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  there  is  reason  to  expect  that  the 
commission  will  be  closed  at  their  next  session,  appointed  for  the  22d  of 
May,  of  the  ensuing  year. 

The  other  commission  appointed  to  ascertain  the  indemnities  due  for 
slaves  carried  away  from  the  United  States,  after  the  close  of  the  late  war, 
have  met  with  some  difficulty,  which  has  delayed  their  progress  in  the  in- 
quiry. A  reference  has  been  made  to  the  British  government  on  the  sub- 
ject, which,  it  may  be  hoped,  will  tend  to  hasten  the  decision  of  the  com- 
missioners, or  serve  as  a  substitute  for  it. 


JOHN  q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  t>83 

Among  the  powers  specifically  granted  to  Congress  by  the  constitution, 
are  those  of  establishing  uniform  laws  on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies 
throughout  the  United  States,  and  of  providing  for  organizing,  arming,  and 
disciplining  the  militia,  and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be 
employed  in  the  service  of  the  United  States.  The  magnitude  and  com- 
plexity of  the  interests  affected  by  legislation  upon  these  subjects,  may  ac- 
count for  the  fact  that,  long  and  often  as  both  of  them  have  occupied  the 
attention,  and  animated  the  debates  of  Congress,  no  systems  have  yet  been 
devised  for  fulfilling,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  community,  the  duties  pre- 
scribed by  these  grants  of  power.  To  conciliate  the  claim  of  the  individ- 
ual citizen  to  the  enjoyment  of  personal  liberty,  with  the  effective  obliga- 
tion of  private  contracts,  is  the  difficult  problem  to  be  solved  by  a  law  of 
bankruptcy.  These  are  objects  of  the  deepest  interest  to  society  ;  affect- 
ing all  that  is  precious  in  the  existence  of  multitudes  of  persons,  many  of 
them  in  the  classes  essentially  dependent  and  helpless  ;  of  the  age  requir- 
ing nurture,  and  of  the  sex  entitled  to  protection  from  the  free  agency  of 
the  parent  and  the  husband.  T,he  organization  of  the  militia  is  yet  more 
indispensable  to  the  liberties  of  the  country.  It  is  only  by  an  effective 
militia  that  we  can  at  once  enjoy  the  repose  of  peace,  and  bid  defiance  to 
foreign  aggression  ;  it  is  by  the  militia  that  we  are  constituted  an  armed 
nation,  standing  in  perpetual  panoply  of  defence,  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
other  nations  of  the  earth.  To  this  end  it  would  be  necessary  so  to  shape 
its  organization,  as  to  give  it  a  more  united  and  active  energy.  There  are 
laws  for  establishing  a  uniform  militia  throughout  the  United  States,  arid 
for  arming  and  equipping  its  whole  body.  But  it  is  a  body  of  dislocated 
members,  without  the  vigor  of  unity,  and  having  little  of  uniformity  but  the 
name.  To  infuse  into  this  most  important  institution  the  power  of  which 
it  is  susceptible,  and  to  make  it  available  for  the  defence  of  the  Union,  at 
the  shortest  notice,  and  at  the  smallest  expense  of  time,  of  life,  and  of 
treasure,  are  among  the  benefits  to  be  expected  from  the  persevering  de- 
liberations of  Congress. 

Among  the  unequivocal  indications  of  our  national  prosperity  is  the 
flourishing  state  of  our  finances.  The  revenues  of  the  present  year,  from 
all  their  principal  sources,  will  exceed  the  anticipations  of  the  last.  The 
balance  in  the  treasury  on  the  first  of  January  last,  was  a  little  short  of  two 
millions  of  dollars,  exclusive  of  two  millions  and  a  half,  being  a  moiety  of 
the  loan  of  five  millions,  authorized  by  the  act  of  the  26th  of  May,  1 824 . 
The  receipts  into  the  treasury,  from  the  first  of  January  to  the  30th  of  Sep- 
tember, exclusive  of  the  other  moiety  of  the  same  loan,  are  estimated  at 
sixteen  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  and  it  is  expected  that  those 
of  the  current  quarter  will  exceed  five  millions  of  dollars  ;  forming  an  ag- 
gregate of  xeceipts  of  nearly  twenty-two  millions,  independent ol  the  loan. 
The  expenditures  of  the  year  will  not  exceed  that  sum  more  than  two 
millions.  By  those  expenditures,  nearly  eight  millions  of  the  principal  of 
the  public  debt  have  been  discharged.  More  than  a  million  and  a  half  has 
been  devoted  to  the  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  warriors  of  the  revolution^  a 
nearly  equal  sum  to  the  construction  of  fortifications  and  the  acquisition  of 
ordnance,  and  other  permanent  preparatives  of  national  defence  ;  half  a 
million  to  the  gradual  increase  of  the  navy  ;  an  equal  sum  for  purchases  of 
territory  from  the  Indians,  and  payment  of  annuities  to  them  ;  and  upward 
of  a  million  for  objects  of  internal  improvement,  authorized  by  special  acts 
of  the  hist  Congress,  if  we  add  to  these  four  millions  of  dollars  for  pay- 
ment of  interest  upon  the  public  debt,  there  remains  a  sum  of  about  seven 


j84  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

millions,  which  have  defrayed  the  whole  expense  of  the  administration  of 
government,  in  its  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary  departments,  inclu- 
ding the  support  of  the  military  and  naval  establishments,  and  all  the  occa- 
sional contingencies  of  a  government  co-extensive  with  the  Union. 

The  amount  of  duties  secured  on  merchandise  imported,  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year,  is  about  twenty-five  millions  and  a  half;  and  that 
which  will  accrue  during  the  current  quarter  is  estimated  at  five  millions 
and  a  half;  from  these  thirty -one  millions,  deducting  the  drawbacks,  esti- 
mated at  less  than  seven  millions,  a  sum  exceeding  twenty-four  millions 
will  constitute  the  revenue  of  the  year,  and  will  exceed  the  whole  expen- 
ditures of  the  year.  The  entire  amount  of  the  public  debt  remaining  due 
on  the  first  of  January  next,  will  be  short  of  eighty-one  millions  of  dollars. 
By  an  act  of  Congress  of  the  3d  of  March  last,  a  loan  of  twelve  millions 
of  dollars  was  authorized  at  four  and  a  half  per  cent.,  or  an  exchange  of 
stock  to  that  amount,  of  four  and  a  half  per  cent.,  for  a  stock  of  six  per 
cent.,  to  create  a  fund  for  extinguishing  an  equal  amount  of  the  public 
debt,  bearing  an  interest  of  six  per  cent.,  redeemable  in  1826.  An  account 
of  the  measures  taken  to  give  effect  to  this  act  will  be  laid  before  you  by 
the  secretary  of  the  treasury.  As  the  object  which  it  had  in  view  has 
been  but  partially  accomplished,  it  will  be  for  the  consideration  of  Con- 
gress, whether  the  power  with  which  it  clothed  the  executive  should  not 
be  renewed  at  an  early  day  of  the  present  session,  and  under  what  modi- 
fications. 

The  act  of  Congress  of  the  3d  of  March  last,  directing  the  secretary  of 
the  treasury  to  subscribe,  in  the  name  and  for  the  use  of  the  United  States, 
for  one  thousand  five  hundred  shares  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  Chesapeake 
and  Delaware  canal  company,  has  been  executed  by  the  actual  subscrip- 
tion for  the  amount  specified  ;  and  such  other  measures  have  been  adopted 
by  that  officer,  under  the  act,  as  the  fulfilment  of  its  intentions  requires. 
The  latest  accounts  received  of  this  important  undertaking  authorize  the 
belief  that  it  is  in  successful  progress. 

The  payments  into  the  treasury  from  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands,  during  the  present  year,  were  estimated  at  one  million  of 
dollars.  The  actual  receipts  of  the  first  two  quarters  have  fallen  very  little 
short  of  that  sum  ;  it  is  not  expected  that  the  second  half  of  the  year  will 
be  equally  productive,  but  the  income  of  the  year,  from  that  source,  may 
now  be  safely  estimated  at  a  million  and  a  half.  The  act  of  Congress  of 
18th  May,  1824,  to  provide  for  the  extinguishment  of  the  debt  due  to  the 
United  States  by  the  purchasers  of  public  lands,  was  limited,  in  its  opera- 
tion of  relief  to  the  purchaser,  to  the  10th  of  April  last.  Its  effect  at  the 
end  of  the  quarter  during  which  it  expired,  was  to  reduce  that  debt  from 
ten  to  seven  millions.  By  the  operation  of  similar  prior  laws  of  relief, 
from  and  since  that  of  2d  March,  1821,  the  debt  had  been  reduced  from 
upward  of  twenty-two  millions  to  ten.  It  is  exceedingly  desirable  that  it 
should  be  extinguished  altogether ;  and  to  facilitate  that  consummation,  1 
recommend  to  Congress  the  revival,  for  one  year  more,  of  the  act  of  1 8th 
May,  1824,  with  such  provisional  modification  as  may  be  necessary  to 
guard  the  public  interests  against  fraudulent  practices  in  the  resale  of  the 
relinquished  land.  The  purchasers  of  public  lands  are  among  the  most 
useful  of  our  fellow-citizens  ;  and,  since  the  system  of  sales  for  cash  alone 
has  been  introduced,  great  indulgence  has  been  justly  extended  to  those 
who  had  previously  purchased  upon  credit.  The  debt  which  had  been 
contracted  under  the  credit  sales  had  become  unwieldy,  and  its  extinction 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  585 

was  alike  advantageous  to  the  purchaser  and  the  public.  Under  the  sys- 
tem of  sales,  matured  as  it  has  been  by  experience,  and  adapted  to  the 
exigencies  of  the  times,  the  lands  will  continue  as  they  have  become,  an 
abundant  source  of  revenue ;  and  when  the  pledge  of  them  to  the  public 
creditor  shall  be  redeemed  by  the  entire  discharge  of  the  national  debt,  the 
swelling  tide  of  wealth  with  which  they  replenish  the  common  treasury 
may  be  made  to  reflow,  in  unfailing  streams  of  improvement,  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  ocean. 

The  condition  of  the  various  branches  of  the  public  service  resulting 
from  the  department  of  war,  and  their  administration  during  the  current 
year,  will  be  exhibited  in  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  war,  and  the  ac- 
companying documents  herewith  communicated.  The  organization  and 
discipline  of  the  army  are  effective  and  satisfactory.  To  counteract  the 
prevalence  of  desertion  among  the  troops,  it  has  been  suggested  to  withhold 
from  the  men  a  small  portion  of  their  monthly  pay,  until  the  period  of  their 
discharge ;  and  some  expedient  appears  to  be  necessary,  to  preserve  and 
maintain  among  the  officers  so  much  of  the  art  of  horsemanship  as  could 
scarcely  fail  to  be  found  wanting  on  the  possibly  sudden  eruption  of  a  war, 
which  should  overtake  us  unprovided  with  a  single  corps  of  cavalry.  The 
military  academy  at  West  Point,  under  the  restrictions  of  a  severe  but  pa- 
ternal superintendence,  recommends  itself  more  and  more  to  the  patronage 
of  the  nation  ;  and  the  number  of  meritorious  officers  which  it  forms  and 
introduces  to  the  public  service,  furnishes  the  means  of  multiplying  the 
undertaking  of  public  improvements,  to  which  their  acquirements  at  that 
institution  are  peculiarly  adapted.  The  school  of  artillery  practice,  estab- 
lished at  Fortress  Monroe,  is  well  suited  to  the  same  purpose,  and  may  need 
the  aid  of  further  legislative  provisions  to  the  same  end.  The  report  from 
the  various  officers  at  the  head  of  the  administrative  branches  of  the  military 
service,  connected  with  the  quartering,  clothing,  subsistence,  health,  and  pay 
of  the  army,  exhibit  the  assiduous  vigilance  of  those  officers  in  the  perform- 
ance of  their  respective  duties,  and  the  faithful  accountability  which  has 
pervaded  every  part  of  the  system. 

Our  relations  with  the  numerous  tribes  of  aboriginal  natives  of  this  coun- 
try, scattered  over  its  extensive  surface,  and  so  dependent,  even  for  their 
existence,  upon  our  power,  have  been  during  the  present  year  highly  inte- 
resting. An  act  of  Congress  of  the  25th  of  May,  1824,  made  an  appropria- 
tion to  defray  the  expenses  of  making  treaties  of  trade  and  friendship  with 
the  Indian  tribes  beyond  the  Mississippi.  An  act  of  the  3d  of  March,  1825, 
authorized  treaties  to  be  made  with  the  Indians  for  their  consent  to  the 
making  of  a  road  from  the  frontier  of  Missouri  to  that  of  New  Mexico. 
And  another  act,  of  the  same  date,  providing  for  defraying  the  expenses  of 
holding  treaties  with  the  Sioux,  Chippewus,  Menomonees,  Sacs,  Foxes, 
<fec.,  for  the  purposeof  establishing  boundaries  and  promoting  peace  between 
said  tribes.  The  first  and  the  last  objects  of  these  acts  have  been  accom- 
plished ;  and  the  second  is  yet  in  process  of  execution.  The  treaties  which, 
since  the  last  session  of  Congress,  have  been  concluded  with  the  several 
tribes,  will  be  laid  before  the  senate  for  their  consideration,  conformably  to 
the  constitution.  They  comprise  large  and  valuable  acquisitions  of  terri- 
tory, and  they  secure  an  adjustment  of  boundaries  and  give  pledges  ot 
jKjrmanent  peace  between  several  tribes  which  had  been  long  waging 
bloody  war  against  each  other. 

On  the  12th  of  February  last,  a  treaty  was  signed  at  the  Indian  Springs, 
between  commissioners  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  and 


586  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

certain  chiefs  and  individuals  of  the  Creek  nation  of  Indians,  which  was 
received  at  the  seat  of  government  only  a  few  days  before  the  close  of  the 
last  session  of  Congress  and  of  the  late  administration.  The  advice  and  con- 
sent of  the  senate  was  given  to  it  on  the  3d  of  March,  too  late  for  it  to  re- 
ceive the  ratification  of  the  then  president  of  the  United  States  ;  it  was  rati- 
tied  on  the  7th  of  March,  under  the  unsuspecting  impression  that  it  had  been 
negotiated  in  good  faiih,  and  in  the  confidence  inspired  by  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  senate.  The  subsequent  transactions  in  relation  to  this  treaty 
will  form  the  subject  of  a  separate  message. 

The  appropriations  made  by  Congress  for  public  works,  as  well  in  the 
construction  of  fortifications  as  for  purposes  of  internal  improvement,  so  far 
as  they  have  "been  expended,  have  been  faithfully  applied.  Their  progress 
has  been  delayed  by  the  want  of  suitable  oflicers  for  superintending  them. 
An  increase  of  both  the  corps  of  engineers,  military  and  topographical,  was 
recommended  by  my  predecessor  at  the  last  session  of  Congress.  The 
reasons  upon  which  that  recommendation  was  founded  sybsist  in  all  their 
force,  and  have  acquired  additional  urgency  since  that  time.  It  may  also 
be  expedient  to  organize  the  topographical  engineers  into  a  corps  similar 
to  the  present  establishment  of  the  corps  of  engineers.  The  military 
academy  at  West  Point  will  furnish,  from  the  cadets  annually  graduated 
there,  officers  well  qualified  for  carrying  this  measure  into  effect. 

The  board  of  engineers  for  internal  improvement,  appointed  for  carrying 
into  execution  the  act  of  Congress  of  30th  April,  1824,  "  to  procure  the 
necessary  surveys,  plans,  and  estimates,  on  the  subject  of  roads  and  canals," 
have  been  actively  engaged  in  that  service  from  the  close  of  the  last  session 
of  Congress.  They  have  completed  the  surveys  necessary  for  ascertaining 
the  practicability  of  a  canal  from  the  Chesapeake  bay  to  the  Ohio  river,  and 
are  preparing  a  full  report  on  that  subject,  which,  when  completed,  will  be 
laid  before  you.  The  same  observation  is  to  be  made  with  regard  to  the  two 
other  objects  of  great  national  importance,  upon  which  the  board  have  been 
occupied  ;  namely,  the  accomplishment  of  a  national  road  from  this  city  to 
New  Orleans,  and  the  practicability  of  uniting  the  waters  of  Lake  Mem- 
phremagog  with  Connecticut  river,  and  the  improvement  of  the  navigation 
of  that  river.  The  surveys  have  been  made,  and  are  nearly  completed. 
The  report  may  be  expected  at  an  early  period  during  the  present  session 
of  Congress. 

The  acts  of  Congress  of  the  last  session,  relative  to  the  surveying,  mark- 
ing, or  laying  out  roads  in  the  territories  of  Florida,  Arkansas,  and  Michi- 
gan, from  Missouri  to  Mexico,  arid  for  the  continuation  of  the  Cumberland 
road,  are,  some  of  them,  fully  executed,  and  others  in  the  process  of  execu- 
tion. Those  for  completing  or  commencing  fortifications  have  been  delayed 
only  so  far  as  the  corps  of  engineers  has  been  inadequate  to  furnish  officers 
for  the  necessary  superintendence  of  the  works.  Under  the  act  confirm- 
ing the  statutes  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  incorporating  the  Chesapeake 
and  Ohio  canal  company,  three  commissioners  on'  the  part  of  the  United 
States  have  been  appointed  for  opening  books  and  receiving  subscriptions, 
in  concert  with  a  like  number  of  commissioners  appointed  on  the  part  of 
each  of  those  slates.  A  meeting  of  the  commissioners  has  been  postponed, 
to  await  the  definitive  report  of  the  board  of  engineers.  The  lighthouses 
and  monuments  for  the  safety  of  our  commerce  and  mariners  ;  the  works 
for  the  security  of  Plymouth  beach,  and  for  the  preservation  of  the  islands 
in  Boston  harbor,  have  received  the  attention  required  by  the  laws  relating 
to  those  objects  respectively.  The  continuation  of  the  Cumberland  road, 


JOHN   Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  587 

the  most  important  of  them  all,  after  surmounting  no  inconsiderable  difficulty 
in  fixing  upon  the  direction  of  the  road,  has  commenced  under  the  most 
promising  auspices,  with  the  improvements  of  recent  invention  in  the  mode 
of  construction,  and  with  the  advantage  of  a  great  reduction  in  the  com- 
parative cost  of  the  work. 

The  operation  of  the  laws  relating  to  the  revolutionary  pensioners  may 
deserve  the  renewed  consideration  of  Congress.  The  act  of  18th  March, 
1818,  while  it  made  provision  for  many  meritorious  and  indigent  citizens 
who  had  served  in  the  war  of  independence,  opened  a  door  to  numerous 
abuses  and  impositions.  To  remedy  this,  the  act  of  1st  May,  1820,  exacted 
proofs  of  absolute  indigence,  which  many  really  in  want  were  unable,  and 
all,  susceptible  of  that  delicacy  which  is  allied  to  many  virtues,  must  be 
deeply  reluctant  to  give.  The  result  has  been,  that  some  among  the  least 
deserving  have  been  retained,  and  some  in  whom  the  requisites  both  of 
worth  and  want  were  combined,  have  been  stricken  from  the  list.  As  the 
numbers  of  these  venerable  relics  of  an  age  gone  by  diminish  ;  as  the  decays 
of  body,  mind,  and  estate,  of  those  that  survive  must,  in  the  common  course 
of  nature,  increase  ;  should  not  a  more  liberal  portion  of  indulgence  be  dealt 
out  to  them  ?  May  not  the  want  in  most  instances  be  inferred  from  the  de- 
mand, when  the  service  can  be  duly  proved  ;  and  may  not  the  last  days  of 
human  infirmity  be  spared  the  mortification  of  purchasing  a  pittance  of  re- 
lief only  by  the  exposure  of  its  own  necessities  ?  1  submit  to  Congress 
the  expediency  either  of  providing  for  individual  cases  of  this  description, 
by  special  enactment,  or  of  revising  the  act  of  the  1st  of  May,  1820,  with 
a  view  to  mitigate  the  rigor  of  its  exclusions,  in  favor  of  persons  to  whom 
charity,  now  bestowed,  can  scarcely  discharge  the  debt  of  justice. 

The  portion  of  the  naval  force  of  the  Union  in  actual  service  has  been 
chiefly  employed  on  three  stations  :  the  Mediterranean,  the  coasts  of  South 
America  bordering  on  the  Pacific  ocean,  and  the  West  Indies.  An  occa- 
sional cruiser  has  been  sent  to  range  along  the  African  shores  most  pollu- 
ted by  the  traffic  of  slaves ;  one  armed  vessel  has  been  stationed  on  the 
coast  of  our  eastern  boundary,  to  cruise  along  the  fishing  grounds  in  Hud- 
son's bay,  and  on  the  coast  of  Labrador ;  and  the  first  service  of  a  new 
frigate  has  been  performed,  in  restoring  to  his  native  soil,  and  domestic 
enjoyments,  the  veteran  hero  whose  youthful  blood  and  treasure  had  freely 
flowed  in  the  cause  of  our  country's  independence,  and  whose  whole  life 
has  been  a  series  of  services  and  sacrifices  to  the  improvement  of  his 
fellow-men.  The  visit  of  General  Lafayette,  alike  honorable  to  himself 
and  to  our  country,  closed,  as  it  had  commenced,  with  the  most  affecting 
testimonials  of  devoted  attachment  on  his  part,  and  of  unbounded  gratitude 
of  this  people  to  him  in  return.  It  will  form,  hereafter,  a  pleasing  incident 
in  the  annals  of  our  Union,  giving  to  real  history  the  intense  intere'st  of 
romance,  and  signally  marking  the  unpurchasable  tribute  of  a  great  na- 
tion's social  affections  to  the  disinterested  champion  of  the  liberties  of 
human  kind. 

The  constant  maintenance  of  a  small  squadron  in  the  Mediterranean  is  a 
necessary  substitute  for  the  humiliating  alternative  of  paying  tribute  for  the 
security  of  our  commerce  in  that  se«i,  and  for  a  precarious  peace,  at  the  mercy 
of  every  caprice  of  four  Barbary  states,  by  whom  it  was  liable  to  be  viola- 
ted. An  additional  motive  for  keeping  a  respectable  force  stationed  there 
at  this  time,  is  found  in  the  maritime  war  raging  between  the  Greeks  and 
the  Turks  ;  and  in  which  the  neutral  navigation  of  this  Union  is  always 
in  danger  of  outrage  and  depredation.  A  lew  instances  havo  occurred  of 


588  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

such  depredations  upon  our  merchant  vessels  by  privateers  or  pirates 
wearing  the  Grecian  flag,  but  without  real  authority  from  the  Greek  or  any 
other  government.  The  heroic  struggles  of  the  Greeks  themselves,  in 
which  our  warmest  sympathies  as  freemen  and  Christians  have  been  en- 
gaged, have  continued  to  be  maintained  with  vicissitudes  of  success  adverse 
and  favorable. 

Similar  motives  have  rendered  expedient  the  keeping  of  a  like  force  on 
the  coasts  of  Peru  and  Chili,  on  the  Pacific.  The  irregular  and  convulsive 
character  of  the  war  upon  the  shores  has  been  extended  to  the  conflicts  upon 
the  ocean.  An  active  warfare  has  been  kept  up  for  years,  with  alternate 
success,  though  generally  to  the  advantage  of  the  American  patriots.  But 
their  naval  forces  have  not  always  been  under  the  control  of  their  own  gov- 
ernments. Blockades,  unjustifiable  upon  any  acknowledged  principles  of 
international  law,  have  been  proclaimed  by  officers  in  command  ;  and  though 
disavowed  by  the  supreme  authorities,  the  protection  of  our  own  commerce 
against  them  has  been  made  cause  of  complaint  and  of  erroneous  imputations 
against  some  of  the  most  gallant  officers  of  our  navy.  Complaints  equally 
groundless  have  been  made  by  the  commanders  of  the  Spanish  royal  force* 
in  those  seas  ;  but  the  most  effective  protection  to  our  commerce  has  been 
the  flag,  and  the  firmness  of  our  own  commanding  officers.  The  cessation 
of  the  war,  by  the  complete  triumph  of  the  patriot  cause,  has  removed,  it- 
is  hoped,  all  cause  of  dissension  with  one  party,  and  all  vestige  of  force  of 
the  other.  But  an  unsettled  coast  of  many  degrees  of  latitude,  forming  a 
part  of  our  own  territory,  and  a  flourishing  commerce  and  fishery,  extending 
to  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  and  to  China,  still  require  that  the  protecting 
power  of  the  Union  should  be  displayed  under  its  flag,  as  well  upon  the 
ocean  as  upon  the  land. 

The  objects  of  the  West  India  squadron  have  been, to  carry  into  execution 
the  laws  for  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave-trade ;  for  the  protectioi 
of  our  commerce  against  vessels  of  piratical  character,  though  bearing  com- 
missions from  either  of  the  belligerent  parties  ;  for  its  protection  against 
open  and  unequivocal  pirates.  These  objects,  during  the  present  year, 
have  been  accomplished  more  effectually  than  at  any  former  period.  The 
African  slave-trade  has  long  been  excluded  from  the  use  of  our  flag ;  and 
if  some  few  citizens  of  our  country  have  continued  to  set  the  laws  of  the 
Union,  as  well  as  those  of  nature  and  humanity,  at  defiance,  by  persevering 
in  that  abominable  traffic,  it  has  been  only  by  sheltering  themselves  under 
the  banners  of  other  nations,  less  earnest  for  the  total  extinction  of  the  trade 
than  ours.  The  irregular  privateers  have,  within  the  last  year,  been  in  a 
great  measure  banished  from  those  seas  ;  and  the  pirates,  for  months  past, 
appear  to  have  been  almost  entirely  swept  away  from  the  borders  and  the 
shores  of  the  two  Spanish  islands  in  those  regions.  The  active,  perseve- 
ring, and  unremitted  energy  of  Captain  Warrington,  and  of  the  officers  and 
men  under  his  command,  on  that  trying  and  perilous  service,  have  been 
crowned  with  signal  success,  and  are  entitled  to  the  approbation  of  their 
country.  But  experience  has  shown  that  not  even  a  temporary  suspension 
or  relaxation  from  assiduity  can  be  indulged  on  that  station  without  repro- 
ducing piracy  and  murder  in  all  their  hprrors  ;  nor  is  it  probable  that,  for 
years  to  come,  our  immensely  valuable  commerce  in  those  seas  can  navigate 
in  security,  without  the  steady  continuance  of  an  armed  force  devoted  to  its 
protection. 

It  were  indeed  a  vain  and  dangerous  illusion  to  belie  VL-.  that  in  the  present 
or  probable  condition  of  human  society,  a  commerce  so  extensive  and  so 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  589 

rich  as  ours  could  exist  and  be  pursued  in  safety,  without  the  continual 
support  of  a  military  marine — the  only  arm  by  which  the  power  of  this 
confederacy  can  be  estimated  or  felt  by  foreign  nations,  and  the  only 
standing  military  force  which  can  never  be  dangerous  to  our  own  liberties 
at  home.  A  permanent  naval  peace  establishment,  therefore,  adapted  to 
our  present  condition,  and  adaptable  to  that  gigantic  growth  with  which 
the  nation  is  advancing  in  its  career,  is  among  the  subjects  which  have 
already  occupied  the  foresight  of  the  last  Congress,  and  which  will  deserve 
your  serious  deliberations.  Our  navy,  commenced  at  an  early  period  of 
our  present  political  organization  upon  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  in- 
cipient energies,  the  scanty  resources,  and  the  cqmparative  indigence  of 
our  infancy,  was  even  then  found  adequate  to  cope  with  all  the  powers  of 
Barbary,  save  the  first,  and  with  one  of  the  principal  maritime  powers  of 
Europe. 

At  a  period  of  further  advancement,  but  with  little  accession  of  strength, 
it  not  only  sustained  with  honor  the  most  unequal  of  conflicts,  but  covered 
itself  and  our  country  with  unfading  glory.  But  it  is  only  since  the  close 
of  the  late  war  that,  by  the  numbers  and  force  of  the  ships  of  which  it  was 
composed,  it  could  deserve  the  name  of  a  navy.  Yet  it  retains  nearly  the 
same  organization  as  when  it  consisted  only  of  five  frigates.  The  rules 
and  regulations  by  which  it  is  governed  earnestly  call  for  revision  ;  and  the 
want  of  a  naval  school  of  instruction,  corresponding  with  the  military 
academy  at  West  Point,  for  the  formation  of  scientific  and  accomplished 
officers,  is  felt  with  daily  increasing  aggravation. 

The  act  of  Congress,  of  26th  of  May,  1824,  authorizing  an  examination 
and  survey  of  the  harbor  of  Charleston  in  South  Carolina,  of  St.  Mary's  in 
Georgia,  and  of  the  coast  of  Florida,  and  for  other  purposes,  has  been  exe- 
cuted so  far  as  the  appropriation  would  admit.  Those  of  the  3d  of  March 
last,  authorizing  the  establishment  of  a  navy  yard  and  depot  on  the  coast 
of  Florida,  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  authorizing  the  building  of  ten  sloops- 
of-war,  and  for  other  purposes,  are  in  the  course  of  execution,  for  the 
particulars  of  which,  and  other  objects  connected  with  this  department,  I 
refer  to  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  navy  herewith  communicated. 

A  report  from  the  postmaster-general  is  also  submitted,  exhibiting  the 
present  flourishing  condition  of  that  department.  For  the  first  lime  for 
many  years,  the  receipts  for  the  year  ending  on  the  first  of  July  last,  ex- 
ceeded the  expenditures  during  the  same  period,  to  the  amount  of  more 
than  forty-five  thousand  dollars.  Other  facts,  equally  creditable  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  department,  are,  that  in  two  years  from  the  first  of  July, 
1823,  an  improvement  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand 
dollars,  in  its  pecuniary  affairs,  has  been  realized  ;  that,  in  the  same  inter- 
val, the  increase  of  the  transportation  of  the  mail  has  exceeded  one  million 
five  hundred  thousand  miles  annually ;  and  that  one  thousand  and  forty 
new  postoflices  have  been  established.  It  hence  appears,  that  under 
judicious  management,  the  income  from  this  establishment  may  be  relied 
on  as  fully  adequate  to  defray  its  expenses  ;  and  that,  by  the  discontinu- 
ance of  postroads,  altogether  unproductive,  others  of  more  useful  character 
may  be  opened,  till  the  circulation  of  the  mail  shall  keep  pace  with  the 
spread  of  our  population,  and  the  comforts  of  friendly  correspondence,  the 
exchanges  of  internal  traffic,  and  the  lights  of  the  periodical  press,  shall  be 
distributed  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  Union,  at  a  charge  scarcely 
perceptible  to  any  individual,  and  without  the  cost  of  a  dollar  to  the  pub- 
lic treasury. 


590  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

Upon  this  first  occasion  of  addressing  the  legislature  of  the  Union,  with 
which  I  have  boon  honored,  in  presenting  to  their  view  the  execution,  so 
far  as  it  has  been  effected,  of  the  measures  sanctioned  by  them,  for  promo- 
ting the  internal  improvement  of  our  country,  I  can  not  close  the  communi- 
cation without  recommending  to  their  calm  and  persevering  consideration 
the  general  principle  in  a  more  enlarged  extent.  The  great  object  of  the 
institution  of  civil  government  is  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  those 
who  are  parties  to  the  social  compact.  And  no  government,  in  whatever 
form  constituted,  can  accomplish  the  lawful  ends  of  its  institution,  but  in 
proportion  as  it  improves  the  condition  of  those  over  whom  it  is  established. 
Roads  and  canals,  by  multiplying  and  facilitating  the  communications  and 
intercourse  between  distant  regions  and  multitudes  of  men,  are  among  the 
most  important  means  of  improvement.  But  moral,  political,  and  intel- 
lectual improvement  are  duties  assigned  by  the  Author  of  our  existence 
to  social,  no  less  than  to  individual  man.  For  the  fulfilment  of  those 
duties,  governments  are  invested  with  power  ;  and  to  the  attainment  of  the 
end,  the  progressive  improvement  of  the  condition  of  the  governed,  the 
exercise  of  delegated  powers,  is  a  duty  as  sacred  and  indispensable  as  the 
usurpation  of  powers  not  granted  is  criminal  and  odious.  Among  the  first, 
perhaps  the  very  first  instrument  for  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of 
men,  is  knowledge  ;  and  to  the  acquisition  of  much  of  the  knowledge 
adapted  to  the  wants,  the  comforts,  and  enjoyments  of  human  life,  public 
institutions  and  seminaries  of  learning  are  essential.  So  convinced  of  this 
was  the  first  of  my  predecessors  in  this  office,  now  first  in  the  memory,  as, 
living,  he  was  first  in  the  hearts  of  our  countrymen,  that  once  and  again,  in 
his  addresses  to  the  Congress  with  whom  he  co-operated  in  the  public 
service,  he  earnestly  recommended  the  establishment  of  seminaries  of 
learning,  to  prepare  for  all  the  emergencies  of  peace  and  war — a  national 
university,  and  a  military  academy.  With  respect  to  the  latter,  had  he 
lived  to  the  present  day,  in  turning  his  eyes  to  the  institution  at  West 
Point,  he  would  have  enjoyed  the  gratification  of  his  most  earnest  wishes. 
But,  in  surveying  the  city  which  has  been  honored  with  his  name,  he 
would  have  seen  the  spot  of  earth  which  he  had  destined  and  bequeathed 
to  the  use  and  benefit  of  his  country  as  the  site  for  a  university,  still 
bare  and  barren. 

In  assuming  her  station  among  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth,  it  would 
seem  that  our  country  had  contracted  the  engagement  to  contribute  her 
share  of  mind,  of  labor,  and  of  expense,  to  the  improvement  of  those  parts 
of  knowledge  which  lie  beyond  the  reach  of  individual  acquisition  ;  and 
particularly  to  geographical  and  astronomical  science.  Looking  back  to 
the  history  only  of  the  half  century  since  the  declaration  of  our  independ- 
ence, and  observing  the  generous  emulation  with  which  the  governments 
of  France,  Great  Britain,  and  Russia,  have  devoted  the  genius,  the  intelli- 
gence, the  treasures  of  their  respective  nations,  to  the  common  improve- 
ment of  the  species  in  these  branches  of  science,  is  it  not  incumbent  upon 
us  to  inquire  whether  we  are  not  bound  by  obligations  of  a  high  and  honor- 
able character  to  contribute  our  portion  of  energy  and  exertion  to  the  com- 
mon stock  ?  The  voyages  of  discovery  prosecuted  in  the  course  of  that 
time  at  the  expense  of  those  nations,  have  riot  only  redounded  to  their  glory, 
but  to  the  improvement  of  human  knowledge.  We  have  been  partakers  of 
that  improvement,  and  owe  for  it  a  sacred  debt,  not  only  of  gratitude,  but 
of  equal  or  proportional  exertion  in  the  same  common  cause.  Of  the  cost 
of  these  undertakings,  if  the  mere  expenditures  of  outfit,  equipment,  and 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  591 

completion  of  the  expeditions  were  to  be  considered  the  only  charges,  it 
would  be  unworthy  of  a  great  and  generous  nation  to  take  a  second 
thought.  One  hundred  expeditions  of  circumnavigation  like  those  of  Cook 
and  La  Perouse,  would  not  burden  the  exchequer  of  the  nation  fitting  them 
out,  so  much  as  the  ways  and  means  of  defraying  a  single  campaign  in 
war.  But  if  we  take  into  the  account  the  lives  of  those  benefactors  of 
mankind,  of  which  their  services  in  the  cause  of  their  species  were  the 
purchase,  how  shall  the  cost  of  those  heroic  enterprises  be  estimated  ? 
And  what  compensation  can  be  made  to  them,  or  to  their  countries  for 
them  ?  Is  it  not  by  bearing  them  in  affectionate  remembrance  ?  Is  it  not 
still  more  by  imitating  their  example — by  enabling  countrymen  of  our 
own  to  pursue  the  same  career,  and  to  hazard  their  lives  in  the  same  cause  ? 

In  inviting  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  subject  of  internal  improve- 
ments, upon  a  view  thus  enlarged,  it  is  not  my  design  to  recommend  the 
equipment  of  ah  expedition  for  circumnavigating  the  globe  for  purposes  of 
scientific  research  and  inquiry.  We  have  objects  of  useful  investigation 
nearer  home,  and  to  which  our  cares  may  be  more  beneficially  applied. 
The  interior  of  our  own  territories  has  yet  been  very  imperfectly  explored. 
Our  coasts,  along  many  degrees  of  latitude  upon  the  shores  of  the  Pacific 
ocean,  though  much  frequented  by  our  spirited  commercial  navigators,  have 
been  barely  visited  by  our  public  ships.  The  river  of  the  west,  first  fully 
discovered  and  navigated  by  a  countryman  of  our  own,  still  bears  the  name 
of  the  ship  in  which  he  ascended  its  waters,  and  claims  the  protection  of 
our  armed  national  flag  at  its  mouth.  With  the  establishment  of  a  military 
post  there,  or  at  some  other  point  of  that  coast,  recommended  by  my  pred- 
ecessor, and  already  matured,  in  the  deliberations  of  the  last  Congress.  I 
would  suggest  the  expediency  of  connecting  the  equipment  of  a  public  ship 
for  the  exploration  of  the  whole  northwest  coast  of  this  continent. 

The  establishment  of  a  uniform  standard  of  weights  and  measures  was 
one  of  the  specific  objects  contemplated  in  the  formation  of  our  constitution  ; 
and  to  fix  that  standard" was  one  of  the  powers  delegated  by  express  terms, 
in  that  instrument  to  Congress.  The  governments  of  Great  Britain  and 
France  have  scarcely  ceased  to  be  occupied  with  inquiries  and  speculations 
on  the  same  subject  since  the  existence  of  our  constitution  ;  and  with  them 
it  has  expanded  into  profound,  laborious,  and  expensive  researches  into  the 
figure  of  the  earth,  and  the  comparative  length  of  the  pendulum  vibrating 
seconds  in  various  latitudes,  from  the  equator  to  the  pole.  These  re- 
searches have  resulted  in  the  composition  and  publication  of  several  works 
highly  interesting  to  the  cause  of  science.  The  experiments  are  yet  in  the 
process  of  performance.  Some  of  them  have  recently  been  made  on  <Tur 
own  shores,  within  the  walls  of  one  of  our  own  colleges,  and  partly  by  one 
of  our  own  fellow-citizens.  It  would  be  honorable  to  our  country  if  the 
sequel  of  the  same  experiments  should  be  countenanced  by  the  patronage 
of  our  government,  as  they  have  hitherto  been  by  those  of  France  and 
Great  Britain. 

Connected  with  the  establishment  of  a  university,  or  separate  from  it, 
might  be  undertaken  the  erection  of  an  astronomical  observatory,  with  pro- 
vision lor  the  support  of  an  astronomer,  to  be  in  constant  attendance  of  ob- 
servation upon  the  phenomena  of  the  heavens  ;  and  for  the  periodical  pub- 
lication of  his  observations.  It  is  with  no  feeling  of  pride,  as  an  American, 
that  the  remark  may  be  made  that,  on  the  comparatively  small  territorial 
surface  of  Kurope,  there  are  existing  upward  of  one  hundred  and  thiriy  of 
these  lighthouses  of  the  skies;  while  throughout  the  whole  American 


592  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

hemisphere  there  is  not  one.  If  we  reflect  a  moment  upon  the  discoveries 
which,  in  the  last  four  centuries,  have  been  made  in  the  physical  constitu 
lion  of  the  universe,  by  the  means  of  these  buildings,  and  of  observers  sta- 
tioned in  them,  shall  we  doubf  of  their  usefulness  to  every  nation  ?  Ami 
while  scarcely  a  year  passes  over  our  heads  without  bringing  some  new 
astronomical  discovery  to  light,  which  we  must  fain  receive  at  second-hand 
from  Europe,  are  we  not  cutting  ourselves  off  from  the  means  of  returning 
light  for  light,  while  we  have  neither  observatory  nor  observer  upon  our 
half  of  the  globe,  and  the  earth  revolves  in  perpetual  darkness  to  our  un- 
searching  eyes  ? 

When,  on  the  25th  of  October,  1791,  the  first  president  of  the  United 
States  announced  to  Congress  the  result  of  the  first  enumeration  of  the  in- 
habitants of  this  Union,  he  informed  them  that  the  returns  gave  the  pleas- 
ing assurance  that  the  population  of  the  United  States  bordered  on  four 
millions  of  persons.  At  the  distance  of  thirty  years  from  that  time,  the  last 
enumeration,  five  years  since  completed,  presented  a  population  bordering 
on  ten  millions.  Perhaps  of  all  the  evidences  of  a  prosperous  and  happy 
condition  of  human  society,  the  rapidity  of  the  increase  of  population  is  the 
most  unequivocal.  But  the  demonstration  of  our  prosperity  rests  not  alone 
upon  this  indication.  Our  commerce,  our  wealth,  and  the  extent  of  our 
territories,  have  increased  in  corresponding  proportions  ;  and  the  number  of 
independent  communities,  associated  in  our  federal  Union,  has  since  that 
time  nearly  doubled.  The  legislative  representation  of  the  states  and  peo- 
ple, in  the  two  houses  of  Congress,  has  grown  with  the  growth  of  their 
constituent  bodies.  The  house,  which  then  consisted  of  sixty-five  mem- 
bers, now  numbers  upward  of  two  hundred.  The  senate,  which  consisted 
of  twenty-six  members,  has  now  forty-eight.  But  the  executive,  and  still 
more,  the  judiciary  departments,  are  yet,  in  a  great  measure,  confined  to 
their  primitive  organization,  and  are  now  not  adequate  to  the  urgent  wants 
of  a  still  growing  community. 

The  naval  armaments,  which  at  an  early  period  forced  themselves  upon 
the  necessities  of  the  Union,  soon  led  to  the  establishment  of  a  department 
of  the  navy.  But  the  departments  of  foreign  affairs,  and  of  the  interior, 
which,  early  after  the  formation  of  the  government  had  been  united  in 
one,  continue  so  united  at  this  time,  to  the  unquestionable  detriment  of 
the  public  service.  The  multiplication  of  our  relations  with  the  nations 
and  governments  of  the  old  world  has  kept  pace  with  that  of  our  popula- 
tion and  commerce,  while,  within  the  last  ten  years,  a  new  family  of  na- 
tions, in  our  own  hemisphere,  has  arisen  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth, 
with  whom  our  intercourse,  commercial  and  political,  would  of  itself  fur- 
nish occupation  to  an  active  and  industrious  department.  The  constitution 
of  the  judiciary,  experimental  and  imperfect  as  it  was,  even  in  the  infancy 
of  our  existing  government,  is  yet  more  inadequate  to  the  administration 
of  national  justice  at  our  present  maturity.  Nine  years  have  elapsed  since 
a  predecessor  in  this  office,  now  not  the  last,  the  citizen  who,  perhaps,  of 
all  others  throughout  the  Union,  contributed  most  to  the  formation  and 
establishment  of  our  constitution,  in  his  valedictory  address  to  Congress, 
immediately  preceding  his  retirement  from  public  life,  urgently  recom- 
mended the  revision  of  the  judiciary,  and  the  establishment  of  an  addi- 
tional executive  department.  The  exigencies  of  the  public  service  and  its 
unavoidable  deficiencies,  as  now  in  exercise,  have  added  yearly  cumulative 
weight  to  the  considerations  presented  by  him  as  persuasive  to  the  measure  . 
and  in  recommending  it  to  your  deliberations,  I  am  happy  to  have  the  in- 


JOHN    Q.    ADAMS  S    FIRST    ANNUAL    MESSAGE.  593 

fluence  of  his  high  authority,  in  aid  of  the  undoubting  convictions  of  my 
own  experience. 

The  laws  relating  to  the  administration  of  the  patent  office  are  deser- 
ving much  consideration,  and  perhaps  susceptible  of  some  improvement. 
The  grant  of  power  to  regulate  the  action  of  Congress  on  this  subject,  has 
specified  both  the  end  to  be  attained  and  the  means  by  which  it  is  to  be 
effected,  "  to  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  of  useful  arts,  by  securing, 
for  limited  times,  to  authors  and  inventors  the  exclusive  right  to  their  re- 
spective writings  and  discoveries."  If  an  honest  pride  might  be  indulged  in 
the  reflection,  that  ou  the  records  of  the  office  are  already  found  inventions 
the  usefulness  of  which  has  scarcely  been  transcended  in  the  annals  of 
human  ingenuity,  would  not  its  exultation  be  allayed  by  the  inquiry,  whethei 
the  laws  have  effectually  insured  to  the  inventors  the  reward  destined  to 
them  by  the  constitution — even  a  limited  term  of  exclusive  right  to  their 
discoveries  ? 

On  the  24th  of  December,  1799,  it  was  resolved  by  Congress,  that  a 
marble  monument  should  be  erected  by  the  United  States,  in  the  capitol,  at 
the  city  of  Washington  ;  that  the  family  of  General  Washington  should  be 
requested  to  permit  his  body  to  be  deposited  under  it ;  and  that  the  monu- 
ment be  so  designed  as  to  commemorate  the  great  events  of  his  military  and 
political  life.  In  reminding  Congress  of  this  resolution,  and  that  the  monu- 
ment contemplated  by  it  remains  yet  without  execution,  I  shall  indulge 
only  the  remarks,  that  the  works  in  the  capitol  are  approaching  to  com- 
pletion ;  that  the  consent  of  the  family,  desired  by  the  resolution,  was  re- 
quested and  obtained  ;  that  a  monument  has  been  recently  erected  in  this 
city,  at  the  expense  of  the  nation,  over  the  remains-of  another  distinguished 
patriot  of  the  revolution  ;  and  that  a  spot  has  been  reserved  within  the  walls 
where  you  are  deliberating  for  the  benefit  of  this  and  future  ages,  in  which 
the  mortal  remains  may  be  deposited  of  him  whose  spirit  hovers  over  you, 
and  listens  with  delight  to  every  act  of  the  representatives  of  his  nation 
which  can  tend  to  exalt  and  adorn  his  and  their  country. 

The  constitution  under  which  you  are  assembled  is  a  charter  of  limited 
powers.  After  full  and  solemn  deliberations  upon  all  or  any  of  the  objects 
which,  urged  by  an  irresistible  sense  of  my  own  duty,  I  have  recommended 
to  your  attention,  should  you  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  however  desirable 
in  themselves,  the  enactment  of  laws  for  effecting  them  would  transcend 
the  powers  committed  to  you  by  that  venerable  instrument  which  we  are 
all  bound  to  support,  let  no  consideration  induce  you  to  assume  the  exercise 
of  powers  not  granted  to  you  by  the  people.  But  if  the  power  to  exercise 
exclusive  legislation,' in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia ;  if  the  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  to 
pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare  of 
the  United  States  ;  if  the  power  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations, 
and  among  the  several  states,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes  ;  to  fix  the  standard 
of  weights  and  measures ;  to  establish  postoffices  and  postroads ;  to  declare 
war  ;  to  raise  and  support  armies  ;  to  provide  and  maintain  a  navy  ;  to  dis- 
pose of  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory 
or  other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States ;  and  to  make  all  laws 
which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  these  powers  into  execu- 
tion— if  these  powers,  and  others  enumerated  in  the  constitution,  may  be 
effectually  brought  into  action  by  laws  promoting  the  improvement  of  agri- 
culture, commerce,  and  manufactures,  the  cultivation  and  encouragement 
i  »f  the  mechanic  and  of  the  elegant  arts,  the  advancement  of  literature,  and 

VOL.   I.— 38 


594  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

the  progress  of  the  sciences,  ornamental  and  profound  ;  to  refrain  from  ex- 
ercising them  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  themselves,  would  be  to  hide  in 
the  earth  the  talent  committed  to  our  charge — would  be  treachery  to  the 
most  sacred  of  trusts. 

The  spirit  of  improvement  is  abroad  upon  the  earth.  It  stimulates  the 
hearts  and  sharpens  the  faculties,  not  of  our  fellow-citizens  alone,  but  of  the 
nations  of  Europe,  and  of  their  rulers.  While  dwelling  with  pleasing 
satisfaction  upon  the  superior  excellence  of  our  political  institutions,  let  us 
not  be  unmindful  that  liberty  is  power  ;  that  the  nation  blessed  with  the 
largest  portion  of  liberty  must,  in  proportion  to  its  numbers,  be  the  most 
powerful  nation  upon  earth  ;  and  that  the  tenure  of  power  by  man  is,  in  the 
moral  purposes  of  his  Creator,  upon  condition  that  it  shall  be  exercised  to 
ends  of  beneficence,  to  improve  the  condition  of  himself  and  his  fellow-men. 
While  foreign  nations,  less  blessed  with  that  freedom  which  is  power  than 
ourselves,  are  advancing  with  gigantic  strides  in  the  career  of  public  im- 
provement, were  we  to  slumber  in  indolence,  or  fold  up  our  arms  and 
proclaim  to  the  world  that  we  are  palsied  by  the  will  of  our  constituents, 
would  it  not  be  to  cast  away  the  bounties  of  Providence,  and  doom  ourselves 
to  perpetual  inferiority  ?  In  the  course  of  the  year  now  drawing  to  its  close, 
we  have  beheld,  under  the  auspices  and  at  the  expense  of  one  state  of  this 
Union,  a  new  university  unfolding  its  portals  to  the  sons  of  science,  and 
holding  up  the  torch  of  human  improvement  to  eyes  that  seek  the  light. 
We  have  seen,  under  the  persevering  and  enlightened  enterprise  of  another 
state,  the  waters  of  our  western  lakes  mingle  with  those  of  the  ocean.  If 
undertakings  like  these  have  been  accomplished  in  the  compass  of  a  few 
years,  by  the  authority  of  single  members  of  our  confederation,  can  we,  the 
representative  authorities  of  the  whole  Union,  fall  behind  our  fellow-ser- 
vants in  the  exercise  of  the  trust  committed  to  us  for  the  benefit  of  our 
common  sovereign,  by  the  accomplishment  of  works  important  to  the  whole, 
and  to  which  neither  the  authority  nor  the  resources  of  any  one  state  can 
be  adequate  ? 

Finally,  fellow-citizens,  I  shall  await  with  cheering  hope,  and  faithful 
co-operation,  the  result  of  your  deliberations  ;  assured  that,  without  en- 
croaching upon  the  powers  reserved  to  the  authorities  of  the  respective 
states,  or  to  the  people,  you  will,  with  a  due  sense  of  your  obligations  to 
your  country,  and  of  the  high  responsibilities  weighing  upon  yourselves, 
give  efficacy  to  the  means  committed  to  you  for  the  common  good.  And 
may  He  who  searches  the  hearts  of  the  children  of  men,  prosper  your  exer- 
tions to  secure  the  blessings  of  peace,  and  promote  the  highest  welfare  of 
our  country. 


SECOND    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  9,  1826. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

THE  assemblage  of  the  representatives  of  our  Union  in  both  houses  of 
Congress  at  this  time,  occurs  under  circumstances  calling  for  the  renewed 
homage  of  our  grateful  acknowledgments  to  the  Giver  of  all  good.  With 
the  exceptions  incidental  to  the  most  felicitous  conditiou  of  human  existence, 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNDAL  MESSAGE.  595 

we  continue  to  be  highly  favored  in  all  the  elements  which  contribute  to 
individual  comfort  and  to  national  prosperity.  In  the  survey  of  our  exten- 
sive country,  we  are  generally  to  observe  abodes  of  health  and  regions  of 
plenty.  In  our  civil  and  political  relations,  we  have  peace  without,  and 
tranquillity  within  our  borders.  We  are,  as  a  people,  increasing  with  una- 
bated rapidity  in  population,  wealth,  and  national  resources  ;  and,  whatever 
differences  of  opinion  exist  among  us  with  regard  to  the  mode  and  the  means 
by  which  we  shall  turn  the  beneficence  of  Heaven  to  the  improvement  of 
our  own  condition,  there  is  yet  a  spirit  animating  us  all.  which  will  not 
suffer  the  bounties  of  Providence  to  be  showered  upon  us  in  vain,  but  will 
receive  them  with  grateful  hearts,  and  apply  them  with  unwearied  hands  to 
the  advancement  of  the  general  good. 

Of  the  subjects  recommended  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  at  their 
last  session,  some  were  then  definitely  acted  upon.  Others  left  unfinished, 
but  partly  matured,  will  recur  to  your  attention,  without  needing  a  renewal 
of  notice  from  me.  The  purpose  of  this  communication  will  be  to  present 
to  your  view  the  general  aspect  of  our  public  affairs  at  this  moment,  and 
the  measures  which  have  been  taken  to  carry  into  effect  the  intentions  of 
the  legislature  as  signified  by  the  laws  then  and  heretofore  enacted. 

In  our  intercourse  with  the  other  nations  of  the  earth,  we  have  still  the 
happiness  of  enjoying  peace  and  a  general  good  understanding ;  qualified, 
however,  in  several  important  instances,  by  collisions  of  interest,  and  by 
unsatisfied  claims  of  justice,  to  the  settlement  of  which  the  constitutional 
interposition  of  the  legislative  authority  may  become  ultimately  indis- 
pensable. 

By  the  decease  of  the  emperor  Alexander  of  Russia,  which  occurred 
cotemporaneously  with  the  commencement  of  the  last  session  of  Congress, 
the  United  States  have  been  deprived  of  a  long-tried,  steady,  and  faithful 
friend.  Born  to  the  inheritance  of  absolute  power,  and  trained  in  the  school 
of  adversity,  from  which  no  power  on  earth,  however  absolute,  is  exempt, 
that  monarch,  from  his  youth  had  been  taught  to  feel  the  force  and  value  of 
public  opinion,  and  to  be  sensible  that  the  interests  of  his  own  government 
would  be  best  promoted  by  a  frank  and  friendly  intercourse  with  this  re- 
public, as  those  of  his  people  would  be  advanced  by  a  liberal  commercial 
intercourse  with  our  country.  A  candid  and  confidential  interchange  of 
sentiments  between  him  and  the  government  of  the  United  States,  upon  the 
affairs  of  South  America,  took  place  at  a  period  not  long  preceding  his 
demise,  and  contributed  to  fix  that  course  of  policy  which  left  to  the  other 
governments  of  Europe  no  alternative  but  that  of  sooner  or  later  recogni- 
sing the  independence  of  our  southern  neighbors,  of  which  the  example 
had  by  the  United  States  already  been  set.  The  ordinary  diplomatic  com- 
munications between  his  successor,  the  emperor  Nicholas,  and  the  United 
States,  have  suffered  some  interruption  by  the  illness,  departure,  and  sub- 
sequent decease  of  his  minister  residing  here,  who  enjoyed,  as  he  merited, 
the  entire  confidence  of  his  new  sovereign,  as  he  had  eminently  responded 
to  that  of  his  predecessor.  But  we  have  had  the  most  satisfactory  assur- 
ances that  the  sentiments  of  the  reigning  emperor  toward  the  United  States 
are  altogether  conformable  to  those  which  had  so  long  and  constantly  ani- 
mated his  imperial  brother ;  and  we  have  reason  to  hope  that  they  will 
serve  to  cement  that  harmony  and  good  understanding  between  the  two 
nations  which,  founded  in  congenial  interests,  can  not  but  result  in  the 
advancement  of  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  both. 

Our  relations  of  commerce  and  navigation  with  France  are,  by  the  oper- 


596  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

rvtion  of  the  convention  of  24th  June,  1822,  with  that  nation,  in  a  state  of 
gradual  and  progressive  improvement.  Convinced  by  all  our  experience, 
no  less  than  by  the  principles  of  fair  and  liberal  reciprocity  which  the 
United  States  have  constantly  tendered  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  as  the 
rule  of  commercial  intercourse  which  they  would  universally  prefer,  that 
fair  and,  equal  competition  is  most  conducive  to  the  interests  of  both  parties, 
the  United  States,  in  the  negotiation  of  that  convention,  earnestly  contended 
for  u  mutual  renunciation  of  discriminating  duties  and  charges  in  the  ports 
of  the  two  countries.  Unable  to  obtain  the  immediate  recognition  of  this 
principle  in  its  full  extent,  after  reducing  the  duties  of  discrimination  so  far 
us  was  found  attainable,  it  was  agreed  that,  at  the  expiration  of  two  years 
from  the  first  of  October,  1822,  when  the  convention  was  logo  into  effect, 
unless  a  notice  of  six  months  on  either  side  should  be  given  to  the  other, 
that  the  convention  itself  must  terminate,  those  duties  should  be  reduced 
by  one  fourth,  and  that  this  reduction  should  be  yearly  repeated  until  all 
discrimination  should  cease  while  the  convention  itself  should  continue  in 
force.  By  the  effect  of  this  stipulation,  three  fourths  of  the  discriminating 
duties  which  had  been  levied  by  each  party,  upon  the  vessels  of  the  other 
in  its  ports,  have  alre'ady  been  removed ;  and  on  the  first  of  next  October, 
should  the  convention  be  still  in  force,  the  remaining  fourth  will  be  dis- 
continued. French  vessels,  laden  with  French  produce,  will  be  received 
in  our  ports  on  the  same  terms  as  our  own  ;  and  ours,  in  return,  will  enjoy 
the  same  advantages  in  the  ports  of  France. 

By  these  approximations  to  an  equality  of  duties  and  of  charges,  not  only 
has  the  commerce  between  the  two  countries  prospered,  but  friendly  dispo- 
sitions have  been  on  both  sides  encouraged  and  promoted.  They  will  con- 
tinue to  be  cherished  and  cultivated  on  the  part  of  the  United  States.  It 
would  have  been  gratifying  to  have  had  it  in  my  power  to  add,  that  the 
claims  upon  the  justice  of  the  French  government,  involving  the  property 
aud  the  comfortable  subsistence  of  many  of  our  fellow-citizens,  and  which 
kave  been  so  long  and  so  earnestly  urged,  were  in  a  more  promising  train 
of  adjustment  than  at  your  last  meeting ;  but  their  condition  remains  un- 
altered. 

With  the  government  of  the  Netherlands,  the  mutual  abandonment  of 
discriminating  duties  had  been  regulated  by  the  legislative  acts  on  both 
sides.  The  act  of  Congress  of  the  20th  of  April,  1818,  abolished  all  dis- 
criminating duties  of  impost  and  tonnage,  upon  the  vessels  and  produce  of 
the  Netherlands  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  upon  the  assurance  given 
by  the  government  of  the  Netherlands,  that  all  such  duties  operating 
agaiusl  the  shipping  and  commerce  of  the  United  States  in  that  kingdom 
had  been  abolished.  These  reciprocal  regulations  had  continued  in  force 
several  years,  when  the  discriminating  principle  was  resumed  by  the 
Netherlands  in  a  new  and  indirect  form,  by  a  bounty  of  ten  per  cent.,  in 
the  shape  of  a  return  of  duties  to  their  national  vessels,  and  in  which  those 
of  the  United  States  are  not  permitted  to  participate.  By  the  act  of  Con- 
gress of  the  7th  of  January,  1824,  all  discriminating  duties  in  the  United 
Slates  were  again  suspended,  so  far  as  related  to  the  vessels  and  produce 
of  the  Netherlands,  so  long  as  the  reciprocal  exemption  should  be  extended 
to  the  vessels  and  produce  of  the  United  States  in  the  Netherlands.  But 
the  same  act  provides  that,  in  the  event  of  a  restoration  of  discriminating 
duties  to  operate  against  the  shipping  and  commerce  of  the  United  States 
in  any  of  the  foreign  countries  referred  to  therein,  the  suspension  of  dis- 
criminating duties  iu  favor  of  the  navigation  of  such  foreign  country  should 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  597 

cease,  and  all  the  provisions  of  the  acts  imposing  discriminating  foreign 
tonnage  and  import  duties  in  the  United  States  should  revive  and  be  in  full 
force  with  regard  to  that  nation. 

In  the  correspondence  with  the  government  of  the  Netherlands  upon  this 
subject,  they  have  contended  that  the  favor  shown  to  their  own  shipping  by 
this  bounty  upon  their  tonnage  is  not  to  be  considered  as  a  discriminatory 
duty.  But  it  can  not  be  denied  that  it  produces  all  the  same  effects.  Had 
the  mutual  abolition  been  stipulated  by  treaty,  such  a  bounty  upon  the 
national  vessels  could  scarcely  have  been  granted  consistently  with  good 
faith.  Yet,  as  the  act  of  Congress  of  7th  January,  1824,  has  not  expressly 
authorized  the  executive  authority  to  determine  what  shall  be  considered  as 
a  revival  of  discriminating  duties  by  a  foreign  government  to  the  disadvan- 
tage of  the  United  States,  and  as  the  retaliatory  measure  on  our  part,  how- 
ever just  and  necessary,  may  tend  rather  to  that  conflict  of  legislation  which 
we  deprecate,  than  to  that  concert  to  which  we  invite  all  commercial  nations 
as  most  conducive  to  their  interest  and  our  own,  I  have  thought  it  more 
consistent  with  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  to  refer  the  subject  again  to  the 
paramount  authority  of  the  legislature  to  decide  what  measure  the  emer- 
gency may  require,  than  abruptly  by  proclamation  to  carry  into  effect  the 
minatory  provision  of  the  act  of  1 824 . 

During  the  last  session  of  Congress,  treaties  of  amity,  navigation,  and 
commerce,  were  negotiated  and  signed  at  this  place  with  the  government 
of  Denmark  in  Europe,  and  with  the  federation  of  Central  America  in  this 
nemi^)here.  These  treaties  then  received  the  constitutional  sanction  of  the 
•senate,  by  the  advice  and  consent  to  their  ratification.  They  were  accord- 
ingly ratified  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  during  the  recess  of  Con- 
gress, have  been  also  ratified  by  the  other  respective  contracting  parties. 
The  ratifications  have  been  exchanged,  and  they  have  been  published  by 
proclamations,  copies  of  which  are  herewith  communicated  to  Congress. 
These  treaties  have  established  between  the  contracting  parties  the  princi- 
ples of  equality  and  reciprocity  in  their  broadest  and  most  liberal  extent. 
Each  party  admitting  the  vessels  of  the  other  into  its  ports,  laden  with  car- 
goes the  produce  or  manufacture  of  any  quarter  of  the  globe,  upon  the  pay- 
ment of  the  same  duties  of  tonnage  and  impost  that  are  chargeable  upon 
their  own.  They  have  further  stipulated,  that  the  parties  shall  hereafter 
grant  no  favor  of  navigation  or  commerce  to  any  other  nation,  which  shall 
not,  upon  the  same  terms  be  granted  to  each  other  ;  and  that  neither  party 
will  impose  upon  articles  of  merchandise,  the  produce  or  manufacture  ot 
the  other,  any  other  or  higher  duties  than  upon  the  like  articles,  being  the 
produce  or  manufacture  of  any  other  country.  To  these  principles  there 
is,  in  the  convention  with  Denmark,  an  exception  with  regard  to  the 
colonies  of  that  kingdom  in  the  Arctic  seas,  but  none  with  regard  to  her 
colonies  in  the  West  Indies. 

In  the  course  of  the  last  summer,  the  term  to  which  our  last  commercial 
treaty  with  Sweden  was  limited  has  expired.  A  continuation  of  it  is  in  the 
contemplation  of  the  Swedish  government,  and  is  believed  to  be  desirable  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States.  It  has  been  proposed  by  the  king  of  Sweden 
that,  pending  the  negotiation  of  renewal,  the  expired  treaty  should  be  mutu- 
ally considered  as  still  in  force  ;  a  measure  which  will  require  the  sanction 
of  Congress  to  be  carried  into  effect  on  our  part,  and  which  I  therefore 
recommend  to  your  consideration. 

With  Prussia,  Spain,  Portugal,  and  in  general  all  the  European  powers, 
between  whom  and  the  United  States  relations  of  friendly  intercourse  have 


598  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

existed,  their  condition  has  not  materially  varied  since  the  last  session  of 
Congress.  I  regret  not  to  be  able  to  say  the  same  of  our  commercial  inter- 
course with  the  colonial  possessions  of  Great  Britain  in  America.  Nego- 
tiations of  the  highest  importance  to  our  common  interests  have  been  for 
several  years  in  discussion  between  the  two  governments,  and  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States  have  been  invariably  pursued  in  the  spirit  of  candor  and 
conciliation.  Interests  of  great  magnitude  and  delicacy  had  been  adjusted 
by  the  conventions  of  1815  and  1818,  while  that  of  1822,  mediated  by  the 
l:ite  emperor  Alexander,  had  promised  a  satisfactory  compromise  of  claims 
which  the  government  of  the  United  States,  in  justice  to  the  rights  of  a  nu- 
merous class  of  their  citizens,  was  bound  to  sustain.  But  with  regard  to 
the  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  colo- 
nies in  America,  it  has  been  hitherto  found  impracticable  to  bring  the  par- 
ties to  an  understanding  satisfactory  to  both.  The  relative  geographical 
position,  and  the 'respective  products  of  nature,  cultivated  by  human  indus- 
try, had  constituted  the  elements  of  a  commercial  intercourse  between  tin- 
United  States  and  British  America,  insular  and  continental,  important  to  the 
inhabitants  of  both  countries.  But  it  had  been  interdicted  by  Great  Britain, 
upon  a  principle  heretofore  practised  upon  by  the  colonizing  nations  ot 
Europe,  of  holding  the  trade  of  their  colonies,  each  in  exclusive  monopoly 
to  herself.  After  the  termination  of  the  late  war,  this  interdiction  had  been 
revived,  and  the  British  government  declined  including  this  portion  of  our 
intercourse  with  her  possessions  in  the  negotiation  of  the  convention  of  1815. 
The  trade  was  then  carried  on  exclusively  in  British  vessels,  till  the^act  of 
Congress  concerning  navigation,  of  1818,  and  the  supplemental  act  of  1820, 
met  the  interdict  by  a  corresponding  measure  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States.  These  measures,  not  of  retaliation,  but  of  necessary  self-defence, 
were  soon  succeeded  by  an  act  of  parliament,  opening  certain  colonial  ports 
to  the  vessels  of  the  United  States,  coming  directly  from  them,  and  to  the 
importation  from  them  of  certain  articles  of  our  produce,  burdened  with 
heavy  duties,  and  excluding  some  of  the  most  valuable  articles  of  our  ex- 
ports. The  United  States  opened  their  ports  to  British  vessels  from  the 
colonies  upon  terms  as  exactly  corresponding  with  those  of  the  act  of  par- 
liament, as  in  the  relative  position  of  the  parties  could  be  made.  And  a 
negotiation  was  commenced  by  mutual  consent,  with  the  hope  on  our  part 
that  a  reciprocal  spirit  of  accommodation  and  a  common  sentiment  of  the 
importance  of  the  trade  to  the  interests  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  two  coun- 
tries, between  whom  it  must  be  carried  on,  would  ultimately  bring  the  par- 
ties to  a  compromise,  with  which  both  might  be  satisfied.  With  this  view, 
the  government  of  the  United  States  had  determined  to  sacrifice  something 
of  that  entire  reciprocity  which  in  all  commercial  arrangements  with  foreign 
powers  they  are  entitled  to  demand,  and  to  acquiesce  in  some  inequalities 
disadvantageous  to  ourselves,  rather  than  to  forego  the  benefit  of  a  final  and 
permanent  adjustment  of  this  interest,  to  the  satisfaction  of  Great  Britain 
herself.  The  negotiation,  repeatedly  suspended  by  accidental  circumstan- 
ces, was,  however,  by  mutual  agreement  and  express  assent,  considered  as 
pending,  and  to  be  speedily  resumed.  In  the  meantime,  another  act  of 
parliament,  so  doubtful  and  ambiguous  in  its  import  as  to  have  been  mis- 
understood by  the  officers  in  the  colonies  who  were  to  carry  it  into  execu- 
tion, opens  again  certain  colonial  ports,  upon  new  conditions  and  terms, 
with  a  threat  to  close  them  against  any  nation  which  may  not  accept  those 
terms,  as  prescribed  by  the  British  government.  This  act.  passed  in  July, 
1  d25,  not  communicated  to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  not  under- 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  599 

stood  by  the  British  officers  of  the  customs  in  the  colonies  where  it  was  to 
be  enforced,  was  nevertheless  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  Congress 
at  their  last  session.  With  the  knowledge  that  a  negotiation  upon  the 
subject  had  Jong  been  in  progress,  and  pledges  given  of  its  resumption  at 
an  early  day,  it  was  deemed  expedient  to  await  the  result  of  that  negotia- 
tion, rather  than  to  subscribe  implicitly  to  terms,  the  import  of  which  was 
not  clear,  and  which  the  British  authorities  themselves  in  this  hemisphere 
were  not  prepared  to  explain. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  one  of  our 
most  distinguished  citizens  was  despatched  as  envoy  extraordinary  and  min- 
ister plenipotentiary  to  Great  Britain,  furnished  with  instructions  which 
we  could  not  doubt  would  lead  to  a  conclusion  of  this  long-controverted 
interest,  upon  terms  acceptable  to  Great  Britain.  Upon  his  arrival,  and 
before  he  had  delivered  his  letters  of  credence,  he  was  met  by  an  order  of 
the  British  council,  excluding,  from  and  after  the  first  of  December  now 
current,  the  vessels  of  the  United  States  from  all  the  colonial  British  ports, 
excepting  those  immediately  bordering  upon  our  territories.  In  answer  to 
his  expostulations  upon  a  measure  thus  unexpected,  he  is  informed  that, 
according  to  the  ancient  maxims  of  policy  of  European  nations  having  colo- 
nies, their  trade  is  an  exclusive  possession  of  the  mother-country.  That 
all  participation  in  it  by  other  nations  is  a  boon  or  favor  not  forming  a  sub- 
ject of  negotiation,  but  to  be  regulated  by  the  legislative  acts  of  the  power 
owning  the  colony.  That  the  British  government,  therefore,  declines  nego 
tiating  concerning  it,  and  that  as  the  United  States  did  not  forthwith  accept, 
purely  and  simply,  the  terms  offered  by  the  act  of  parliament  of  July,  1825, 
Great  Britain  would  not  admit  the  vessels  of  the  United  States  even  upon 
the  terms  on  which  she  had  opened  them  to  the  navigation  of  other  nations. 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  consider  the  trade  which  we  have  enjoyed 
with  the  British  colonies  rather  as  an  interchange  of  mutual  benefits  than 
as  a  mere  favor  received  ;  that  under  every  circumstance  we  have  given  an 
ample  equivalent.  We  have  seen  every  other  nation  holding  colonies  ne- 
gotiate with  other  nations,  and  grant  them  freely  admission  to  the  colonies 
by  treaty  ;  and,  so  far  are  the  other  colonizing  nations  of  Europe  now  from 
refusing  to  negotiate  for  trade  with  their  colonies,  that  we  ourselves  have 
secured  access  to  the  colonies  of  more  than  one  of  them  by  treaty.  The 
refusal,  however,  of  Great  Britain  to  negotiate,  leaves  to  the  United  States 
no  other  alternative  than  that  of  regulating,  or  interdicting  altogether  the 
trade  on  their  part,  according  as  either  measure  may  affect  the  interests  of 
our  own  country  ;  and,  with  that  exclusive  object,  1  would  recommend  the 
whole  subject  to  your  calm  and  candid  deliberations. 

It  is  hoped  that  our  unavailing  exertions  to  accomplish  a  cordial  good 
understanding  on  this  interest  will  not  have  an  unpropitious  effect  upon  the 
other  great  topics  of  discussion  between  the  two  governments.  Our  north- 
eastern and  northwestern  boundaries  are  still  unadjusted.  The  commis- 
sioners under  the  7th  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent  have  nearly  come  to  the 
close  of  their  labors  ;  nor  can  we  renounce  the  expectation,  enfeebled  as  it 
is,  that  they  may  agree  upon  their  report  to  the  satisfaction  or  acquiescence 
of  both  parties.  The  commission  for  liquidating  the  claims  for  indemnity 
for  slaves  carried  away  after  the  close  of  the  war  has  been  sitting,  with 
doubtful  prospects  of  success.  Propositions  of  compromise  have,  however, 
passed  between  the  two  governments,  the  result  of  which  we  liatter  our- 
selves may  yet  prove  satisfactory.  Our  own  dispositions  and  purposes 
toward  Great  Britain  are  all  friendly  and  conciliatory  ;  nor  can  we  aban- 


600  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

don,  but  with  strong  reluctance,  the  belief  that  they  will  ultimately  meet 
a  return,  not  of  favors,  which  we  neither  ask  nor  desire,  but  of  equal  re- 
ciprocity and  good  will. 

With  the  American  governments  of  this  hemisphere  we  continue  to  main- 
tain an  intercourse  altogether  friendly,  and  between  their  nations  and  ours 
that  commercial  interchange  of  which  mutual  benefit  is  the  source,  and 
mutual  comfort  and  harmony  the  result,  is  in  a  continual  state  of  improve- 
ment. The  war  between  Spain  and  them,  since  the  total  expulsion  of  the 
Spanish  military  force  from  their  continental  territories,  has  been  little  more 
than  nominal  ;  and  their  internal  tranquillfty,  though  occasionally  menaced 
by  the  agitations  which  civil  wars  never  fail  to  leave  behind  them,  has  not 
been  aflected  by  any  serious  calamity. 

The  congress  of  ministers  from  several  of  those  nations  which  assembled 
at  Panama,  after  a  short  session  there,  adjourned  to  meet  again,  at  a  more 
favorable  season,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mexico.  The  decease  of  one  of 
our  ministers  on  his  way  to  the  isthmus,  and  the  impediments  of  the  sea- 
son, which  delayed  the  departure  of  the  other,  deprived  us  of  the  advantage 
of  being  represented  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  congress.  There  is,  how- 
ever, no  reason  to  believe  that  any  of  the  transactions  of  the  congress  were 
of  a  nature  to  affect  injuriously  the  interests  of  the  United  States,  or  to 
require  the  interposition  of  our  ministers  had  they  been  present.  Their 
absence  has,  indeed,  deprived  us  of  the  opportunity  of  possessing  precise 
and  authentic  information  of  the  treaties  which  were  concluded  at  Panama ; 
and  the  whole  result  has  confirmed  me  in  the  conviction  of  the  expediency 
to  the  United  States  of  being  represented  at  the  congress.  The  surviving 
member  of  the  mission,  appointed  during  your  last  session,  has  accordingly 
proceeded  to  his  destination,  and  a  successor  to  his  distinguished  and  lament- 
ed associate  will  be  nominated  to  the  senate.  A  treaty  of  amity,  naviga- 
tion, and  commerce,  has,  in  the  course  of  last  summer,  been  concluded  by 
our  minister  plenipotentiary  at  Mexico,  with  the  United  States  and  that 
confederacy,  which  will  also  be  laid  before  the  senate  for  their  advice  with 
regard  to  its  ratification. 

In  adverting  to  the  present  condition  of  our  fiscal  concerns,  and  to  the 
prospects  of  our  revenue,  the  first  remark  that  calls  our  attention  is,  that 
they  are  less  exuberantly  prosperous  than  they  were  at  the  corresponding 
period  of  the  last  year.  The  severe  shock  so  extensively  sustained  by  the 
commercial  and  manufacturing  interests  in  Great  Britain  has  not  been  with- 
out a  perceptible  recoil  upon  ourselves.  A  reduced  importation  from  abroad 
is  necessarily  succeeded  by  a  reduced  return  to  the  treasury  at  home.  The 
net  revenue  of  the  present  year  will  not  equal  that  of  the  last.  And  the 
receipts  of  that  which  is  to  come  will  fall  short  of  those  in  the  current  year. 
The  diminution,  however,  is  in  part  attributable  to  the  flourishing  condition 
of  some  of  our  domestic  manufactures,  and  so  far  is  compensated  by  an  equiv- 
alent more  profitable  to  the  nation.  It  is  also  highly  gratifying  to  per- 
ceive, that  the  deficiency  in  the  revenue,  while  it  scarcely  exceeds  tb^ 
anticipations  of  the  last  year's  estimates  from  the  treasury,  has  not  inter- 
rupted the  application  of  more  than  eleven  millions  during  the  present  yenr, 
to  the  discharge  of  the  principal  and  interest  of  the  debt,  nor  the  reduction 
of  upward  of  seven  millions  of  the  capital  debt  itself.  The  balance  i^  the* 
treasury  on  the  1st  of  January  last,  was  five  millions  two  hundred  and  one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  forty-three  cents.  The  receipts  from 
that  time  to  the  30th  September  last,  were  nineteen  millions  five  hundred  and 
eighty-five  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-two  dollars,  fifty  cents.  The 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  601 

receipts  of  the  current  quarter,  estimated  at  six  millions  of  dollars,  yield, 
with  the  sums  already  received,  a  revenue  of  about  twenty-five  millions  and 
a  half  for  the  year.  The  expenditures  for  the  first  three  quarters  of  the 
year  have  amounted  to  eighteen  millions  seven  hundred  and  fourteen  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  twenty-six  dollars,  sixty-six  cents.  The  expenditures 
of  the  current  quarter  are  expected,  including  the  two  millions  of  the  prin- 
cipal debt  to  be  paid,  to  balance  the  receipts.  So  that  the  expenses  of  the 
year,  amounting  to  upward  of  a  million  less  than  its  income,  will  leave  a 
proportionally  increased  balance  in  the  treasury  on  the  first  of  January, 
1827,  over  that  of  the  first  of  January  last.  Instead  of  five  millions  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  there  will  be  six  millions  four  hundred  thousand 
dollars. 

The  amount  of  duties  secured  on  merchandise  imported  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year  until  the  30th  of  September,  is  estimated  at  twenty- 
one  millions  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  the  amount  that 
will  probably  accrue  during  the  present  quarter,  is  estimated  at  four  millions 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  making  for  the  whole  year  twenty- 
five  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  from  which  the  drawbacks 
being  deducted,  will  leave  a  clear  revenue  from  the  customs,  receivable  in 
the  year  1827,  of  about  twenty  millions  four  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
which,  with  the  sums  to  be  received  from  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands, 
the  bank  dividends,  and  other  incidental  receipts,  will  form  an  aggregate  of 
about  twenty-three  millions  of  dollars,  a  sum  falling  short  of  the  whole  ex- 
penses of  the  present  year,  little  more  than  the  portion  of  those  expenditures 
applied  to  the  discharge  of  the  public  debt,  beyond  the  annual  appropriation 
of  ten  millions  of  dollars  by  the  act  of  the  3d  March,  1817.  At  the  passage 
of  that  act,  the  public  debt  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  mill- 
ions five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  On  the  1st  of  January  next  it  will  be 
short  of  seventy-four  millions  of  dollars.  In  the  lapse  of  these  ten  years,  fifty 
millions  of  dollars  of  public  debt,  with  the  annual  charge  of  upward  of  three 
millions  of  dollars  of  interest  upon  them,  have  been  extinguished.  At  ihe 
passage  of  that  act,  of  the  annual  appropriation  of  the  ten  millions  of  dollars, 
seven  were  absorbed  in  the  payment  of  interest,  and  not  more  than  three 
millions  of  dollars  went  to  reduce  the  capital  of  the  debt.  Of  the  same  ten 
millions  of  dollars,  at  this  time  scarcely  four  are  applicable  to  the  interest,  and 
upward  of  six  are  effective  in  melting  down  the  capital.  Yet  our  experi- 
ence has  proved  that  a  revenue  consisting  so  largely  of  imposts  and  tonnage 
ebbs  and  flows,  to  an  extraordinary  extent,  with  all  the  fluctuations  incident 
to  the  general  commerce  of  the  world.  It  is  within  our  recollection  that 
even  in  the  compass  of  the  same  last  ten  years,  the  receipts  of  the  treasury 
were  not  adequate  to  the  expenditures  of  the  year  ;  and  that  in  two  succes- 
sive years  it  was  found  necessary  to  resort  to  loans  to  meet  the  engagements 
of  the  nation.  The  returning  tides  of  the  succeeding  years  replenished  the 
public  coffers,  until  they  have  again  begun  to  feel  the  vicissitudes  of  a  de- 
cline. To  produce  these  alterations  of  fulness  and  exhaustion,  the  relative 
operation  of  abundant  or  of  unfruitful  seasons,  the  regulations  of  foreign 
governments,  political  revolutions,  the  prosperous  or  decaying  condition  of 
manufactures,  commercial  speculations,  and  many  other  causes,  not  always 
to  be  traced,  variously  combine.  We  have  found  the  alternate  swells  and 
diminutions  embracing  periods  of  from  two  to  three  years.  The  last  period 
of  depression  to  us  was  from  1819  to  1822.  The  corresponding  revival 
was  from  1 823  to  the  commencement  of  the  present  year.  Still  wo  have  no 
cause  to  apprehend  a  depression  comparable  to  that  of  the  former  period,  or 


602  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

even  to  anticipate  a  deficiency  which  will  intrench  upon  the  ability  to  apply 
the  annual  ten  millions  of  dollars  to  the  reduction  of  the  debt.  It  is  well 
for  us,  however,  to  be  admonished  of  the  necessity  of  abiding  by  the  maxims 
of  the  most  vigilant  economy,  and  of  resorting  to  all  honorable  and  useful 
expedients,  for  the  pursuing  with  steady  and  indexible  perseverance  the 
total  discharge  of  the  debt. 

Besides  the  seven  millions  of  dollars  of  the  loans  of  1813,  which  will  have 
been  discharged  in  the  course  of  the  present  year,  there  are  nine  millions  of 
dollars  which,  by  the  terms  of  the  contracts,  would  have  been,  and  are  now 
redeemable.  Thirteen  millions  of  dollars  more  of  the  loan  of  1814  will 
become  redeemable  from  and  after  the  expiration  of  the  present  month,  and 
nine  other  millions  from  and  after  the  close  of  the  ensuing  year.  They 
constitute  a  mass  of  thirty-one  millions  of  dollars,  all  bearing  an  interest  of 
six  per  cent.,  more  than  twenty  millions  of  dollars  of  which  will  be  imme- 
diately redeemable,  and  the  rest  within  little  more  than  a  year.  Leaving 
of  this  amount  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  to  continue  at  the  interest  of  six 
per  cent.,  but  to  be,  as  far  as  shall  be  found  practicable,  paid  off  in  the 
years  1827  and  1828,  there  is  scarcely  a  doubt  that  the  remaining  sixteen 
millions  might  within  a  few  months  be  discharged  by  a  loan  at  not  ex- 
ceeding five  per  cent.,  redeemable  in  the  years  1829  and  1830.  By  this 
operation,  a  sum  of  nearly  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  may  be  saved  to 
the  nation  ;  and  the  discharge  of  the  whole  thirty-one  millions  of  dollars 
within  the  four  years,  may  be  greatly  facilitated,  if  not  wholly  accomplished. 

By  an  act  of  Congress  of  3d  March,  1825,  a  loan  for  the  purpose  now 
referred  to,  or  a  subscription  to  stock,  was  authorized,  at  an  interest  not  ex- 
ceeding four  and  a  half  per  cent.  But,  at  that  time,  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
floating  capital  of  the  country  was  absorbed  in  commercial  speculations,  and 
so  little  was  left  for  investment  in  the  stocks,  that  the  measure  was  but  par- 
tially successful.  At  the  last  session  of  Congress,  the  condition  of  the  funds 
was  still  unpropitious  to  the  measure  ;  but  the  change  so  soon  afterward 
occurred  that,  had  the  authority  existed  to  redeem  the  nine  millions  of  dol- 
lars now  redeemable  by  an  exchange  of  stocks,  or  a  loan  of  five  per  cent., 
it  is  morally  certain  that  it  might  have  been  effected,  and  with  it  a  yearly 
saving  of  ninety  thousand  dollars. 

With  regard  to  the  collection  of  revenue  of  impost,  certain  occurrences 
have  within  the  last  year  been  disclosed  in  one  or  two  of  our  principal 
ports,  which  engaged  the  attention  of  Congress  at  their  last  session,  and 
may  hereafter  require  further  consideration.  Until  within  a  very  few  years, 
the  execution  of  the  laws  for  raising  the  revenue,  like  that  of  all  our  other 
laws,  has  been  insured  more  by  the  moral  sense  of  the  community, 
than  by  the  rigors  of  a  jealous  precaution,  or  by  penal  sanctions.  Con- 
fiding in  the  exemplary  punctuality  and  the  unsullied  integrity  of  our  im- 
porting merchants,  a  gradual  relaxation  from  the  provisions  of  the  col- 
lection laws,  a  close  adherence  to  which  would  have  caused  inconvenience 
and  expense  to  them,  had  long  become  habitual ;  and  indulgences  had 
been  extended  universally,  because  they  had  never  been  abused.  It  may 
be  worthy  of  your  serious  consideration  whether  some  further  legislative 
provision  may  not  be  necessary  to  come  in  aid  of  this  state  of  unguarded 
security. 

From  the  reports  herewith  communicated,  of  the  secretaries  of  war  and 
of  the  navy,  with  the  subsidiary  documents  annexed  to  them,  will  be  dis- 
covered the  present  condition  and  administration  of  our  military  establish- 
ment on  the  land  and  on  the  sea.  The  organization  of  the  army  having 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  603 

undergone  no  change  since  its  reduction  to  the  present  peace  establishment 
in  1821,  it  remains  only  to  observe,  that  it  is  yet  found  adequate  to  all  the 
purposes  for  which  a  permanent  armed  force  in  time  of  peace  can  be  needed 
or  useful.  It  may  be  proper  to  add  that,  from  a  difference  of  opinion  be- 
tween the  late  president  of  the  United  States  and  the  senate,  with  regard 
to  the  construction  of  the  act  of  Congress  of  the  2d  of  March,  1821,  to  re- 
duce and  fix  the  military  peace  establishment  of  the  United  States,  it  remains 
hitherto  so  far  without  execution,  that  no  colonel  has  been  appointed  to 
command  one  of  the  regiments  of  artillery.  A  supplementary  or  explana- 
tory act  of  the  legislature  appears  to  be  the  only  expedient  practicable  for 
removing  ihe  difficulty  of  this  appointment. 

In  a  period  of  profound  peace,  the  conduct  of  the  mere  military  establish- 
ment forms  but  a  very  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  duties  devolving  upon 
the  administration  of  the  department  of  war.  It  will  be  seen  by  the  returns 
from  the  subordinate  departments  of  the  army,  that  every  branch  of  the 
service  is  marked  with  order,  regularity,  and  discipline.  That  from  the 
commanding  general  through  all  the  gradations  of  superintendence,  the 
officers  feel  themselves  to  have  been  citizens  before  they  were  soldiers,  and^ 
that  the  glory  of  a  republican  army  must  consist  in  the  spirit  of  freedom 
by  which  it  is  animated,  and  of  patriotism  by  which  it  is  impelled.  It 
may  be  confidently  stated,  that  the  moral  character  of  the  army  is  in  a  state 
of  continual  improvement,  and  that  all  the  arrangements  for  the  disposal  of 
its  parts  have  a  constant  reference  to  that  end. 

But  to  the  war  department  are  attributed  other  duties,  having  indeed  re- 
lation to  a  future  possible  condition  of  war,  but  being  purely  defensive,  and 
in  their  tendency  contributing  rather  to  the  security  and  permanency  of 
peace.  The  erection  of  the  fortifications  provided  for  by  Congress,  and 
adapted  to  secure  our  shores  from  hostile  invasion  ;  the  distribution  of  the 
fund  of  public  gratitude  and  justice  to  the  pensioners  of  the  revolutionary 
war  ;  the  maintenance  of  our  relations  of  peace  and  of  protection  with  the 
Indian  tribes ;  and  the  internal  improvements  and  surveys  for  the  location 
of  roads  and  canals,  which,  during  the  last  three  sessions  of  Congress,  have 
engaged  so  much  of  their  attention,  and  may  engross  so  large  a  share  of 
their  future  benefactions  to  our  country. 

By  the  act  of  the  30th  of  April,  1824,  suggested  and  approved  by  my 
predecessor,  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  for  the 
purpose  of  causing  to  be  made  the  necessary  surveys,  plans,  and  estimates 
of  the  routes  of  such  roads  and  canals  as  the  president  of  the  United 
States  might  deem  of  national  importance  in  a  commercial  or  military 
point  of  view,  or  necessary  for  the  transportation  of  the  public  mail.  The 
surveys,  plans,  and  estimates  for  each,  when  completed,  will  be  laid  be- 
fore Congress. 

In  execution  of  this  act,  a  board  of  engineers  was  immediately  instituted, 
and  have  been  since  most  assiduously  and  constantly  occupied  in  carrying 
it  into  effect.  The  first  object  to  which  their  labors  were  directed,  by  order 
of  the  late  president,  was  the  examination  of  the  country  between  the  tide 
waters  of  the  Potomac,  the  Ohio,  and  Lake  Erie,  to  ascertain  the  practica- 
bility of  a  communication  between  them,  to  designate  the  most  suitable  routo 
for  the  same,  and  to  form  plans  and  estimates,  in  detail  of  the  expense  of 
execution. 

On  the  third  of  February,  1825,  they  made  their  first  report,  which  was 
immediately  communicated  to  Congress,  and  in  which  they  declared,  that 
having  maturely  considered  the  circumstances  observed  by  them  personally 


601  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

and  carefully  studied  the  results  of  such  of  the  preliminary  surveys  as  were 
then  completed,  they  were  decidedly  of  opinion  that  the  communication  was 
practicable. 

At  the  last  session  of  Congress,  before  the  board  of  engineers  were  ena- 
bled to  make  up  their  second  report,  containing  a  general  plan  and  prepar- 
atory estimates  for  the  work,  the  committee  of  the  house  of  representatives 
upon  roads  and  canals,  closed  the  session  with  a  report,  expressing  the  hope 
that  the  plans  and  estimates  of  the  board  of  engineers  might  at  this  time  be 
prepared,  and  that  the  subject  be  referred  to  the  early  and  favorable  consider- 
ation of  Congress  at  their  present  session.  That  expected  report  of  tin- 
board  of  engineers  is  prepared,  and  will  forthwith  be  laid  before  you. 

Under  the  resolution  of  Congress,  authorizing  the  secretary  of  war  to 
have  prepared  a  complete  system  of  cavalry  tactics,  arid  system  of  exercise 
and  instruction  of  field  artillery,  for  the  use  of  the  militia  of  the  United 
States,  to  be  reported  to  Congress  at  the  present  session,  a  board  of  dis- 
tinguished officers  of  the  army  and  of  the  militia  has  been  convened,  whose 
report  will  be  submitted  to  you,  with  that  of  the  secretary  of  war.  The 
occasion  was  thought  favorable  for  consulting  the  same  board,  aided  by  the 
results  of  a  correspondence  with  the  governors  of  the  several  states  and 
territories,  and  other  citizens  of  intelligence  and  experience,  upon  the  ac- 
knowledged defective  condition  of  our  militia  system,  and  of  the  improve- 
ments of  which  it  is  susceptible.  The  report  of  the  board  upon  this  sub- 
ject is  also  submitted  for  your  consideration. 

In  the  estimated  appropriations  for  the  ensuing  year,  upward  of  five 
millions  of  dollars  will  be  submitted  for  the  expenditures  to  be  paid  from 
the  department  of  war.  Less  than  two  fifths  of  this  will  be  applicable  to 
the  maintenance  and  support  of  the  army.  A  million  and  a  half,  in  the 
form  of  pensions,  goes  as  a  scarcely  adequate  tribute  to  the  services  and 
sacrifices  of  a  former  age,  and  a  more  than  equal  sum  invested  in  fortifica- 
tions, or  for  the  preparations  of  internal  improvement,  provides  for  the  quiet, 
the  comfort,  and  the  happier  existence  of  the  ages  to  come.  The  appro- 
priations to  indemnify  those  unfortunate  remnants  of  another  race,  unable 
alike  to  share  in  the  enjoyments  and  to  exist  in  the  presence  of  civilization, 
though  swelling  in  recent  years  to  a  magnitude  burdensome  to  the  treas- 
ury, are  generally  not  without  their  equivalents,  in  profitable  value , 
or  serve  to  discharge  the  Union  from  engagements  more  burdensome 
than  debt. 

In  like  manner  the  estimate  of  appropriations  for  the  navy  department 
will  present  an  aggregate  sum  of  upward  of  three  millions  of  dollars. 
About  one  half  of  these,  however,  cover  the  current  expenditures  of  the 
navy  in  actual  service,  and  one  half  constitutes  a  fund  of  national  property, 
the  pledge  of  our  future  glory  and  defence.  It  was  scarcely  one  short  year 
after  the  close  of  the  late  war,  and  when  the  burden  of  its  expenses  and 
charges  weighed  heaviest  upon  the  country,  that  Congress,  by  the  act  of 
29th  April,  1816.  appropriated  one  million  of  dollars  annually,  for  eight 
years,  to  the  gradual  increase  of  the  navy.  At  a  subsequent  period,  this 
annual  appropriation  was  reduced  to  half  a  million  for  six  years,  of  which 
the  present  year  is  the  last.  A  yet  more  recent  appropriation  of  the  last 
two  years,  for  building  ten  sloops-of-war,  has  nearly  restored  the  original 
appropriation  of  1816,  of  a  million  for  every  year.  The  result  is  before 
us  all.  We  have  twelve  line-of-battle  ships,  twenty  frigates,  and  sloops-of- 
war  in  proportion  ;  which,  with  a  few  months  of  preparation,  may  present 
a  line  of  floating  fortifications  along  the  whole  range  of  our  coast,  ready  to 


JOHN    Q.    ADAMS'S    SECOND    ANNUAL    MESSAGE.  605 

meet  any  invader  who  might  attempt  to  set  foot  upon  our  shores.  Com- 
bining with  a  system  of  fortifications  upon  the  shores  themselves,  com- 
menced about  the  same  time  under  the  auspices  of  my  immediate  predeces- 
sor, and  hitherto  systematically  pursued,  it  has  placed  in  our  possession  the 
most  effective  sinews  of  war,  and  has  left  us  at  once  an  example  and  a  les- 
son from  which  our  own  duties  may  be  inferred.  The  gradual  increase 
of  thfe  navy  was  the  principle  of  which  the  act  of  29th  April,  1816,  was  the 
first  development.  It  was  the  introduction  of  a  system  to  act  upon  the 
character  and  history  of  our  country  for  an  indefinite  series  of  ages.  It 
was  a  declaration  of  that  Congress,  to  their  constituents  and  to  posterity, 
that  it  was  the  destiny  and  the  duty  of  these  confederated  states  to  become, 
in  regular  process  of  time,  and  by  no  petty  advances,  a  great  naval  power. 
That  which  they  proposed  to  accomplish  in  eight  years  is  rather  to  be  con- 
sidered as  the  measure  of  their  means,  than  the  limitation  of  their  design. 
They  looked  forward  for  a  term  of  years  sufficient  for  the  accomplishment 
of  a  definite  portion  of  their  purpose  ;  and  they  left  to  their  successors  to 
fill  up  the  canvass  of  which  they  had  traced  the  large  and  prophetic  outline. 
The  ships-of-the-line  and  frigates,  which  they  had  in  contemplation,  will 
be  shortly  completed.  The  time  which  they  had  allotted  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  work  has  more  than  elapsed.  It  remains  for  your  con- 
sideration how  their  successors  may  contribute  their  portion  of  toil  and  of 
treasure  for  the  benefit  of  the  succeeding  age,  in  the  gradual  increase  of 
our  navy.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  part  of  the  exercise  of  the  constitutional 
powers  of  the  federal  government  which  has  given  more  general  satisfac- 
tion to  the  people  of  the  Union  than  this.  The  system  has  not  been  thus 
vigorously  introduced  and  hitherto  sustained,  to  be  now  departed  from  or 
abandoned.  In  continuing  to  provide  for  the  gradual  increase  of  the  navy, 
it  may  not  be  necessary  or  expedient  to  add  for  the  present  any  more  to  the 
number  of  our  ships  ;  but  should  you  deem  it  advisable  to  continue  the 
yearly  appropriation  of  half  a  million  to  the  same  objects,  it  may  be  profit- 
ably expended  in  providing  a  supply  of  timber  to  be  seasoned,  and  other 
materials  for  future  use  in  the  construction  of  docks,  or  in  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  schools  for  naval  education,  as  to  the  wisdom  of  Congress  either  of 
those  measures  may  appear  to  claim  the  preference. 

Of  the  small  portions  of  this  navy  engaged  in  actual  service  during  the 
peace,  squadrons  have  continued  to  be  maintained  on  the  Pacific  ocean,  in 
the  West  India  seas,  and  in  the  Mediterranean  ;  to  which  has  been  added 
a  small  armament  to  cruise  on  the  eastern  coast  of  South  America.  In  all 
they  have  afforded  protection  to  our  commerce,  have  contributed  to  make 
our  country  advantageously  known  to  foreign  nations,  have  honorably  em- 
ployed multitudes  of  our  seamen  in  the  service  of  their  country,  and  have 
iuured  numbers  of  youths  of  the  rising  generation  to  lives  of  manly  hardi- 
hood and  of  nautical  experience  and  skill.  The  piracies  with  which  the 
West  India  seas  were  for  several  years  infested,  have  been  totally  sup- 
pressed. But  in  the  Mediterranean  they  have  increased  in  a  manner 
iiffliciive  to  other  nations,  and  but  for  the  continual  presence  of  our  squad- 
ron, would  probably  have  been  distressing  to  our  own.  The  war  which 
lias  unfortunately  broken  out  between  the  republic  of  Buenos  Ayres  and 
the  Brazilian  government,  has  given  rise  to  very  great  irregularities 
among  the  naval  officers  of  the  latter,  by  whom  principles  in  relation  to 
blockades,  and  to  neutral  navigation,  have  been  brought  forward,  to  which 
we  can  not  subscribe,  and  which  our  own  commanders  have  found  it  neces- 
Bary  to  resist.  From  the  friendly  disposition  toward  the  United  States  con.- 


606  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

stantly  manifested  by  the  emperor  of  Brazil,  and  the  very  useful  and 
friendly  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  his  domin- 
ions, we  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  just  reparation  demanded  for  the 
injuries  sustained  by  several  of  our  citizens  from  some  of  his  officers,  will 
not  be  withheld.  Abstracts  from  the  recent  despatches  of  the  commanders 
of  our  several  squadrons  are  communicated  with  the  report  of  the  secretary 
of  the  navy  to  Congress. 

A  report  from  the  postmaster-general  is  likewise  communicated,  present- 
ing, in  a  highly  satisfactory  manner,  the  result  of  a  vigorous,  efficient,  and 
economical  administration  of  that  department.  The  revenue  of  the  office, 
even  of  the  year  including  the  latter  half  of  1824,  and  of  the  first  half  of 
1825,  had  exceeded  its  expenditures  by  a  sum  of  more  than  forty-five  thou- 
sand dollars.  That  of  the  succeeding  year  has  been  still  more  productive. 
The  increase  of  the  receipts,  in  the  year  preceding  the  first  of  July  last, 
over  that  of  the  year  before,  exceeds  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand 
dollars,  and  the  excess  of  the  receipts  over  the  expenditures  of  the  year  has 
swollen  from  forty-five  thousand  to  nearly  eighty  thousand  dollars.  During 
the  same  period,  contracts  for  additional  transportation  of  the  mail  in  stages, 
for  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  miles,  have  been  made,  and  for 
seventy  thousand  miles  annually,  on  horseback.  Seven  hundred  and  four- 
teen new  postoflices  have  been  established  within  the  year  ;  and  the  in- 
crease of  revenue  within  the  last  three  years,  as  well  as  the  augmentation 
of  the  transportation  by  mail,  is  more  than  equal  to  the  whole  amount  of  re- 
ceipts and  of  mail  conveyance  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  century, 
when  the  seat  of  the  general  government  was  removed  to  this  place.  When 
we  reflect  that  the  objects  effected  by  the  transportation  of  the  mail  are 
among  the  choicest  comforts  and  enjoyments  of  social  life,  it  is  pleasing  to 
observe  that  the  dissemination  of  them  to  every  corner  of  our  country  has 
outstripped  in  their  increase  even  the  rapid  march  of  our  population. 

By  the  treaties  with  France  and  Spain,  respectively  ceding  Louisiana 
and  the  Floridas  to  the  United  States,  provision  was  made  for  the  security 
of  land  titles  derived  from  the  governments  of  those  nations.  Some  prog- 
ress has  been  made,  under  the  authority  of  various  acts  of  Congress,  in 
the  ascertainment  and  establishment  of  those  titles  ;  and  claims  to  a  very 
large  extent  remain  unadjusted.  The  public  faith,  no  less  than  the  just 
rights  of  individuals,  and  the  interest  of  the  community  itself,  appears  to 
require  further  provision  for  the  speedy  settlement  of  these  claims,  which  I 
therefore  recommend  to  the  care  and  attention  of  the  legislature. 

In  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  20th  of  May  last,  to  provide  for 
erecting  a  penitentiary  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  for  other  purposes, 
three  commissioners  were  appointed  to  select  a  site  for  the  erection  of  a 
penitentiary  for  the  district,  and  also  a  site  in  the  country  of  Alexandria  for 
a  county  jail ;  both  of  which  objects  have  been  effected.  The  building  of 
the  penitentiary  has  been  commenced,  and  is  in  such  a  degree  of  forward- 
ness as  to  promise  that  it  will  be  completed  before  the  meeting  of  ttie  next 
Congress.  This  consideration  points  to  ihe  expediency  of  maturing,  at  the 
present  session,  a  system  for  the  regulation  and  government  of  the  peniten- 
tiary, and  of  defining  the  class  of  oll'ences  which  shall  be  punishable  by 
confinement  in  this  edifice. 

In  closing  this  communication,  I  trust  that  it  will  not  be  deemed  inappro- 
priate to  the  occasion  and  purposes  upon  which  we  are  here  assembled,  to 
indulge  a  momentary  retrospect,  combining,  in  a  single  glance,  the  period 
of  our  origin  as  a  national  confederation  with  that  of  our  present  existence, 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  607 

at  the  precise  interval  of  half  a  century  from  each  other.  Since  your  last 
meeting  at  this  place,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  day  when  our  indepen- 
dence was  declared,  has  been  celebrated  throughout  our  land  ;  and  on  that 
day,  when  every  heart  was  bounding  with  joy,  and  every  voice  was  tuned 
to  gratulation,  amid  the  blessings  of  freedom  and  independence,  which  the 
sires  of  a  former  age  have  handed  down  to  their  children,  two  of  the  prin- 
cipal actors  in  that  solemn  scene,  the  hand  that  penned  the  ever-memorable 
declaration,  and  the  voice  that  sustained  it  in  debate,  were,  by  one  summons, 
at  the  distance  of  seven  hundred  miles  from  each  other,  called  before  the 
Judge  of  all,  to  account  for  their  deeds  done  upon  earth.  They  departed, 
cheered  by  the  benedictions  of  their  country,  to  whom  they  left  the  inherit- 
ance of  their  fame,  and  the  memory  of  their  bright  example.  If  we  turn 
our  thoughts  to  the  condition  of  their  country,  in  the  contrast  of  the  first 
and  last  day  of  that  half  century,  how  resplendent  and  sublime  is  the  transi- 
tion from  gloom  to  glory !  Then,  glancing  through  the  same  lapse  of 
time,  in  the  condition  of  the  individuals,  we  see  the  first  day  marked  with 
the  fulness  and  vigor  of  youth,  in  the  pledge  of  their  lives,  their  fortunes, 
and  their  sacred  honor,  to  the  cause  of  freedom  and  mankind.  And  on  the 
last,  extended  on  the  bed  of  death,  with  but  sense  and  sensibility  left  to 
breathe  a  last  aspiration  to  Heaven  of  blessing  upon  their  country ;  may 
we  not  humbly  hope,  that  to  them  too,  it  was  a  pledge  of  transition  from 
gloom  to  glory ;  and  that  while  their  mortal  vestments  were  sinking  into 
the  clod  of  the  valley,  their  emancipated  spirits  were  ascending  to  the 
bosom  of  their  God  ! 


THIRD    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  8,  1827. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

A  REVOLUTION  of  the  seasons  has  nearly  been  completed  since  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  and  the  states  of  this  Union  were  last  assembled 
at  this  place,  to  deliberate  and  to  act  upon  the  common  important  interests 
of  their  constituents.  In  that  interval,  the  never-slumbering  eye  of  a  wise 
and  beneficent  Providence  has  continued  its  guardian  care  over  the  welfare 
of  our  beloved  country  ;  the  blessing  of  health  has  continued  generally  to 
prevail  throughout  the  land  ;  the  blessing  of  peace  with  our  brethren  of 
the  human  race  has  been  enjoyed  without  interruption ;  internal  quiet  has 
left  our  fellow-citizens  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights,  and  in  the 
free  exercise  of  all  their  faculties,  to  pursue  the  impulse  of  their  nature,  and 
the  obligation  of  their  duty  in  the  improvement  of  their  own  condition  ; 
the  productions  of  the  soil,  the  exchanges  of  commerce,  the  vivifying  labors 
of  human  industry,  have  combined  to  mingle  in  our  cup  a  portion  of  enjoy- 
ment as  large  and  liberal  as  the  indulgence  of  Heaven  has  perhaps  ever 
granted  to  the  imperfect  state  of  man  upon  earth  ;  and,  as  the  purest  of  hu- 
man felicity  consists  in  its  participation  with  others,  it  is  no  small  addition 
to  the  sum  of  our  national  happiness  at  this  time,  that  peace  and  prosperity 
prevail  to  a  degree  seldom  experienced  over  the  whole  habitable  globe  ; 
presenting,  though  as  yet  with  painful  exceptions,  a  foretaste  of  that  blessed 
period  of  promise,  when  the  lion  shall  lie  down  with  the  lamb,  and  wars 
shall  be  no  more.  To  preserve,  to  improve,  and  to  perpetuate,  the  sources, 


608  JOHN  Q    ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

and  to  direct  in  their  most  effective  channels  the  streams  which  contribute 
to  the  public  weal,  is  the  purpose  for  which  government  was  instituted 
Objects  of  deep  importance  to  the  welfare  of  the  Union  are  constantly  re- 
curring to  demand  the  attention  of  the  federal  legislature,  and  they  call  with 
accumulated  interest  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  two  houses,  after  their  period- 
ical renovation.  To  present  to  their  consideration,  from  time  to  time,  sub- 
jects in  which  the  interests  of  the  nation  are  most  deeply  involved,  and  for 
the  regulation  of  which  the  legislative  will  is  alone  competent,  is  a  duty 
prescribed  by  the  constitution,  to  the  performance  of  which,  the  first  meet- 
ing of  the  new  Congress  is  a  period  eminently  appropriate,  and  which  it  is 
now  my  purpose  to  discharge. 

Our  relations  of  friendship  with  the  other  nations  of  the  earth,  political 
and  commercial,  have  been  preserved  unimpaired  ;  and  the  opportunities 
to  improve  them  have  been  cultivated  with  anxious  and  unremitting  atten- 
tion. A  negotiation  upon  subjects  of  high  and  delicate  interest  with  the 
government  of  Great  Britain,  has  terminated  in  the  adjustment  of  some  of 
the  questions  at  issue,  upon  satisfactory  terms?  and  the  postponement  of 
others  for  future  discussion  and  agreement.  The  purposes  of  the  con- 
vention concluded  at  St.  Petersburgh,  on  the  12th  day  of  July,  1822,  under 
the  mediation  of  the  late  emperor  Alexander,  have  been  carried  into  effect 
by  a  subsequent  convention,  concluded  at  London,  on  the  13th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1826,  the  ratifications  of  which  were  exchanged  at  that  place  on  the 
6tb  day  of  February  last.  A  copy  of  the  proclamation  issued  on  the  19th 
day  of  March  last,  publishing  this  convention,  is  herewith  communicated 
to  Congress.  The  sum  of  twelve  hundred  and  four  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  sixty  dollars,  therein  stipulated  to  be  paid  to  the  claimants  of  indemni- 
ty, under  the  first  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  has  been  duly  received  ; 
and  the  commission  instituted,  conformably  to  the  act  of  Congress  of  the 
2d  of  March  last,  for  the  distribution  of  the  indemnity  to  the  persons  entitled 
to  receive  it,  are  now  in  session,  and  approaching  the  consummation  of 
their  labors.  This  final  disposal  of  one  of  the  most  painful  topics  of  collis- 
ion between,  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  not  only  affords  an  occa- 
sion of  gratulation  to  ourselves,  but  has  had  the  happiest  effect  in  promo- 
ting a  friendly  disposition,  and  in  softening  asperities  upon  other  objects  of 
discussion.  Nor  ought  it  to  pass  without  the  tribute  of  a  frank  and  cordial 
acknowledgment  of  the  magnanimity  with  which  an  honorable  nation,  by 
the  reparation  of  their  own  wrongs,  achieves  a  triumph  more  glorious  than 
any  field  of  blood  can  ever  bestow. 

The  conventions  of  3d  July,  1815,  and  of  20th  October,  1818,  will  expire, 
by  their  own  limitation,  on  the  20th  October,  1828.  These  have  regulated 
the  direct  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  upon  terms  of  the  most  perfect  reciprocity ;  and  they  affected  a 
temporary  compromise  of  the  respective  rights  and  claims  to  territory  west- 
ward of  the  Rocky  mountains.  These  arrangements  have  been  continued 
for  an  indefinite  period  of  time,  after  the  expiration  of  the  above-mentioned 
conventions  ;  leaving  each  party  the  liberty  of  terminating  them  by  giving 
twelve  months  notice  to  the  other.  The  radical  principle  of  all  commer- 
cial intercourse  between  independent  nations  is  the  mutual  interest  of  both 
parties.  It  is  the  vital  spirit  of  trade  itself ;  nor  can  it  be  reconciled  to  the 
nature  of  man,  or  to  the  primary  laws  of  human  society,  that  any  traffic 
should  long  be  willingly  pursued,  of  which  all  the  advantages  are  on  one 
side,  and  all  the  burdens  on  the  other.  Treaties  of  commerce  have  been 
found,  by  experience,  to  be  among  the  most  effective  instruments  for  pro- 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  609 

moting  peace  and  harmony  between  nations  whose- interests,  exclusively 
considered  on  either  side,  are  brought  into  frequent  collisions  by  competi- 
tion. In  framing  such  treaties,  it  is  the  duty  of  each  party,  not  simply  to 
urge  with  unyielding  pertinacity  that  which  suits  its  own  interests,  but  to 
concede  liberally  to  that  which  is  adapted  to  the  interest  of  the  other.  To 
accomplish  this,  little  more  is  generally  required  than  a  simple  observance 
of  the  rule  of  reciprocity ;  and  were  it  possible  for  the  statesman  of  one 
nation,  by  stratagem  and  management,  to  obtain  from  the  weakness  or  igno- 
rance of  another  an  overreaching  treaty,  such  a  compact  would  prove  an 
incentive  to  war  rather  than  a  bond  of  peace.  Our  conventions  with  Great 
Britain  are  founded  upon  the  principles  of  reciprocity.  The  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  two  countries  is  greater  in  magnitude  and  amount 
than  between 'any  two  other  nations  on  the  globe.  It  is,  for  all  purposes  of 
benefit  or  advantage  to  both,  as  precious,  and  in  all  probability  far  more  ex- 
tensive, than  if  the  parties  were  still  constituent  parts  of  one  and  the  same 
nation.  Treaties  between  such  states,  regulating  the  intercourse  of  peace 
between  them,  and  adjusting  interests  of  such  transcendent  importance  to 
both,  which  have  been  found  in  a  long  experience  of  years  mutually  advan- 
tageous, should  not  be  lightly  cancelled  or  discontinued.  Two  conventions 
for  continuing  in  force  those  above  mentioned,  have  been  concluded  between 
the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  two  governments,  on  the  6lh  of  August  last, 
and  will  be  forthwith  laid  before  the  senate  for  the  exercise  of  their  consti- 
tutional authority  concerning  them. 

In  the  execution  of  the  treaties  of  peace,  of  November,  1782,  and  Sep- 
tember, 1783,  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  and  which  ter- 
minated the  war  of  our  independence,  a  line  of  boundary  was  drawn  as  the 
demarcation  of  territory  between  the  two  countries,  extending  over  near 
twenty  degrees  of  latitude,  and  ranging  over  seas,  lakes,  and  mountains, 
then  very  imperfectly  explored,  and  scarcely  opened  to  the  geographical 
knowledge  of  the  age.  In  the  progress  of  discovery  and  settlement  by 
both  parties,  since  that  time,  several  questions  of  boundary  between  their 
respective  territories  have  arisen,  which  have  been  found  of  exceedingly 
diflicult  adjustment.  At  the  close  of  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain,  four 
of  these  questions  pressed  themselves  upon  the  consideration  of  the  nego- 
tiation of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  but  jvithout  the  means  of  concluding  a  de- 
finitive arrangement  concerning  them.  They  were  referred  to  three  sepa- 
rate commissions,  consisting  of  two  commissioners,  one  appointed  by  each 
party,  to  examine  and  decide  upon  their  respective  claims.  In  the  event 
of  disagreement  between  the  commissioners,  it  was  provided  that  they 
should  make  reports  to  their  several  governments,  and  that  the  reports 
should  finally  be  referred  to  the  decision  of  a  sovereign,  the  common  friend 
of  both.  Of  these  commissions  two  have  already  terminated  their  sessions 
and  investigations,  one  by  entire,  and  the  other  by  partial  agreement.  The 
commissioners  of  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent  have  finally  dis- 
agreed, and  made  their  conflicting  reports  to  their  own  governments.  But 
from  these  reports  a  great  difficulty  has  occurred  in  making  up  a  question 
to  be  decided  by  the  arbitrator.  This  purpose  has,  however,  been  affected 
by  a  fourth  convention,  concluded  at  London  by  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the 
two  governments,  on  the  29th  of  September  last.  It  will  be  submitted, 
together  with  the  others,  to  the  consideration  of  the  senate. 

While  these  questions  have  been  pending,  incidents  have  occurred  of 
conflicting  pretensions,  and  of  a  dangerous  character,  upon  the  territory 
itself  in  dispute  between  the  two  nations.  By  a  common  understanding 

VOL.  I.— 39 


610  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

between  the  governments,  it  was  agreed  that  no  exercise  of  exclusive  juris 
diction  by  either  party,  while  the  negotiation  was  pending,  should  change 
the  state  of  the  question  of  right  to  be  definitively  settled.  Such  collision 
has,  nevertheless,  recently  taken  place  by  occurrences  the  precise  charac- 
ter of  which  has  not  yet  been  ascertained.  A  communication  from  the 
governor  of  the  state  of  Maine,  with  accompanying  documents,  and  a  cor- 
respondence between  the  secretary  of  state  and  the  minister  of«Great  Britain, 
on  this  subject,  are  now  communicated.  Measures  have  been  taken  to 
ascertain  the  state  of  the  facts  more  correctly,  by  the  employment  of  a 
special  agent  to  visit  the  spot  where  the  alleged  outrages  have  occurred  ; 
the  result  of  those  inquiries,  when  received,  will  be  transmitted  to  Con- 
gress. 

While  so  many  of  the  subjects  of  high  interest  to  the  friendly  relations 
between  the  two  countries  have  been  so  far  adjusted,  it  is  matter  of  regret 
that  their  views  respecting  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United 
States  and  the  British  colonial  possessions  have  not  equally  approximated 
to  a  friendly  agreement. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  they  were  informed 
of  the  sudden  and  unexpected  exclusion,  by  the  British  government,  of 
access,  in  vessels  of  the  United  States,  to  all  their  colonial  ports,  except 
those  immediately  bordering  upon  our  own  territories.  In  the  amicable 
discussions  which  have  succeeded  the  adoption  of  this  measure,  which,  as 
it  affected  harshly  the  interests  of  the  United  States,  became  a  subject  of 
oxpostulation  on  our  part,  the  principles  upon  which  its  justification  has 
been  placed  have  been  of  a  diversified  character.  It  has  been  at  once 
ascribed  to  a  mere  recurrence  to  the  old  long-established  principle  of  colo- 
nial monopoly,  and  at  the  same  time  to  a  feeling  of  resentment,  because  the 
offers  of  an  act  of  parliament,  opening  the  colonial  ports  upon  certain  con- 
ditions had  not  been  grasped  at  with  sufficient  eagerness  by  an  instanta- 
neous conformity  to  them.  At  a  subsequent  period  it  has  been  intimated 
that  the  new  exclusion  was  in  resentment,  because  a  prior  act  of  parlia- 
ment, of  1822,  opening  certain  colonial  ports,  under  heavy  and  burdensome 
restrictions  to  vessels  of  the  United  States,  had  not  been  reciprocated  by  an 
admission  of  British  vessels  from  the  colonies,  and  their  cargoes,  without 
any  restriction  or  discrimination  whatever.  But,  be  the  motive  for  the 
interdiction  what  it  may,  the  British  government  have  manifested  no  dis- 
position, either  by  negotiation  or  by  corresponding  legislative  enactments, 
to  recede  from  it,  and  we  have  been  given  distinctly  to  understand,  that 
neither  of  the  bills  which  were  under  the  consideration  of  Congress,  at  their 
last  session,  would  have  been  deemed  sufficient  in  their  concessions  to  have 
been  rewarded  by  any  relaxation  from  the  British  interdict.  It  is  one  oi 
the  inconveniences  inseparably  connected  with  the  attempt  to  adjust,  by 
reciprocal  legislation,  interests  of  this  nature,  that  neither  party  can  know 
what  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  other  ;  and  that  after  enacting  a  statute 
for  the  avowed  and  sincere  purpose  of  conciliation,  it  will  generally  be  found 
utterly  inadequate  to  the  expectations  of  the  other  party,  and  will  terminate 
in  mutual  disappointment. 

The  session  of  Congress  having  terminated  without  any  act  upon  the 
subject,  a  proclamation  was  issued,  on  the  17th  of  March  last,  conformably 
to  the  provisions  of  the  6th  section  of  the  act  of  1st  March,  1823,  declaring 
the  fact  that  the  trade  and  intercourse  authorized  by  the  British  act  of  par- 
liament, of  24th  June,  1822,  between  the  United  States  and  the  British 
enumerated  colonial  ports,  had  been,  by  the  subsequent  acts  of  parliament, 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  611 

of  5th  July,  1825,  and  the  order  of  council,  of  27th  July,  1826,  prohibited. 
The  effect  of  this  proclamation,  by  the  terms  of  the  act  under  which  it  was 
issued,  has  been,  that  each  and  every  provision  of  the  act  concerning  navi- 
gation, of  18th  of  April,  1818,  and  of  the  act  supplementary  thereto,  of  15th 
of  May,  1820,  revived,  and  is  in  full  force.  Such,  then,  is  the  present  con- 
dition of  the  trade,  that,  useful  as  it  is  to  both  parties,  it  can,  with  a  single 
momentary  exception,  be  carried  on  directly  by  the  vessels  of  neither. 
That  exception  itself  is  found  in  a  proclamation  of  the  governor  of  the  island 
of  St.  Christopher  and  of  the  Virgin  islands,  inviting,  for  three  months  from 
the  28th  of  August  last,  the  importation  of  the  articles  of  the  produce  of 
the  United  States,  which  constitute  their  export  portion  of  this  trade,  in 
the  vessels  of  all  nations.  That  period  having  already  expired,  the  state 
of  mutual  interdiction  has  again  taken  place.  The  British  government  have 
not  only  declined  negotiation  upon  this  subject,  but  by  the  principle  they 
have  assumed  with  reference  to  it,  have  precluded  even  the  means  of  nego- 
tiation. It  becomes  not  the  self-respect  of  the  United  States  either  to  solicit 
gratuitous  favors,  or  to  accept  as  the  grant  of  a  favor  that  for  which  an 
ample  equivalent  is  exacted.  It  remains  to  be  determined  by  the  respec- 
tive governments,  whether  the  trade  shall  be  opened  by  acts  of  reciprocal 
legislation.  It  is,  in  the  meantime,  satisfactory  to  know  that,  apart  from 
the  inconveniences  resulting  from  a  disturbance  of  the  usual  channels  of 
trade,  no  loss  has  been  sustained  by  the  commerce,  the  navigation,  or  the 
revenue  of  the  United  States,  and  none  of  magnitude  is  to  be  apprehended 
from  this  existing  state  of  mutual  interdict. 

With  the  other  maritime  and  commercial  nations  of  Europe  our  inter- 
course still  continues  with  little  variation.  Since  the  cessation,  by  the  con- 
vention of  24th  June,  1822,  of  all  discriminating  duties  upon  the  vessels  of 
the  United  States  and  of  France,  in  either  country,  our  trade  with  that 
nation  has  increased  and  is  increasing.  A  disposition  on  the  part  of  France 
has  been  manifested  to  renew  that  negotiation  ;  and,  in  acceding  to  the 
proposal,  we  have  expressed  the  wish  that  it  might  be  extended  to  other 
objects,  upon  which  a  good  understanding  between  the  parties  would  be 
beneficial  to  the  interests  of  both.  The  origin  of  the  political  relations  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  France  is  coeval  with  the  first  years  of  our 
independence.  The  memory  of  it  is  interwoven  with  that  of  our  arduous 
struggle  for  national  existence.  Weakened  as  it  has  occasionally  been 
since  that  time,  it  can  by  us  never  be  forgotten  ;  and  we  should  hail  with 
exultation  the  moment  which  should  indicate  a  recollection  equally  friendly 
in  spirit  on  the  part  of  France.  A  fresh  effort  has  recently  been  made, 
by  the  minister  of  the  United  States  residing  at  Paris,  to  obtain  a  con- 
sideration of  the  just  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  to  the  repara- 
tion of  wrongs  long  since  committed,  many  of  them  frankly  acknowledged, 
and  all  of  them  entitled,  upon  every  principle  of  justice,  to  a  candid  ex- 
amination. The  proposal  last  made  to  the  French  government  has  been, 
to  refer  the  subject  which  has  formed  an  obstacle  to  this  consideration  to 
the  determination  of  a  sovereign  the  common  friend  of  both.  To  this 
offer  no  definitive  answer  has  yet  been  received ;  but  the  gallant  and 
honorable  spirit  which  has  at  all  times  been  the  pride  and  glory  of  France, 
will  not  ultimately  permit  the  demands  of  innocent  sufferers  to  be  extinguish- 
ed in  the  mere  consciousness  of  the  power  to  reject  them. 

A  new  treaty  of  amity,  navigation,  and  commerce,  has  been  concluded 
with  the  kingdom  of  Sweden,  which  will  be  submitted  to  the  senate,  for 
their  advice  with  regard  to  its  ratification.  At  a  more  recent  date,  a  minis- 


612  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

ter  plenipotentiary  from  the  Hanseatic  republics  of  Hamburg,  Lubeck,  and 
Bremen,  has  been  received,  charged  with  a  special  mission  for  the  negotia- 
tion of  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  between  that  ancient  and  renowned 
league  and  the  United  States.  This  negotiation  has  accordingly  been  com- 
menced, and  is  now  in  progress,  the  result  of  which  will,  if  successful,  be 
also  submitted  to  the  senate  for  their  consideration. 

Since  the  accession  of  the 'emperor  Nicholas  to  the  imperial  throne  of  all 
the  Russias,  the  friendly  dispositions  toward  the  United  States,  so  constant- 
ly manifested  by  his  predecessor,  have  continued  unabated,  and  have  been 
recently  testified  by  the  appointment  of  a  minister  plenipotentiary  to  reside 
at  this  place.  From  the  interest  takeu  by  this  sovereign  in  behalf  of  the 
suffering  Greeks,  and  from  the  spirit  with  which  others  of  the  great  Euro- 
pean powers  are  co-operating  with  him,  the  friends  of  freedom  and  of  hu- 
manity may  indulge  the  hope  that  they  will  obtain  relief  from  that  most 
unequal  of  conflicts  which  they  have  so  long  and  so  gallantly  sustained  ; 
that  they  will  enjoy  the  blessings  of  self-government  which,  by  their  suf- 
ferings in  the  cause  of  liberty,  they  have  richly  earned ;  and  that  their 
independence  will  be  secured  by  those  liberal  institutions  of  which  their 
country  furnished  the  earliest  examples  in  the  history  of  mankind,  and 
which  have  consecrated  to  immortal  remembrance  the  very  soil  for  which 
they  are  now  again  profusely  pouring  forth  their  blood.  The  sympathies 
which  the  people  and  the  government  of  the  United  States  have  so  warmly 
indulged  with  their  cause,  have  been  acknowledged  by  their  government,  in 
a  letter  of  thanks,  which  I  have  received  from  their  illustrunis  president, 
a  translation  of  which  is  now  communicated  to  Congress,  the  representatives 
of  that  nation  to  whom  this  tribute  of  gratitude  was  intended  to  be  paid,  and 
to  whom  it  was  justly  due. 

In  the  American  hemisphere,  the  cause  of  freedom  and  independence  has 
continued  to  prevail,  and  if  signalized  by  none  of  those  splendid  triumph.s 
which  had  crowned  with  glory  some  of  the  preceding  years,  it  has  only  been 
from  the  banishment  of  all  external  force  against  which  the  struggle  had 
been  maintained.  The  shout  of  victory  has  been  superseded  by  the  expul- 
sion of  the  enemy  over  whom  it  could  have  been  achieved.  Our  friendly 
wishes  and  cordial  good  will,  which  have  constantly  followed  the  southern 
nations  of  America,  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  their  war  of  independence,  are 
succeeded  by  a  solicitude  equally  ardent  and  cordial,  that,  by  the  wisdom 
and  purity  of  their  institutions,  they  may  secure  to  themselves  the  choicest 
blessings  of  social  order,  and  the  best  rewards  of  virtuous  liberty.  Dis- 
claiming alike  all  right  and  all  intention  of  interfering  in  those  concerns 
which  it  is  the  prerogative  of  their  independence  to  regulate  as  to  them 
shall  seem  fit,  we  hail  with  joy  every  indication  of  their  prosperity,  of  their 
harmony,  of  their  persevering  and  inflexible  homage  to  those  principles  of 
freedom  and  of  equal  rights  which  are  alone  suited  to  the  genius  and  tem- 
per of  the  American  nations.  It  has  been,  therefore,  with  some  concern 
that  we  have  observed  indications  of  intestine  divisions  in  some  of  the  re- 
publics of  the  south,  and  appearances  of  less  union  with  one  another  than 
we  believe  to  be  the  interest  of  all.  Among  the  results  of  this  state  of 
things  has  been  that  the  treaties  concluded  at  Panama  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  ratified  by  the  contracting  parties,  and  that  the  meeting  of  the  congress 
at  Tacubaya  has  been  indefinitely  postponed.  In  accepting  the  invitations 
to  be  represented  at  this  congress,  while  a  manifestation  was  intended  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States,  of  the  most  friendly  disposition  toward  the 
southern  republics  by  whom  it  had  been  proposed,  it  was  hoped  that  it 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  613 

would  furnish  an  opportunity  for  bringing  all  the  nations  of  this  hemisphere 
to  the  common  acknowledgment  and  adoption  of  the  principles,  in  the  regu- 
lation of  their  internal  relations,  which  would  have  secured  a  lasting  peace 
and  harmony  between  them,  and  have  promoted  the  cause  of  mutual  be- 
nevolence throughout  the  globe.  But  as  obstacles  appear  to  have  arisen  to 
the  reassembling  of  the  congress,  one  of  the  two  ministers  commissioned 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States  has  returned  to  the  bosom  of  his  country, 
while  the  ministers  charged  with  the  ordinary  mission  to  Mexico  remain 
authorized  to  attend  at  the  conferences  of  the  congress,  whenever  they  may 
be  resumed. 

A  hope  was  for  a  short  time  entertained  that  a  treaty  of  peace,  actually 
signed  between  the  governments  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Brazil,  would  super- 
sede all  further  occasions  for  those  collisions  between  belligerent  preten- 
sions and  neutral  rights  which  are  so  commonly  the  result  of  maritime  war, 
and  which  have  unfortunately  disturbed  the  harmony  of  the  relations  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the  Brazilian  government.  At  their  last  ses- 
sion, Congress  were  informed  that  some  of  the  naval  officers  of  that  empire 
had  advanced  and  practised  upon  principles  in  relation  to  blockade,  and  to 
neutral  navigation,  which  we  could  not  sanction,  and  which  our  command- 
ers found  it  necessary  to  resist.  It  appears  that  they  have  not  been  sus- 
tained by  the  government  of  Brazil  itself.  Some  of  the  vessels  captured 
under  the  assumed  authority  of  these  erroneous  principles  have  been  restor- 
ed, and  we  trust  that  our  just  expectations  will  be  realized,  that  adequate 
indemnity  will  be  made  to  all  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  have 
suffered  by  the  unwarranted  captures  which  the  Brazilian  tribunals  them- 
selves have  pronounced  unlawful. 

In  the  diplomatic  discussion  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  of  these  wrongs,  sustained 
by  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  of  others  which  seemed  as  if  emanating 
immediately  from  that  government  itself,  the  charge  d'affaires  of  the  United 
States,  under  an  impression  that  his  representations  in  behalf  of  the  rights 
and  interests  of  his  countrymen  were  totally  disregarded  and  useless,  deem- 
ed it  his  duty,  without  waiting  for  instructions,  to  terminate  his  official  func- 
tions, to  demand  his  passports,  and  return  to  the  United  States.  This 
movement,  dictated  by  an  honest  zeal  for  the  honor  and  interest  of  his  coun- 
try— motives  which  operated  exclusively  upon  the  mind  of  the  officer  who 
resorted  to  it — has  not  been  disapproved  by  me.  The  Brazilian  government, 
however,  complained  of  it  as  a  measure  for  which  no  adequate  intentional 
cause  had  been  given  by  them ;  and,  upon  an  explicit  assurance,  through 
their  charge  d'affaires  residing  here,  that  a  successor  to  the  late  representa- 
tive of  the  United  States  near  that  government,  the  appointment  of  whom 
they  desired,  should  be  received  and  treated  with  the  respect  due  to  his 
character,  and  that  indemnity  should  be  promptly  made  for  all  injuries  in- 
llicted  on  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  their  property,  contrary  to  the  laws 
of  nations,  a  temporary  commission  as  charge  d'affaires  to  that  country  has 
been  issued,  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  entirely  restore  the  ordinary  diplomatic 
intercourse  between  the  two  governments,  and  the  friendly  relations  between 
their  respective  nations. 

Turning  from  the  momentous  concerns  of  our  Union,  in  its  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations,  to  those  of  the  deepest  interest  in  the  administration 
of  our  internal  affairs,  we  find  the  revenues  of  the  present  year  correspond- 
ing as  nearly  as  might  be  expected  to  the  anticipations  of  the  last,  and 
presenting  an  aspect  still  more  favorable  in  the  promise  of  the  next.  The 
balance  in  the  treasury  on  the  first  of  January  last,  was  six  millions  three 


614  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

hundred  and  fifty-eight  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty-six  dollars  eighteen 
cents.  The  receipts  from  that  day  to  the  30th  September  last,  as  near  as  the 
returns  of  them  yet  received  can  show,  amount  to  sixteen  millions  eight 
hundred  and  eighty-six  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty-one  dollars 
thirty-two  cents.  The  receipts  of  the  present  quarter,  estimated  at  four 
millions  five  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  added  to  the  above, 
form  an  aggregate  of  twenty-one  millions  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  of 
receipts.  The  expenditures  of  the  year  may  perhaps  amount  to  twenty-two 
millions  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  presenting  a  small  excess  over 
the  receipts.  But  of  these  twenty-two  millions  of  dollars,  upward  of  six 
have  been  applied  to  the  discharge  of  the  principal  of  the  public  debt ; 
the  whole  amount  of  which,  approaching  seventy-four  millions  of  dollars, 
on  the  first  of  January  last,  will,  on  the  first  day  of  next  year,  fall  short 
of  sixty-seven  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  balance  in  the 
treasury,  on  the  first  of  January  next,  it  is  expected  will  exceed  five 
millions  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  a  sum  exceeding  that  of 
the  first  of  January,  1825,  though  falling  short  of  that  exhibited  on  the  first 
of  January  last. 

It  was  foreseen  that  the  revenue  of  the  present  year  would  not  equal  that 
of  the  last,  which  had  itself  been  less  than  that  of  the  next  preceding  year. 
But  the  hope  has  been  realized  which  was  entertained,  that  these  deficiencies 
would  in  no  wise  interrupt  the  steady  operation  of  the  discharge  of  the  pub- 
lic debt  by  the  annual  ten  millions  devoted  to  that  object  by  the  act  of  3d  of 
March,  1817. 

The  amount  of  duties  secured  on  merchandise  imported  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year  until  the  30th  of  September  last,  is  twenty-one  mill- 
ions two  hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  dollars,  and  the  probable  amount 
of  that  which  will  be  secured  during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  is  five  mill- 
ions seven  hundred  and  seventy-four  thousand  dollars  ;  forming  a  sum  total 
of  twenty-seven  millions  of  dollars.  With  the  allowances  for  drawbacks 
and  contingent  deficiencies  which  may  occur,  though  not  specifically  fore- 
seen, we  may  safely  estimate  the  receipts  of  the  ensuing  year  at  twenty-two 
millions  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  a  revenue  for  the  next,  equal  to 
the  expenditures  of  the  present  year. 

The  deep  solicitude  felt  by  our  citizens  of  all  classes  throughout  the 
Union  for  the  total  discharge  of  the  public  debt,  will  apologize  for  the 
earnestness  with  which  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  urge  this  topic  upon  the  con- 
sideration of  Congress — of  recommending  to  them  again  the  observance 
of  the  strictest  economy  in  the  public  funds.  The  depression  upon  the 
receipts  of  the  revenue  which  had  commenced  with  the  year  182(3,  con- 
tinued with  increased  severity  during  the  first  two  quarters  of  the  present 
year.  The  returning  tide  began  to  flow  with  the  third  quarter,  and  so  far 
as  we  can  judge  from  experience,  may  be  expected  to  continue  through  the 
course  of  the  ensuing  year.  In  the  meantime,  an  alleviation  from  the 
burden  of  the  public  debt  will,  in  the  three  years,  have  been  effected  to  the 
amount  of  nearly  sixteen  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  charge  of  annual  in- 
terest will  have  been  reduced  upward  of  one  million.  But  among  the 
maxims  of  political  economy  which  the  stewards  of  the  public  moneys 
should  never  suffer  without  urgent  necessity  to  be  transcended,  is  that  of 
keeping  the  expenditures  of  the  year  within  the  limits  of  its  receipts.  The 
appropriations  of  the  last  two  years,  including  the  yearly  ten  millions  ol 
the  sinking  fund,  have  each  equalled  the  promised  revenue  of  the  ensuing 
year.  While  we  foresee  with  confidence  that  the  public  coffers  will  be 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  615 

replenished  from  the  receipts,  as  fast  as  they  will  be  drained  by  the  ex- 
penditures, equal  in  amount  to  those  of  the  current  year,  it  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  they  could  ill  suffer  the  exhaustion  of  larger  disbursements. 

The  condition  of  the  army,  and  of  all  branches  of  the  public  service 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  secretary  of  war,  will  be  seen  by  the  re- 
port from  that  officer,  and  the  documents  with  which  it  is  accompanied. 

During  the  course  of  the  last  summer,  a  detachment  of  the  army  has 
been  usefully  and  successfully  called  to  perform  their  appropriate  duties. 
At  the  moment  when  the  commissioners  appointed  for  carrying  into  exe- 
cution certain  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  August  19th,  1825,  with  various 
tribes  of  the  northwestern  Indians,  were  about  to  arrive  at  the  appointed 
place  of  meeting,  the  unprovoked  murder  of  several  citizens,  and  other 
acts  of  unequivocal  hostility  committed  by  a  party  of  the  Winnebago  tribe. 
one  of  those  associated  in  the  treaty,  followed  by  indications  of  a  mena- 
cing character,  among  other  tribes  of  the  same  region,  rendered  necessary 
an  immediate  display  of  the  defensive  and  protective  force  of  the  Union 
in  that  quarter.  It  was  accordingly  exhibited  by  the  immediate  and  con- 
certed movements  of  the  governors  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  and  of  the  terri- 
tory of  Michigan,  and  competent  levies  of  militia,  under  their  authority, 
with  a  corps  of  seven  hundred  men  of  United  States'  troops,  under  the 
command  of  General  Atkinson,  who,  at  the  call  of  Governor  Cass,  imme- 
diately repaired  to  the  scene  of  danger  from  their  station  at  St.  Louis. 
Their  presence  dispelled  the  alarm  of  our  fellow-citizens  on  those  bor- 
ders, and  overawed  the  hostile  purposes  of  the  Indians.  The  perpetrators 
of  the  murders  were  surrendered  to  the  authority  and  operation  of  our 
laws  ;  and  every  appearance  of  purposed  hostility  from  those  Indian  tribes 
has  subsided. 

Although  the  present  organization  of  the  army,  and  the  administration 
of  its  various  branches  of  service  are,  upon  the  whole,  satisfactory,  they 
are  yet  susceptible  of  much  improvement  in  particulars,  some  of  which 
have  been  heretofore  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  and  others 
are  now  first  presented  in  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  war. 

The  expediency  of  providing  for  additional  numbers  of  officers  in  the 
two  corps  of  engineers  will,  in  some  degree,  depend  upon  the  number 
and  extent  of  the  objects  of  national  importance  upon  which  Congress 
may  think  it  proper  that  surveys  should  be  made,  conformably  to  the  act 
of  the  30th  of  April,  1824.  Of  the  surveys  which,  before  the  last  session 
of  Congress,  had  been  made  under  the  authority  of  that  act,  reports  were 
made  :  — 

1 .  Of  the  board  of  internal  improvement  on  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio 
canal. 

2.  On  the  continuance  of  the  national  road  from  Cumberland  to  the  tide 
waters  within  the  district  of  Columbia. 

3.  On  the  continuance  of  the  national  road  from  Canton  to  Zanesville. 

4.  On  the  location  of  the  national  road  from  Zanesville  to  Columbus. 

5.  On  the  continuation  of  the  same  road  to  the  seat  of  government  in 
Missouri. 

6.  On  a  poslroad  from  Baltimore  to  Philadelphia. 

7.  On  a  survey  of  Kennebec  river  (in  part). 

8.  On  a  national  road  from  Washington  to  Buffalo. 

9.  On  the  survey  of  Saugatuck  harbor  and  river. 

10.  On  a  canal  from  Lake  Pontchartrain  to  the  Mississippi  river. 

11.  On  surreys  at  Edgartown,  Newburyport,  and  Hyannis  harbor. 


616  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

12.  On  survey  of  La  Plaisance  bay,  in  the  territory  of  Michigan. 

And  reports  are  now  prepared,  and  will  be  submitted  to  Congress  : — 

On  surveys  of  the  peninsula  of  Florida,  to  ascertain  the  practicability  of 
a  canal  to  connect  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  with  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  across 
that  peninsula  ;  and  also  of  the  country  between  the  bays  of  Mobile  and  of 
Pensacola,  with  the  view  of  connecting  them  together  by  a  canal. 

On  surveys  of  a  route  for  a  canal  to  connect  the  waters  of  James  and 
great  Kenhawa  rivers. 

On  the  survey  of  the  Swash,  in  Pamlico  sound,  and  that  of  Cape  Fear, 
below  the  town  of  Wilmington,  in  North  Carolina. 

On  the  survey  of  the  Muscle  shoals,  in  the  Tennessee  river,  and  for  a 
route  for  a  contemplated  communication  between  the  Hiwassce  and  Coosa 
rivers,  in  the  stale  of  Alabama. 

Other  reports  of  surveys  upon  objects  pointed  out  by  the  several  acts  of 
Congress  of  the  last  and  preceding  sessions,  are  in  the  progress  of  prepara- 
tion, and  most  of  them  may  be  completed  before  the  close  of  this  session. 
All  the  officers  of  both  corps  of  engineers,  with  several  other  persons  duly 
qualified,  have  been  constantly  employed  upon  these  services,  from  the 
passage  of  the  act  of  the  30th  of  April,  1824,  to  this  time.  Were  no  other 
advantage  to  accrue  to  the  country  from  their  labors  than  the  fund  of  topo- 
graphical knowledge  which  they  have  collected  and  communicated,  that 
alone  would  have  been  a  profit  to  the  Union  more  than  adequate  to  all 
the  expenditures  which  have  been  devoted  to  the  object ;  but  the  appro- 
priations for  the  repair  and  continuation  of  the  Cumberland  road,  for  the 
construction  of  various  other  roads,  for  the  removal  of  obstructions  from 
the  rivers  and  harbors,  for  the  erection  of  lighthouses,  beacons,  piers,  and 
buoys,  and  for  the  completion  of  canals  undertaken  by  individual  associa- 
tions, but  needing  the  assistance  of  means  and  resources  more  comprehen- 
sive than  individual  enterprise  can  command,  may  be  considered  rather  as 
treasures  laid  up  from  the  contributions  of  the  present  age  for  the  benefit  of 
posterity,  than  as  unrequited  applications  of  the  accruing  revenues  of  the 
nation.  To  such  objects  of  permanent  improvement  to  the  condition  of 
the  country,  of  real  addition  to  the  wealth  as  well  as  to  the  comfort  of  the 
people  by  whose  authority  and  resources  they  have  been  effected,  from 
three  to  four  millions  of  the  annual  income  of  the  nation  have,  by  laws 
enacted  at  the  three  most  recent  sessions  of  Congress,  been  applied,  with- 
out intrenching  upon  the  necessities  of  the  treasury ;  without  adding  a 
dollar  to  the  taxes  or  debts  of  the  community  ;  without  suspending  even 
the  steady  and  regular  discharge  of  the  debts  contracted  in  former  days, 
which,  within  the  same  three  years,  have  been  diminished  by  the  amount 
of  nearly  sixteen  millions  of  dollars. 

The  same  observations  are,  in  a  great  degree,  applicable  to  the  appropria- 
tions made  for  fortifications  upon  the  coasts  and  harbors  of  the  United 
States,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  military  academy  at  West  Point,  and  for 
the  various  objects  under  the  superintendence  of  the  department  of  the  navy. 
The  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  navy,  and  those  from  the  subordinate 
branches  of  both  the  military  departments,  exhibit  to  Congress,  in  minute 
detail,  the  present  condition  of  the  public  establishments  dependent  upon 
them ;  the  execution  of  the  acts  of  Congress  relating  to  them ;  and  the 
views  of  the  officers  engaged  in  the  several  branches  of  the  service  con- 
cerning the  improvements  which  may  tend  to  their  perfection.  The  fortifi- 
cations of  the  coast,  and  the  gradual  increase  and  improvement  of  the  navy, 
are  parts  of  a  great  system  of  national  defence,  which  has  been  upward  of 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANXUAL  MESSAGE.  617 

ten  years  in  progress,  and  which,  for  a  series  of  years  to  come,  will  continue 
to  claim  the  constant  and  persevering  protection  and  superintendence  of 
the  legislative  authority.  Among  the  measures  which  have  emanated  from 
these  principles,  the  act  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  for  the  gradual  im- 
provement of  the  navy,  holds  a  conspicuous  place.  The  collection  of  tim- 
ber for  the  future  construction  of  vessels-of-war,  the  preservation  and  re- 
production of  the  species  of  timber  peculiarly  adapted  to  that  purpose  ;  the 
construction  of  dry  docks  for  the  use  of  the  navy  ;  the  erection  of  a  marine 
railway  for  the  repair  of  the  public  ships,  and  the  improvement  of  the  navy- 
yards  for  the  preservation  of  the  public  property  deposited  in  them,  have  all 
received  from  the  executive  the  attention  required  by  that  act,  and  will 
continue  to  receive  it,  steadily  proceeding  toward  the  execution  of  all  its 
purposes.  The  establishment  of  a  naval  academy,  furnishing  the  means  of 
theoretic  instruction  to  the  youths  who  devote  their  lives  to  the  service  of 
their  country  upon  the  ocean,  still  solicit  the  sanction  of  the  legislature. 
Practical  seamanship  and  the  art  of  navigation  may  be  acquired  upon  the 
cruises  of  the  squadrons,  which  from  time  to  time  are  despatched  to  distant 
seas  ;  but  a  competent  knowledge  even  of  the  art  of  ship-building,  the  higher 
mathematics,  and  astronomy  ;  the  literature  which  can  place  our  officers  on 
a  level  of  polished  education  with  the  officers  of  other  maritime  nations ; 
the  knowledge  of  the  laws,  municipal  and  national,  which,  in  their  inter- 
course with  foreign  states  and  their  governments,  are  continually  called  into 
operation  ;  and  above  all,  that  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  honor  and 
justice,  with  the  higher  obligations  of  morals,  and  of  general  laws,  human 
and  divine,  which  constitute  the  great  distinction  between  the  warrior-pa- 
triot, and  the  licensed  robber  and  pirate  :  these  can  be  systematically  taught 
and  eminently  acquired  only  in  a  permanent  school,  stationed  upon  the  shore, 
and  provided  with  the  teachers,  the  instruments,  and  the  books,  conversant 
with  and  adapted  to  the  communication  of  the  principles  of  these  respective 
sciences  to  the  youthful  and  inquiring  mind. 

The  report  from  the  postmaster-general  exhibits  the  condition  of  that  de- 
partment as  highly  satisfactory  for  the  present,  and  still  more  promising 
for  the  future.  Its  receipts  for  the  year  ending  the  first  of  July  last, 
amounted  to  one  million  four  hundred  seventy-three  thousand  five  hundred 
and  fifty-one  dollars,  and  exceeded  its  expenditures  by  upward  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  It  can  not  be  an  over-sanguine  estimate  to  predict 
that,  in  less  than  ten  years,  of  which  one  half  have  elapsed,  the  receipts  will 
have  been  more  than  doubled.  In  the  meantime,  a  reduced  expenditure 
upon  established  routes  has  kept  pace  with  increased  facilities  of  public  ac- 
commodation, and  additional  services  have  been  obtained  at  reduced  rates 
of  compensation.  Within  the  last  year  the  transportation  of  the  mail  in 
stages  has  been  greatly  augmented.  The  number  of  postoffices  has  been 
increased  to  seven  thousand ;  and  it  may  be  anticipated  that,  while  the  facili- 
ties of  intercourse  between  fellow-citizens,  in  person  or  by  correspondence, 
will  soon  be  carried  to  the  door  of  every  villager  in  the  Union,  a  yearly  sur- 
plus of  revenue  will  accrue  which  may  be  applied  as  the  wisdom  of  Con- 
gress, under  the  exercise  of  their  constitutional  powers,  may  devise  for  the 
further  establishment  and  improvement  of  the  public  roads,  or  by  adding  still 
further  to  the  facilities  in  the  transportation  of  the  mail.  Of  the  indications 
of  the  prosperous  condition  of  our  country,  none  can  be  more  pleasing  than 
those  presented  by  the  multiplying  relations  of  personal  and  intimate  inter- 
course between  the  citizens  of  the  Union  dwelling  at  the  remotest  distances 
irom  each  other. 


618  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  THIRD  ANNUAL'  MESSAGE. 

Among  the  subjects  which  have  heretofore  occupied  the  earnest  solici- 
tude and  attention  of  Congress,  is  the  management  and  disposal  of  that  por- 
tion of  tlio  property  of  the  nation  which  consists  of  the  public  lands.  The 
acquisition  of  them,  made  at  the  expense  of  the  whole  Union,  not  only  in 
treasure  but  in  blood,  marks  a  right  of  property  in  them  equally  extens'ive. 
By  the  report  and  statements  from  the  general  land  office,  now  communi- 
cated, it  appears  that,  tinder  the  present  government  of  the  United  States,  a 
sum  little  short  of  thirty-three  millions  of  dollars  has  been  paid  from  the 
common  treasury,  for  that  portion  of  this  property  which  has  been  pur- 
chased from  France  and  Spain,  and  for  the  extinction  of  the  aboriginal 
titles.  The  amount  of  lands  acquired  is  near  two  hundred  and  sixty  mill- 
ions of  acres,  of  which,  on  the  first  of  January,  1826,  about  one  hundred 
and  thirty-nine  millions  of  acres  had  been  surveyed,  and  little  more  than 
nineteen  millions  of  acres  had  been  sold.  The  amount  paid  into  the  treas- 
ury by  the  purchasers  of  the  lands  sold,  is  not  yet  equal  to  the  sums  paid 
for  the  whole,  but  leaves  a  small  balance  to  be  refunded  ;  the  proceeds  ol 
the  sales  of  the  lands  have  long  been  pledged  to  the  creditors  of  the  nation  ; 
a  pledge  from  which  we  have  reason  to  hope  that  they  will  in  a  very  few 
years  be  redeemed. 

The  system  upon  which  this  great  national  interest  has  been  managed, 
was  the  result  of  long,  anxious,  and  persevering  deliberation  ;  matured  and 
modified  by  the  progress  of  our  population  and  the  lessons  of  experience, 
it  has  been  hitherto  eminently  successful.  More  than  nine  tenths  of  the 
lands  still  remain  the  common  property  of  the  Union,  the  appropriation  and 
disposal  of  which  are  sacred  trusts  in  the  hands  of  Congress.  Of  the  lands 
sold,  a  considerable  part  were  conveyed  under  extended  credits,  which,  in 
the  vicissitudes  and  fluctuations  in  the  value  of  lands,  and  of  their  produce, 
became  oppressively  burdensome  to  the  purchasers.  It  can  never  be  the 
interest  or  the  policy  of  the  nation  to  wring  from  its  own  citizens  the  rea- 
sonable profits  of  their  industry  and  enterprise,  by  holding  them  to  the  rigor- 
ous import  of  disastrous  engagements.  In  March,  1821,  a  debt  of  twenty- 
two  millions  of  dollars,  due  by  purchasers  of  the  public  lands,  had  accumu- 
lated, which  they  were  unable  to  pay.  An  act  of  Congress  of  the  2d  ol 
March,  1821,  came  to  their  relief,  and  has  been  succeeded  by  others,  the 
latest  being  the  act  of  the  4th  of  May,  1 826,  the  indulgent  provisions  of 
which  expired  on  the  4th  of  July  last.  The  effect  of  these  laws  has  been 
to  reduce  the  debt  from  the  purchasers,  to  a  remaining  balance  of  about 
four  millions  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  due  ;  more  than  three  fifths  of 
which  are  for  lands  within  the  state  of  Alabama.  I  recommend  to  Con- 
gress the  revival  and  continuance  for  a  further  term,  of  the  beneficent  accom- 
modations to  the  public  debtors  of  that  statute,  and  submit  to  their  considera- 
tion, in  the  same  spirit  of  equity,  the  remission,  under  proper  discrimina- 
tions, of  the  forfeitures  of  partial  payments  on  account  of  purchases  of  the 
public  lands,  so  far  as  to  allow  of  their  application  to  other  payments. 

There  are  various  other  subjects  of  deep  interest  to  the  whole  Union, 
which  have  heretofore  been  recommended  to  the  consideration  of  Congress, 
as  well  by  my  predecessor,  as  under  the  impression  of  the  duties  devolving 
upon  me,  by  myself.  Among  these  are  :  the  debt,  rather  of  justice  than 
gratitude,  to  the  surviving  warriors  of  the  revolutionary  war  ;  the  extension 
of  the  judicial  administration  of  the  federal  government  to  those  extensive 
and  important  members  of  the  Union  which,  having  risen  into  existence 
since  the  organization  of  the  present  judiciary  establishment,  now  consti- 
tute at  least  one  third  of  its  territory,  power,  and  population  ;  the  formation 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  619 

of  a  more  effective  and  uniform  system  for  the  government  of  the  militia ; 
and  the  amelioration,  in  some  form  or  modification,  of  the  diversified  and 
often  oppressive  codes  relating  to  insolvency.  Amid  the  multiplicity  of 
topics  of  great  national  concernment  which  may  recommend  themselves  to 
the  calm  and  patriotic  deliberations  of  the  legislature,  it  may  suffice  to  say, 
that,  on  these  and  on  all  other  measures  which  may  receive  their  sanction, 
my  hearty  co-operation  will  be  given,  conformably  to  the  duties  enjoined 
upon  me,  and  under  the  sen'se  of  all  the  obligations  prescribed  by  the  con- 
stitution. 


FOURTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

DECEMBER  2,  1828. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

IF  the  enjoyment  in  profusion  of  the  bounties  of  Providence  forms  a  suit- 
able subject  of  mutual  gratulation  and  grateful  acknowledgment,  we  are  ad- 
monished at  this  return  of  the  season,  when  the  representatives  of  the  nation 
are  assembled  to  deliberate  upon  their  concerns,  to  offer  up  the  tribute  of 
fervent  and  grateful  hearts  for  the  never-failing  mercies  of  Him  who  ruleth 
over  all.  He  has  again  favored  us  with  healthful  seasons  and  abundant 
harvests.  He  has  sustained  us  at  peace  with  foreign  countries,  and  in  tran- 
quillity within  our  borders.  He  has  preserved  us  in  the  quiet  and  undis- 
turbed possession  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  He  has  crowned  the  year 
with  his  goodness,  imposing  on  us  no  other  conditions  than  of  improving, 
for  our  own  happiness,  the  blessings  bestowed  by  his  hands  ;  and  in  the 
fruition  of  all  his  favors,  of  devoting  the  faculties  with  which  we  have  been 
endowed  by  him,  to  his  glory  and  to  our  own  temporal  and  eternal  welfare. 
In  the  relations  of  our  federal  Union  with  our  brethren  of  the  human 
race,  the  changes  which  have  occurred  since  the  close  of  your  last  session 
have  generally  tended  to  the  preservation  of  peace,  and  to  the  cultivation 
of  harmony.  Before  your  last  separation,  a  war  had  unhappily  been  kindled 
between  the  empire  of  Russia,  one  of  those  with  which  our  intercourse  has 
been  no  other  than  a  constant  exchange  of  good  offices,  and  that  of  the 
Ottoman  Porte,  a  nation  from  which  geographical  distance,  religious  opin- 
ions, and  maxims  of  government,  on  their  part,  little  suited  to  the  formation 
of  those  bonds  of  mutual  benevolence  which  result  from  the  benefits  of 
commerce,  had  kept  us  in  a  state,  perhaps  too  much  prolonged,  of  coldness 
and  alienation.  The  extensive,  fertile,  and  populous  dominions  of  the  sul- 
tan, belong  rather  to  the  Asiatic  than  the  European  division  of  the  human 
family.  They  enter  but  partially  into  the  system  of  Europe  ;  nor  have  their 
Avars  with  Russia  and  Austria,  the  European  states  upon  which  they  bor- 
der, for  more  than  a  century  past,  disturbed  the  pacific  relations  of  these 
states  with  the  other  great  powers  of  Europe.  Neither  France,  nor  Prus- 
sia, nor  Great  Britain,  has  ever  taken  part  in  them ;  nor  is  it  to  be  expect- 
ed that  they  will  at  this  time.  The  declaration  of  war  by  Russia  has  re- 
ceived the  approbation  or  acquiescence  of  her  allies,  and  we  may  indulge 
the  hope  that  its  progress  and  termination  will  be  signalized  by  the  modera- 
tion and  forbearance,  no  less  than  by  the  energy  of  the  emperor  Nicholas, 
and  that  it  will  afford  the  opportunity  for  such  collateral  agency  in  behalf  of 


020  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

the  suffering  Greeks  as  will  secure  to  them  ultimately  the  triumph  of  hu- 
manity and  of  freedom. 

The  state  of  our  particular  relations  with  France  has  scarcely  varied  in 
the  course  of  the  present  year.  The  commercial  intercourse  between  the 
two  countries  has  continued  to  increase  fur  the  mutual  benefit  of  both.  The 
claims  of  indemnity  to  numbers  of  our  fellow-citizens  for  depredations  upon 
their  property,  heretofore  committed  during  the  revolutionary  governments, 
still  remain  unadjusted,  and  still  form  the  subject  of  earnest  representation 
and  remonstrance.  Recent  advices  from  the  minister  of  the  United  States 
at  Paris,  encourage  the  expectations  that  the  appeal  to  the  justice  of  the 
French  governjnent  will  ere  long  receive  a  favorable  consideration. 

The  last  friendly  expedient  has  been  resorted  to  for  the  decision  of  the 
controversy  with  Great  Britain,  relating  to  the  northeastern  boundary  of 
the  United  States.  By  an  agreement  with  the  British  government,  carry- 
ing into  effect  the  provisions  of  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  and 
the  convention  of  the  29th  of  September,  1827,  his  majesty  the  king  of  the 
Netherlands  has  by  common  consent  been  selected  as  the  umpire  between 
the  parties.  The  proposal  to  him  to  accept  the  designation  for  the  perform- 
ance of  this  friendly  office  will  be  made  at  an  early  day,  and  the  United 
States,  relying  upon  the  justice  of  their  cause,  will  cheerfully  commit  the 
arbitrament  of  it  to  a  prince  equally  distinguished  for  the  independence  of 
his  spirit,  his  indefatigable  assiduity  to  the  duties  of  his  station,  and  his  in- 
flexible personal  probity. 

Our  commercial  relations  with  Great  Britain  will  deserve  the  serious 
consideration  of  Congress,  and  the  exercise  of  a  conciliatory  and  forbearing 
spirit  in  the  policy  of  both  governments.  The  state  of  them  has  been  mate- 
rially changed  by  the  act  of  Congress  passed  at  their  last  session,  in  altera- 
tion of  the  several  acts  imposing  duties  on  imports,  and  by  acts  of  more 
recent  date  of  the  British  parliament.  The  effect  of  the  interdiction  of  di- 
rect trade,  commenced  by  Great  Britain,  and  reciprocated  by  the  United 
States,  has  been,  as  was  to  be  foreseen,  only  to  substitute  different  channels 
for  an  exchange  of  commodities  indispensable  to  the  colonies,  and  profitable 
to  a  numerous  class  of  our  fellow-citizens.  The  exports,  the  revenue,  the 
navigation  of  the  United  States,  have  suffered  no  diminution  by  our  exclu- 
sion from  direct  access  to  the  British  colonies.  The  colonies  pay  more 
dearly  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  which  their  government  burdens  with  the 
charges  of  double  voyages,  freight,  insurance,  and  commission,  and  the 
profits  of  our  exports  are  somewhat  impaired,  and  more  injuriously  trans- 
ferred from  one  portion  of  our  citizens  to  another.  The  resumption  of  this 
old  and  otherwise  exploded  system  of  colonial  exclusion  has  not  secured  to 
the  shipping  interests  of  Great  Britain  the  relief  which,  at  the  expense  of  the 
distant  colonies  and  of  the  United  States,  it  was  expected  to  afford.  Other 
measures  have  been  resorted  to,  more  pointedly  bearing  upon  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  United  States,  and  which,  unless  modified  by  the  construction 
given  to  the  recent  acts  of  parliament,  will  be  manifestly  incompatible  with 
the  positive  stipulations  of  the  commercial  convention  existing  between  the 
two  countries.  That  convention,  however,  may  be  terminated  with  twelve 
months'  notice,  at  the  option  of  either  party. 

A  treaty  of  amity,  navigation,  and  commerce,  between  the  United  States 
and  his  majesty  the  emperor  of  Austria,  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia, 
has  been  prepared  for  signature  by  the  secretary  of  state,  and  by  the  Baron 
de  Lederer,  intrusted  with  full  powers  of  the  Austrian  government.  Inde- 
pendently of  the  new  and  friendly  relations  which  maybe  thus  commenced 


JOHX  Q.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  AX.VUAL  MESSAGE.  621 

with  one  of  the  most  eminent  and  powerful  nations  of  the  earth,  the  occa- 
sion has  been  taken  in  it,  as  in  other  recent  treaties  concluded  by  the 
United  States,  to  extend  those  principles  of  liberal  intercourse  and  of  fair 
reciprocity  which  intertwine  with  the  exchanges  of  commerce  the  princi- 
ples of  justice,  and  the  feelings  of  mutual  benevolence.  This  system, 
first  proclaimed  to  the  world  in  the  first  commercial  treaty  ever  concluded 
by  the  United  States,  that  of  6th  February.  1778,  with  France,  has  been 
invariably  the  cherished  policy  of  our  Union.  It  is  by  treaties  of  com- 
merce alone  that  it  can  be  made  ultimately  to  prevail  as  the  established 
system  of  all  civilized  nations.  With  this  principle  our  fathers  extended 
the  hand  of  friendship  to  every  nation  of  the  globe,  and  to  this  policy  our 
country  has  ever  since  adhered — whatever  of  regulation  in  our  laws  has 
ever  been  adopted  unfavorable  to  the  interest  of  any  foreign  nation  has  been 
essentially  defensive,  and  counteracting  to  similar  regulations  of  theirs 
operating  against  us. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war  of  independence,  commissioners 
were  appointed  by  the  Congress  of  the  confederation,  authorized  to  conclude 
treaties  with  every  nation  of  Europe  disposed  to  adopt  them.  Before  the 
wars  of  the  French  revolution,  such  treaties  had  been  consummated  with 
the  United  Netherlands,  Sweden,  and  Prussia.  During  these  wars,  trea- 
ties with  Great  Britain  and  Spain  had  been  effected,  and  those  with  Russia 
and  France  renewed.  In  all  these,  some  concessions  to  the  liberal  prin- 
ciples of  intercourse  proposed  by  the  United  States  had  been  obtained  ; 
but  as,  in  all  the  negotiations,  they  came  occasionally  in  collision  with 
previous  internal  regulations,  or  exclusive  and  excluding  compacts  of 
monopoly  with  which  the  other  parties  had  been  trammelled,  the  ad- 
vances made  in  them  toward  the  freedom  of  trade  were  partial  and  im- 
perfect. Colonial  establishments,  chartered  companies,  and  ship-building 
influence,  pervaded  and  encumbered  the  legislation  of  all  the  great  com- 
mercial states  ;  and  the  United  States,  in  offering  free  trade  and  equal  privi- 
leges to  all,  were  compelled  to  acquiesce  in  many  exceptions  with  each 
of  the  parties  to  their  treaties,  accommodated  to  their  existing  laws  and 
anterior  engagements. 

The  colonial  system  by  which  this  whole  hemisphere  was  bound  has 
fallen  into  ruins.  Totally  abolished  by  the  revolutions  converting  colonies 
into  independent  nations,  throughout  the  two  American  continents,  except- 
ing a  portion  of  territory  chiefly  at  the  northern  extremity  of  our  own,  and 
confined  to  the  remnants  of  dominion  retained  by  Great  Britain  over  the  in- 
sular archipelago,  geographically  the  appendages  of  our  part  of  the  globe. 
With  all  the  rest  we  have  free-trade  ;  even  with  the  insular  colonies  of  all 
the  European  nations,  except  Great  Britain.  Her  government  also  had 
manifested  approaches  to  the  adoption  of  a  free  and  liberal  intercourse  be- 
tween her  colonies  and  other  nations,  though,  by  a  sudden  and  scarcely  ex- 
plained revulsion,  the  spirit  of  exclusion  has  been  revived  for  operation  upon 
the  United  States  alone. 

The  conclusion  of  our  last  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  was  shortly 
afterward  followed  by  a  commercial  convention,  placing  the  direct  inter- 
course between  the  two  countries  upon  a  footing  of  more  equal  reciprocity 
than  had  ever  before  been  admitted.  The  same  principle  has  since  been 
much  further  extended  by  treaties  with  France,  Sweden,  Denmark,  the 
Ilansoatic  cities,  Prussia,  in  Europe,  and  with  the  republics  of  Colombia 
and  of  Central  America,  in  this  hemisphere.  The  mutual  abolition  of  dis- 
criminating duties  and  charges,  upon  the  navigation  and  commercial  inter- 


622  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

course  between  the  parties,  is  the  general  maxim  which  characterizes  them 
all.  There  is  reason  to  expect  that  it  will,  at  no  distant  period,  be  adopted 
by  other  nations,  both  of  Europe  and  America,  and  to  hope  that,  by  its  uni- 
versal prevalence,  one  of  the  fruitful  sources  of  wars  of  commercial  compe- 
tition will  be  extinguished. 

Among  the  nations  upon  whose  governments  many  of  our  fellow-citizens 
have  had  long  pending  claims  of  indemnity,  for  depredations  upon  their 
property  during  a  period  when  the  rights  of  neutral  commerce  were  disre- 
garded, was  that  of  Denmark.  They  were,  soon  after  the  events  occurred, 
the  subject  of  a  special  mission  from  the  United  States,  at  the  close  of 
which  the  assurance  was  given  by  his  Danish  majesty,  that  at  a  period  of 
more  tranquillity,  and  of  less  distress,  they  would  be  considered,  examined, 
and  decided  upon,  in  a  spirit  of  determined  purpose  for  the  dispensation  of 
justice.  I  have  much  pleasure  in  informing  Congress  that  the  fulfilment 
of  this  honorable  promise  is  now  in  progress  ;  that  a  small  portion  of  the 
claims  has  already  been  settled  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  claimants ;  and 
that  we  have  reason  to  hope  that  the  remainder  will  shortly  be  placed  in  a 
train  of  equitable  adjustment.  This  result  has  always  been  confidently 
expected,  from  the  character  of  personal  integrity  and  of  benevolence  which 
the  sovereign  of  the  Danish  dominions  has  through  every  vicissitude  of 
fortune  maintained.  . 

The  general  aspect  of  the  affairs  of  our  neighboring  American  nations  of 
the  south,  has  been  rather  of  approaching  than  of  settled  tranquillity.  In- 
ternal  disturbances  have  been  more  frequent  among  them  than  their  com- 
mon friends  would  have  desired.  Our  intercourse  with  all  has  continued 
to  be  that  of  friendship  and  mutual  good  will.  Treaties  of  commerce  and 
of  boundaries  with  the  United  Mexican  States  have  been  negotiated,  but 
from  various  successive  obstacles,  not  yet  brought  to  a  final  conclusion. 

The  civil  war  which  unfortunately  still  prevails  in  the  republic  of  Central 
America  has  been  unpropitious  to  the  cultivation  of  our  commercial  rela- 
tions with  them  ;  and  the  dissensions  and  revolutionary  changes  in  the 
republics  of  Colombia  and  of  Peru,  have  been  seen  with  cordial  regret  by 
us,  who  would  gladly  contribute  to  the  happiness  of  both.  It  is  with  great 
satisfaction,  however,  that  we  have  witnessed  the  recent  conclusion  of  a  peace 
between  the  governments  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Brazil,  and  it  is  equally 
gratifying  to  observe  that  indemnity  has  been  obtained  for  some  of  the  in- 
juries which  our  fellow-citizens  had  sustained  in  the  latter  of  those  countries. 
The  rest  are  in  a  train  of  negotiation,  which  we  hope  may  terminate  to 
mutual  satisfaction,  and  that  it  may  be  succeeded  by  a  treaty  of  commerce 
and  navigation,  upon  liberal  principles,  propitious  to  a  great  and  growing 
commerce  already  important  to  the  interests  of  our  country. 

The  condition  and  prospects  of  the  revenue  are  more  favorable  than  our 
most  sanguine  expectations  had  anticipated.  The  balance  in  the  treasury, 
on  the  first  of  January  last,  exclusive  of  the  moneys  received  under  the  con- 
vention of  13th  of  November,  1826,  with  Great  Britain,  was  five  millions 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventy-two  dollars, 
eighty-three  cents.  The  receipts  into  the  treasury  from  the  first  of  January 
to  the  30th  of  September  last,  so  far  as  they  have  been  ascertained,  to  form 
the  basis  of  an  estimate,  amount  to  eighteen  millions  six  hundred  and 
thirty-three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighty  dollars,  twenty-seven  cents, 
which,  with  the  receipts  of  the  present  quarter,  estimated  at  five  millions 
four  hundred  and  sixty -one  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty-three  dollars, 
forty  cents,  form  an  aggregate  of  receipts  during  the  year,  of  twenty-four 


JOHN  <j.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  62S 

millions  ninety-four  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  dollars  sixty- 
seven  cents.  The  expenditures  of  the  year  may  probably  amount  to  twenty- 
five  millions  six  hundred  and  thirty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  and  eleven 
dollars,  sixty-three  cents  ;  and  leaving  in  the  treasury  on  the  first  of  January 
next,  the  sum  of  five  millions  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  six 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  dollars,  fourteen  cents. 

The  receipts  of  the  present  year  have  amounted  to  near  two  millions  of 
dollars  more  than  was  anticipated  at  the  commencement  of  the  last  session 
of  Congress. 

The  amount  of  duties  secured  on  importations  from  the  first  of  January  to 
the  30th  of  September,  was  about  twenty-two  millions  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-seven  thousand  dollars,  and  that  of  the  estimated  accruing  revenue 
is  five  millions  of  dollars  ;  leaving  an  aggregate  for  the  year  of  near  twenty- 
eight  millions  of  dollars.  This  is  one  million  more  than  the  estimate  made 
last  December,  for  the  accruing  revenue  of  the  present  year,  which,  with 
allowances  for  drawbacks  and  contingent  deficiencies,  was  expected  to 
produce  an  actual  revenue  of  twenty-two  millions  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  Had  these  only  been  realized,  the  expenditures  of  the  year  would 
have  been  also  proportionally  reduced.  For,  of  these  twenty-four  millions 
of  dollars  received,  upward  of  nine  millions  have  been  applied  to  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  public  debt,  bearing  an  interest  of  six  per  cent.,  a  year,  and 
of  course  reducing  the  burden  of  interest  annually  payable  in  future,  by 
the  amount  of  more  than  half  a  million.  The  payments  on  account  of 
interest  during  the  current  year  exceed  three  millions  of  dollars  ;  present- 
ing an  aggregate  of  more  than  twelve  millions  of  dollars,  applied  during  the 
year  to  the  discharge  of  the  public  debt,  the  whole,  of  which  remaining  due 
on  the  1st  of  January  next,  will  amount  only  to  fifty-eight  millions  three 
hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars,  seventy- 
eight  cents. 

That  the  revenue  of  the  ensuing  year  will  not  fall  short  of  that  received 
in  the  one  now  expiring,  there  are  indications  which  can  scarcely  prove 
deceptive.  In  our  country,  a  uniform  experience  of  forty  years  has  shown 
that  whatever  the  tariff  of  duties  upon  articles  imported  from  abroad  has 
been,  the  amount  of  importations  has  always  borne  an  average  value  nearly 
approaching  to  that  of  the  exports,  though  occasionally  differing  in  the  bal- 
ance, sometimes  being  more,  and  sometimes  less.  It  is,  indeed,  a  general 
law  of  prosperous  commerce,  that  the  real  value  of  exports  should,  by  a 
small,  and  only  a  small  balance,  exceed  that  of  imports,  that  balance  being 
a  permanent  addition  to  the  wealth  of  the  nation.  The  extent  of  the  pros- 
perous commerce  of  the  nation  must  be  regulated  by  the  amount  of  its  ex- 
ports ;  and  an  important  addition  to  the  value  of  these  will  draw  after  it  a 
corresponding  increase  of  importations. 

It  has  happened,  in  the  vicissitudes  of  the  seasons,  that  the  harvests  of 
all  Europe  have,  to  the  late  summer  and  autumn,  fallen  short  of  their  usual 
average.  A  relaxation  of  the  interdict  upon  the  importation  of  grain  and 
flour  from  abroad  has  ensued,  a  propitious  market  has  been  opened  to  the 
granaries  of  our  country,  and  a  new  prospect  of  reward  presented  to  the 
labors  of  the  husbandman,  which  for  several  years  has  been  denied.  This 
accession  to  the  profits  of  agriculture  in  the  middle  and  western  portions  of 
our  Union  is  accidental  and  temporary.  It  may  continue  only  for  a  single 
year.  It  may  be,  as  has  been  often  experienced  in  the  revolutions  of  time, 
but  the  first  of  several  scanty  harvests  in  succession.  We  may  consider  it 
certain  that,  for  the  approaching  year,  it  has  added  an  item  of  large  amount 


624  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

to  the  value  of  our  exports,  and  that  it  will  produce  a  corresponding  in- 
crease of  importations.  It  may,  therefore,  confidently  be  foreseen  that  the 
revenue  of  1 829  will  equal,  and  probably  exceed  that  of  1 828,  and  will  afford 
the  means  of  extinguishing  ten  millions  of  dollars  more  of  the  principal  of 
the  public  debt. 

This  new  element  of  prosperity  to  that  part  of  our  agricultural  industry 
which  is  occupied  in  producing  the  first  article  of  human  subsistence,  is  of 
the  most  cheering  character  to  the  feelings  of  patriotism.  Proceeding  from 
a  cause  which  humanity  will  view  with  concern,  the  sufferings  of  scarcity 
in  distant  lands,  it  yields  a  consolatory  reflection,  that  this  scarcity  is  in  no 
respects  attributable  to  us.  That  it  comes  from  the  dispensation  of  Him 
who  ordains  all  in  wisdom  and  goodness,  and  who  permits  evil  itself  only 
as  an  instrument  of  good.  That,  far  from  contributing  to  this  scarcity,  our 
agency  will  be  applied  only  to  the  alleviation  of  its  severity  ;  and  that,  in 
pouring  forth  from  the  abundance  of  our  own  garners  the  supplies  which 
will  partially  restore  plenty  to  those  who  are  in  need,  we  shall  ourselves 
reduce  our  stores,  and  add  to  the  price  of  our  own  bread,  so  as  in  some  de^- 
gree  to  participate  in  the  wants  which  it  will  be  the  good  fortune  of  our 
country  to  relieve. 

The  great  interests  of  an  agricultural,  commercial,  and  manufacturing  na- 
tion are  so  linked  in  union  together,  that  no  permanent  cause  of  prosperity 
to  one  of  them  can  operate  without  extending  its  influence  to  the  others. 
All  these  interests  are  alike  under  the  protecting  power  of  the  legislative 
authority,  and  the  duties  of  the  representative  bodies  are  to  conciliate  them 
in  harmony  together.  So  far  as  the  object  of  taxation  is  to  raise  a  revenue 
for  discharging  the  debts,  and  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  community,  it 
should,  as  much  as  possible,  suit  the  burden  with  equal  hand  upon  all,  in 
proportion  with  their  ability  of  bearing  it  without  oppression.  But  the 
legislation  of  one  nation  is  sometimes  intentionally  made  to  bear  heavily 
upon  the  interests  of  another.  That  legislation  adapted,  as  it  is  meant  to 
be,  to  the  special  interests  of  its  own  people,  will  often  press  most  unequally 
upon  the  several  component  interests  of  its  neighbors.  Thus,  the  legis- 
lation of  Great  Britain,  when,  as  has  recently  been  avowed,  adapted  to  the 
depression  of  a  rival  nation,  will  naturally  abound  with  regulations  of  inter- 
dict upon  the  productions  of  the  soil  or  industry  of  the  other  which  come 
in  competition  with  its  own ;  and  will  present  encouragement,  perhaps 
even  bounty,  to  the  raw  material  of  the  other  state,  which  it  can  not  produce 
itself,  and  which  is  essential  for  the  use  of  its  manufactures,  competitors  in 
the  markets  of  the  world  with  those  of  its  commercial  rival.  Such  is  the 
state  of  the  commercial  legislation  of  Great  Britain  as  it  bears  upon  our  in- 
terests. It  excludes,  with  interdicting  duties,  all  importation  (except  in 
time  of  approaching  famine)  of  the  great  staple  productions  of  our  middle 
and  Avestern  states  ;  it  proscribes  with  equal  rigor,  bulkier  lumber  and  live 
stock  of  the  same  portion,  and  also  of  the  northern  and  eastern  part  of  our 
Union.  It  refuses  even  the  rice  of  the  south,  unless  aggravated  with  a 
charge  of  duty  upon  the  northern  carrier  who  brings  it  to  them.  But  the 
cotton,  indispensable  for  their  looms,  they  will  receive  almost  duty  free,  to 
weave  it  into  a  fabric  for  our  own  wear,  to  the  destruction  of  our  own  man- 
ufactures, which  they  are  enabled  thus  to  undersell. 

Is  the  self-protecting  energy  of  this  nation  so  helpless  that  there  exists 
in  the  political  institutions  of  our  country  no  power  to  counteract  the  bias 
of  this  foreign  legislation  ?  that  the  growers  of  grain  must  submit  to  this  ex- 
clusion from  the  foreign  markets  of  their  produce  ;  that  the  shippers  mp«" 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  625 

dismantle  their  ships,  the  trade  of  the  north  stagnate  at  the  wharves,  and 
the  manufacturers  starve  at  their  looms,  while  the  whole  people  shall  pay 
tribute  to  foreign  industry,  to  be  clad  in  a  foreign  garb  ;  that  the  Congress 
of  the  Union  are  impotent  to  restore  the  balance  in  favor  of  native  industry, 
destroyed  by  the  statutes  of  another  realm  ?  More  just  and  more  generous 
sentiments  will,  I  trust,  prevail.  If  the  tariff  adopted  at  the  last  session  01 
Congress  shall  be  found  by  experience  to  bear  oppressively  upon  the  inte- 
rests of  any  one  section  of  the  Union,  it  ought  to  be,  and  I  can  not  doubt  will 
be,  so  modified  as  to  alleviate  its  burden.  To  the  voice  of  just  complaint 
from  any  portion  of  their  constituents,  the  representatives  of  the  states  and 
people  will  never  turn  away  thei^ears.  But  so  long  as  the  duty  of  the 
foreign  shall  operate  only  as  a  bounty  upon  the  domestic  article — while  the 
planter,  and  the  merchant,  and  the  shepherd,  and  the  husbandman,  shall  be 
jund  thriving  in  their  occupations  under  the  duties  imposed  for  the  protec- 
ion  of  domestic  manufactures,  they  will  not  repine  at  the  prosperity  shared 
.vith  themselves  by  their  fellow-citizens  of  other  professions,  nor  denounce 
as  violations  of  the  constitution,  the  deliberate  acts  of  Congress  to  shield 
from  the  wrongs  of  foreign  laws  the  native  industry  of  the  Union.  While 
the  tariff  of  the  last  session  of  Congress  was  a  subject  of  legislative  delibera- 
tion, it  was  foretold  by  some  of  its  opposers  that  one  of  its  necessary  con- 
sequences would  be  to  impair  the  revenue.  It  is  yet  too  soon  to  pronounce 
with  confidence  that  this  prediction  was  erroneous.  The  obstruction  of 
one  avenue  of  trade  not  unfrequently  opens  an  issue  to  another.  The  con- 
sequence of  the  tariff  will  be  to  increase  the  exportation,  and  to  diminish 
the  importation  of  some  specific  articles.  But,  by  the  general  law  of  trade, 
the  increase  of  exportation  of  one  article  will  be  followed  by  an  increased 
importation  of  others,  the  duties  upon  which  will  supply  the  deficiencies 
which  the  diminished  importation  would  otherwise  occasion.  The  effect  of 
taxation  upon  revenue  can  seldom  be  foreseen  with  certainty.  It  must  abide 
the  test  of  experience.  As  yet  no  symptoms  of  diminution  are  perceptible 
in  the  receipts  of  the  treasury.  As  yet,  little  addition  of  cost  has  even 
been  experienced  upon  the  article  burdened  with  heavier  duties  by  the  last 
tariff.  The  domestic  manufacturer  supplies  the  same  or  a  kindred  article 
at  a  diminished  price,  and  the  consumer  pays  the  same  tribute  to  the  labor 
of  his  own  countryman  which  he  must  otherwise  have  paid  to  foreign  in- 
dustry and  toil. 

The  tariff  of  the  last  session  was,  in  its  details,  not  acceptaolc  to  the  great 
interests  of  any  portion  of  the  Union,  not  even  to  the  interests  which  it  was 
specially  intended  to  subserve.  Its  object  was  to  balance  the  burdens  upon 
native  industry  imposed  by  the  operation  of  foreign  laws  ;  but  not  to  ag- 
gravate the  burdens  of  one  section  of  the  Union  by  the  relief  afforded  to 
another.  To  the  great  principle  sanctioned  by  that  act,  one  of  those  upon 
which  the  constitution  itself  was  formed,  I  hope  and  trust  the  authorities  of 
the  Union  will  adhere.  But  if  any  of  the  duties  imposed  by  the  act  only 
relieve  the  manufacturer  by  aggravating  the  burden  of  the  planter,  let  a 
careful  revisal  of  its  provisions,  enlightened  by  the  practical  experience  of 
its  effects,  be  directed  to  retain  those  which  impart  protection  to  native  in- 
dustry, and  remove  or  supply  the  place  of  those  which  only  alleviate  one 
great  national  interest  by  the  depression  of  another. 

The  United  States  of  America,  and  the  people  of  every  state  of  which  they 
are  composed,  are  eacli  of  them  sovereign  powers.     The  legislative  author- 
ity of  the  whole  is  exercised  by  Congress  under  authority  granted  them  in 
the  common  constitution.     The  legislative  power  of  each  state  is  exercised 
VOL.  I.— 40 


626  JOHN    Q.    ADAMS  S    FOURTH    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 

by  assemblies  deriving  their  authority  from  the  constitution  of  the  state. 
Each  is  sovereign  within  its  own  province.  The  distribution  of  power 
between  them  presupposes  that  these  authorities  will  move  in  harmony  with 
each  other.  The  members  of  the  state  and  general  government  are  all 
under  oath  to  support  both,  and  allegiance  is  due  to  the  one  and  to  the  other. 
The  case  of  a  conflict  between  these  two  powers  has  not  been  supposed ; 
nor  has  any  provision  been  made  for  it  in  our  institutions  ;*as  a  virtuous 
nation  of  ancient  times  existed  more  than  five  centuries  without  a  law  for 
the  punishment  of  parricide. 

More  than  once,  however,  in  the  progress  of  our  history,  have  the  people 
;ind  legislatures  of  one  or  more  states,  in  moments  of  excitement,  been  insti- 
gated to  this  conflict ;  and  the  means  of  effecting  this  impulse  have  been 
allegations  that  the  acts  of  Congress  to  be  resisted  were  unconstitutional. 
The  people  of  no  one  state  have  ever  delegated  to  their  legislature  the  power 
of  pronouncing  an  act  of  Congress  unconstitutional ;  but  they  have  dele- 
gated to  them  powers,  by  the  exercise  of  which  the  execution  of  the  laws 
of  Congress  within  the  state  may  be  resisted.  If  we  suppose  the  case  of 
such  conflicting  legislation  sustained  by  the  corresponding  executive  and 
judicial  authorities,  patriotism  and  philanthropy  turn  their  eyes  from  the 
condition  in  which  the  parties  would  be  placed,  and  from  that  of  the  people 
of  both,  which  must  be  its  victims. 

The  reports  from  the  secretary  of  war,  and  from  the  various  subordinate 
offices  of  the  resort  of  that  department,  present  an  exposition  of  the  public 
administration  of  affairs  connected  with  them,  through  the  course  of  the 
current  year.  The  present  state  of  the  army,  and  the  distribution  of  the 
force  of  which  it  is  composed,  will  be  seen  from  the  report  of  the  major- 
general.  Several  alterations  in  the  disposal  of  the  troops  have  been  found 
expedient  in  the  course  of  the  year,  and  the  discipline  of  the  army,  though 
not  entirely  free  from  exception,  has  been  generally  good. 

The  attention  of  Congress  is  particularly  invited  to  that  part  of  the  report 
of  the  secretary  of  war  which  concerns  the  existing  system  of  our  relations 
with  the  Indian  tribes.  At  the  establishment  of  the  federal  government, 
under  the  present  constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  principle  was  adopt- 
ed of  considering  them  as  foreign  and  independent  powers,  and  also  as 
proprietors  of  land.  They  were,  moreover,  considered  as  savages,  whom 
it  was  our  policy  and  our  duty  to  use  our  influence  in  converting  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  in  bringing  within  the  pale  of  civilization. 

As  independent  powers,  we  negotiated  with  them  by  treaties  ;  as  pro- 
prietors, we  purchased  of  them  all  the  lands  which  we  could  prevail  upon 
them  to  sell ;  as  brethren  of  the  human  race,  rude  and  ignorant,  we  endeav- 
ored to  bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  religion  and  letters.  The  ulti- 
mate design  was  to  incorporate  in  our  own  institutions  that  portion  of  them 
which  could  be  converted  to  the  state  of  civilization.  In  the  practice  of 
European  states,  before  our  revolution,  they  had  been  considered  as  chil- 
dren to  be  governed  ;  as  tenants  at  discretion,  to  be  dispossessed  as  occasion 
might  require  ;  as  hunters,  to  be  indemnified  by  trifling  concessions  for  re- 
moval from  the  grounds  upon  which  their  game  was  extirpated.  In  chan- 
ging the  system,  it  would  seem  as  if  a  full  contemplation  of  the  consequences 
of  the  change  had  not  been  taken.  We  have  been  far  more  successful  in 
the  acquisition  of  their  lands  than  in  imparting  to  them  the  principles,  or 
inspiring  them  with  the  spirit,  of  civilization.  But  in  appropriating  to  our- 
selves their  hunting-grounds,  we  have  brought  upon  ourselves  the  obligation 
of  providing  them  with  subsistence  ;  and  when  we  have  had  the  rare  good 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  627 

fortune  of  teaching  them  the  arts  of  civilization,  and  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, we  have  unexpectedly  found  them  forming  in  the  midst  of  ourselves 
communities  claiming  to  be  independent  of  ours,  and  rivals  of  sovereignty 
within  the  territories  of  the  members  of  our  Union.  This  state  of  things 
requires  that  a  remedy  should  be  provided,  a  remedy  which,  while  it  shall 
do  justice  to  those  unfortunate  children  of  nature,  may  secure  to  the  members 
of  our  confederation  their  rights  of  sovereignty  and  of  soil.  As  the  outline 
of  a  project  to  that  effect,  the  views  presented  in  the  report  of  the  secretary 
of  war  are  recommended  to  the  consideration  of  Congress. 

The  report  from  the  engineer  department  presents  a  comprehensive  view 
of  the  progress  which  has  been  made  in  the  great  systems  promotive  of  the 
public  interests,  commenced  and  organized  under  the  authority  of  Con- 
gress, and  the  effects  of  which  have  already  contributed  to  the  security, 
as  they  will  hereafter  largely  contribute  to  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the 
nation. 

The  first  of  these  great  systems  is  that  of  fortifications,  commenced  im- 
mediately after  the  close  of  our  last  war,  under  the  salutary  experience  which 
the  events  of  that  war  had  impressed  upon  our  countrymen  of  its  necessity. 
Introduced  under  the  auspices  of  my  immediate  predecessor,  it  has  been  con- 
tinued with  the  persevering  and  liberal  encouragement  of  the  legislature  ; 
and  combined  with  corresponding  exertions  for  the  gradual  increase  and 
improvement  of  the  navy,  prepares  for  our  extensive  country  a  condition  of 
defence  adapted  to  any  critical  emergency  which  the  varying  course  of 
events  may  bring  forth.  Our  advances  in  these  concerted  systems  have 
for  the  last  ten  years  been  steady  and  progressive  ;  and  in  a  few  years 
more  will  be  so  completed  as  to  leave  no  cause  for  apprehension  that  our 
.seacoast  will  ever  again  .offer  a  theatre  of  hostile  invasion. 

The  next  of  those  cardinal  measures  of  policy  is  the  preliminary  to  great 
and  lasting  works  of  public  improvement,  in  the  surveys  of  roads,  examina- 
tions for  the  course  of  canals,  and  labors  for  the  removal  of  the  obstruc- 
tions of  rivers  and  harbors,  first  commenced  by  the  act  of  Congress  of  30th 
April,  1824. 

The  report  exhibits  in  one  table  the  funds  appropriated  at  the  last  and 
preceding  sessions  of  Congress,  for  all  these  fortifications,  surveys,  and 
works  of  public  improvement ;  the  manner  in  which  these  funds  have  been 
applied,  the  amount  expended  upon  the  several  works  under  construction, 
and  the  further  sums  which  may  be  necessary  to  complete  them.  In  a 
second,  the  works  projected  by  the  board  of  engineers,  which  have  not  been 
commenced,  and  the  estimate  of  their  cost. 

In  a  third,  the  report  of  the  annual  board  of  visiters  at  the  military  acade- 
my at  West  Point.  For  thirteen  fortifications  erecting  on  various  points  of 
our  Atlantic  coast,  from  Rhode  Island  to  Louisiana,  the  aggregate  expendi- 
ture of  the  year  has  fallen  little  short  of  one  million  of  dollars. 

For  the  preparation  of  five  additional  reports  of  reconnaissances  and  sur- 
veys since  the  last  session  of  Congress,  for  the  civil  constructions  upon 
thirty-seven  different  public  works  commenced,  eight  others  for  which 
specific  appropriations  have  been  made  by  acts  of  Congress,  and  twenty 
oilier  incipient  surveys  under  the  authority  given  by  the  act  of  the  30th 
April,  1824,  about  one  million  more  of  dollars  have  been  drawn  from  the 
treasury. 

To  these  two  millions  are  to  be  added  :  the  appropriation  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  to  commence  the  erection  of  a  breakwater  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Delaware  river  ;  the  subscriptions  to  the  Delaware  and  Chesa- 


628  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

peake,  the  Louisville  and  Portland,  the  Dismal  Swamp,  and  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Ohio  canals  ;  the  large  donations  of  lands  to  the  states  of  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Alabama,  for  objects  of  improvements  within  those 
states,  and  the  sums  appropriated  for  lighthouses,  buoys,  and  piers,  on 
the  coast ;  and  a  full  view  will  be  taken  of  the  munificence  of  the  nation 
in  the  application  of  its  resources  to  the  improvement  of  its  own  condition 

Of  these  great  national  undertakings,  the  academy  at  West  Point  is  amon« 
the  most  important  in  itself,  and  the  most  comprehensive  in  its  consequences. 
In  that  institution,  a  part  of  the  revenue  of  the  nation  is  applied  to  defray 
the  expense  of  educating  a  competent  portion  of  her  youth,  chiefly  to  the 
knowledge  and  the  duties  of  military  life.  It  is  the  living  armory  of  the 
nation.  While  the  other  works  of  improvement  enumerated  in  the  reports 
now  presented  to  the  attention  of  Congress  are  destined  to  ameliorate  the 
face  of  nature  ;  to  multiply  the  facilities  of  communication  between  the 
different  parts  of  the  Union  ;  to  assist  the  labors,  increase  the  comforts,  and 
enhance  the  enjoyments  of  individuals — the  instruction  acquired  at  West 
Point  enlarges  the  dominion  and  expands  the  capacities  of  the  mind.  Its 
beneficial  results  are  already  experienced  in  the  composition  of  the  army, 
and  their  influence  is  felt  in  the  intellectual  progress  of  society.  The  in- 
stitution is  susceptible  still  of  great  improvement  from  benefactions  propo- 
sed by  several  successive  boards  of  visiters,  to  whose  earnest  and  repeated 
recommendations  I  cheerfully  add  my  own.  . 

With  the  usual  annual  reports  of  the  secretary  of  the  navy,  and  the  board 
of  commissioners,  will  be  exhibited  to  the  view  of  Congress  the  execution 
of  the  laws  relating  to  that  department  of  the  public  service.  The  repres- 
sion of  piracy  in  the  West  Indian  and  Grecian  seas  has  been  effectually 
maintained,  with  scarcely  any  exception.  During  the  war  between  the 
governments  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  Brazil,  frequent  collisions  between  bel- 
ligerent acts  of  power  and  the  rights  of  neutral  commerce  occurred.  Li- 
centious blockades,  irregularly  enlisted  or  impressed  seamen,  and  the  prop- 
erty of  honest  commerce  seized  with  violence,  and  even  plundered  under 
legal  pretences,  are  disorders  never  separable  from  the  conflicts  of  war 
upon  the  ocean.  With  a  portion  of  them,  the  correspondence  of  our  com- 
manders on  the  eastern  aspect  of  the  South  American  coasts,  and  among 
the  islands  of  Greece,  discover  how  far  we  have  been  involved.  In  these, 
the  honor  of  our  country  and  rights  of  our  citizens  have  been  asserted  and 
vindicated.  The  appearance  of  new  squadrons  in  the  Mediterranean,  and 
the  blockade  of  the  Dardanelles,  indicate  the  danger  of  other  obstacles  to 
the  freedom  of  commerce  and  the  necessity  of  keeping  our  naval  force  in 
those  seas.  To  the  suggestions  repeated  in  the  report  of  the  secretary  of 
the  navy,  and  tending  to  the  permanent  improvement  of  this  institution,  1 
invite  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress. 

A  resolution  of  the  house  of  representatives,  requesting  that  one  of  our 
small  public  vessels  should  be  sent  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  and  South  sea,  to 
examine  the  coasts,  islands,  harbors,  shoals,  and  reefs,  in  those  seas,  and  to 
ascertain  their  true  situation  and  description,  has  been  put  in  a  train  of  exe- 
cution. The  vessel  is  nearly  ready  to  depart  ;  the  successful  accomplish- 
ment of  the  expedition  may  be  greatly  facilitated  by  suitable  legislative  pro- 
visions ;  and  particularly  by  an  appropriation  to  defray  its  necessary  expense. 
The  addition  of  a  second,  and  perhaps  a  third  vessel,  with  a  slight  aggrava- 
tion of  the  cost,  would  contribute  much  to  the  safety  of  the  citizens  embarked 
on  this  undertaking,  the  results  of  which  may  be  of  the  deepest  interest  to 
our  country. 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  629 

With  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  navy  will  be  submitted,  in  con- 
rormity  to  the  act  of  Congress  of  3d  March,  1827,  for  the  gradual  improve- 
ment of  the  navy  of  the  United  States,  statements  of  the  expenditures  under 
that  act,  and  of  the  measures  taken  for  carrying  the  same  into  effect.  Every 
section  of  that  statute  contains  a  distinct  provision,  looking  to  the  great  ob- 
ject of  the  whole,  the  gradual  improvement  of  the  navy.*  Under  its  salu- 
tary sanction,  stores  of  ship-timber  have  been  procured,  and  are  in  process  of 
seasoning  and  preservation  for  the  future  uses  of  the  navy.  Arrangements 
have  been  made  for  the  preservation  of  the  live  oak  timber  growing  on  the 
lands  of  the  United  States,  and  for  its  reproduction,  to  supply  at  future  and 
distant  days,  the  waste  of  that  most  valuable  material  for  ship-building,  by 
the  great  consumption  of  it  yearly  for  the  commercial,  as  well  as  for  the 
military  marine  of  our  country.  The  construction  of  the  two  dry  docks  at 
Charleston  and  at  Norfolk,  is  making  satisfactory  progress  toward  a  dura- 
ble establishment.  The  examinations  and  inquiries  to  ascertain  the  prac- 
ticability and  expediency  of  a  marine  railway  at  Pensacola,  though  not  yet 
accomplished,  have  been  postponed,  but  to  be  more  effectually  made.  The 
navy-yards  of  the  United  States  have  been  examined,  and  plans  for  their 
improvement,  and  the  preservation  of  the  public  property  therein,  at  Ports- 
mouth, Charleston,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  and  Gosport,  and  to  which 
two  others  are  to  be  added,  have  been  prepared,  and  received  my  sanction  ; 
and  no  other  portion  of  my  public  duties  has  been  performed  with  a  more 
intimate  conviction  of  its  importance  to  the  future  welfare  and  security  of 
the  Union. 

With  the  report  from  the  postmaster-general  is  exhibited  a  comparative 
view  of  the  gradual  increase  of  that  establishment,  from  five  to  five  years, 
since  1792,  till  this  time,  in  the  number  of  postoffices,  which  has  grown 
from  less  thAn  two  hundred  to  nearly  eight  thousand  ;  in  the  revenue  yielded 
by  them,  which,  from  sixty-seven  thousand  dollars,  has  swollen  to  upward 
of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  in  the  number  of  miles  of 
postroads,  which,  from  five  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-two,  have  mul- 
tiplied to  one  hundred  and  fourteen  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-six. 
While,  in  the  same  period  of  time,  the  population  of  the  Union  has  about 
thrice  doubled,  the  rate  of  increase  of  these  offices  is  nearly  forty,  and  of  the 
revenue  and  of  travelled  miles,  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  for  one.  The 
increase  of  revenue  within  the  lust  five  years  has  been  nearly  equal  to  the 
whole  revenue  of  the  department  in  1812. 

The  expenditures  of  the  department  during  the  year  which  ended  on  the 
first  of  July  last,  have  exceeded  the  receipts  by  a  sum  of  about  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars.  The  excess  has  been  occasioned  by  the  increase  of  mail 
conveyances  and  facilities  to  the  extent  of  near  eight  hundred  thousand 
miles.  It  has  been  supplied  by  collections  from  the  postmasters  of  the 
arrearages  of  the  preceding  years.  While  the  correct  principle  seems  to 
be,  that  the  income  levied  by  the  department  should  defray  all  its  expenses, 
it  has  never  been  the  policy  of  this  government  to  raise  from  this  establish- 
ment any  revenue  to  be  applied  to  any  other  purposes.  The  suggestion 
of  the  postmaster-general,  that  the  insurance  of  the  safe  transmission  of 
moneys  by  the  mail  might  be  assumed  by  the  department,  for  n  moderate 
and  competent  remuneration,  will  deserve  the  consideration  of  Congress. 

A  report  from  the  commissioner  of  the  public  buildings  in  this  city  ex- 
hibits the  expenditures  upon  them  in  the  course  of  the  current  year.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  humane  and  benevolent  intentions  of  Congress  in 
providing,  by  the  act  of  the  20th  of  May,  1820,  for  the  erection  of  a  peni- 


630       JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  FOURTH  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

reutiary  in  tliis  district  have  been  accomplished.  The  authority  of  further 
legislation  is  now  required  for  the  removal  to  this  tenement  of  the  offenders 
against  the  laws,  sentenced  to  atone  by  personal  confinement  for  then 
crimes,  and  to  provide  a  code  for  their  employment  and  government  while 
thus  confined. 

The  commissioners  appointed  conformably  to  the  act  of  2d  March,  1827, 
to  provide  for  the  adjustment  of  claims  of  persons  entitled  to  indemnification 
under  the  first  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  and  for  the  distribution  among 
such  claimants  of  the  sum  paid  by  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  under 
the  convention  of  13th  November,  182(3,  closed  their  labors  on  the  30th 
August  last,  by  awarding  to  the  claimants  the  sum  of  one  million  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-seven  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-two  dollars  and 
eighteen  cents ;  leaving  a  balance  of  seven  thousand  live  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  dollars  and  eighty-two  cents,  which  was  distributed  ratedly  among 
all  the  claimants  to  whom  awards  had  been  made,  according  to  the  direc- 
tions of  the  act. 

The  exhibits  appended  to  the  report  from  the  commissioner  of  the  gene- 
ral land  office,  present  the  actual  condition  of  that  common  property  of  the 
Union.  The  amount  paid  into  the  treasury,  from  the  proceeds  of  lands, 
during  the  year  1827,  and  the  first  half  of  1828,  fulls  little  short  of  two 
millions  of  dollars.  The  propriety  of  further  extending  the  time  for  the 
extinguishment  of  the  debt  due  to  the  United  States  by  the  purchasers  of 
the  public  lands,  limited  by  the  act  of  21st  March  last  to  the  4th  of  July 
next,  will  claim  the  consideration  of  Congress,  to  whose  vigilance  and  care- 
ful attention,  the  regulation,  disposal,  and  preservation  of  this  great  national 
inheritance,  has  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  been  intrusted. 

Among  the  important  subjects  to  which  the  attention  of  the  present  Con- 
gress had  already  been  invited,  and  which  may  occupy  their  further  and 
deliberate  discussion,  will  be  the  provision  to  be  made  for  taking  the  fifth 
census,  or  enumeration  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States.  The  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  requires  that  this  enumeration  should  be  made 
within  every  term  of  ten  years,  and  the  date  from  which  the  last  enumera- 
tion commenced  was  the  first  Monday  of  August,  of  the  year  1820.  The 
laws  under  which  the  former  enumerations  were  taken  were  enacted  at  the 
session  of  Congress  immediately»preceding  the  operation.  But  consider- 
able inconveniences  were  experienced  from  the  delay  oflegislation  to  so  late 
a  period.  That  law,  like  those  of  the  preceding  enumerations,  directed  that 
the  census  should  be  taken  by  the  marshals  of  the  several  districts  and  terri- 
tories, under  instructions  from  the  secretary  of  state.  The  preparation  and 
transmission  to  the  marshals  of  those  instructions,  required  more  time  than 
was  then  allowed  between  the  passage  of  the  law  and  the  day  when  the  enu- 
meration was  to  commence.  The  term  of  six  months,  limited  for  the  re- 
turns of  the  marshals,  was  also  found  even  then  too  short,  and  must  be  more 
so  now,  when  an  additional  population  of  at  least  three  millions  must  be  pre- 
sented upon  the  returns.  As  they  are  to  be  made  at  the  short  session  of 
Congress,  it  would,  as  well  as  from  other  considerations,  be  more  convenient 
to  commence  the  enumeration  at  an  earlier  period  of  the  year  than  the  first 
of  August.  The  most  favorable  season  wduld  be  the  spring.  On  a  review 
of  the  former  enumerations,  it  will  be  found  that  the  plan  for  taking  every 
census  has  contained  improvements  upon  that  of  its  predecessor.  The  last 
is  still  susceptible  of  much  impru\  ement.  The  third  census  was  the  iirst  at 
which  any  account  was  taken  of  the  manufactures  of  the  country.  It  was 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  631 

repeated  at  the  last  enumeration,  but  the  returns  in  both  cases  were  neces- 
sarily very  imperfect. 

They  must  always  be  so,  resting  of  course  only  on  the  communications 
voluntarily  made  by  individuals  interested  in  some  of  the  manufacturing  es- 
tablishments. Yet  they  contained  much  valuable  information,  and  may  by 
some  supplementary  provision  of  the  law  be  rendered  more  effective.  The 
columns  of  age,  commencing  from  infancy,  have  hitherto  been  confined  to 
a  few  periods,  all  under  the  number  of  forty-five  years.  Important  knowl- 
edge would  be  obtained  by  extending  those  columns,  in  intervals  of  ten 
years,  to  the  utmost  boundaries  of  human  life.  The  labor  of  taking  them 
would  be  a  trifling  addition  to  that  already  prescribed,  and  the  result  would 
exhibit  comparative  tables  of  longevity  highly  interesting  to  the  country. 
I  deem  it  my  duty  further  to  observe,  that  much  of  the  imperfections  in  the 
returns  of  the  last,  and  perhaps  of  preceding  enumerations,  proceeded  from 
the  inadequateness  of  the  compensation  allowed  to  the  marshals  and  their 
assistants  in  taking  them. 

In  closing  this  communication,  it  only  remains  for  me  to  assure  the  legis- 
lature of  my  continued  earnest  wish  for  the  adoption  of  measures  recom- 
mended by  me  heretofore,  and  yet  to  be  acted  on  by  them,  and  of  the  cordial 
concurrence  on  my  part  in  every  constitutional  provision  which  may  receive 
their  sanction  during  the  session,  tending  to  the  general  welfare. 


SPECIAL    ME  S  S  A  GE. 

FEBRUARY  16,  1826. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  : — 

IN  answer  to  the  two  resolutions  of  the  Senate  of  the  15th  instant, 
marked  (executive),  and  which  1  have  received,  I  state,  respectfully,  that 
all  the  communications  from  me  to  the  senate,  relating  to  the  congress  at 
Panama,  have  been  made,  like  all  other  communications  upon  executive 
business,  in  confidence,  and  most  of  them  in  compliance  with  a  resolution 
of  the  senate  requesting  them  confidentially.  Believing  that  the  estab- 
lished usage  of  free  confidential  communications  between  the  executive 
and  the  senate  ought,  fof  the  public  interest,  to-be  preserved  unimpaired, 
I  deem  it  my  indispensable  duty  to  leave  to  the  senate  itself  the  decision 
of  a  question  involving  a  departure,  hitherto,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  with- 
out example,  from  that  usage,  and  upon  the  motives  for  which,  not  being 
informed  of  them,  I  do  not  feel  myself  competent  to  decide. 


632  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH   15,   1826. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

IN  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  house  of  the  5th  ultimo,  re- 
questing me  to  cause  to  be  laid  before  the  house  so  much  of  the  corre- 
spondence between  the  government  of  the  United  States  and  the  new 
states  of  America,  or  their  ministers,  respecting  the  proposed  congress 
or  meeting  of  diplomatic  agents  at  Panama,  and  such  information  respect- 
ing the  general  character  of  that  expected  congress  as  may  be  in  my  pos- 
session, and  as  may,  in  my  opinion,  be  communicated  without  prejudice  to 
the  public  interest ;  and  also  to  inform  the  house,  so  far  as  in  my  opinion 
the  public  interest  may  allow,  in  regard  to  what  objects  the  agents  of  the 
United  States  are  expected  to  take  part  in  the  deliberations  of  that  con- 
gress ;  I  now  transmit  to  the  house  a  report  from  the  secretary  of  state, 
with  the  correspondence  and  information  requested  by  the  resolution. 

With  regard  to  the  objects  in  which  the  agents  of  the  United  States  are 
expected  to  take  part  in  the  deliberations  of  that  congress,  I  deem  it  proper 
to  premise,  that  these  objects  did  not  form  the  only,  nor  even  the  principal, 
motive  for  my  acceptance  of  the  invitation.  My  first  and  greatest  induce- 
ment was,  to  meet,  in  the  spirit  of  kindness  and  friendship,  an  overture 
made  in  that  spirit  by  three  sister  republics  of  this  hemisphere. 

The  great  revolution  in  human  affairs  which  has  brought  into  existence, 
nearly  at  the  same  time,  eight  sovereign  and  independent  states,  has  placed 
the  United  States  in  a  situation  not  less  novel,  and  scarcely  less  interest- 
ing, than  that  in  which  they  had  found  themselves  by  their  own  transition 
from  a  cluster  of  colonies  to  a  nation  of  sovereign  states.  The  deliverance 
of  the  South  American  republics  from  the  oppression  under  which  they 
had  been  so  long  afflicted,  was  hailed  with  great  unanimity  by  the  people 
of  this  Union  as  among  the  most  auspicious  events  of  the  age.  On  the 
4th  of  May,  1822,  an  act  of  Congress  made  an  appropriation  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  "  for  such  missions  to  the  independent  nations  on  the 
American  continent  as  the  president  of  the  United  States  might  deem 
proper."  In  exercising  the  authority  recognised  by  this  act,  my  prede- 
cessor, by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  appointed,  suc- 
cessively, ministers  plenipotentiary  to  the  republics  of  Colombia,  Buenos 
Ayres,  Chili,  and  Mexico.  Unwilling  to  raise  among  the  fraternity  of 
freedom  questions  of  precedency  and  etiquette,  which  even  the  European 
monarchs  had  of  late  found  it  necessary  in  a  great  measure  to  discard,  he 
despatched  these  ministers  to  Colombia,  Buenos  Ayres,  and  Chili,  without 
exacting  from  those  republics,  as  by  the  ancient  principles  of  political  primo- 
geniture he  might  have  done,  that  the  compliment  of  a  plenipotentiary  mis- 
sion should  have  been  paid  first  by  them  to  the  United  States.  The  instruc- 
tions, prepared  under  his  direction,  to  Mr.  Anderson,  the  first  of  our  minis* 
ters  to  the  southern  continent,  contain,  at  much  length,  the  general  princi- 
ples upon  which  he  thought  it  desirable  that  our  relations,  political  and 
commercial,  with  these,  our  new  neighbors,  should  be  established,  for  their 
benefit  and  ours,  and  that  of  the  future  ages  of  our  posterity. 

A  copy  of  so  much  of  these  instructions  as  relates  to  these  general  sub- 
jects is  among  the  papers  now  transmitted  to  the  house.  Similar  instruc- 
tions were  furnished  to  the  ministers  appointed  to  Buenos  Ayres,  Chili, 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  633 

and  Mexico  ;  and  the  system  of  social  intercourse,  which  it  was  the  pur- 
pose of  those  missions  to  establish  from  the  first  opening  of  our  diplomatic 
relations  with  those  rising  nations,  is  the  most  effective  exposition  of  the 
principles  upon  which  the  invitation  to  the  congress  at  Panama  has  been 
accepted  by  me,  as  well  as  of  the  objects  of  negotiation  at  that  meeting,  in 
which  it  was  expected  that  our  plenipotentiaries  should  take  part. 

The  house  will  perceive  that,  even  at  the  date  of  these  instructions,  the 
first  treaties  between  some  of  the  southern  republics  had  been  concluded, 
by  which  they  had  stipulated  among  themselves  this  diplomatic  assembly 
at  Panama.  And  it  will  be  seen  with  what  caution,  so  far  as  it  might  con- 
cern the  policy  of  the  United  States,  and  at  the  same  time  with  what  frank- 
ness and  good  will  toward  those  nations,  he  gave  countenance  to  their 
design  of  inviting  the  United  States  to  this  high  assembly  for  consultation 
upon  American  interests.  It  was  not  considered  a  conclusive  reason  for 
declining  this  invitation,  that  the  proposal  for  assembling  such  a  congress 
had  not  first  been  made  by  ourselves.  It  had  sprung  from  the  urgent,  im- 
mediate, and  momentous  common  interests  of  the  great  communities  strug- 
gling for  independence  and,  as  it  were,  quickening  into  life.  From  them 
the  proposition  to  us  appeared  respectful  and  friendly ;  from  us  to  them  it 
could  scarcely  have  been  made,  without  exposing  ourselves  to  suspicions 
of  purposes  of  ambition,  if  not  of  domination,  more  suited  to  rouse  resist- 
ance and  excite  distrust,  than  to  conciliate  favor  and  friendship.  The  first 
and  paramount  principle  upon  which  it  was  deemed  wise  and  just  to  lay 
the  corner-stone  of  all  our  future  relations  with  them  was  disinterested- 
ness ;  the  next  was  cordial  good  will  to  them ;  the  third  was  a  claim  of 
fair  and  equal  reciprocity.  Under  these  impressions,  when  the  invitation 
was  formally  and  earnestly  given,  had  it  even  been  doubtful,  whether  any 
of  the  objects  proposed  for  consideration  and  discussion  at  the  congress 
were  such  as  that  immediate  and  important  interests  of  the  United  States 
would  be  affected  by  the  issue,  I  should,  nevertheless,  have  determined, 
so  far  as  it  depended  on  me,  to  have  accepted  the  invitation,  and  to  have 
appointed  ministers  to  attend  the  meeting.  The  proposal  itself  implied 
that  the  republic  by  whom  it  was  made  believed  that  important  interests  of 
ours,  or  of  theirs,  rendered  our  attendance  there  desirable.  They  had 
given  us  notice  that,  in  the  novelty  of  their  situation,  and  in  the  spirit  of 
deference  to  our  experience,  they  would  be  pleased  to  have  the  benefit  of 
our  friendly  counsel.  To  meet  the  temper  with  which  this  proposal  was 
made  with  a  cold  repulse,  was  not  thought  congenial  to  that  warm  interest 
in  their  welfare  with  which  the  people  and  government  of  the  Union  had 
hitherto  gone  hand  in  hand  through  the  whole  progress  of  the  revolution. 
To  insult  them  by  a  refusal  of  their  overture,  and  then  invite  them  to  a 
similar  assembly,  to  be  called  by  ourselves,  was  an  expedient  which  never 
presented  itself  to  the  mind.  I  would  have  sent  ministers  to  the  meeting, 
had  it  been  merely  to  give  them  such  advice  as  they  might  have  desired, 
even  with  reference  to  their  own  interests,  not  involving  ours.  I  would 
have  sent  them,  had  it  been  merely  to  explain  and  set  forth  to  them  our 
reasons  for  declining  any  proposal  of  specific  measures  to  which  they  might 
desire  our  concurrence,  but  which  we  might  deem  incompatible  with  our 
interests  or  our  duties.  In  the  intercourse  between  nations,  temper  is  a 
missionary  perhaps  more  powerful  than  talent.  Nothing  was  ever  lost  by 
kind  treatment.  Nothing  can  be  gained  by  sullen  repulses  and  aspiring 
pretensions. 

But  objects  of  the  highest  importance,  not  only  to  the  future  welfare  of 


634  JOHN  q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

the  whole  human  race,  but  bearing  directly  upon  the  special  interests  of 
this  Union,  trill  engage  the  deliberations  of  the  congress  of  Panama,  whether 
we  are  represented  there  or  not.  Others,  if  we  are  represented,  may  be 
offored  by  our  plenipotentiaries  for  consideration,  having  in  view  both 
these  great  results — our  own  interests,  and  the  improvement  of  the  condi- 
tion of  man  upon  earth.  It  may  be  that,  in  the  lapse  of  many  centuries, 
no  other  opportunity  so  favorable  will  be  presented  to  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  to  subserve  the  benevolent  purposes  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence ;  to  dispense  the  promised  blessings  of  the  Redeemer  of  mankind  ; 
to  promote  the  prevalence,  in  future  ages,  of  peace  on  earth  and  good  will 
to  man  ;  as  will  now  be  placed  in  their  power  by  participating  in  the  de- 
liberations of  this  congress. 

Among  the  topics  enumerated  in  official  papers,  published  by  the  repub- 
lic of  Colombia,  and  adverted  to  in  the  correspondence  now  commu- 
nicated to  the  house,  as  intended  to  be  presented  for  discussion  at  Panama, 
there  is  scarcely  one  in  which  the  result  of  the  meeting  will  not  deeply  affect 
the  interests  of  the  United  States.  Even  those  in  which  the  belligerent 
states  alone  will  take  an  active  part,  will  have  a  powerful  effect  upon  the 
state  of  our  relations  with  the  American,  and  probably  with  the  principal 
European  states.  Were  it  merely  that  we  might  be  correctly  and  speedi- 
ly informed  of  the  proceedings  of  the  congress,  and  of  the  progress  and 
issue  of  their  negotiations,  I  should  hold  it  advisable  that  we  should  have 
an  accredited  agency  with  them,  placed  in  such  confidential  relations  with 
the  other  members  as  would  insure  the  authenticity,  and  the  safe  and  early 
transmission  of  its  reports.  Of  the  same  enumerated  topics,  are  the  prepar- 
ation of  a  manifesto,  setting  forth  to  the  world  the  justice  of  their  cause, 
and  the  relations  they  desire  to  hold  with  other  Christian  powers,  and  to 
form  a  convention  of  navigation  and  commerce  applicable  both  to  the  con- 
federated states  and  to  their  allies. 

It  will  be  within  the  recollection  for  the  house,  that,  immediately  after 
the  close  of  the  war  of  our  independence,  a  measure  closely  analogous  to 
this  congress  of  Panama  was  adopted  by  the  Congress  of  our  confedera- 
tion, and  for  purposes  of  precisely  the  same  character.  Three  commis- 
sioners, with  plenipotentiary  powers,  were  appointed  to  negotiate  treaties 
of  amity,  navigation,  and  commerce,  with  all  the  principal  powers  of  Eu- 
rope. They  met  and  resided  for  about  one  year  for  that  purpose  at  Paris  ; 
and  the  only  result  of  their  negotiations  at  that  lime,  was  the  first  treaty 
between  the  United  States  and  Prussia — memorable  in  the  diplomatic  an- 
nals of  the  world,  and  precious  as  a  monument  of  the  principles,  in  rela- 
tion to  commerce  and  maritime  warfare,  with  which  our  country  entered 
upon  her  career  as  a  member  of  the  great  family  of  independent  nations. 
This  treaty,  prepared  in  conformity  with  the  instructions  of  the  American 
plenipotentiaries,  consecrated  three  fundamental  principles  of  the  foreign  in- 
tercourse, which  the  Congress  of  that  period  were  desirous  of  establishing. 
First,  equal  reciprocity,  and  the  mutual  stipulation  of  the  privileges  of  the 
most  favored  nation  in  the  commercial  exchanges  of  peace  ;  secondly,  the 
abolition  of  private  war  upon  the  ocean  ;  and  thirdly,  restrictions  favorable 
to  neutral  commerce  upon  belligerent  practices,  with  regard  to  contraband 
of  war  and  blockades.  A  painful,  it  may  be  said  a  calamitous  experience, 
of  more  than  forty  years,  has  demonstrated  the  deep  importance  of  these 
same  principles  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  this  nation,  and  to  the  wel- 
fare of  all  maritime  states,  and  has  illustrated  tho  profound  wisdom  with 
which  they  were  assumed  as  cardinal  points  of  the  policy  of  the  Union. 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  635 

At  that  time,  in  the  infancy  of  their  political  existence,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  those  principles  of  liberty  and  of  right,  so  congenial  to  the  cause  in 
which  they  have  just  fought  and  triumphed,  they  were  able  but  to  obtain  the 
sanction  of  one  great  and  philosophical,  though  absolute  sovereign,  in  Eu- 
rope, to  their  liberal  and  enlightened  principles.  They  could  obtain  no  more. 
Since  that,  a  political  hurricane  has  gone  over  three  fourths  of  the  civilized 
portions  of  the  earth,  the  desolation  of  which,  it  may  with  confidence  be 
expected,  is  passing  away,  leaving  at  least  the  American  atmosphere  puri- 
fied and  refreshed.  And  now,  at  this  propitious  "moment,  the  newborn 
nations  of  this  hemisphere,  assembling  by  their  representatives  at  the  isth- 
mus between  its  two  continents,  to  settle  the  principles  of  their  future  in- 
ternational intercourse  with  other  nations  and  with  us,  ask,  in  this  great 
exigency,  for  our  advice  upon  those  very  fundamental  maxims  which  we, 
from  our  cradle,  at  first  proclaimed,  and  partially  succeeded  to  introduce 
into  the  code  of  national  law. 

Without  recurring  to  that  total  prostration  of  all  neutral  and  commercial 
rights  which  marked  the  progress  of  the  late  European  wars,  and  which 
finally  involved  the  United  States  in  them,  and  adverting  only  to  our  polit- 
ical relations  with  these  American  nations,  it  is  observable  that,  while,  in 
all  other  respects,  those  relations  have  been  uniformly,  and  without  excep- 
tion, of  the  most  friendly  and  mutually  satisfactory  character,  the  only  causes 
of  difference  and  dissension  between  us  and  them  which  ever  have  arisen, 
originated  in  those  never-failing  fountains  of  discord  and  irritation — dis- 
criminations of  commercial  favor  to  other  nations,  licentious  privateers,  and 
paper  blockades.  I  can  not,  without  doing  injustice  to  the  republics  of 
Buenos  Ayres  and  Colombia,  forbear  to  acknowledge  the  candid  and  con- 
ciliatory spirit  with  which  they  have  repeatedly  yielded  to  our  friendly 
representations  and  remonstrances  on  these  subjects — in  repealing  discrim- 
inative laws  which  operated  to  our  disadvantage,  and  in  revoking  the  com- 
missions of  their  privateers  ;  to  which  Colombia  has  added  the  magnanim- 
ity of  making  reparation  for  unlawful  captures  by  some  of  her  cruisers,  and 
of  assenting,  in  the  midst  of  war,  to  treaty  stipulations  favorable  to  neutral 
navigation.  But  the  recurrence  of  these  occasions  of  complaint  has  ren- 
dered the  renewal  of  the  discussions  which  result  in  the  removal  of  them 
necessary,  while,  in  the  meantime,  injuries  are  sustained  by  merchants 
and  other  individuals  of  the  United  States,  which  can  not  be  repaired,  and 
the  remedy  lingers  in  overtaking  the  pernicious  operation  of  the  mischief. 
The  settlement  of  general  principles,  pervading  with  equal  efficacy  all  the 
American  states,  can  alone  put  an  end  to  these  evils,  and  can  alone  be 
accomplished  at  the  proposed  assembly. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  noblest  treaty  of  peace  ever  mentioned  in  history, 
is  that  by  which  the  Carthagenians  were  bound  to  abolish  the  practice  of 
sacrificing  their  own  children,  because  it  was  stipulated  in  favor  of  human 
nature,  I  can  not  exaggerate  to  myself  the  unfading  glory  with  which  these 
United  States  will  go  forth  in  the  memory  of  future  ages,  if,  by  their 
friendly  counsel,  by  their  moral  influence,  by  the  power  of  argument  and 
persuasion  alone,  they  can  prevail  upon  the  American  nations,  at  Panama, 
to  stipulate,  by  general  agreement  among  themselves,  and  so  far  as  any 
of  them  may  be  concerned,  the  perpetual  abolition  of  private  war  upon  the 
ocean.  And,  if  we  can  not  yet  flatter  ourselves  that  this  may  be  accom- 
plished, as  advances  toward  it,  the  establishment  of  the  principle  that  the 
friendly  flag  shall  cover  the  cargo,  the  curtailment  of  contraband  of  war, 
and  the  proscription  of  fictitious  paper  blockades — engagements  which  wo 


636  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

may  reasonably  hope  will  not  prove  impracticable— will,  if  successfully 
inculcated,  redound  proportionally  to  our  honor,  and  drain  the  fountain  of 
many  a  future  sanguinary  war. 

The  late  president  of  the  United  States,  in  his  message  to  Congress  of 
the  second  of  December,  1823,  while  announcing  the  negotiation  then 
pending  with  Russia,  relating  to  the  northwest  coast  of  this  continent,  ob- 
serves, that  the  occasion  of  the  discussions  to  which  that  incident  had 
given  rise,  had  been  taken  for  asserting  as  a  principle  in  which  the  rights 
and  interests  of  the  United  States  were,  involved,  that  the  American  conti- 
nents, by  the  free  and  independent  condition  which  they  had  assumed  and 
maintained,  were  thenceforward  not  to  be  considered  subjects  for  coloni- 
zation by  any  European  power.  The  principle  had  first  been  assumed  in 
that  negotiation  with  Russia.  It  rested  upon  a  course  of  reasoning  equally 
simple  and  conclusive.  With  the  exception  of  the  existing  European 
colonies,  which  it  was  in  nowise  intended  to  disturb,  the  two  continents 
consisted  of  several  sovereign  and  independent  nations,  whose  territories 
covered  their  whole  surface.  By  this  their  independent  condition,  the 
United  States  enjoyed  the  right  of  commercial  intercourse  with  every 
part  of  their  possessions.  To  attempt  the  establishment  of  a  colony 
in  those  possessions,  would  be  to  usurp,  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  a  com- 
mercial intercourse,  which  was  the  common  possession  of  all.  It  could 
not  be  done  without  encroaching  upon  existing  rights  of  the  United  States. 
The  government  of  Russia  has  never  disputed  these  positions,  nor  mani- 
fested the  slightest  dissatisfaction  at  their  having  been  taken.  Most  of 
the  new  American  republics  have  declared  their  entire  assent  to  them  ; 
and  they  now  propose,  among  the  subjects  of  consultation  at  Panama,  to 
<ake  into  consideration  the  means  of  making  effectual  the  assertion  of  that 
principle,  as  well  as  the  means  of  resisting  interference  from  abroad  with 
the  domestic  concerns  of  the  American  governments. 

In  alluding  to  these  means,  it  would  obviously  be  premature  at  this 
time  to  anticipate  that  which  is  offered  merely  as  matter  for  consultation  ; 
or  to  pronounce  upon  those  measures  which  have  been  or  may  be  sug- 
gested. The  purpose  of  this  government  is  to  concur  in  none  which 
would  import  hostility  to  Europe,  or  justly  excite  resentment  in  any  of  her 
states.  Should  it  be  deemed  advisable  to  contract  any  conventional  en- 
gagement on  this  topic,  our  views  would  extend  no  further  than  to  a  mu- 
tual pledge  of  the  parties  to  the  compact,  to  maintain  the  principle  in  ap- 
plication to  its  own  territory,  and  to  permit  no  colonial  lodgments  or  estab- 
lishment of  European  jurisdiction  upon  its  own  soil ;  and,  with  respect  to 
the  obtrusive  interference  from  abroad,  if  its  future  character  may  be  in- 
ferred from  that  which  has  been,  and,  perhaps,  still  is  exercised  in  more 
than  one  of  the  new  states,  a  joint  declaration  of  its  character,  and  expo- 
sure of  it  to  the  world,  may  be  probably  all  that  the  occasion  would  re- 
quire. Whether  the  United  States  should  or  should  not  be  parties  to  such 
a  declaration,  may  justly  form  a  part  of  the  deliberation.  That  there  is  an 
evil  to  be  remedied,  needs  little  insight  into  the  secret  history  of  late 
years  to  know,  and  that  this  remedy  may  best  be  concerted  at  the  Panama 
meeting,  deserves  at  least  the  experiment  of  consideration.  A  concert  of 
measures,  having  reference  to  the  more  effectual  abolition  of  the  African 
slave-trade,  and  the  consideration  of  the  light  in  which  the  political  condition 
of  the  island  of  Hayti  is  to  be  regarded,  are  also  among  the  subjects  men- 
tioned by  the  minister  from  the  republic  of  Colombia,  as  believed  to  be 
suitable  for  deliberation  at  the  congress.  The  failure  of  the  negotiations 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  637 

with  that  republic,  undertaken  during  the  late  administration,  for  the  sup- 
pression of  that  trade,  in  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  house  of  rep- 
resentatives, indicates  the  expediency  of  listening,  with  respectful  atten- 
tion, to  propositions  which  may  contribute  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
great  end  which  was  the  purpose  of  that  resolution,  while  the  result  of 
those  negotiations  will  serve  as  admonitions  to  obtain  from  pledging 
this  government  to  any  arrangement  which  might  be  expected  to  fail  of 
obtaining  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  by  a  constitutional  majority 
to  its  ratification. 

Whether  the  political  condition  of  the  island  of  Hayti  shall  be  brought 
at  all  into  discussion  at  the  meeting,  may  be  a  question  for  preliminary 
advisement.  There  are  in  the  political  constitution  of  government  of  that 
people,  circumstances  which  have  hitherto  forbidden  the  acknowledgment 
of  them  by  the  government  of  the  United  States,  as  sovereign  and  inde- 
pendent. Additional  reasons  for  withholding  that  acknowledgment  have 
recently  been  seen  in  their  acceptance  of  a  nominal  sovereignty  by  the 
grant  of  a  foreign  prince,  under  conditions  equivalent  to  the  concession 
by  them  of  exclusive  commercial  advantages  to  one  nation,  adapted  alto- 
gether to  the  state  of  colonial  vassalage,  and  retaining  little  of  independ- 
ence but  the  name.  Our  plenipotentiaries  will  be  instructed  to  present 
these  views  to  the  assembly  at  Panama ;  and,  should  they  not  be  con- 
curred in,  to  decline  acceding  to  any  arrangement  which  may  be  proposed 
upon  different  principles. 

The  condition  of  the  islands  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  is  of  deeper  im- 
port, and  more  immediate  bearing  upon  the  present  interests  and  future 
prospects  of  our  Union.  The  correspondence  herewith  transmitted,  will 
show  how  earnestly  it  has  engaged  the  attention  of  this  government.  The 
invasion  of  both  those  islands  by  the  united  forces  of  Mexico  and  Colom- 
bia, is  avowedly  among  the  objects  to  be  matured  by  the  belligerent  states 
at  Panama.  The  convulsions  to  which,  from  the  peculiar  composition  of 
their  population,  they  would  be  liable,  in  the  event  of  such  an  invasion, 
and  the  danger  therefrom  resulting  of  their  falling  ultimately  into  the  hands 
of  some  European  power,  other  than  Spain,  will  not  admit  of  our  looking 
at  the  consequences  to  which  the  congress  at  Panama  may  lead,  with  in- 
difference. It  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge  upon  this  topic,  or  to  say  more 
than  that  all  our  efforts  in  reference  to  this  interest  will  be  to  preserve  the 
existing  state  of  things,  the  tranquillity  of  the  islands,  and  the  peace  and 
security  of  their  inhabitants. 

And  lastly,  the  congress  of  Panama  is  believed  to  present  a  fair  occa- 
sion for  urging  upon  all  the  new  nations  of  the  south,  the  just  and  liberal 
principles  of  religious  liberty.  Not  by  any  interference  whatever  in  their 
internal  concerns,  but  by  claiming  for  our  citizens  whose  occupations  or 
interests  may  call  them  to  occasional  residence  in  their  territories,  the  in- 
estimable privilege  of  worshipping  their  Creator  according  to  the  dictates 
of  their  own  consciences.  This  privilege,  sanctioned  by  the  customary 
law  of  nations,  and  secured  by  treaty  stipulations  in  numerous  national 
compacts,  secured  even  to  our  own  citizens  in  the  treaties  with  Colombia, 
and  with  the  federation  of  Central  America,  is  yet  to  be  obtained  in  the  other 
South  American  states  and  Mexico.  Existing  prejudices  are  still  strug- 
gling against  it,  which  may,  perhaps,  be  more  successfully  combated  at 
this  general  meeting,  than  at  the  separate  scats  of  government  of  each 
republic. 

I  can  scarcely  deem  it  otherwise  than  superfluous  to  observe,  that  the 


638  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

assembly  will  be  in  its  nature  diplomatic,  and  not  legislative  ;  that  nothing 
can  be  transacted  there  obligatory  upon  any  one  of  the  states  to  be  repre- 
sented at  the  meeting,  unless  with  the  express  concurrence  of  its  own 
representatives ;  nor  even  then,  but  subject  to  the  ratification  of  its  consti- 
tutional authority  at  home.  The  faith  of  the  United  States  to  foreign 
powers  can  not  otherwise  be  pledged.  I  shall,  indeed,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, consider  the  assembly  as  merely  consultative  ;  and,  although  the 
plenipotentiaries  of  the  United  States  will  be  empowered  to  receive  and 
refer  to  the  consideration  of  their  government,  any  proposition  from  the 
other  parties  to  the  meeting,  they  will  be  authorized  to  conclude  nothing 
unless  subject  to  the  definitive  sanction  of  this  government,  in  all  its  con- 
stitutional forms.  It  has,  therefore,  seemed  to  me  unnecessary  to  insist, 
that  every  object  to  be  discussed  at  the  meeting  should  be  specified  with 
the  precision  of  a  judicial  sentence,  or  enumerated  with  the  exactness  of 
a  mathematical  demonstration.  The  purpose  of  the  meeting  itself  is  to  de- 
liberate upon  the  great  and  common  interests  of  several  new  and  neighbor- 
ing nations.  If  the  measure  is  new  .and  without  precedent,  so  is  the  situa- 
tion of  the  parties  to  it.  That  the  purposes  of  the  meeting  are  somewhat 
indefinite,  far  from  being  an  objection  to  it,  is  among  the  cogent  reasons 
for  its  adoption.  It  is  not  the  establishment  of  principles  of  intercourse 
with  one,  but  with  seven  or  eight  nations  at  once.  That,  before  they  have 
had  the  means  of  exchanging  ideas,  and  communicating  with  one  another 
in  common  upon  these  topics,  they  should  have  definitively  settled  and  ar- 
ranged them  in  concert,  is  to  require  that  the  effect  should  precede  the 
cause.  It  is  to  exact,  as  a  preliminary  to  the  meeting,  that  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  which  the  meeting  itself  is  designed. 

Among  the  inquiries  which  were  thought  entitled  to  consideration 
before  the  determination  was  taken  to  accept  the  invitation,  was  that, 
whether  the  measure  might  not  have  a  tendency  to  change  the  policy  hith- 
erto invariably  pursued  by  the  United  States,  of  avoiding  all  entangling 
alliances,  and  all  unnecessary  foreign  connexions. 

Mindful  of  the  advice  given  by  the  father  of  our  country,  in  his  farewell 
address,  that  the  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us  in  regard  lo  foreign  nations, 
is,  in  extending  our  commercial  relations,  to  have  with  them  as  little  pp- 
litical  connexion  as  possible  ;  and,  faithfully  adhering  to  the  spirit  of  that 
admonition,  I  can  not  overlook  the  reflection,  that  the  counsel  of  Wash- 
ington, in  that  instance,  like  all  the  counsels  of  wisdom,  was  founded  upon 
the  circumstances  in  which  our  country  and  the  world  around  us  were 
situated,  at  the  time  when  it  was  given.  That  the  reasons  assigned  by 
him  for  his  advice  were,  that  Europe  had  a  set  of  primary  interests,  which 
to  us  had  none,  or  a  very  remote  relation.  That  hence  she  must  be  en- 
gaged in  frequent  controversies,  the  causes  of  which  were  essentially  for- 
eign to  our  concerns.  That  our  detached  and  distant  situation  invited  and 
enabled  us  to  pursue  a  different  course.  That  by  our  union  and  rapid 
growth,  with  an  efficient  government,  the  period  was  not  far  distant,  when 
we  might  defy  material  injury  from  external  annoyance  ;  when  we  might 
take  such  an  attitude  as  would  cause  our  neutrality  to  be  respected ;  and, 
with  reference  to  belligerent  nations,  might  choose  peace  or  war,  as  our 
interests,  guided  by  justice,  should  counsel. 

Compare  our  situation  and  the  circumstances  of  that  time,  with  those 
of  the  present  day,  and  what,  from  the  very  words  of  Washington,  then, 
would  be  his  counsels  to  his  countrymen  now  ?  Europe  has  still  her  set 
of  primary  interests,  with  which  we  have  little  or  no  relation.  Our  dis- 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  639 

tant  and  detached  situation,  with  reference  to  Europe,  remains  the  same. 
But  we  were  then  the  only  independent  nation  of  this  hemisphere  ;  and 
we  were  surrounded  by  European  colonies,  with  the  greater  part  of  which 
we  had  no  more  intercourse  than  with  the  inhabitants  of  another  planet. 
Those  colonies  have  now  been  transformed  into  eight  independent  nations, 
extending  to  our  very  borders.  Seven  of  them  republics  like  ourselves  ; 
with  whom  we  have  an  immensely-growing  commercial,  and  must  have, 
and  have  already,  important  political  connexions  ;  with  reference  to  whom 
our  situation  is  neither  distant  nor  detached  ;  whose  political  principles  and 
systems  of  government,  congenial  with  our  own,  must  and  will  have  an 
action  and  counteraction  upon  us  and  ours,  to  which  we  can  not  be  indif- 
ferent if  we  would. 

The  rapidity  of  our  growth,  and  the  consequent  increase  of  our  strength. 
have  more  than  realized  the  anticipations  of  this  admirable  political  legacy. 
Thirty  years  have  nearly  elapsed  since  it  was  written,  and  in  the  interval, 
our  population,  our  wealth,  our  territorial  extension,  our  power,  physical 
and  moral,  have  nearly  trebled.  Reasoning  upon  this  state  of  things  from 
the  sound  and  judicious  principles  of  Washington,  and  must  we  not  say, 
that  the  period  which  he  predicted,  as  then  not  far  off,  has  arrived  ;  that 
America  has  a  set  of  primary  interests,  which  have  none  or  a  remote  re- 
lation to  Europe  ;  that  the  interference  of  Europe,  therefore,  in  those 
concerns,  should  be  spontaneously  withheld  by  her  upon  the  same  princi- 
ples, that  we  have  never  interfered  with  hers  ;  and  that  if  she  should  in- 
terfere, as  she  may,  by  measures  which  may  have  a  great  and  dangerous 
recoil  upon  ourselves,  we  might  be  called  in  defence  of  our  own  altars 
and  firesides,  to  take  an  attitude  which  would  cause  our  neutrality  to  be 
respected,  and  choose  peace  or  war,  as  our  interest,  guided  by  justice, 
shall  counsel. 

The  acceptance  of  this  invitation,  therefore,  far  from  conflicting  with  the 
counsel  or  the  policy  of  Washington,  is  directly  deducible  from  and  con- 
formable to  it.  Nor  is  it  less  conformable  to  the  views  of  my  immediate 
predecessor,  as  declared  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress  of  the  2d  of 
December,  1823,  to  which  I  have  already  adverted,  and  to  an  important 
passage  of  which  I  invite  the  attention  of  the  house. 

"  The  citizens  of  the  United  States,"  said  he,  "  cherish  sentiments  the 
most  friendly  in  favor  of  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  their  fellow-men  on 
that  [the  European]  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  the  wars  of  the  European 
powers,  in  matters  relating  to  themselves,  we  have  never  taken  any  part, 
nor  does  it  comport  with  our  policy  so  to  do.  It  is  only  when  our  rights 
are  invaded,  or  seriously  menaced,  that  we  resent  injuries,  or  make  prepa- 
ration for  our  defence.  With  the  movements  in  this  hemisphere,  we  are 
of  necessity  more  immediately  connected,  and  by  causes  which  must  be 
obvious  to  all  enlightened  and  impartial  observers.  The  political  system 
of  the  allied  powers  is  essentially  different  in  this  respect  from  that  of 
America.  This  difference  proceeds  from  that  which  exists  in  their  re- 
spective governments.  And  to  the  defence  of  our  own,  which  has  been 
achieved  by  the  loss  of  so  much  blood  and  treasure,  and  matured  by  the 
wisdom  of  their  most  enlightened  citizens,  and  under  which  we  have  en- 
joyed unexampled  felicity,  this  whole  nation  is  devoted.  '  We  owe  it, 
therefore,  to  candor,  and  to  the  amicable  relations  subsisting  between  the 
United  States  and  those  powers,  to  declare,  that  we  should  consider  any 
attempt,  on  their  part,  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of  this  hemi- 
sphere as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety.  With  the  existing  colonies 


640  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

or  dependencies  of  any  European  power  we  have  not  interfered,  and  shall 
not  interfere.  But  with  the  governments  who  have  declared  their  inde- 
pendence and  maintained  it,  and  whose  independence  we  have,  on  great 
consideration,  and  qn  just  principles,  acknowledged,  we  could  not  view 
any  interposition,  for  the  purposes  of  oppressing  them,  or  controlling  in 
any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any  European  power,  in  any  other  light 
than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  the  United 
States.  In  the  war  between  those  new  governments  and  Spain,  we  de- 
clared our  neutrality  at  the  time  of  their  recognition  ;  and  to  this  we  have 
adhered,  and  shall  continue  to  adhere,  provided  no  change  shall  occur, 
which,  in  the  judgment  of  the  competent  authorities  of  this  government, 
shall  make  a  corresponding  change  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  indis- 
pensable to  their  securities." 

To  the  question  which  may  be  asked,  whether  this  meeting,  and  the 
principles  which  may  be  adjusted  and  settled  by  it,  as  rules  of  intercourse 
between  American  nations,  may  not  give  umbrage  to  the  holy  league  of 
European  powers,  or  offence  to  Spain,  it  is  deemed  a  sufficient  answer, 
that  our  attendance  at  Panama  can  give  no  just  cause  of  umbrage  or  offence 
to  either ;  and  that  the  United  States  will  stipulate  nothing  there  which 
can  give  such  cause.  Here  the  right  of  inquiry  into  our  purposes  and 
measures  must  stop.  The  holy  league  of  Europe  itself  was  formed,  with- 
out inquiring  of  the  United  States  whether  it  would,  or  would  not,  give 
umbrage  to  them.  The  fear  of  giving  umbrage  to  the  holy  league  of  Eu- 
rope was  urged  as  a  motive  for  denying  to  the  American  nations  the 
acknowledgment  of  their  independence.  That  it  would  be  viewed  by 
Spain  as  hostility  to  her,  was  not  only  urged,  but  directly  declared  by  her- 
self. The  Congress  and  administration  of  that  day  consulted  their  rights 
and  duties,  and  not  their  fears.  Fully  determined  to  give  no  needless  dis- 
pleasure to  any  foreign  power,  the  United  States  can  estimate  the  proba- 
bility of  their  giving  it,  only  by  the  right  which  any  foreign  state  could 
have  to  take  it  from  their  measures.  Neither  the  representation  of  the 
United  States  at  Panama,  nor  any  measure  to  which  their  assent  may  be 
yielded  there,  will  give  to  the  holy  league,  or  any  of  its  members,  nor  to 
Spain,  the  right  to  take  offence ;  for  the  rest  the  United  States  must  still, 
as  heretofore,  take  counsel  from  their  duties,  rather  than  their  fears. 

Such  are  the  objects  in  which  it  is  expected  that  the  plenipotentiaries 
of  the  United  States,  when  commissioned  to  attend  the  meeting  at  the 
isthmus,  will  take  part ;  and  such  are  the  motives  and  purposes  with  which 
the  invitation  of  the  three  republics  was  accepted.  It  was,  however,  as 
the  house  will  perceive  from  the  correspondence,  accepted  only  upon  con- 
dition, that  the  nomination  of  commissioners  for  the  mission  should  receive 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate. 

The  concurrence  of  the  house  to  the  measure,  by  the  appropriations 
necessary  for  carrying  it  into  effect,  is  alike  subject  to  its  free  determina- 
tion, and  indispensable  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  intention. 

That  the  congress  at  Panama  will  accomplish  all,  or  even  any,  of  the 
transcendent  benefits  to  the  human  race  which  warmed  the  conceptions 
of  its  first  proposer,  it  were,  perhaps,  indulging  too  sanguine  a  forecast  of 
the  events  to  promise.  It  is,  in  its  nature,  a  measure  speculative  and  ex- 
perimental ;  the  blessing  of  Heaven  may  turn  it  to  the  account  of  human 
improvement ;  accidents  unforeseen,  and  mischances  not  to  be  anticipa- 
ted, may  baffle  all  its  high  purposes,  and  disappoint  its  fairest  expectations. 
But  the  design  is  great,  is  benevolent,  is  humane.  It  looks  to  the  meliora- 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  641 

tion  of  the  condition  of  man.  It  is  congenial  with  that  spirit  which 
prompted  the  declaration  of  our  independence  ;  which  inspired  the  pream- 
ble of  our  first  treaty  with  France  ;  which  dictated  our  first  treaty  with 
Prussia,  and  the  instructions  under  which  it  was  negotiated  ;  which  filled 
the  hearts  and  fired  the  souls  of  the  immortal  founders  of  our  revolution. 

With  this  unrestricted  exposition  of  the  motives  by  which  I  have  been 
governed  in  this  transaction,  as  well  as  of  the  objects  to  be  discussed,  and 
of  the  ends,  if  possible,  to  be  attained  by  our  representation  at  the  proposed 
congress,  I  submit  the  propriety  of  an  appropriation  to  the  candid  consid- 
eration and  enlightened  patriotism  of  the  legislature. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  30,  1826. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

BY  the  second  article  of  the  general  convention  of  peace,  amity,  naviga- 
tion, and  commerce,  between  the  United  States  and  the  republic  of  Colom- 
bia, concluded  at  Bogota  on  the  3d  of  October,  1824,  it  was  stipulated  that 
the  parties  engage  mutually  not  to  grant  any  particular  favor  to  other  na- 
tions, in  respect  to  commerce  and  navigation,  which  should  not  immedi- 
ately become  common  to  the  other  party,  who  should  enjoy  the  same  freely, 
if  the  concession  was  freely  made,  or  on  allowing  the  same  compensation, 
if  the  concession  was  conditional.  And  in  the  third  article  of  the  same 
convention,  it  was  agreed  that  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  might  fre- 
quent all  the  coasts  and  countries  of  the  republic  of  Colombia,  and  reside 
and  trade  there  in  all  sorts  of  produce,  manufactures,  and  merchandise,  and 
should  pay  no  other  or  greater  duties,  charges,  or  fees  whatsoever,  than 
the  most  favored  nations  should  be  obliged  to  pay ;  and  should  enjoy  all 
the  rights,  privileges,  and  exemptions,  in  navigation  and  commerce,  which 
the  most  favored  nations  should  enjoy,  submitting  themselves,  neverthe- 
less, to  the  laws,  decrees,  and  usages,  there  established,  and  to  which . 
were  submitted  the  subjects  and  citizens  of  the  most  favored  nations  ;  with 
a  reciprocal  stipulation  in  favor  of  the  citizens  of  the  republic  of  Colombia 
in  the  United  States.  Subsequently  to  the  conclusion  of  this  convention, 
a  treaty  was  negotiated  between  the  republic  of  Colombia  and  Great  Brit- 
ain, by  which  it  was  stipulated  that  no  other  or  higher  duties,  on  account 
of  tonnage,  light,  or  harbor  duties,  should  be  imposed  in  ports  of  Colombia 
on  British  vessels,  than  those  payable  in  the  same  ports  by  Colombian 
vessels  ;  and  the  same  duties  should  be  paid  on  the  importation  into  the 
territories  of  Colombia,  of  any  article  the  growth,  produce,  or  manufacture, 
of  his  majesty's  dominions,  whether  such  importation  should  be  in  Colom- 
bian or  British  vessels,  and  that  the  same  duties  should  be  paid,  and  the 
same  discount  (drawbacks)  and  bounties  allowed,  on  the  exportation  of  any 
article  the  growth,  produce,  or  manufacture  of  Colombia  to  -his  Britannic 
majesty's  dominions,  whether  such  exportations  were  in  Colombian  or 
British  vessels. 

The  minister  of  the  United  States  to  the  republic  of  Colombia  having 
claimed,  by  virtue  of  the  second  and  third  articles  of  the  convention  be- 
tween the  two  republics,  that  the  benefit  of  these  subsequent  stipulations 
should  be  alike  extended  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  upon  the 
VOL.  I.— 41 


642  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

condition  of  reciprocity  provided  for  by  the  convention,  the  application  of 
those  engagements  was  readily  acceded  to  by  the  Colombian  government, 
and  a  decree  was  issued  by  the  executive  authority  of  that  republic  on  the 
30th  of  January  last,  a  copy  and  translation  of  which  are  herewith  com- 
municated, securing  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  the  repub- 
lic of  Colombia  the  same  advantages  in  regard  to  commerce  and  naviga- 
tion which  had  been  conceded  to  British  subjects  in  the  Colombian  treaty 
with  Great  Britain. 

It  remains  to  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  secure  to  the  citi- 
zens of  the  republic  of  Colombia  the  reciprocal  advantages  to  which  they 
are  entitled  by  the  terms  of  the  convention,  to  commence  from  the  30th 
of  January  last,  for  the  accomplishment  of  which  I  invite  the  favorable 
consideration  of  the  legislature. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  5,  1827. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  SUBMIT  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  a  letter  from  the  agent  of  the 
United  States  with  the  Creek  Indians,  who  invoke  the  protection  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States  in  defence  of  the  rights  and  territory  se- 
cured to  that  nation  by  the  treaty  concluded  at  Washington,  and  ratified, 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  on  the  twenty-second  of  April  last. 

The  complaint  set  forth  in  this  letter,  that  surveyors  from  Georgia  have 
been  employed  in  surveying  lands  within  the  Indian  territory,  as  secured 
by  that  treaty,  is  authenticated  by  information  inofficially  received  from 
other  quarters,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  one  or  more  of  the  sur- 
veyors have  been  arrested  in  their  progress  by  the  Indians.  Their  for- 
bearance, and  reliance  upon  the  good  faith  of  the  United  States,  will,  it  is 
hoped,  avert  scenes  of  violence  and  blood,  which  there  is  otherwise  too 
much  cause  to  apprehend  will  result  from  these  proceedings. 

By  the  fifth  section  of  the  act  of  Congress,  of  the  30th  March,  1802,  to 
regulate  trade  and  intercourse  with  the  Indian  tribes,  and  to  preserve  peace 
on  the  frontiers,  it  is  provided  that,  if  any  citizen  of,  or  other  person  resi- 
dent in,  the  United  States,  shall  make  a  settlement  on  any  lands  belong- 
ing, or  secured,  or  granted  by  treaty  with  the  United  States,  to  any  Indian 
tribe,  or  shall  survey,  or  attempt  to  survey,  such  lands,  or  designate  any 
of  the  boundaries,  by  marking  trees  or  otherwise,  such  offender  shall  for- 
feit a  sum  not  exceeding  one  thousand  dollars,  and  suffer  imprisonment 
not  exceeding  twelve  months.  By  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  sections 
of  the  same  statute,  two  distinct  processes  are  prescribed,  by  either  or  both 
of  which  the  above  enactment  may  be  carried  into  execution.  By  the  first, 
it  is  declared  to  be  lawful  for  the  military  force  of  the  United  States  to 
apprehend  every  person  found  in  the  Indian  country,  over  and  beyond  the 
boundary  line  between  the  United  States  and  the  Indian  tribes,  in  viola- 
tion of  any  of  the  provisions  or  regulations  of  the  act ;  and  immediately  to 
convey  them,  in  the  nearest  convenient  and  safe  route,  to  the  civil  author- 
ity of  the  United  States,  in  some  one  of  the  three  next  adjoining  states  or 
districts,  to  be  proceeded  against  in  due  course  of  law. 

By  the  second,  it  is  directed  that,  if  any  person  charged  with  a  violation 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  643 

oi  any  of  the  provisions  or  regulations  of  the  act,  shall  be  found  within  any 
of  the  United  States,  or  either  of  their  territorial  districts,  such  offender 
may  be  there  apprehended,  and  brought  to  trial  in  the  same  manner  as  if 
such  crime  or  offence  had  been  committed  within  such  state  or  district ; 
and  that  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  military  force  of  the  United  States, 
when  called  upon  by  the  civil  magistrates,  or  any  proper  officer,  or  other 
person  duly  authorized  for  the  purpose,  and  having  a  lawful  warrant,  to 
aid  and  assist  such  magistrates,  officers,  or  other  persons  so  authorized,  in 
arresting  such  offender,  and  committing  him  to  safe  custody  for  trial,  ac- 
cording to  law. 

The  first  of  these  processes  is  adapted  to  the  arrest  of  the  trespasser 
upon  Indian  territories,  on  the  spot,  and  in  the  act  of  committing  the  of- 
fence. But,  as  it  applies  the  action  of  the  government  of  the  United  States 
to  places  where  the  civil  process  of  the  law  has  no  authorized  course,  it  is 
committed  entirely  to  the  functions  of  the  military  force  to  arrest  the  per- 
son of  the  offender  ;  and,  after  bringing  him  within  the  reach  of  the  juris- 
diction of  the  courts,  there  to  deliver  him  into  custody  for  trial.  The  sec- 
ond makes  the  violator  of  the  law  amenable  only  after  his  offence  has  been 
consummated,  and  when  he  has  returned  within  the  civil  jurisdiction  of 
the  Union.  This  process,  in  the  first  instance,  is  merely  of  a  civil  char- 
acter, but  may,  in  like  manner,  be  enforced  by  calling  in,  if  necessary,  the 
aid  of  the  military  force. 

Entertaining  no  doubt  that,  in  the  present  case,  the  resort  to  either  of 
these  modes  of  process,  or  to  both,  was  within  the  discretion  of  the  exec- 
utive authority,  and  penetrated  with  the  duty  of  maintaining  the  rights  of 
the  Indians,  as  secured  both  by  the  treaty  and  the  law,  I  concluded,  after 
full  deliberation,  to  have  recourse  on  this  occasion,  in  the  first  instance, 
only  to  the  civil  process.  Instructions  have  accordingly  been  given  by  the 
secretary  of  war,  to  the  attorney  and  marshal  of  the  United  States  in  the 
district  of  Georgia,  to  commence  prosecutions  against  the  surveyors  com- 
plained of  as  having  violated  the  law,  while  orders  have  at  the  same  time 
been  forwarded  to  the  agent  of  the  United  States,  at  once  to  assure  the 
Indians,  that  their  rights,  founded  upon  the  treaty  and  the  law,  are  recog- 
nised by  this  government,  and  will  be  faithfully  protected  ;  and  earnestly 
to  exhort  them,  by  the  forbearance  of  every  act  of  hostility  on  their  part, 
to  preserve  unimpaired  that  right  to  protection,  secured  to  them  by  the 
sacred  pledge  of  the  good  faith  of  this  nation.  Copies  of  these  instructions 
and  orders  are  herewith  transmitted  to  Congress. 

In  abstaining,  at  this  stage  of  the  proceedings,  from  the  application  of 
any  military  force,  I  have  been  governed  by  considerations  which  will,  I 
trust,  meet  the  concurrence  of  the  legislature.  Among  them,  one  of  para- 
mount importance  has  been,  that  these  surveys  have  been  attempted,  and 
partly  effected,  under  color  of  legal  authority  from  the  state  of  Georgia. 
That  the  surveyors  are,  therefore,  not  to  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  individ- 
ual and  solitary  transgressors,  but  as  the  agents  of  a  sovereign  state,  acting 
in  obedience  to  authority  which  they  believed  to  be  binding  upon  them. 
Intimations  had  been  given,  that,  should  they  meet  with  interruption,  they 
would,  at  all  hazards,  be  sustained  by  the  military  force  of  the  state  ;  in 
which  event,  if  the  military  force  of  the  Union  should  have  been  employed 
to  enforce  its  violated  law,  a  conflict  must  have  ensued,  which  would,  in 
itself,  have  inflicted  a  wound  upon  the  Union,  and  have  presented  the  as- 
pect of  one  of  these  confederated  states  at  war  with  the  rest.  Anxious, 
above  all,  to  avert  this  state  of  things,  yet  at  the  same  time  impressed  with 


644  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  PROCLAMATION. 

the  deepest  conviction  of  my  own  duty,  to  take  care  that  the  laws  shall  be 
executed,  and  the  faith  of  the  nation  preserved,  I  have  used,  of  the  means 
intrusted  to  the  executive  for  that  purpose,  only  those  which,  without  re- 
sorting to  military  force,  may  vindicate  the  sanctity  of  the  law  by  the  ordi- 
nary agency  of  the  judicial  tribunals. 

It  ought  not,  howeA'er,  to  be  disguised,  that  the  act  of  the  legislature  of 
Georgia,  under  the  construction  given  to  it  by  the  governor  of  that  state, 
and  the  surveys  made,  or  attempted,  by  his  authority,  beyond  the  boundary 
secured  by  the  treaty  of  Washington,  of  April  last,  to  the  Creek  Indians 
are  in  direct  violation  of  the  supreme  law  of  this  land,  set  forth  in  a  treaty, 
which  has  received  all  the  sanctions  provided  by  the  constitution,  which 
we  have  been  sworn  to  support  and  maintain. 

Happily  distributed  as  the  sovereign  powers  of  the  people  of  this  Union 
have  been,  between  their  general  and  state  governments,  their  history  has 
already  too  often  presented  collisions  between  these  divided  authorities, 
with  regard  to  the  extent  of  their  respective  powers.  No  instance,  how- 
ever, has  hitherto  occurred,  in  which  this  collision  has  been  urged  into  a 
conflict  of  actual  force.  No  other  case  is  known  to  have  happened,  in 
which  the  application  of  military  force  by  the  government  of  the  Union 
has  been  prescribed  for  the  enforcement  of  a  law,  the  violation  of  which  has, 
within  any  single  state,  been  prescribed  by  a  legislative  act  of  the  state.  In 
the  present  instance,  it  is  my  duty  to  say,  that,  if  the  legislative  and  execu- 
tive authorities  of  the  state  of  Georgia  should  persevere  in  acts  of  encroach- 
ment upon  the  territories  secured  by  a  solemn  treaty  to  the  Indians,  and 
the  laws  of  the  Union  remain  unaltered,  a  superadded  obligation,  even 
higher  than  that  of  human  authority,  will  compel  the  executive  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  to  enforce  the  laws,  and  fulfil  the  duties  of  the  nation,  by  all  the 
force  committed  for  that  purpose  to  his  charge.  That  the  arm  of  military 
force  will  be  resorted  to  only  in  the  event  of  the  failure  of  all  other  expe- 
dients provided  by  the  laws,  a  pledge  has  been  given,  by  the  forbearance 
to  employ  it  at  this  time.  It  is  submitted  to  the  wisdom  of  Congress,  to 
determine  whether  any  further  act  of  legislation  may  be  necessary  or  ex- 
pedient, to  meet  the  emergency  which  these  transactions  may  produce. 


PROCLAMATION. 
MARCH  17,  1827. 

WHEREAS,  by  the  sixth  section  of  an  act  of  Congress,  entitled,  "  An  act 
to  regulate  the  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  cer- 
tain British  colonial  ports,"  which  was  approved  on  the  first  day  of  March, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-three,  it  is 
enacted  "  that  this  act,  unless  repealed,  altered,  or  amended  by  Congress, 
shall  be  and  continue  in  force  so  long  as  the  above-enumerated  British 
colonial  ports  shall  be  open  to  the  admission  of  the  vessels  of  the  United 
States,  conformably  to  the  provisions  of  the  British  act  of  parliament  of 
the  twenty-fourth  of  June  last,  being  the  forty-fourth  chapter  of  the  acts 
of  the  third  year  of  George  the  Fourth.  But,  if  at  any  time  the  trade  and 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  all  or  any  of  the  above-enumera- 
ted British  colonial  ports,  authorized  by  the  said  act  of  parliament,  should 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  PROCLAMATION.  645 

be  prohibited  by  a  British  order  in  council,  or  by  act  of  parliament,  then, 
from  the  day  of  the  date  of  such  order  in  council,  or  act  of  parliament,  or 
from  the  time  that  the  same  shall  commence  to  be  in  force,  proclamation 
to  that  effect  having  been  made  by  the  president  of  the  United  States,  each 
and  every  provision  of  this  act,  so  far  as  the  same  shall  apply  to  the  inter- 
course between  the  United  States  and  the  above-enumerated  British  colo- 
nial ports,  in  British  vessels,  shall  cease  to  operate  in  their  favor  ;  and 
each  and  every  provision  of  the  '  Act  concerning  navigation,'  approved  on 
the  eighteenth  of  April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighteen,  and  of 
the  act  supplementary  thereto,  approved  on  the  fifteenth  of  May,  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  twenty,  shall  revive  and  be  in  full  force." 

And  whereas,  by  an  act  of  the  British  parliament,  which  passed  on  the 
fifth  day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
twenty-five,  entitled,  "  An  act  to  repeal  the  several  laws  relating  to  the 
customs,"  the  said  act  of  parliament  of  the  24th  of  June,  1822,  was  re- 
pealed ;  and  by  another  act  of  the  British  parliament,  passed  on  the  5th 
day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
twenty-five,  in  the  sixth  year  of  the  reign  of  George  the  Fourth,  entitled, 
"  An  act  to  regulate  the  trade  of  the  British  possessions  abroad,"  and  by 
an  order  of  his  Britannic  majesty  in  council,  bearing  date  the  27th  July, 
1826,  the  trade  and  intercourse  authorized  by  the  aforesaid  act  of  parlia- 
ment, of  the  24th  June,  1822,  between  the  United  States  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  said  British  colonial  ports  therein  enumerated,  have  been  pro- 
hibited upon  and  from  the  first  day  of  December  last  past,  and  the  contin- 
gency has  thereby  arisen  on  which  the  president  of  the  United  States  was 
authorized  by  the  sixth  section  aforesaid  of  the  act  of  Congress  of  the  1st 
March,  1823,  to  issue  a  proclamation  to  the  effect  therein  mentioned: 

Now,  therefore,  I,  John  Quincy  Adams,  president  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  do  hereby  declare  and  proclaim  that  the  trade  and  intercourse 
authorized  by  the  said  act  of  parliament  of  the  24th  of  June,  1 822,  between 
the  United  States  and  the  British  colonial  ports  enumerated  in  the  afore- 
said act  of  Congress  of  the  1st  March,  1823,  have  been,  and  are,  upon  and 
from  the  1st  day  of  December,  1826,  by  the  aforesaid  two  several  acts  of 
parliament,  of  the  5th  of  July.  1 825,  and  by  the  aforesaid  British  order  in 
council  of  the  27th  day  of  July,  1826,  prohibited. 

Given  under  my  hand  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  17th  day  of  March, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-seven, 
and  the  fifty-first  year  of  the  independence  of  the  United  States. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  4,  1828. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  : — 

IN  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  senate  of  the  3d  of  January  last, 
requesting  the  communication  of  information  in  my  possession,  relative  to 
alleged  aggression  on  the  rights  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  by  per- 
sons claiming  authority  under  the  government  of  New  Brunswick,  I  com- 


646  JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

municate  a  report  from  the  secretary  of  state,  with  a  copy  of  that  of  the 
special  agent,  mentioned  in  my  message  at  the  commencement  of  the 
present  session  of  Congress  as  having  been  sent  to  visit  the  spot  where 
the  cause  of  complaint  had  occurred,  to  ascertain  the  state  of  the  facts, 
and  the  result  of  whose  inquiries  I  then  promised  to  communicate  to  Con- 
gress when  it  should  be  received. 

The  senate  are  requested  to  receive  this  communication  as  the  fulfil- 
ment of  that  engagement ;  and,  in  making  it,  I  deem  it  proper  to  notice 
with  just  acknowledgment,  the  liberality  with  which  the  minister  of  his 
Britannic  majesty  residing  here,  and  the  government  of  the  province  of 
New  Brunswick,  have  furnished  the  agent  of  the  United  States  with  every 
facility  for  the  attainment  of  the  information  which  it  was  the  object  of  his 
mission  to  procure. 

Considering  the  exercise  of  exclusive  territorial  jurisdiction  upon  the 
grounds  in  controversy,  by  the  government  of  New  Brunswick,  in  the  ar- 
rest and  imprisonment  of  John  Baker,  as  incompatible  with  the  mutual 
understanding  existing  between  the  governments  of  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  on  this  subject,  a  demand  has  been  addressed  to  the 
provincial  authorities,  through  the  minister  of  Great  Britain,  for  the  release 
of  that  individual  from  prison,  and  of  indemnity  to  him  for  his  detention. 
In  doing  this,  it  has  not  been  intended  to  maintain  the  regularity  of  his 
own  proceedings,  or  of  those  with  whom  he  was  associated,  to  which  they 
were  not  authorized  by  any  sovereign  authority  of  this  country. 

The  documents  appended  to  the  report  of  the  agent,  being  original  pa- 
pers belonging  to  the  files  of  the  department  of  state,  a  return  of  them  is 
requested,  when  the  senate  shall  have  no  further  use  for  them. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
APRIL  17,  1828. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

IN  conformity  with  the  practice  of  all  my  predecessors,  I  have,  during 
my  service  in  the  office  of  president,  transmitted  to  the  two  houses  of  Con- 
gress, from  time  to  time,  by  the  same  private  secretary,  such  messages  as 
a  proper  discharge  of  my  constitutional  duty  appeared  to  me  to  require. 
On  Tuesday  last  he  was  charged  with  the  delivery  of  a  message  to  each 
house.  Having  presented  that  which  was  intended  for  the  house  of  rep- 
resentatives, while  he  was  passing,  within  the  capitol,  from  their  hall  to  the 
chamber  of  the  senate,  for' the  purpose  of  delivering  the  other  message,  he 
was  waylaid  and  assaulted  in  the  rotunda,  by  a  person,  in  the  presence  of 
a  member  of  the  house,  who  interposed  and  separated  the  parties. 

I  have  thought  it  my  duty  to  communicate  this  occurrence  to  Congress, 
to  whose  wisdom  it  belongs  to  consider  whether  it  is  of  a  nature  requiring 
from  them  any  animadversion  ;  and,  also,  whether  any  further  laws  or  reg- 
ulations are  necessary  to  insure  security  in  the  official  intercourse  be- 
tween the  president  and  Congress,  and  to  prevent  disorders  within  the 
capitol  itself. 

In  the  deliberations  of  Congress  upon  this  subject,  it  is  neither  expected 
nor  desired  that  any  consequence  shall  be  attached  to  the  private  relation 
in  which  my  secretary  stands  to  me. 


JOHN  Q.  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  647 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
APRIL  30,  1828. 

To  the    Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

IN  the  month  of  December  last,  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  African 
negroes  were  landed  at  Key  West,  from  a  Spanish  slave-trading  vessel 
stranded  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  while  pursued  by  an 
armed  schooner  in  his  Britannic  majesty's  service.  The  collector  of  the 
customs  at  Key  West  took  possession  of  these  persons,  who  were  after- 
ward delivered  over  to  the  marshal  of  the  territory  of  East  Florida,  by 
whom  they  were  conveyed  to  St.  Augustine,  where  they  still  remain. 

Believing  that  the  circumstances  under  which  they  have  been  cast  upon 
the  compassion  of  the  country  are  not  embraced  by  the  provisions  of  the 
act  of  Congress  of  the  3d  of  March,  1819,  or  of  the  other  acts  prohibiting 
the  slave-trade,  I  submit  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  the  expediency 
of  a  supplementary  act,  directing  and  authorizing  such  measures  as  may 
be  necessary  for  removing  them  from  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and 
for  fulfilling  toward  them  the  obligations  of  humanity. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  3,   1829. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  TRANSMIT  herewith,  to  Congress,  a  copy  of  the  instructions  prepared 
by  the  secretary  of  state,  and  furnished  to  the  minister  of  the  United 
States  appointed  to  attend  at  the  assembly  of  American  plenipotentiaries, 
first  held  at  Panama,  and  thence  transferred  to  Tacubaya.  The  occasion 
for  which  they  were  given,  has  passed  away,  and  there  is  no  present 
probability  of  the  renewal  of  those  negotiations  ;  but  the  purpose  for 
which  they  were  intended  are  still  of  the  deepest  interest  to  our  country, 
and  to  the  world,  and  may  hereafter  call  again  for  the  active  energies  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States.  The  motive  for  withholding  them 
from  general  publication  having  ceased,  justice  to  the  government  from 
which  they  emanated,  and  to  the  people  for  whose  benefit  it  was  in- 
stituted, require  that  they  should  be  made  known.  With  this  view,  and 
from  the  consideration  that  the  subjects  embraced  by  those  instructions 
must  probably  engage  hereafter  the  consideration  of  our  successors,  I 
deem  it  proper  to  make  this  communication  to  both  houses  of  Congress. 
One  copy  only  of  the  instructions  being  prepared,  I  send  it  to  the  senate, 
requesting  that  it  may  be  transmitted  also  to  the  house  of  representatives. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS, 


THE  inauguration  of  John  Quincy  Adams  as  president  of  the  United 
States,  took  place  on  the  4th  of  March,  1825.  At  about  half-past  twelve 
o'clock  on  that  day  he  was  introduced  into  the  capitol,  followed  by  the  ex- 
president,  Mr.  Monroe,  and  his  family,  by  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court, 
in  their  robes  of  office,  and  the  members  of  the  senate,  preceded  by  the 
vice-president,  with  a  number  of  members  of  the  house  of  representatives. 
Mr.  Adams,  in  a  plain  suit  of  black,  ascended  the  steps  to  the  speaker's 
chair,  and  took  his  seat.  Silence  having  been  proclaimed,  and  the  doors 
of  the  hall  closed,  the  president  elect  rose  and  delivered  his  inaugural  ad- 
dress to  the  assembled  multitude,  by  whom  it  was  received  with  great 
attention  and  interest. 

After  delivering  this  address,  Mr.  Adams  descended  from  the  chair,  and 
placing  himself  on  the  righthand  of  the  judge's  table,  received  from  Chief- 
Justice  Marshall  a  volume  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  from  which 
he  read  the  oath  of  office,  at  the  close  of  which,  the  house  rang  with  the 
cheers  and  plaudits  of  the  immense  audience. 

The  senate  being  in  session,  the  president  immediately  nominated  the 
members  of  his  cabinet,  namely  :  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  for  secretary  of 
state ;  Richard  Rush,  of  Pennsylvania,  secretary  of  the  treasury ;  James  Bar- 
bour,  of  Virginia,  secretary  of  war.  These  nominations  were  all  confirmed, 
and  unanimously,  except  that  of  Mr.  Clay,  to  which  a  warm  opposition 
was  made  on  the  part  of  a  few  senators,  and  the  injunction  of  secresy 
being  removed,  the  votes  appeared  to  have  been  twenty-seven  in  favor,  and 
fourteen  against  it.  The  remaining  member  of  the  cabinet,  William  Wirt, 
of  Virginia,  was  continued  as  attorney-general.  John  M'Lean,  of  Ohio, 
postmaster-general  (not  then  a  member  of  the  cabinet),  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  Mr.  Monroe,  was  also  continued  in  office. 

After  disposing  of  the  nominations  made  by  the  executive,  the  senate 
took  into  consideration  the  treaty  made  with  the  republic  of  Colombia,  for 
the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade.  This  treaty  was  made  in  conformity 
with  a  resolution  of  the  house  of  representatives,  recommending  to  the 
executive  to  make  treaties,  giving  the  mutual  right  of  search  of  vessels  in 
suspected  parts  of  the  world,  in  order  more  effectually  to  prevent  the 


650  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    O_.    ADAMS. 

traffic  in  slaves.  The  amendments  proposed  by  the  senate,  at  the  last 
session,  to  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  for  the  same  purpose,  were  in- 
troduced into  this  treaty  ;  but  the  fate  of  the  treaty  with  England  had  prob- 
ably caused  a  change  in  the  minds  of  some  of  the  senators,  and  other 
views  had  been  taken  of  the  subject  by  others,  and  the  treaty  with  Colom- 
bia was  rejected  by  28  votes  to  12. 

The  divisions  which  had  been  taken  on  the  foregoing  questions,  in  the 
senate,  left  little  doubt  that  the  new  administration  was  destined  to  meet 
with  a  systematic  and  organized  opposition  ;  and  previous  to  the  next  meet- 
ing of  Congress,  the  ostensible  grounds  of  opposition  were  set  forth  at 
public  dinners  and  meetings,  so  as  to  prepare  the  community  for  a  warm 
political  contest,  until  the  next  election. 

Those  who  placed  themselves  in  opposition  to  the  administration,  with- 
out reference  to  its  measures,  urged  as  reasons  for, their  hostility,  that  Mr. 
Adams's  election  was  the  result  of  a  bargain  between  Mr.  Clay  and  him- 
self ;  and  his  selection  of  Mr.  Clay  as  secretary  of  state,  was  relied  upon 
as  a  conclusive  proof  of  the  bargain ;  that  he  was  elected  against  the  ex- 
pressed will  of  the  people ;  and  that  Congress,  by  not  taking  General 
Jackson,  the  candidate  having  the  highest  number  of  votes,  had  violated 
the  constitution,  and  disobeyed  their  constituents.  Personal  objections 
were  also  urged,  but  as  these  formed  no  part  of  the  justification  of  the 
opposition  which  was  to  be  arrayed  in  anticipation  of  measures,  it  is  un- 
necessary to  give  them  a  place.  Those  who  were  friendly  to  the  new 
administration,  or  disposed  to  judge  of  it  by  its  acts,  replied  to  these  ob- 
jections, that  Mr.  Clay,  as  a  representative,  was  obliged  to'  decide  between 
three  candidates  for  the  presidency,  and  that  his  vote  was  in  accordance 
with  all  his  previous  declarations  ;  that  his  own  situation  as  a  candidate 
who  might  possibly  succeed,  rendered  it  unsuitable  for  him  to  express  any 
preference  for  either  of  the  other  candidates,  until  the  decision  of  the 
legislature  of  Louisiana  (first  heard  at  Washington  on  the  27th  of  Decem- 
ber") had  left  him  free  to  decide  between  his  former  competitors  ;  that  Mr. 
Crawford,  though  constitutionally  a  candidate,  was  virtually  withdrawn  by 
the  situation  of  his  health,  and  that  as  between  Mr.  Adams  and  General 
Jackson,  the  previous  deliberate  expression  of  his  sentiments  as  to  the 
latter's  character  and  qualifications  for  a  civil  office,  rendered  it  impossi- 
ble for  him  to  vote  for  him  without  the  most  gross  inconsistency  ;  that  Mr. 
Adams's  experience,  learning,  and  talents,  were  guaranties  for  his  proper 
performance  of  the  duties  of  the  chief  magistracy,  which  were  not  in  the 
power  of  his  competitor  to  offer  ;  and  that,  having  been  compelled  to  dis- 
charge this  duty  as  a  representative  of  the  people,  it  would  have  argued 
an  improper  distrust  of  his  own  character  and  of  public  opinion,  to  have 
refused  to  take  the  appointment  of  secretary  of  state  from  Mr.  Adams,  be- 
cause he  had  contributed  by  his  vote  to  elect  him  to  the  presidency.  As 
to  the  fact  of  his  selection  as  secretary  of  state,  they  vindicated  it  on  the 


ADMINISTRATION'    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS.  651 

ground,  that  his  situation  as  speaker  of  the  house,  and  his  long  and  inti- 
mate acquaintance  with  our  national  affairs,  made  him  the  most  prominent 
candidate  for  that  station,  and  the  strong  support  he  received  in  the  west 
for  the  presidency,  showed  that  his  appointment  would  gratify  a  part  of 
the  Union,  which,  until  then,  had  never  been  complimented  with  a  repre- 
sentative in  the  cabinet.* 

One  of  the  most  prominent  topics  of  public  interest  during  the  year 
1825,  was  the  controversy  between  the  national  government  and  the  ex- 
ecutive of  Georgia,  Governor  Troup.  This  controversy  grew  out  of  a 
compact  between  the  general  government  and  the  state  of  Georgia  in  1802. 
By  that  compact  the  United  States  agreed,  in  consideration  of  Georgia 
relinquishing  her  claim  to  the  Mississippi  territory,  to  extinguish,  at  the  na- 
tional expense,  the  Indian  title  to  the  lands  occupied  by  them  in  Georgia, 
"  whenever  it  could  be  peaceably  done,  upon  reasonable  terms."  Since 
making  that  agreement,  the  general  government  had  extinguished  the  Indian 
title  to  about  fifteen  millions  of  acres,  and  conveyed  the  same  to  the  state 
of  Georgia.  There  still  remained  9,537,000  of  acres  in  possession  of  the 
Indians,  of  which  5,292,000  of  acres  belonged  to  the  Cherokees,  and  the 
remainder  to  the  Creek  nation. 

Shortly  before  the  termination  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  the  state 
government  became  very  urgent  for  the  entire  removal  of  the  Indians  from 
the  state ;  and  at  the  solicitation  of  the  governor,  the  late  president  ap- 
pointed two  commissioners,  selected  by  the  governor  of  Georgia,  to  make 
a  treaty  with  the  Creeks  for  the  purchase  of  their  lands. t 

But  the  Creek  nation  having  began  to  enjoy  the  arts  and  comforts  of 
civilization  introduced  among  them  by  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
were  unwilling  to  leave  their  lands  for  the  wilderness  of  the  west,  and 
passed  a  law  forbidding  the  sale  of  any  of  their  lands,  on  the  pain  of  death. 
A  few  of  the  chiefs  were  induced  to  violate  this  law,  by  negotiating  with 
the  United  States  commissioners,  after  the  breaking  up  of  the  general 
council  of  the  nation,  and  by  these  chiefs,  forming  a  fraction  only  of  the 
acknowledged  heads  of  the  tribes,  all  the  lands  of  the  Creeks  in  Georgia 
and  Alabama  were  ceded  to  the  United  States.  This  treaty,  however,  was 
transmitted  to  the  United  States  senate,  and  ratified  by  them  on  the  3d  of 
March,  1825,  the  last  day  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration.  When  the 
information  that  this  treaty  had  been  thus  sanctioned,  reached  the  Creeks, 
it  produced  great  excitement,  and  a  secret  council  of  the  nation  being 
called,  they  resolved  not  to  accept  the  treaty,  and  the  death  of  M'Intosh, 
the  chief  of  the  party  that  assented  to  it,  was  determined  on.  This  deter- 
mination was  carried  into  effect  by  a  party  of  Indians,  who  surrounded 
his  house  on  the  30th  of  April,  and  shot  M'Intosh,  and  another  chief  who 
had  also  signed  the  treaty. 

This  course  on  the  part  of  the  Creeks  presented  a  new  question,  and  a 
•  American  Annual  Register.  t  Ibid. 


652  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.   ADAMS. 

controversy  soon  grew  out  of  it  between  the  general  government  and  Gov- 
ernor Troup.  The  governor  contended,  that  upon  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty,  the  fee  simple  of  the  lands  became  vested  in  Georgia,  and  subject 
to  her  authority.  He  therefore  called  the  legislature  of  Georgia  together, 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  measures  to  cause  a  survey  of  the  lands,  and  to 
distribute  them  among  the  white  inhabitants  of  Georgia  by  lottery.  These 
circumstances,  and  the  remonstrances  of  the  Creek  chiefs  against  the 
treaty,  induced  President  Adams  to  appoint  a  special  agent  to  investigate 
the  matter,  and,  at  the  same  time,  General  Gaines,  of  the  United  States 
army,  was  ordered  to  repair  to  the  Creek  country  with  a  competent  num- 
ber of  troops,  to  restore  tranquillity  among  the  Creeks,  and  to  prevent  any 
disturbances  between  them  and  the  frontier  settlers.  After  an  investiga- 
tion by  the  agent  into  the  facts,  and  receiving  his  report  that  bad  faith  and 
corruption  had  attended  the  treaty,  and  that  forty-nine  fiftieths  of  the  Creeks 
appeared  to  be  hostile  to  the  treaty,  the  president  decided  not  to  suffer 
any  interference  with  them  until  the  meeting  of  Congress.  Governor 
Troup  at  first  threatened  to  take  the  execution  of  the  treaty  into  his  own 
hands,  but  the  firm  and  decided  tone  of  the  president  induced  him  to  leave 
the  affair  to  the  constituted  authorities. 

Although  the  president  had  thus  resolved  to  protect  the  Indians  in  their 
rights,  he  was  desirous  to  satisfy  the  claims  of  Georgia,  and  a  new  nego- 
tiation was  opened  with  the  Creeks,  which  finally  resulted  in  annulling 
the  former  treaty,  and  the  whole  Creek  territory  within  the  limits  of 
Georgia  was  ceded  to  the  United  States.  By  the  new  treaty,  the  Creeks 
retained  all  their  lands  in  Alabama,  which  had  been  ceded  in  the  one 
declared  null.  Notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  the  Georgia  delegation 
in  Congress,  the  new  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  senate,  at  the  ensuing 
session,  by  a  vote  of  30  to  7,  and  the  appropriations  were  made  by  the 
house  of  representatives,  by  167  votes  to  10. 

A  treaty  was  also  made  with  the  Indians  in  the  northwestern  states  and 
territories,  by  Governors  Cass  and  Clark,  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  in  August, 
1825.  The  negotiations  occupied  about  two  weeks,  and  a  peace  was 
concluded  between  the  tribes^  and  the  tomahawk  finally  buried,  for  the  first 
time  for  nearly  a  century. 

Another  object  of  the  government  was,  to  remove  the  tribes  scattered 
through  the  several  states,  to  a  tract  of  country  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  to  concentrate  them  into  one  nation,  with  some  plan  for  their  govern- 
ment and  civilization.  This  plan  was  fully  developed  in  a  message  of 
President  Monroe,  January  27th,  1825,  in  which  its  advantages  were 
strongly  depicted.  With  the  constant  superintendence  and  protecting  care 
of  the  federal  government,  this  scheme  might  be  put  in  practice,  and  the 
annihilation  of  the  original  inhabitants  of  the  American  forest  prevented. 
Without  that  care,  the  policy  of  bringing  tribes  with  savage  habits  and 
inimical  feelings  into  immediate  contact,  may  be  well  doubted. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.   ADAMS.  653 

To  cany  this  plan  into  effect,  treaties  were  made  with  the  Osages  and 
the  Kanzas  Indians,  extinguishing  their  titles  to  the  territory  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  excepting  to  certain  reservations  for  their  own  use.  By  these 
treaties,  a  tract  was  provided  for  those  Indians  who  might  be  induced  to 
emigrate  from  the  states  on  the  east  side  of  the  river.  The  Indians,  how- 
ever, were  generally  unwilling  to  remove,  and  at  a  meeting  with  some  of 
the  tribes  of  Ohio,  in  May,  1825,  they  refused  to  do  anything  to  promote 
the  views  of  our  government.  The  Shawanee  tribe  in  Missouri,  however, 
exchanged  their  lands  for  a  tract  in  the  territory  purchased  from  the  Osa- 
ges, and  agreed  to  remove  thither.  Treaties  of  amity  and  protection  were 
also  made  with  most  of  the  tribes  in  that  vast  tract  betweeen  Missouri  and 
Mexico,  by  which  the  Indians  permitted  the  United  States  to  lay  out  a 
road  through  their  lands,  for  the  traders  between  those  places,  who  had 
become  numerous  and  entitled  to  attention. 

The  system  proposed  by  Mr.  Monroe,  for  the  preservation  and  civilization 
of  the  aborigines,  it  was  found  impossible  to  carry  into  operation,  on  ac- 
count of  the  reluctance  of  the  Indians  to  dispose  of  more  of  their  territory  ; 
a  modification  was  therefore  proposed  by  Mr.  Barbour,  the  secretary  of 
war,  which  was  submitted  to  the  nineteenth  Congress.  The  outlines  of 
this  new  plan  were,  to  set  apart  the  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi,  beyond 
the  states  and  territories,  and  that  east  of  the  Mississippi,  lying  west  of  lakes 
Huron  and  Michigan,  for  their  exclusive  abode,  under  a  territorial  govern- 
ment, to  be  maintained  by  the  United  States.  Secondly,  to  induce  them 
to  remove  as  individuals,  and  not  in  tribes,  and  to  leave  those  who  do  not 
wish  to  go,  in  their  present  circumstances.  Thirdly,  when  circumstances 
should  justify  it,  to  amalgamate  the  tribes  in  one  mass,  and  distribute  their 
property  among  the  individual  Indians.  Common  schools  to  be  established 
in  the  villages  ;  assistance  to  be  afforded  them  in  commencing  agricultural 
life ;  to  furnish  them  with  stock,  grain,  and  fences ;  and  to  commute  the 
annuities  now  paid  to  them,  for  a  fixed  sum,  to  be  divided  as  individual 
property,  were  also  recommended  as  the  details  of  this  system. 

The  benevolent  views  of  the  government  were  now  prosecuted  without 
interruption,  and  a  visible  improvement  was  yearly  manifested  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  remaining  tribes.  The  appropriations  made  by  the  nine- 
teenth Congress,  at  the  first  session,  to  the  Indian  department,  for  the  civ- 
ilization of  the  aborigines,  and  to  fulfil  the  treaties  made  with  them, 
amounted  to  nearly  one  million  of  dollars.  The  number  of  Indians  in  the 
several  states  and  territories,  appeared,  by  a  report  from  the  secretary  of 
war,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  to  be  about  130,000  ;  of  which  about 
97,000  were  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  south  of  Michigan.  Many  of 
these  were  partially  civilized,  as  the  Creek,  Cherokee,  Choctaw, and  Chick- 
asaw  nations  in  the  south,  and  some  of  the  eastern  Indians,  leaving  only 
between  forty  and  fifty  thousand  Indians  whose  removal  could  be  effected 
with  propriety. 


654  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS. 

Toward  the  Florida  Indians,  who  were  in  a  state  of  great  suffering  from 
want  of  food,  the  government  manifested  its  usual  humanity.  A  bill  ap- 
propriating twenty  thousand  dollars  to  furnish  them  with  the  means  of 
subsistence,  was  passed  by  Congress,  and  they  were  relieved  from  their 
distress. 

During  the  last  session  of  the  eighteenth  Congress,  appropriations  were 
made  for  surveying  and  laying  out  sundry  important  roads  in  Arkansas, 
Missouri,  and  Florida,  and  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  was  authorized  to 
aid  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  canal,  by  subscribing  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars  to  its  capital  stock.  An  appropriation,  already  allu- 
ded to  in  our  sketch  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  was  also  made  for 
making  surveys  in  different  parts  of  the  Union.  The  topographical  corps, 
which  had  been  enlarged,"  was  actively  employed  during  the  summer  in 
executing  these  surveys.  The  constitutional  objections  to  internal  im- 
provements by  the  general  government  seemed  to  have  been  overruled  by 
the  decisions  of  several  successive  Congresses,  and  during  this  year  the 
attention  of  the  federal  government  was  particularly  directed  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  internal  communications  between  the  states.* 

The  Marquis  de  La  Fayette  having  spent  over  a  year  in  visiting  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  United  States,  and  been  everywhere  received  with  the 
utmost  enthusiasm  and  affection  by  the  people,  look  leave  of  his  Ameri- 
can friends  in  the  month  of  September,  1825.  A  new  frigate  named  the 
Brandywine,  in  honor  of  La  Fayette,  who  distinguished  himself  in  the 
battle  at  that  place'  during  the  revolutionary  war,  was  provided  to  transport 
him  to  France.  On  the  invitation  of  President  Adams,  the  "  nation's  guest" 
passed  a  few  weeks  at  the  president's  house,  in  Washington,  and  on  the 
day  of  his  departure,  the  7th  of  September,  the  president  took  leave  of 
him  in  an  eloquent  and  impressive  address,  in  presence  of  the  civil  au- 
thorities of  the  District  of  Columbia,  the  heads  of  departments,  and  a 
concourse  of  citizens,  assembled  at  the  president's  house  to  join  in  the 
affecting  ceremonies.  The  parting  address  of  Mr.  Adams  was  delivered 
with  great  dignity,  though  with  evident  emotion,  and  produced  a  deep  im- 
pression. 

The  first  session  of  the  nineteenth  Congress  commenced  on  the  5th  of 
December,  1825,  and  continued  until  the  22d  of  May,  1826.  Mr.  Calhoun, 
the  vice-president,  took  the  chair  in  the  senate,  and  Nathaniel  Macon,  of 
North  Carolina,  was  chosen  president  pro  tern,  previous  to  the  adjournment 
in  May.  A  large  proportion  of  the  members  of  the  house  of  representatives 
had  been  chosen  before  the  election  of  president,  and  on  account  of  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  that  election,  there  was  some  doubt  whether  a 
majority  would  be  found  in  the  house  in  favor  of  the  administration.  On 
the  second  ballot  for  speaker,  however,  John  W.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  a 
friend  of  the  administration,  received  99  votes,  against  94  for  all  others, 
*  American  Annual  Register. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS.  655 

and  was  elected.  In  the  senate  the  administration  had  a  decided  majority, 
but  it  soon  became  obvious  that  in  both  houses  the  friends  of  General 
Jackson  and  Mr.  Crawford,  with  few  exceptions,  were  disposed  to  unite, 
and  embarrass  and  defeat  the  measures  proposed  by  the  president  and  his 
cabinet,  or  by  their  friends  in  Congress. 

Many  of  the  most  important  of  the  suggestions  in  the  president's  mes- 
sage were  not  acted  on  during  the  session  ;  other  topics  having  occupied 
the  attention  of  Congress,  which  were  introduced  apparently  for  the  pur- 
pose of  agitating  the  public  mind  on  the  subject  of  the  recent  election  of 
president.  Amendments  to  the  constitution  were  proposed  in  the  senate 
by  Mr.  Benton,  of  Missouri,  to  provide  for  a  direct  vote  by  the  people, 
in  districts,  for  president,  and  dispensing  with  the  colleges  of  electors ; 
and  by  Mr.  M'Duffie,  of  South  Carolina,  in  the  house,  providing  for  a 
choice  of  electors  by  districts,  and  preventing  the  choice  of  president  from 
devolving  on  the  house  of  representatives.  Mr.  Benton's  proposition  was 
accompanied  with  an  able  report,  but  no  action  was  taken  on  it  in  the  sen- 
ate. A  long  and  spirited  debate  took  place  in  the  house  on  the  proposed 
amendments,  in  the  course  of  which  Mr.  M'Duffie  went  into  a  history  of 
the  late  election,  censuring  in  severe  terms  the  course  of  Mr.  Clay  and 
his  friends,  to  which  Mr.  Trimble,  of  Kentucky,  and  others,  replied  in  se- 
vere and  pointed  language,  which  caused  a  scene  of  great  excitement.  On 
the  first  resolution,  which  took  the  election  from  Congress,  the  house  divi- 
ded, 123  in  the  affirmative,  and  64  in  the  negative.  The  second  resolu- 
tion, in  favor  of  the  district  system,  was  rejected,  by  a  vote  of  101  to  91. 
The  subject  was  then  referred  to  a  select  committee  of  twenty-four,  one 
from  each  state,  which,  at  the  close  of  the  session,  reported  that  they  had 
not  been  able  to  agree  upon  any  plan  to  prevent  the  election  from  devolv- 
ing upon  Congress,  and,  on  request,  the  committee  was  discharged  from 
any  further  consideration  of  the  matter.  The  only  effect  of  this  attempt 
to  amend  the  constitution  was  to  excite  the  feelings  of  members,  and  to  ar- 
ray them  into  parties  for  and  against  the  administration,  in  a  more  decided 
manner,  and  compelled  them,  in  some  measure,  to  determine  upon  their 
ultimate  course,  before  its  measures  had  been  fairly  tried.  About  one  third 
of  the  session  was  occupied  in  the  discussion  of  the  proposed  amendments. 

In  the  senate,  a  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Macon,  to  inquire  into  the 
expediency  of  reducing  the  patronage  of  the  executive,  was  referred  to 
a  committee  of  which  Mr.  Benton  was  chairman,  who  reported  at  length 
on  the  subject,  and  introduced  six  bills,  in  conformity  therewith.  An  un- 
usual number  of  copies  of  the  report  and  bills  was  ordered  to  be  printed 
for  circulation  among  the  people,  and  then  the  subject  was  left  with  other 
unfinished  business. 

The  recommendation  in  the  president's  message,  that  the  United  States 
should  take  part  in  a  congress  of  North  and  South  American  states,  pro- 
posed to  be  held  at  Panama,  was  at  this  time  the  subject  of  great  political 


656  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.   ADAMS. 

interest,  and  much  agitated  in  Congress  at  this  session.  In  certain  offi- 
cial conversations  had  in  the  spring  of  1825,  with  the  ministers  of  those 
powers,  invitations  were  given,  on  the  part  of  Colombia,  Mexico,  and  Cen- 
tral America,  to  the  United  States,  to  send  commissioners  to  Panama. 
The  proposed  congress  at  that  place  was  supposed  to  have  been  first  sug- 
gested by  General  Bolivar,  who  was  for  some  time  at  the  head  of  the  re- 
public of  Colombia ;  and  that  Peru  and  Chili  should  also  join  in  it.  The 
views  of  Bolivar  were,  to  form  a  close  alliance,  and  to  pledge  mutual  as- 
sistance to  resist  ^iiropean  governments. 

Mr.  Clay,  the  secretary  of  state,  in  replying  to  the  communications  from 
the  ministers  of  the  republics  of  Spanish  America,  remarked,  that  those 
communications  were  received  with  proper  feelings  of  the  friendly  motives 
which  dictated  them ;  but  that  the  United  States  could  not  take  any  part 
in  the  existing  war  with  Spain,  nor  in  councils  for  deliberating  on  its  fur- 
ther prosecution ;  though  the  president  believed  that  such  a  congress 
might  be  highly  useful  in  settling  several  important  disputed  questions  of 
public  law,  and  in  arranging  other  matters  of  deep  interest  to  the  Ameri- 
can continent,  and  strengthening  the  bonds  of  friendship  between  the 
American  powers ;  that  it  appeared  to  him,  however,  expedient,  before 
such  a  congress  met,  to  adjust,  as  preliminary  matters,  the  precise  objects 
to  which  the  attention  of  the  congress  would  be  directed,  and  the  sub- 
stance and  form  of  the  power  of  the  ministers  representing  the  several 
republics.  In  reply  to  this  suggestion,  notes  were  received  from  them, 
stating  the  objects  of  the  assembly,  and  formally  renewing  the  invitation. 
The  president  determined  to  accept  this  invitation,  and  to  send  ministers 
to  the  congress,  should  the  senate  consent  to  the  measure. 

This  determination  he  mentioned  in  his  opening  message  to  Congress, 
and  on  the  26th  of  December  he  sent  to  the  senate  a  confidential  message, 
setting  forth  the  objects  of  the  Panama  congress  ;  his  reasons  for  accepting 
the  invitation  to  send  commissioners  ;  and  nominating  Richard  C.  Anderson 
and  John  Sergeant  as  ministers  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  Wil- 
liam B.  Rochester,  of  New  York,  as  secretary  to  the  mission. 

This  message,  with  the  accompanying  documents,  was  referred  to  the 
committee  on  foreign  relations,  by  whom  a  report  was  made  on  the  16th 
of  January,  1826,  condemning  the  mission,  and  ending  with  a  resolution, 
declaring  it  to  be  inexpedient  to  send  ministers  to  Panama. 

It  should  be  remarked,  that  the  vice-president,  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  early 
gave  indications  of  a  disposition  to  act  with  the  opposition,  in  thwarting 
the  measures  of  the  administration,  was  empowered,  by  the  rules  of  the 
senate,  to  appoint  all  the  committees  of  that  body.  In  the  exercise  of  that 
power  he  was  careful  to  appoint  a  majority  of  those  who  were  known  to 
be  unfriendly  to  the  administration,  upon  most  of  the  important  commit- 
tees. Committees  thus  selected  necessarily  brought  in  reports  unfavor- 
able to  the  measures  supported  by  the  friends  of  the  administration.  The 


ADMINISTRATION*    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS.  857 

inconvenience  of  this  state  of  things  induced  the  senate,  at  the  latter  part 
of  the  session,  to  take  from  the  vice-president  the  power  of  appointing 
the  committees.  It  was,  however,  too  late  to  remedy  the  evils  which 
had  been  produced  by  the  attitude  that  the  senate  had  been  forced  to 
assume,  with  respect  to  the  executive,  as  well  as  the  popular  branch  of 
Congress. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  foreign  relations  occasioned  a  long  de- 
bate in  secret  session  in  the  senate,  and  the  resolution  reported  by  that 
committee,  condemning  the  Panama  mission,  was  negatived  by  a  vote  of 
24  to  19,  on  the  14th  of  March.  The  nominations  by  the  president  were 
then  confirmed  by  the  senate ;  and  the  injunction  of  secresy  on  the  sub- 
ject removed  from  the  journal.  Thus  the  administration  was  sustained 
in  this  measure  by  the  senate ;  and  in  the  house  of  representatives  the 
bill  making  the  appropriation  for  the  mission,  was  carried,  after  a  debate 
of  many  days,  on  the  21st  of  April,  by  a  vote  of  133  to  61. 

The  house  having  thus  concurred  with  the  senate  in  assenting  to  the 
policy  of  the  mission,  measures  were  taken  to  carry  it  into  effect;  and  or- 
ders were  transmitted  to  Mr.  Anderson,  who  was  then  minister  to  Colom- 
bia, to  attend  the  congress,  which  was  to  hold  its  first  meeting  in  the 
month  of  June.  In  his  way  to  Panama  he  was  unfortunately  attacked,  at 
Carthagena,  by  a  malignant  fever,  which  proved  fatal,  and  deprived  the 
country  of  an  able  and  useful  representative. 

The  delay  that  had  been  occasioned  by  the  long  and  protracted  discussions 
to  which  this  measure  had  been  subjected,  in  both  houses  of  Congress, 
thus  prevented  any  representation  of  the  United  States  in  the  congress  at 
Panama  ;  it  having  been  found  impossible  for  Mr.  Sergeant  to  prepare,  in 
the  short  time  which  remained  after  the  decision  of  the  house,  before  the 
meeting  of  the  congress,  for  his  departure,  and  the  approach  of  the  un- 
healthy season  having  rendered  a  journey  across  the  isthmus  to  Panama 
peculiarly  dangerous. 

The  representatives  of  Peru,  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  Colombia, 
met  there  on  the  22d  of  June,  1826.  Upper  Peru,  or  Bolivia,  had  not  then 
organized  its  government,  and  was  not  represented,  nor  was  the  republic 
of  Chili.  The  governments  of  England  and  the  Netherlands,  though  un- 
invited, sent  diplomatic  agents,  who  were  not  permitted  to  be  present 
luring  the  deliberations  of  the  congress,  but  communications  were  made 
to  them  of  their  proceedings. 

The  congress  continued  in  session  until  the  15th  of  July,  and  conclu- 
ded between  themselves  a  treaty  of  friendship  and  perpetual  confedera- 
tion, to  which  all  other  American  powers  might  accede  within  the  year. 
The  treaties  between  the  assembled  powers  were  recognised  and  renewed, 
and  the  meeting  of  the  congress  annually  in  time  of  common  war,  and 
biennially  iu  time  of  peace,  agreed  upon.  The  next  meeting  was  ordered 
to  be  held  at  Tacubaya,  a  village  near  the  city  of  Mexico,  in  February,  1 837 

VOL.  I. — 12 


658  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS. 

Mr.  Poinsett,  United  States  minister  to  Mexico,  was  appointed  commis- 
sioner to  Panama  in  place  of  Mr.  Anderson,  deceased,  and  Mr.  Sergeant, 
his  colleague,  repaired  to  Mexico,  to  be  present  when  the  congress  should 
reassemble  at  Tacubaya.  The  congress  did  not  assemble,  however,  at  the 
appointed  time,  and  there  being  no  prospect  of  another  session  at  any  spe- 
cified period,  Mr.  Sergeant  returned  to  the  United  States.  The  causes  of 
this  unexpected  issue  of  a  measure  which  promised  in  its  commencement 
to  do  so  much  to  meliorate  the  condition  of  mankind,  by  diminishing  the 
causes  as  well  as  the  evils  of  war,  it  is  believed,  were  occasioned  by  the 
internal  commotions  of  Colombia  and  Peru,  and  the  apprehension  which 
existed  in  South  America  of  the  ambitious  designs  of  Bolivar.* 

The  nineteenth  Congress  passed  but  few  acts  of  general  interest  at  their 
first  session,  nor  was  it  distinguished  by  any  important  measures,  except- 
ing the  sanction  given  to  the  Panama  mission.  Nearly  all  the  proposi- 
tions which  were  called  for  by  the  public  voice,  were  defeated,  either 
from  want  of  time  for  their  consideration,  or  by  an  influence  which  seemed 
to  exert  itself  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  the  administration  unpopular. 
This  was,  perhaps,  to  have  been  expected,  in  the  state  of  parties  as  then 
existing,  and  the  powerful  combination  which  was  forming  for  the  pur- 
pose of  overthrowing  the  administration. 

The  disposition  of  this  Congress  was,  however,  favorable  to  objects  of 
internal  improvement.  In  addition  to  fifty  thousand  dollars  appropriated 
for  general  surveys,  specific  appropriations  were  made  for  the  survey  of  a 
canal  route  across  Florida,  for  sundry  postroads,  and  for  continuing  and 
repairing  the  Cumberland  road.  One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 
were  authorized  to  be  subscribed  on  the  part  of  the  government,  to  the 
stock  of  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal  Company,  and  three  fifths  of  the  five 
per  cent,  reserved  from  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  in  Mississippi 
were  given  to  that  state  for  the  purposes  of  internal  improvement.  Ap- 
propriations were  also  made  for  the  survey  of  various  harbors  on  the  sea- 
coast,  and  for  the  deepening  of  their  channels,  as  well  as  to  secure  them 
from  storms.  The  execution  of  these  several  acts  for  internal  improve- 
ment was  intrusted  to  the  war  department. 

A  bill  making  appropriation  for  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  conti- 
nental army  who  had  served  during  the  war  of  the  revolution,  was  intro- 
duced and  ably  advocated,  but  opposition  and  want  of  time  caused  its  post- 
ponement. 

To  provide  for  the  increasing  wants  of  the  people  in  the  western  states 
having  business  in  the  United  States  courts,  a  bill  was  reported  by  the 
committee  of  the  judiciary,  for  two  additional  justices  of  the  supreme 
court,  and  for  holding  circuit  courts  in  the  new  states*  This  bill  passed 
the  house  by  a  large  majority,  but  the  amendments  proposed  by  the  sen- 
ate were  not  concurred  in  by  the  house,  and  thus  the  bill  was  lost.  An 
*  American  Annual  Register. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS.  659 

appropriation  of  the  public  lands  was  made  in  all  the  townships  belonging 
to  the  United  States,  where  lots  had  not  been  previously  set  apart  for 
that  object.  Authority  was  given  at  this  time, for  preparing  a  treatise  at 
the  expense  of  the  general  government,  on  the  culture  of  the  silkworm, 
and  of  mulberry-trees,  and  for  giving  information  on  the  manufacture  of 
silk  in  the  United  States. 

The  discordance  in  the  materials  of  the  opposition  prevented  any  har- 
monious concert  of  action  and  purpose  at  this  first  session  of  the  nine- 
teenth Congress,  but  during  the  vacation  and  the  succeeding  session,  great 
progress  was  made  toward  a  stricter  union,  and  before  the  expiration  of 
the  term  of  that  Congress,  in  March,  1827,  the  party  had  assumed  a. con- 
sistent shape.  General  Jackson  was  nominated  by  the  legislature  of  Ten- 
nessee, as  early  as  October,  1825,  as  a  candidate  for  president,  to  suc- 
ceed Mr.  Adams.  This  nomination  was  formally  accepted  by  him,  in  an 
address  delivered  before  both  branches  of  the  legislature,  in  which  he  re- 
signed his  seat  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States.  The  strong  insinuations 
in  this  address  against  the  propriety  of  the  last  election  by  Congress, 
plainly  indicated  General  Jackson's  dissatisfaction  at  the  result,  and  mani- 
fested a  willingness  to  sanction  an  opposition  to  the  administration  on  the 
ground  of  its  corrupt  origin.  The  charge  of  corruption  at  the  recent 
election,  by  bargain  and  intrigue  between  Messrs.  Adams  and  Clay,  was 
more  directly  countenanced  by  the  general,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Carter  Bev- 
erlev,  of  Virginia,  published  in  the  papers  in  1827.  The  adherents  of  the 
vice-president  sustained  the  charge  of  corruption  against  the  administra- 
tion, in  debates  in  Congress,  uniting  cordially  in  this  and  other  respects, 
with  the  original  friends  and  supporters  of  General  Jackson. 

That  numerous  portion  of  the  opposition  to  the  administration  who  had 
been  attached  to  the  political  fortunes  of  Mr.  Crawford,  were  still  unwil- 
ling to  adopt  General  Jackson  as  the  next  candidate  for  the  presidency,  in 
opposition  to  Mr.  Adams ;  but  it  soon  became  apparent  that  no  other 
course  was  left  to  them,  if  success  was  desired,  but  to  acquiesce  in  his 
support.  Accordingly,  it  was  announced  early  in  1827,  by  a  leading  op- 
position member  from  Virginia,  that  the  combinations  for  effecting  the 
elevation  of  General  Jackson,  were  nearly  complete,  and,  in  fact,  greater 
concert  was  manifested  in  their  party  movements  after  that  time. 

The  strong  popular  vote  which,  in  despite  of  the  efforts  of  the  Adams, 
Clay,  and  Crawford  parties,  the  general  had  received  at  the  last  election, 
probably  had  much  effect  in  inducing  the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford  to  come 
to  the  conclusion  to  support  him.  It  furnished,  ready  formed,  a  large  cap- 
ital which  the  Crawford  party  saw  they  could  add  to  their  own,  simply  by 
consenting  to  receive  it.  The  united  electoral  votes  for  Jackson  and 
Crawford,  in  1824,  they  remembered,  were  140,  while  those  for  Adams 
and  Clay  were  but  121.  They  knew,  too,  that  in  the  chivalric  bravery  of 
General  Jackson,  his  brilliant  success  in  the  late  war,  and  the  many  pop- 


660  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS. 

ular  and  fascinating  points  in  his  character,  would,  when  supported  by 
such  a  compact,  disciplined  association  as  was  the  Crawford  party  in  many 
of  the  states,  render  this  extraordinary  man  irresistible  as  a  candidate  be- 
fore the  people.  If  he  was  subject  to  rashness  and  precipitancy,  they 
thought  they  could  surround  him  with  friends  and  advisers  who  would 
keep  him  within  due  bounds.  True,  the  Crawford  men  had,  in  1824  and 
1825,  manifested  the  utmost  horror  at  the  least  prospect  of  his  election, 
a.id  Mr.  Crawford  himself  was  known  to  have  expressed  very  unfavorable 
opinions  of  him ;  but  a  better  knowledge  of  the  man,  and  above  all,  a 
kind  of  political  necessity,  had  materially  changed  their  views.* 

The  charge  of  bargain  and  intrigue  made  by  General  Jackson  and  some 
of  his  friends,  against  Messrs.  Adams  and  Clay,  was  met  by  Mr.  Clay, 
the  secretary  of  state,  in  a  body  of  testimony,  which  was  thought,  by  a 
large  portion  of  the  reading  public,  to  overthrow  the  accusation  against 
him,  and  convinced  many  that  in  voting  for  Mr.  Adams,  in  the  house  of 
representatives,  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  conscientiously  discharged  their 
duty.  Still,  the  opposition  papers  continued  to  dwell  upon  the  charge, 
and  doubtless  many  persons  retained  their  original  unfavorable  impres- 
sions on  this  subject.  But  the  opposition  to  the  administration  had  now 
become  so  fully  matured,  that  it  no  longer  needed  the  aliment  which  had 
first  given  life  and  vigor  to  it. 

The  course  of  the  administration  itself,  with  regard  to  appointments  to 
office,  tended  to  promote  the  objects  of  the  opposition,  and  to  accelerate 
its  own  downfall.  Following  up  the  principle  promulgated  in  his  inaugu- 
ral address,  of  administering  the  government  without  regard  to  party,  Mr. 
Adams  had  only  considered,  in  the  candidates  for  offices,  their  qualifica- 
tions and  integrity,  and  had  not  inquired  whether  they  were  friendly  or 
hostile  to  his  administration.  The  correctness  of  this  proposition  as  an  ab- 
stract principle,  is  unquestionable  ;  but  the  propriety  of  its  application  in 
practice,  depends  entirely  upon  the  circumstances  under  which  the  govern- 
ment is  placed  ;  and  it  is  in  the  application  of  general  maxims  to  such  cir- 
cumstances that  the  sagacity  of  the  statesman  is  developed.  No  doctrine 
of  political  toleration  requires  a  prostration  of  the  party  in  power  at  the 
feet  of  the  minority.  Such,  however,  was  the  effect  of  the  policy  adopted 
by  the  president,  in  his  selection  of  public  officers.  From  an  over-anxi- 
ety to  avoid  the  appearance  of  rewarding  political  partisans,  he  conferred 
such  effices  as  became  vacant  upon  those  who  either  used  the  influence 
acquired  from  their  stations,  against  the  government ;  or  who  sought,  by  a 
cold  neutrality,  to  conciliate  the  esteem  of  its  inveterate  opponents. 

This  hostile  spirit  also  existed  among  many  of  those  whom  the  admin- 
istration found  in  office,  and  who  were  continued  in  their  stations  by  its 
liberality. 

In  this  manner,  the  influence  derived  from  the  patronage  of  the  general 
•  Hammond's  Political  History. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS.  661 

government  was  exercised  against  it,  rather  than  in  its  favor  ;  and  the 
singular  spectacle  was  presented,  of  an  administration  openly  and  violently 
opposed  by  those  whose  influence  in  society,  and  whose  very  means  of 
subsistence,  were  dependent  upon  its  will.* 

The  members  of  the  cabinet,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Clay,  the  sec- 
retary of  state,  were  unable  to  bring  to  the  aid  of  the  administration  the 
support  and  political  influence  that  might  reasonably  have  been  anticipa- 
ted. The  friends  of  Mr.  Clay,  throughout  the  Union,  with  but  compara- 
tively few  exceptions,  gave  a  zealous  support  to  the  administration  ;  but 
Mr.  Rush,  secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  Mr.  Barbour,  secretary  of  Avar, 
who  had  been  attached  to  the  Crawford  party,  could  not  effect  any  impor- 
tant change  in  the  political  character  of  states  so  irrevocably  hostile  to 
Mr.  Adams  as  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  The  secretary  of  the  navy, 
Samuel  L.  Southard,  who  was  appointed  by  Mr.  Monroe,  December  9, 
1823,  and  continued  in  office  by  Mr.  Adams,  exercised  his  influence 
effectively  in  New  Jersey,  his  native  state,  which  had  voted  for  General 
Jackson  in  1824,  but  now  supported  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams. 
Mr.  Wirt,  the  attorney-general,  was  not  an  active  politician,  nor  is  it  prob- 
able that  he  could  have  produced  any  important  effect  in  Virginia.  The 
postmaster-general,  John  M'Lean,  although  professedly  neutral  in  the  con- 
test, was  believed  to  prefer  General  Jackson  to  Mr.  Adams.  Thus  un- 
fortunately, in  every  point  of  view,  was  the  administration  placed ;  and  to 
the  eye  of  careful  observers,  its  destiny,  it  appeared  probable,  was  to  en- 
dure only  for  the  single  term  of  four  years. 

The  second  session  of  the  nineteenth  Congress  was  held  from  the  4th 
of  December,  1826,  to  the  3d  of  March,  1827.  But  few  laws  of  an  im- 
portant or  general  character  were  passed  at  this  session,  though  others 
were  urged  with  great  zeal  and  ability  by  several  members.  There  was, 
at  this  period,  a  very  strong  feeling  in  Congress  as  to  the  theory  and 
views  of  the  executive  ;  and  with  many  a  disposition  to  scrutinize  closely 
the  recommendations  of  the  president.  Some  supposed  his  objects  were 
visionary,  <md  he  was  charged  with  entertaining  such  views  of  the  con- 
stitution as  that  national  internal  improvements  might  justly  be  made, 
though  there  might  be  large  expenditures  in  their  execution. 

An  appropriation  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  was  made  for  repairs  on  the 
Cumberland  road  ;  lands  were  reserved  for  seminaries  of  learning  in  Lou- 
isiana, in  Florida,  and  in  Arkansas  ;  and  a  grant  of  public  lands  was  made 
to  the  asylum  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  in  Kentucky.  A  bill  was  introduced 
in  the  senate  by  Mr.  Dickerson,  of  New  Jersey,  an  opposition  senator,  for 
distributing  a  certain  part  of  the  surplus  of  the  public  revenue  among  the 
several  states.  But  the  proposition  was  not  received  with  much  favor ; 
and,  after  a  short  discussion,  the  bill  was  denied  a  second  reading.  The 
plan  originated  in  a  wish  to  maintain  state  power  and  rights,  and  to  pre- 
•  American  Annual  Register. 


662  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS. 

vent  great  expenditures  by  the  national  government,  which  would  naturally 
increase  the  influence  and  patronage  of  the  latter.* 

Great  efforts  were  again  made  at  this  session  of  Congress  for  the  pas- 
sage of  a  bankrupt  law.  The  bill  introduced  at  the  last  session,  by  Mr. 
Hayne,  of  South  Carolina,  was  now  taken  up,  and  ably  discussed  by  the 
mover  and  others,  but  the  bill  was  opposed,  and  finally  defeated,  on  the 
pretence  that  it  would  operate  particularly  for  the  relief  of  merchants,  and 
would  be  of  no  benefit  to  the  other  classes  of  citizens. 

The  subject  of  commercial  intercourse  with  the  British  colonies  was 
also  discussed  at  great  length  at  this  session.  It  was  one  of  peculiar  in- 
terest and  importance ;  for  the  trade  with  the  British  ports  in  the  West 
Indies  was  so  restricted  by  acts  of  parliament,  that  it  could  be  pursued 
with  but  little  profit  by  the  citizens  of  the  United  States.  Both  branches 
of  Congress  had  a  bill  prepared  on  this  subject ;  they  did  not  differ  mate- 
rially ;  but  it  was  said  in  the  house,  that  the  bill  before  the  senate  did  not 
fully  protect  the  interests  of  American  merchants  trading  to  those  ports  ; 
and  no  law  was  enacted,  as  was  proposed  and  expected.  The  difference 
might  have  been  adjusted  by  a  committee  of  conference  of  both  houses, 
as  is  usual  in  cases  of  disagreement ;  but  this  was  not  done  in  season,  and 
the  close  of  the  session  prevented  it.  And  on  the  17th  of  March,  by  vir- 
tue of  a  law  passed  three  years  before,  the  president  declared,  by  procla- 
mation, that  the  trade  with  those  ports  was  prohibited  ;  as  the  discrimina- 
ting duties  of  the  British  government  had  not  been  removed.t 

The  sum  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  for  improving  the 
navigation  of  the  Ohio  river.  Grants  of  the  public  lands  were  made  to 
the  states  of  Illinois  and  Indiana,  to  aid  those  states  in  making  canals ; 
also  to  the  state  of  Ohio,  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  in  the  construction  of 
a  road  from  Columbus  to  Sandusky.  For  the  gradual  improvement  of  the 
navy  the  sum  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  for  six  years, 
was  appropriated. 

A  bill  for  imposing  additional  duties  on  imported  woollen  goods,  for  the 
purpose  of  aiding  American  manufactures,  was  brought  forward  at  an  early 
day  of  the  session.  In  February,  1827,  near  the  close  of  the  session,  the  bill 
passed  the  house,  but  it  was  rejected  in  the  senate  by  the  casting  vote  of 
the  vice-president.  President  Adams  was  considered  friendly  to  the  sys- 
tem of  protection  to  domestic  manufactures  by  adequate  duties  on  imports 
of  similar  articles,  but  in  his  messages  to  the  nineteenth  Congress  he  ex- 
pressed no  opinion  on  the  subject,  an  omission  which  greatly  dissatisfied 
the  manufacturers. 

A  proposition  was  made  in  the  house  of  representatives,  to  reimburse 

to  those  persons  who  had  been  fined  under  the  sedition  law  of  1798,  the 

amount  which  they  had  paid,  and  an  indemnity  for  loss  of  time,  &c.  ;  bu* 

the  proposition  was  not  received  with  favor  by  the  majority  of  the  house, 

•  Bradford.  t  Ibid. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS.  663 

and  the  object  of  the  mover  was  not  attained.  Another  unsuccessful 
effort, was  made  to  pass  a  law  for  allowing  compensation  to  the  officers 
of  the  continental  army  who  continued  in  service  till  the  close  of  the  rev- 
olutionary war.  At  the  following  session  an  act  was  passed  making  the 
desired  appropriations  for  these  veterans.  When  the  term  of  the  nine- 
teenth Congress  expired,  there  was  a  large  amount  of  unfinished  business 
of  great  importance  laying  on  the  table.  Although  the  administration  had 
a  nominal  majority  of  supporters  in  both  houses,  yet  the  course  of  the  op- 
position greatly  retarded  the  public  business,  and  disheartened  the  friends 
of  the  administration. 

The  elections  for  members  of  the  twentieth  Congress  took  place  in 
many  of  the  states,  under  a  highly  excited  state  of  public  feeling  for  and 
against  the  administration.  Great  efforts  were  made  by  the  opposition 
leaders  to  secure  a  majority  in  the  house,  for  the  double  purpose  of 
checking  the  administration,  and  producing  an  influence  on  public  opinion 
favorable  to  the  opposition,  in  anticipation  of  the  next  presidential  elec- 
tion. The  states  of  Delaware  and  New  Jersey  showed  changes  from  the 
opposition  to  the  administration  side.  The  president's  friends  were  also 
sustained  by  the  New  England  states,  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Louisiana. 
But  these  favorable  indications  were  more  than  counterbalanced  by  ad- 
verse results  in  the  elections  in  Kentucky  and  New  York,  Virginia,  the 
Carolinas,  and  other  southern  states,  except  Louisiana ;  also  Pennsylva- 
nia, Tennessee,  and  Illinois,  elected  opposition  members  with  few  excep- 
tions. The  general  result  was  the  return  of  a  majority  of  opposition  mem- 
bers to  the  house  of  representatives  ;  and  this  victory  was  soon  followed 
by  such  an  accession  from  those  who  were  uncommitted  in  the  senate,  as 
to  give  a  majority  to  the  same  party,  in  that  body. 

The  bill  for  increasing  the  duties  on  imported  manufactures  of  wool 
having  been  defeated  at  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  the  nineteenth 
Congress,  steps  were  immediately  taken  by  the  friends  of  the  protective 
system,  to  bring  the  subject  again  before  Congress,  and  a  convention  of 
delegates  from  many  of  the  states,  was  held  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania, 
for  the  purpose  of  concentrating  public  opinion,  and  to  obtain  an  harmoni- 
ous co-operation  in  the  measures  to  be  taken  for  the  encouragement  of 
domestic  manufactures. 

It  was  determined  at  this  convention  to  memorialize  Congress,  not  only 
on  the  subject  of  an  increase  of  duty  on  woollens,  but  on  many  other  ar- 
ticles of  manufacture.  In  short,  a  very  general  revision  of  the  protective 
features  of  the  tariff  of  1824,  with  a  view  to  augmentation,  was  agreed 
upon.  The  proceedings  of  the  Harrisburg  convention  provoked  much  an- 
imadversion among  the  opponents  of  the  policy,  particularly  in  some  of 
the  seaport  towns,  and  in  the  southern  states,  where  the  planters  were 
very  hostile  to  ,the  protective  system. 

Such  was  the  state  of  public  opinion  when  the  twentieth  Congress  as- 


664  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS. 

serabled  ;  and  as  it  was  generally  believed  that  the  course  taken  by  the 
parties  supporting  and  opposing  the  administration  on  this  question,  would 
materially  affect  their  prospects  of  success,  much  anxiety  prevailed  con- 
cerning the  view  which  the  president'  might  feel  bound  to  take  of  this 
subject  in  his  annual  message. 

The  northwestern  states,  and  Pennsylvania,  were  well  known  to  be 
tariff  states  ;  and  their  votes,  it  was  predicted,  would  depend  entirely  upon 
the  division  of  parties  upon  this  question. 

Contrary  to  general  expectation,  no  notice  was  taken  of  the  subject  in 
the  opening  message  to  Congress  ;  but  in  the  annual  report  of  the  secre- 
tary of  the  treasury,  Mr.  Rush,  on  the  10th  of  December,  an  elaborate  view 
was  taken  of  the  manufactures  of  the  country,  and  their  encouragement 
and  protection  warmly  recommended. 

The  first  session  of  the  twentieth  Congress  commenced  on  the  3d  of 
December,  1827,  and  closed  on  the  26th  of  May,  1828.  In  the  house  of 
representatives  two  hundred  and  seven  members  were  present,  and  on  the 
first  ballot  for  speaker,  Andrew  Stevenson,  of  Virginia,  had  104  votes, 
John  W.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  had  94,  and  there  were  7  scattering.  The 
opposition  speaker  was  thus  elected.  He  had  supported  Mr.  Crawford 
for  president,  in  1824,  and  his  success  as  a  candidate  for  speaker  showed 
the  union  of  the  different  sections  of  the  opposition,  and  was  regarded  as 
a  presage  of  the  approaching  downfall  of  the  administration. 

The  committees  of  both  houses,  a  majority  of  the  senate  being  now  of 
the  same  sentiments  as  the  house,  of  course  represented  the  political 
opinions  of  the  opposition  ;  and  the  administration  was  left  without  that 
support  to  which  it  was  accustomed  in  Congress.  The  administration, 
therefore,  had  not  a  fair  trial  in  public  opinion.  Not  having  a  majority  in 
Congress,  its  policy  was  not  carried  intcf  full  effect,  and  the  country  had 
not  an  opportunity  of  ascertaining  by  experience  whether  it  was  beneficial 
or  not. 

A  large  portion  of  the  session  was  taken  up  in  the  discussion  of  reso- 
lutions which  were  introduced  with  the  view  of  discussing  the  character 
of  the  administration,  tending  to  convert  Congress  into  a  mere  forum  for 
political  debate,  and  bringing  the  personal  merits  and  demerits  of  the  can- 
didates for  the  presidency  tinder  consideration.  Some  of  the  reports  of 
committees  partook  strongly  of  this  partisan  complexion. 

Of  the  character  referred  to,  was  a  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Hamilton, 
an  opposition  member  of  the  house  of  representatives,  on  the  8th.of  Janu- 
ary, to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  having  an  historical  picture  of  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans  painted,  and  placed  in  the  rotunda  of  the  capitol. 
This  resolution,  which  was  regarded  as  intended  for  political  effect,  pro- 
duced much  discussion.  It  was  finally  rejected  by  the  house,  by  103 
nays  to  98  ayes. 

This  resolution  was  followed  by  one  of  a  similar  character  from  the 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS.  665 

other  party.  On  the  1 1th  of  January,  Mr.  Sloane  moved  a  resolution  re- 
quiring the  secretary  of  war  to  furnish  the  house  with  a  copy  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  a  court-martial  held  on  the  5th  of  December,  1814,  in  a  de- 
tachment of  the  army  under  the  command  of  General  Jackson,  for  the 
trial  of  certain  Tennessee  militiamen. 

These  men  were  tried  for  insubordination  and  mutiny,  and  having 
been  found  guilty,  were  condemned  to  be  shot,  which  sentence  was  or- 
dered by  General  Jackson  to  be  carried  into  execution.  It  was  supposed 
that  the  publication  of  the  official  records  would  prove  the  general  to  have 
been  careless  of  human  life,  and  render  him  unpopular,  as  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  court-martial  were  not  strictly  formal.  The  introduction  of 
this  resolution  caused  much  excitement  in  the  house.  It  was,  however, 
finally  passed,  with  sundry  amendments,  and,  with  the  documents  fur- 
nished by  the  war  department,  referred  to  the  committee  on  military 
affairs  for  examination.  On  the  llth  of  February  the  committee  made 
a  long  exculpatory  report,  justifying  the  execution  of  these  militiamen, 
which,  by  a  vote  of  the  house,  103  to  98,  was  ordered  to  be  printed  with 
the  documents,  in  the  order  in  which  they  had  been  arranged  by  the  com- 
mittee. 

A  long  and  exciting  debate,  of  a  party  character,  arose  on  the  subject 
of  certain  resolutions  submitted  in  January,  by  Mr.  Chilton,  a  new  mem- 
ber on  the  opposition  side  from  Kentucky.  These  resolutions  proposed 
an  inquiry  into  the  expenditures  of  the  government,  with  a  view  to  re- 
trenchment. It  did  not  appear  that  either  party  had  been  consulted  by  the 
mover  in  bringing  them  forward.  After  debating  the  subject  for  nearly 
two  weeks,  the  house  adopted,  in  lieu  of  Mr.  Chilton's  resolutions,  others 
offered  by  Mr.  Hamilton,  to  appoint  a  select  committee  to  inquire  and  re- 
port in  detail  on  expenses  and  retrenchment.  The  select  committee  was 
then  appointed  by  the  speaker,  but  Mr.  Chilton  was  not  placed  thereon. 

After  a  long  and  minute  investigation,  the  committee,  on  the  15th  of 
May,  made  a  report  on  the  subject  referred  to  them,  and  the  minority  of 
the  committee  made  a  counter  report. 

These  reports  comprehended  the  whole  subject  of  the  discretionary 
expenditure  of  the  executive  part  of  the  government,  and  contained  a 
statement  of  the  respective  views  and  principles  of  the  opposition  and 
administration  parties  concerning  the  projected  reform  in  the  federal 
government. 

Six  fhousand  copies  of  these  reports  were  ordered  to  be  printed  for  dis- 
tribution by  the  members,  among  their  constituents,  and  this  brought  the 
question  directly  before  the  public  for  its  decision.  On  one  side,  the  aug- 
mented expenditure  of  the  government  was  relied  on  to  prove  the  extrav- 
agance of  the  administration,  and  on  the  other,  this  increase  was  shown  to 
he  a  necessary  result  of  the  policy  deliberately  adopted  by  the  nation. 
The  continuance  of  this  policy  was,  therefor0,  properly  the  question  to  be 


666  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS. 

decided  ;  but  so  much  personal  predilection  and  sectional  prejudice  en 
tered  into  the  contest,  that  this  question,  the  real  one  in  issue,  was  not 
fairly  tried.* 

The  subject  of  a  revision  of  the  tariff  on  imports,  with  a  view  to  addi- 
tional protection  to  American  manufactures,  was  brought  before  Congress 
at  an  early  period  of  the  session.  The  committee  on  manufactures,  to 
whom  the  memorials  on  the  subject  were  referred,  on  request,  was  granted 
power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers.  Many  manufacturers  and  others 
were  examined  by  the  committee,  and  on  the  31st  of  January,  after  spend- 
ing four  weeks  in  these  inquiries,  they  made  a  report,  accompanied  by  the 
testimony  taken,  and  a  new  tariff  bill,  in  which  an  increased  rate  of  duties 
was  proposed  on  many  articles  of  produce  and  manufacture. 

The  committee  on  manufactures  which  reported  this  bill  was  composed 
of  two  members  friendly  to  the  administration,  and  five  of  the  opposition, 
but  only  one  member  of  the  committee  was  decidedly  opposed  to  a  pro- 
tective tariff.  It  was  asserted  by  the  friends  of  the  administration,  that 
although  six  of  the  committee  were  apparently  friendly  to  the  tariff  policy, 
two  only  were  so  in  reality,  and  one  only  opposed,  while  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  committee  were  disposed  to  use  the  question  as  a  political  en- 
gine ;  and  that  no  law  could  be  expected  from  a  committee  so  constituted, 
out  one  which  would  be  framed  more  with  a  view  to  affect  public  opinion 
in  relation  to  the  presidential  election,  than  to  advance  the  manufacturing 
interest. 

The  discussions  on  the  tariff  bill  continued  from  the  12th  of  February 
to  the  15th  of  April,  various  amendments  proposed  by  Mr.  Mallary,  chair- 
man of  the  committee  which  reported  the  bill,  and  a  friend  of  the  adminis- 
tration, having  been  rejected,  and  others,  offered  by  him  and  others,  being 
adopted  ;  the  bill  finally  passed  the  house  by  a  vote  of  109  to  91.  The  bill 
was  avowedly  made  odious  and  oppressive  to  the  country  in  some  particulars, 
with  a  view  of  rendering  the  protective  system  unpopular  ;  but  the  friends 
of  protection  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  good  qualities  in  the  provis- 
ions of  the  bill  relative  to  the  manufacturing  interest,  more  than  coun- 
terbalanced other  features  deemed  objectionable.  They  therefore,  un- 
expectedly to  many,  supported  the  bill.  In  the  senate,  after  sundry 
amendments,  which  were  afterward  concurred  in  by  the  house,  the  bill 
passed,  by  26  ayes  to  21  nays,  and  being  approved  by  the  president,  be- 
came a  law  a  few  days  before  the  adjournment.  This  tariff  became  very 
unpopular  in  the  southern  states,  where  the  policy  was  denounced  on  all 
occasions  as  unconstitutional  and  oppressive.  The  law  of  1828,  however, 
continued  in  operation  for  about  four  years  after  its  passage,  namely,  till 
1832,  when  another  revision  took  place. 

At  this  session  other  propositions  relative  to  the  existing  rate  of  duties 
on  other  articles  were  brought  forward,  chiefly  with  the  view  of  affording 
*  American  Annual  Register. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.   ADAMS.  667 

some  relief  to  the  navigating  interest.  A  bill  reducing  the  duties  on  wines, 
passed  into  a  law,  after  a  close  division  in  the  house. 

With  the  view  of  providing  a  remedy  for  certain  difficulties  in  the  pro- 
cess in  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  a  bill  was  introduced  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  session,  regulating  the  process  of  federal  courts  in 
those  states  admitted  into  the  Union  since  the  year  1789.  This  bill, 
which  was  intended  for  the  convenience  of  the  new  states,  after  consider- 
able discussion,  passed  both  houses  and  became  a  law. 

The  vice-president,  Mr.  Calhoun,  having  construed  his  powers  as  pre- 
siding officer  of  the  senate,  as  not  permiting  him  to  preserve  order  in  that 
body,  it  became  necessary  to  pass  some  resolution  declaring  it  to  be  within 
the  scope  of  his  authority.  An  amendment  to  the  rules  was  accordingly 
offered  at  this  session,  declaring  that  every  question  of  order  should  be 
decided  by  the  president  of  the  senate,  without  debate,  subject  to  appeal 
to  the  senate. 

This  simple  proposition  excited  a  long  and  eloquent  debate  in  the  sen- 
ate, in  which  the  opposition  geneially  sustained  the  view  taken  by  the 
vice-president  of  his  powers.  They  thought  the  authority  proposed  by 
the  amendment  to  vest  in  the  presiding  officer,  as  of  the  most  aristocratic 
character,  and  threatening  the  most  alarming  consequences.  The  amend- 
ment, however,  was  adopted,  by  a  vote  of  31  ayes  to  15  nays. 

The  othex  business  of  the  session  did  not  possess  much  permanent  in- 
terest. The  tariff  and  the  presidential  election  seemed  to  have  absorbed 
the  faculties,  an'3  engrossed  all  the  attention  of  the  members,  and  after  a 
long  and  rather  angry  session,  Congress  adjourned  on  the  26th  of  May, 
without  much  regret  on  the  part  of  the  community,  at  the  termination  of  its 
protracted  debates. 

The  presidential  election  took  place  in  the  autumn  of  1828,  in  the  midst 
of  a  highly-excited  state  of  public  feeling,  brought  on  by  protracted  dis- 
cussions  on  the  characters  of  the  candidates  for  the  presidency,  and  the 
political  questions  involved  in  the  contest.  These  discussions  had  been 
carried  on  through  the  public  press,  and  at  assemblages  of  the  people,  in  all 
parts  of  the  Union.  The  most  strenuous  exertions  were  used  by  each 
party,  and  the  contest  was  most  animated.  The  result  was  the  defeat  of 
Mr.  Adams,  and  the  election  of  General  Jackson  as  president,  and  Mr. 
Calhoun  as  vice-president,  for  the  ensuing  term  of  four  years.  In  the 
electoral  colleges  the  vote  stood  178  for  General  Jackson,  and  83  for 
Mr.  Adams.  The  candidates  for  vice-president  were  Mr.  Calhoun,  who 
was  re-elected  by  171  votes  (7  being  given  for  William  Smith,  of  South  Car- 
olina), and  Richard  Rush,  who  received  the  same  vote  as  Mr.  Adams.  The 
number  of  electoral  votes  received  by  Mr.  Adams,  was  one  less  than  he 
received  in  1824,  while  those  given  to  General  Jackson  exceeded  by  one 
vote  the  united  votes  of  Jackson,  Crawford,  and  Clay,  in  1824. 

A.  change  in  the  cabinet  of  Mr.  Adams  took  place  in  May,  1828,  Mr. 


668  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS. 

Barbour,  secretary  of  war,  having  been  appointed  minister  to  England. 
General  Peter  B.  Porter,  of  New  York,  was  appointed  secretary  of  war 
in  his  place. 

The  election  having  terminated  unfavorably,  Mr.  Adams  and  the  mem- 
bers of  his  administration  turned  their  attention  to  closing  the  business  com- 
mitted to  them,  and  to  presenting  to  the  nation  a  full  and  clear  statement 
of  the  existing  state  of  public  affairs,  before  they  gave  place  to  their  suc- 
cessors. This  was  done  in  the  president's  message,  and  in  the  reports  from 
the  different  departments,  to  the  20th  Congress,  at  their  last  session. 
That  session  was  held  from  the  1st  of  December,  1828,  to  the  3d  of 
March,  1829. 

The  president's  message  was  an  able  review  of  the  condition  of  the 
country,  and  of  the  condition  of  our  domestic  and  foreign  relations.  It 
differed  from  his  three  former  annual  messages,  in  now  discussing  the  sub- 
ject of  the  tariff,  which  had  before  been  omitted.  A  strong  hope  was 
expressed,  that  the  exercise  of  a  constitutional  power  intended  to  protect 
the  great  interests  of  the  country  from  the  hostile  legislation  of  foreign 
countries,  would  never  be  abandoned. 

Congress  appeared  inclined,  this  session,  to  provide  only  for  the  neces- 
sities of  the  government.  The  term  of  the  existing  administration  was 
too  short  to  allow  it  to  do  more  than  to  bring  its  affairs  to  a  close  ;  and  the 
views  and  policy  of  the  succeeding  administration  were  not  yet  developed. 
Certain  measures,  however,  affecting  the  navigating  interest,  were  urged 
upon  the  consideration  of  Congress,  and  the  policy  of  some  of  these  was 
too  obvious  to  be  overlooked.  The  first  of  these  propositions  was  a  bifl 
extending  the  term  within  which  goods  may  be  exported,  with  the  benefit 
of  drawback,  without  any  deduction.  Another  bill  allowed  an  additional 
drawback  on  the  exportation  of  refined  sugar ;  both  of  these  bills  were 
passed  and  became  laws. 

A  tonnage  bill  introduced  in  the  house,  more  directly  affecting  the  navi- 
gating interest,  met  with  a  less  favorable  reception.  This  bill  proposed 
to  repeal  the  tonnage  duties  upon  American  vessels,  and  all  vessels  placed 
by  treaty  on  the  same  footing.  It  passed  the  house  after  considerable 
debate,  but  was  rejected  in  the  senate. 

The  twentieth  Congress  was  liberal  in  appropriations  for  internal  com- 
munications, by  roads  and  canals,  and  improvements  of  the  seacoast.  The 
question  of  constitutionality,  as  well  as  the  expediency  of  internal  improve- 
ments by  the  general  government,  underwent  a  full  discussion  in  the  house, 
and  the  principle  was  deliberately  sanctioned  by  majorities  in  both  branches. 
A  subscription  of  one  million  of  dollars  was  authorized  to  the  stock  of  the 
Chesapeake  and  Ohio  canal  company ;  a  grant  of  public  lands  to  aid  the 
state  of  Ohio  in  making  a  canal  from  the  Miami  river  to  Lake  Erie ;  and 
four  hundred  thousand  acres  were  granted  to  the  state  of  Alabama,  to  be 
applied  to  improvements  by  canal  or  otherwise  or  the  Tennessee  river. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.    ADAMS.  609 

A  bill  was  also  introduced  into  the  senate,  which  ultimately  became  a  law, 
appropriating  $250,000  for  constructing  a  breakwater  in  Delaware  bay ; 
the  construction  of  a  military  road  in  Maine,  was  also  authorized,  and 
$15,000  appropriated  for  that  purpose. 

A  bill  providing  for  a  voyage  of  discovery  and  exploring  expedition  in 
the  South  seas  and  Pacific  ocean,  passed  the  house,  but  was  lost  in  the 
senate.  Bills  of  considerable  importance,  authorizing  the  president  to 
expose  to  public  sale  the  reserved  lead  mines  and  salt  springs  in  the  state 
of  Missouri,  passed  both  houses. 

The  main  business  of  the  session  was  the  legislation  on  the  subject  of 
the  Cumberland  road.  The  house  decided,  by  a  considerable  majority, 
in  favor  of  both  the  constitutionality  and  expediency  of  erecting  gates,  and 
imposing  a  system  of  tolls,  in  order  to  keep  the  road  in  repair.  The  sen- 
ate, without  discussing  the  constitutional  power,  struck  out  the  sections 
relating  to  toll-gates  and  the  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  required  to 
put  the  road  in  repair.  Another  bill  passed  both  houses,  appropriating 
money  for  the  construction  of  the  road  westwardly  from  Zanesville  in 
Ohio.  ~ 

The  appropriations  for  the  public  service  did  not  occasion  much  discus- 
sion at  this  session.  The  excitement  of  the  presidential  election  was 
followed  by  a  reaction  in  the  public  mind ;  and  the  interest  felt  by  the 
members  in  the  arrangements  for  organizing  a  new  administration,  left  but 
little  inclination  for  a  critical  examination  of  the  estimates  for  the  ensuing 
year. 

A  treaty  concluded  with  Brazil,  recognising  the  liberal  commercial  prin- 
ciples of  the  United  States,  was  not  ratified  until  after  the  accession  of 
General  Jackson  to  the  presidency,  although  it  was  completed  under  the 
administration  of  Mr.  Adams. 

The  presidential  contest  having  been  decided,  the  business  of  Congress 
was  transacted  with  less  interruption  from  political  discussion  than  usual, 
and  this  session  was  characterized  by  greater  freedom  from  party  asperity 
than  the  last. 

"  Thus  terminated  the  administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams ;  and  what- 
ever opinion  may  be  entertained  of  its  policy,  and  its  tendency,  it  can  not  be 
denied  that  its  character  was  marked  and  definite  ;  and  that  it  exercised  a 
strong  influence  upon  the  interests  of  the  country.  The  merits  and  de- 
merits of  his  policy  were  positive,  and  not  negative.  Certain  definite 
objects  were  proposed  as  desirable,  and  the  energies  of  the  government 
were  directed  toward  their  attainment. 

"  The  United  States,  during  this  administration,  enjoyed  uninterrupted 
peace  ;  and  the  foreign  policy  of  the  government  had  only  in  view  the 
maintenance  of  the  dignity  of  the  national  character ;  the  extension  of  its 
commercial  relations,  and  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  claims  of 
American  citizens  upon  foreign  governments. 


670  ADMINISTRATION    OF    JOHN    Q.   ADAMS. 

"  It  was,  however,  in  the  domestic  policy  of  the  government  that  the 
character  of  the  administration  was  most  strongly  displayed.  During  its 
continuance  in  office,  new  and  increased  activity  was  imparted  to  those 
powers  vested  in  the  federal  government  for  the  development  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  country ;  and  the  public  revenue  liberally  expended  in 
prosecuting  those  national  measures  to  which  the  sanction  of  Congress 
had  been  deliberately  given  as  the  settled  policy  of  the  government. 

"  More  than  one  million  of  dollars  had  been  expended  in  enlarging  and 
maintaining  the  lighthouse  establishment  ;  half  a  million  in  completing  the 
public  buildings ;  two  millions  in  erecting  arsenals,  barracks,  and  furnish- 
ing the  national  armories  ;  nearly  the  same  amount  had  been  expended  in 
permanent  additions  to  the  naval  establishment ;  upward  of  three  millions 
had  been  devoted  to  fortifying  the  seacoast ;  and  more  than  four  millions 
expended  in  improving  the  internal  communications  between  different  parts 
of  the  country,  and  in  procuring  information,  by  scientific  surveys,  con- 
cerning its  capacity  for  further  improvement.  Indeed,  more  had  been 
directly  effected  by  the  aid  of  government,  in  this  respect,  during  Mr.  Ad- 
ams's administration,  than  during  the  administrations  of  all  his  predeces- 
sors. Other  sums,  exceeding  a  million,  had  been  appropriated  for  objects 
of  a  lasting  character,  and  not  belonging  to  the  annual  expense  of  the 
government ;  making  in  the  whole,  nearly  fourteen  millions  of  dollars  ex- 
pended for  the  permanent  benefit  of  the  country,  during  this  administration. 

"At  the  same  time,  the  interest  on  the  public  debt  was  punctually  paid, 
and  the  debt  itself  was  in  a  constant  course  of  reduction,  having  been  di- 
minished $30,373,188  during  this  administration,  and  leaving  due,  on  the 
first  of  January,  1829,  $58,362,136.  While  these  sums  were  devoted  to 
increasing  the  resources  and  improving  the  condition  of  the  country,  and 
in  discharging  its  pecuniary  obligations,  those  claims  which  were  derived 
from  what  are  termed  the  imperfect  obligations  of  gratitude  and  humanity, 
were  not  forgotten. 

"  More  than  five  millions  of  dollars  were  appropriated  to  solace  the  decli- 
ning years  of  the  surviving  officers  of  the  revolution ;  and  a  million  and  a 
half  expended,  in  extinguishing  the  Indian  title,  and  defraying  the  expense 
of  the  removal,  beyond  the  Mississippi,  of  such  tribes  as  were  unqualified 
for  a  residence  near  civilized  communities,  and  in  promoting  the  civili- 
zation of  those  who,  relying  on  the  faith  of  the  United  States,  preferred  to 
remain  on  the  lands  which  were  the  abodes  of  their  fathers. 

"  In  the  condition  which  we  have  described,  in  peace  with  all  the  world, 
with  an  increasing  revenue,  and  with  a  surplus  of  $5,125,638  in  the  pub- 
lic treasury,  the  administration  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  was 
surrendered  by  Mr.  Adams  on  the  third  of  March,  he  having  previously  left 
the  governmental  house,  and  relinquished  the  executive  power.  The  next 
day  General  Jackson  entered  upon  the  administration  of  the  government."* 
*  American  Annual  Register. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH 


OF 


ANDREW    JACKSON 


THE  ancestors  of  Andrew  Jackson,  the  seventh  president  of  the  United 
States,  were  among  the  emigrants  from  Scotland  to  the  province  of  Ul- 
ster, in  Ireland,  at  a  period  when  it  was  the  policy  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment to  promote  the  colonization  of  settlers  from  England  and  Scotland 
on  the  confiscated  lands  of  the  Irish.  The  family  of  Jackson  was  therefore 
of  Scottish  origin ;  and  they  were  attached  to  the  presbyterian  church. 
Hugh  Jackson,  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  the  present  sketch,  was  a 
linen  draper,near  Carrickfergus,  in  Ireland.  His  four  sons  were  respectable 
farmers  ;  of  whom  Andrew,  the  youngest,  married  Elizabeth  Hutchinson, 
and  had  in  Ireland  two  sons,  Hugh  and  Robert.  The  unfortunate  condi- 
tion of  his  native  country  induced  him  to  dispose  of  his  farm,  and  in  1765, 
with  his  wife  and  children,  to  emigrate  to  America,  and  settle  in  South 
Carolina.  Samuel  Jackson,  a  son  of  another  of  the  brothers,  at  a  subse- 
quent period,  emigrated  to  Pennsylvania,  and  became  a  citizen  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

Three  of  the  neighbors  of  Andrew  Jackson,  named  Crawford,  emigra- 
ted to  America  with  him,  and  the  four  emigrants  purchased  lands  and  set- 
tled in  the  Waxhaw  settlement,  South  Carolina,  near  the  line  of  North 
Carolina. 

On  this  plantation  of  his  father,  at  Waxhaw  settlement,  Andrew  Jackson, 
the  subject  of  this  memoir,  was  born,  on  the  15th  of  March,  1767.  His 
father  died  about  the  time  of  his  birth,  leaving  his  farm  to  his  widow,  and 
his  name  to  his  infant  son. 

Left  with  three  young  sons,  and  moderate  means,  Mrs.  Jackson  gave 
her  two  oldest  a  common  school  education,  while  the  youngest  she  de- 
sired to  see  prepared  for  the  ministry,  and,  at  a  proper  age,  placed  him 
under  the  tuition  of  Mr.  Humphries,  priitcipal  of  the  Waxhaw  academy, 
where  he  made  considerable  progress  in  his  studies,  including  latin  and 


672  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON. 

Greek,  until  interrupted  by  the  events  of  the  war  of  the  revolution.  Al- 
though but  about  eight  years  of  age,  when  the  first  conflicts*  between  the 
British  and  Americans  took  place,  Andrew  Jackson  soon  became  accus- 
tomed to  the  stirring  scenes  around  him,  of  the  friends  and  neighbors  of 
his  mother  training  themselves  for  battle,  and  preparing  to  defend  their 
homes  from  the  attacks  and  ravages  of  the  invading  foe. 

The  British  commanding  officers  in  America  having  resolved  to  carry  the 
war  into  the  southern  states  ;  Savannah,  in  Georgia,  was  taken  in  1778,  and 
South  Carolina  invaded  in  the  spring  of  1779.  The  militia  were  summoned 
to  the  field  to  repel  them,  and  Hugh  Jackson,  the  oldest  brother  of  An- 
drew, lost  his  life  in  the  fatigues  of  the  service.  A  battle  took  place  at 
the  Waxhaw  settlement,  between  the  British  and  Americans,  in  May, 
1780,  when  113  Americans  were  killed,  and  150  wounded.  Considera- 
ble ammunition  and  stores  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  In  the  Wax- 
haw  meetinghouse,  where  the  wounded  were  carried,  Andrew  Jackson, 
then  thirteen  years  of  age,  first  saw  the  horrors  of  war.  The  mangled 
bodies  of  his  countrymen  confirmed  the  impression  made  upon  his  youth- 
ful mind  by  the  tales  of  English  oppression  and  cruelty  which  he  had  so 
often  heard  from  his  mother  and  kindred,  while  relating  scenes  of  tyranny 
in  Ireland,  from  which  his  father  had  fled  to  find  a  retreat  in  America.* 

In  the  summer  of  1780,  Andrew  Jackson,  being  then  but  little  more 
than  thirteen  years  of  age,  in  company  with  his  brother  Robert,  joined  a 
corps  of  volunteers,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Davie,  to  attempt  the 
defence  of  that  part  of  the  country  against  a  body  of  British  troops  and 
tories  who  had  penetrated  into  the  interior  of  the  Carolinas.  Davie's 
corps  was  attached  to  General  Sumter's  brigade,  and  an  action  took  place 
on  the  6th  of  August,  1780,  between  the  American  troops  and  the  British 
and  tories,  at  a  place  called  Hanging  Rock.  The  corps  of  Davie,  in  which 
the  young  Jacksons  fought,  particularly  distinguished  itself,  and  suffered 
heavy  loss. 

Not  being  regularly  attached  to  any  military  corps,  on  account  of  their 
youth,  Robert  and  Andrew  Jackson  did  not  participate  in  many  of  the  numer- 
ous affairs  in  which  the  Americans  were  engaged  with  the  British  during 
their  long  campaign  in  the  Carolinas.  They  retired  with  their  mother  into 
North  Carolina  for  some  time,  leaving  their  home  on  the  approach  of  the 
British  army  in  that  quarter.  In  1781,  both  of  the  boys  were  taken  pris- 
oners by  a  party  of  dragoons.  While  a  prisoner,  Andrew  Jackson  was 
ordered  by  a  British  officer  to  clean  his  muddy  boots,  which  the  young 
soldier  refusing,  he  received  a  wound  with  a  sword  from  the  officer,  and  the 
wound  left  a  scar  which  Jackson  carried  with  him  to  his  grave.  His  brother 
Robert,  for  a  similar  offence,  received  a  wound  on  his  head,  from  the  effects 
of  which  he  never  recovered.  The  brothers  were  retained  some  time  in 

•  For  the  facts  in  the  first  part  of  this  memoir,  we  are  indebted  principaUy  to  Kendall's 
Life  of  Jackson 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JACKSON.  673 

captivity,  at  Camden,  where  their  sufferings  were  great  from  their  wounds, 
and  the  small-pox,  then  prevalent  among  the  prisoners.  Being  finally  re- 
leased, by  exchange,  the  .Tacksons,  accompanied  by  their  mother,  returned 
home  to  the  Waxhaw  settlement,  where  Robert  died  in  two  days  after- 
ward. By  kind  nursing  and  the  care  of  a  physician,  Andrew  finally  recov- 
ered from  a  dangerous  sickness.  His  mother  died  soon  after  this,  from 
the  effects  of  a  fever  taken  on  board  the  prison-ship  at  Charleston,  whither 
she  went  on  an  adventure  of  kindness  and  mercy,  for  the  relief  of  some  of 
her  relatives  and  friends  confined  on  board  of  that  vessel.  Thus  every 
member  of  the  Jackson  family  which  came  from  Ireland  to  America  to 
escape  British  oppression,  perished  through  the  effects  of  the  same 
oppression  in  America.  The  only  remnant  of  the  family  was  an  Ameri- 
can-born son,  who,  through  many  perils,  lived  to  be  the  avenger  of  his 
race. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  revolution,  Andrew  Jackson  was  left 
alone  in  the  world,  his  own  master,  with  some  little  property,  but  without 
the  benefit  of  parental  counsel  or  restraint.  At  first  associating  with  idle 
young  men,  he  imbibed  loose  and  extravagant  habits,  which  he  suddenly 
determined  to  reform.  Changing  his  course  of  life,  he  commenced  the 
study  of  law,  at  Salisbury,  North  Carolina,  with  Spruce  M'Cay,  Esq.,  then 
an  eminent  counsellor,  and  subsequently  a  judge  of  distinction.  This  was 
in  the  winter  of  1784,  when  he  was  in  his  eighteenth  year.  He  finished 
his  studies  under  Colonel  Stokes,  and  in  a  little  more  than  two  years  he 
was  licensed  to  practise  law.  Soon  after  this,  without  solicitation  on  his 
part,  he  received  from  the  governor  of  North  Carolina  the  appointment  of 
solicitor  for  the  western  district  of  that  state,  embracing  the  present  state 
of  Tennessee. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  in  1788,  Andrew  Jackson,  accompanied  by 
Judge  McNairy,  crossed  the  mountains  to  take  up  his  abode  in  Tennes- 
see, then  the  western  district  of  North  Carolina.  For  several  months  he 
resided  at  Jonesborough,  then  the  principal  seat  of  justice  in  that  district. 
In  1789,  he  first  visited  the  infant  settlements  on  the  Cumberland  river, 
near  the  present  site  of  Nashville.  The  settlers  had  at  this  time  many 
difficulties  with  the  Indians,  who  were  then  numerous  and  hostile  to  the 
whites.  During  this  perilous  period,  Jackson  performed  twenty-two  jour- 
neys across  the  wilderness  of  two  hundred  miles,  then  intervening  between 
Jonesborough  and  the  Cumberland  settlements.  He  was  frequently  under 
arms,  with  other  settlers,  to  protect  parties  of  emigrants  from  the  attacks 
of  the  Indians.  He  was  also  engaged  in  several  expeditions  against  the 
Indians,  in  one  of  which,  in  1794,  the  native  town  of  Nickajack,  near  the 
Tennessee  river,  was  destroyed.  By  his  gallantry  in  these  affairs,  Jack- 
son became  well  known  to  the  Indians,  who  gave  him  the  names  of 
"  Sharp  Knife"  and  "Pointed  Arrow."  He  gained  equally  their  respect 
and  that  of  his  companions,  the  hardy  settlers  of  Tennessee. 

VOL.  I.— 43 


674  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON. 

Haying  determined  to  make  the  neighborhood  of  Nashville  his  perma- 
nent home,  Jackson,  with  his  friend  Judge  Overton,  became  boarders  in 
the  family  of  Mrs.  Donelson,  the  widow  of  Colonel  John  Donelson,  an 
emiorant  from  Virginia.  Mrs.  Rachel  Robards,  her  daughter,  who  after- 
ward became  the  wife  of  Jackson,  was  then  living  with  her  mother.  This 
lady  was  celebrated  for  her  beauty,  affability,  and  other  attractions.  Her 
husband,  Captain  Robards,  was  a  man  of  dissolute  habits  and  jealous  dis- 
position. A  separation  took  place,  and  Robards  applied  to  the  legislature 
of  Virginia  for  a  divorce  ;  soon  after,  intelligence  was  received  that  his 
petition  had  been  granted.  Mrs.  Robards  was  then  at  Natchez,  on  the 
Mississippi,  and  Jackson,  considering  that  she  was  free  to  form  a  new 
connexion,  in  the  summer  of  1791  went  down  to  Natchez,  paid  her  his 
addresses,  and  was  accepted.  In  the  fall  they  were  married,  and  returned 
to  the  Cumberland,  where  they  were  cordially  received  by  their  mutual 
friends. 

In  December,  1793,  Jackson  learned,  for  the  first  time,  that  the  act  of 
the  Virginia  legislature  did  not  grant  a  divorce,  but  only  authorized  a  suit 
for  divorce  in  a  Kentucky  court,  which  had  just  been  brought  to  a  success- 
ful issue.  Surprised  and  mortified  at  this  information,  on  his  return  to 
Nashville,  in  January,  1794,  he  took  out  a  license,  and  was  again  regularly 
married.  The  conduct  of  Jackson  in  this  affair  was  considered,  by  those 
familiar  with  the  circumstances,  correct  and  honorable,  and  perfectly  con- 
sistent with  true  morality.  His  friend  and  confidential  associate  remarks  : 
"  In  his  singularly  delicate  sense  of  honor,  and  in  what  I  thought  his 
chivalrous  conception  of  the  female  sex,  it  occurred  to  me  that  he  was 
distinguished  from  every  other  person  with  whom  I  was  acquainted." 

Jackson,  after  his  marriage,  applied  himself  with  renewed  diligence  to 
his  profession  in  the  practice  of  the  law.  Circumstances  connected  with 
his  professional  business  required  the  exercise  of  his  firmness  of  character 
and  courage,  in  no  ordinary  degree.  There  had  been  a  combination  of 
debtors  against  him,  as  he  was  employed  by  creditors  for  the  collection  of 
claims,  which  he  succeeded  in  breaking  down,  but  not  without  making  bit- 
ter enemies.  Bullies  were  stimulated  to  attack  and  insult  him,  and  thus 
brought  him  into  several  personal  contests,  which  generally  ended  in  a 
severe  punishment  of  the  aggressors,  by  the  bold  and  fearless  Jackson. 

In  1795,  the  people  of  Tennessee  elected  delegates  to  a  convention  for 
the  formation  of  a  state  constitution,  preparatory  to  admission  into  the 
Union.  Of  that  convention  Jackson  was  chosen  a  member  by  his  neigh- 
bors, and  took  an  active  part  in  the  formation  of  the  constitution.  The 
convention  sat  at  Knoxville  from  the  llth  of  January  to  the  6th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1796,  and  Tennessee  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  state,  by  act 
of  Congress,  on  the  1st  of  June,  the  same  year.  Jackson  was  chosen  the 
first  representative  from  the  new  state  in  Congress,  and  took  his  seat  in 
the  house  on  the  5th  of  December,  1796.  His  term  expired  on  the  3d 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JA'CKSOX.  675 

of  March  following,  and  he  was  prevented  from  continuing  longer  in  that 
body,  being  elected  by  the  legislature  of  Tennessee  to  the  senate  of  the 
United  States,  where  he  took  his  seat  on  the  22d  of  November,  1797,  be- 
ing then  only  a  few  months  over  thirty  years  of  age.  He  appears  not  to 
have  been  ambitious  or  anxious  for  political  distinction  at  that  time,  for, 
after  serving  one  session,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  senate.  During  his 
short  career  in  Congress,  it  is  believed  that  he  made  no  speeches ;  but  in 
his  votes  he  acted  with  the  democratic  party,  opposing  the  administration 
of  Washington  at  its  close,  and  subsequently  that  of  John  Adams.  While 
a  member  of  the  house,  he  was  one  of  a  minority  of  twelve  democrats, 
among  whom  were  Edward  Livingston,  Nathaniel  Macon,  and  William  B. 
Giles,  who  voted  against  an  answer  to  Washington's  last  speech  to  Con- 
gress ;  because  that  answer  expressly  approved  of  the  measures  of  Wash- 
ington's administration,  some  of  which  were  condemned  by  the  democratic 
party.  The  state  gave  her  first  vote  for  president  to  Mr.  Jefferson  in  1796, 
which  vote  she  repeated  in  1800.  In  the  political  revolution  which  ele- 
vated Mr.  Jefferson  to  the  presidency,  Jackson  participated,  and  acted  with 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Jefferson  ;  but  little  effort  was  required,  however,  to 
secure  the  vote  for  the  democratic  candidates,  in  a  state  so  uniformly  de- 
voted to  that  party  as  Tennessee. 

At  this  period,  the  popularity  of  Jackson  in  Tennessee  was  equal,  if  it 
did  not  exceed  that  of  any  other  citizen  of  the  state.  Soon  after  his  resig- 
nation as  senator,  the  legislature  again  honored  him  by  conferring  upon  him 
the  appointment  of  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state.  This  office  he 
accepted,  and  for  a  time  performed  the  duties  of  the  station  ;  but,  owing 
to  ill  health,  he  determined  to  resign  and  retire  to  private  life.  This  in- 
tention he  was  induced  to  defer  for  the  present,  in  consequence  of  remon- 
strances from  members  of  the  legislature  and  others,  who  entreated  him  to 
remain  upon  the  bench. 

The  circumstances  in  which  Jackson  was  placed,  and  his  course  in 
several  public  affairs,  occasioned  a  misunderstanding  between  him  and 
other  leading  men  in  Tennessee.  Among  those  who  became  his  enemies, 
were  Judge  McNairy  and  Governor  Sevier.  A  personal  quarrel  with  the 
latter  occasioned  a  challenge  from  Judge  Jackson,  which  was  accepted  by 
the  governor,  and  the  parties,  without  any  formal  arrangement,  met  on 
horseback,  each  armed  with  a  brace  of  pistols,  the  governor  having  also  a 
sword,  while  Jackson  had  a  cane,  which  he  carried  as  a  spear.  Putting 
spurs  to  his  horse,  he  charged  upon  his  antagonist  in  a  bold  and  unexpected 
manner,  and  the  governor  dismounted  to  avoid  the  shock.  The  inter- 
ference of  the  governor's  attendants  prevented  any  serious  mischief,  and 
hy  the  intercession  of  mutual  friends  further  hostile  intentions  were  aban- 
doned. The  affair,  however,  occasioned  sundry  angry  publications  by  the 
friends  of  the  respective  parties,  which  show  the  peculiar  state  of  society 


676  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON. 

then  existing  in  the  frontier  settlements,  where  men  holding  the  highest 
public  stations  were  engaged  in  personal  rencounters. 

Previous  to  his  affair  with  Governor  Sevier,  Jackson  was  appointed 
major-general  of  the  militia  of  the  state,  viz.,  in  1802.  His  competitor 
was  John  Sevier,  who  was  then  also  a  candidate  for  governor.  The  votes 
of  the  officers  by  whom  the  appointment  of  general  was  made  being  equal- 
ly divided,  the  decision  devolved  on  Governor  Roane,  who  gave  it  in  favor 
of  Jackson. 

On  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  from  France,  in  1803,  by  the  United 
States,  there  were  apprehensions  of  a  difficulty  with  Spain,  when  the 
Americans  should  take  possession  of  the  territory.  The  Tennessee  mili- 
tia were  called  upon  for  aid  in  case  of  need,  and  by  request  of  the  secre- 
tary of  war,  General  Jackson  caused  boats  to  be  prepared  to  transport  the 
troops  to  New  Orleans  ;  but  neither  the  boats,  nor  his  own  proffered  ser- 
vices, were  required,  as  the  Spaniards  made  no  resistance  to  the  peaceful 
transfer  and  occupation  of  Louisiana. 

In  1804,  General  Jackson,  having  served  six  years  on  the  bench,  re- 
signed his  office  of  judge  of  the  supreme  court.  His  biographer  and 
friend,  Mr.  Kendall,  remarks,  that  he  "  was  not  made  for  what  is  usually 
called  a  first-rate  lawyer.  His  mode  of  reasoning  would  not  permit  him 
to  seek  for  justice  through  a  labyrinth  of  technicalities  and  special  plead- 
ing. Yet  few,  if  any,  exceeded  him  in  seizing  on  the  strong  points  of  a 
case,  and  with  vigor  and  clearness  applying  to  them  the  great  principles 
of  law.  As  a  lawyer,  in  criminal  prosecutions,  the  case  of  his  client  always 
became  his  own,  and  he  was  considered  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and 
effective  among  his  contemporaries.  As  a  judge,  his  opinions  were  always 
clear,  short,  and  to  the  point,  aiming  at  justice,  without  the  affectation  of 
eloquence,  or  of  superior  learning.  His  retirement  from  the  bench  grati- 
fied only  those  who  feared  his  justice,  while  it  was  deeply  regretted  by  a 
large  majority  of  the  community." 

After  his  resignation  as  judge,  General  Jackson  found  that  retirement 
which  he  had  long  desired.  Having  acquired  a  moderate  fortune,  he  took 
up  his  residence  on  his  plantation  on  the  banks  of  the  Cumberland,  near 
Nashville,  and  not  far  from  that  which  he  subsequently  occupied  under 
the  name  of  the  Hermitage.  His  time  was  now  devoted  to  the  pursuits 
of  agriculture,  in  one  of  the  finest  districts  of  country  in  the  United  States, 
and  his  house  was  always  the  abode  of  hospitality,  where  his  numerous 
friends  and  acquaintance  were  received  by  him  with  a  cordial  welcome. 

In  addition  to  other  pursuits  on  his  plantation,  much  of  General  Jack- 
son's attention  was  given  to  the  raising  of  fine  horses,  from  the  most  im- 
proved breeds  of  the  southern  states.  He  consequently  became  a  fre- 
quenter of  race-courses  at  the  west,  to  bring  out  his  favorite  horses,  and 
occasionally  lost  and  won  in  the  sports  of  the  turf.  These  affairs  led  to  one 
of  the  most  unfortunate  events  of  his  life.  In  consequence  of  a  quarrel, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JACKSON.  677 

which  ended  in  blows,  between  Jackson  and  Charles  Dickinson,  on  the 
subject  of  a  bet  made  at  a  horse-race,  followed  by  an  abusive  publication 
on  the  part  of  Dickinson,  charging  Jackson  with  cowardice  ;  the  general 
sent  Dickinson  a  challenge.  The  duel  took  place  at  Harrison's  mills,  on 
Red  river,  in  Kentucky,  on  the  30th  of  May,  1806.  The  word  being 
given,  Dickinson  fired  firs4,  his  ball  taking  effect  in  Jackson's  breast,  and 
shattering  two  of  his  ribs  ;  the  next  instant  Jackson  fired,  although  thus 
severely  wounded,  and  Dickinson  fell  ;  he  was  taken  to  a  neighboring 
house,  and  survived  but  a  few  hours.  This  melancholy  affair  caused 
much  excitement  in  Tennessee  at  the  time,  and  various  publications  on 
the  subject  appeared  from  the  friends  of  the  respective  parties,  and  General 
Jackson  himself;  but  the  certificates  of  the  seconds  declared  that  the  duel 
had  been  fairly  conducted,  according  to  the  previous  understanding  of  the 
parties.  The  firmness  of  nerve  displayed  by  General  Jackson  in  this  duel 
was  remarkable,  considering  that  he  was  wounded  before  discharging  his 

o  o        o 

pistol.  Some  weeks  transpired  before  he  recovered  from  the  effects  of 
his  wounds. 

During  the  short  period  while  General  Jackson  was  a  member  of  Con- 
gress, he  had  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Colonel  Aaron  Burr,  who,  in 
1805,  visited  the  western  country,  and  spent  several  days  at  the  residence 
of  Jackson.  Burr,  in  his  journal,  describes  the  general  as  "  once  a  law- 
yer, after  a  judge,  now  a  planter ;  a  man  of  intelligence  ;  and  one  of 
those  prompt,  frank,  ardent  souls  whom  I  love  to  meet."  The  gen- 
eral treated  him  with  great  kindness  and  hospitality,  and  understanding 
that  his  object  was  the  settlement  of  a  tract  of  land  in  Louisiana,  and  the 
making  arrangements  for  the  invasion  of  Mexico,  in  case  of  a  war  with 
Spain,  he  rendered  him  such  assistance  as  he  could  afford,  and  procured 
for  him  a  boat  to  descend  the  Cumberland  river. 

In  1806,  Colonel  Burr  again  returned  to  the  western  country,  and  com- 
menced preparations  for  an  expedition.  General  Jackson  offered  to  ac- 
company him  to  Mexico  with  a  body  of  troops,  in  case  of  a  war  with 
Spain ;  but  declined  holding  communication  with  him  if  he  had  any  hos- 
tile intentions  against  the  United  States.  Burr  assured  him,  in  the  most 
positive  terms,  that  he  had  no  such  hostile  design  ;  but  Jackson  having  his 
suspicions,  the  previous  intimacy  between  him  and  Burr  ceased.  He 
afterward  received  orders  from  the  war  department  to  call  out  the  military, 
if  necessary,  to  suppress  Burr's  projects,  and  arrest  Burr  himself.  Twelve 
military  companies  of  the  militia  under  his  command,  were  ordered  out  by 
General  Jackson,  but  as  Burr  had  descended  the  Cumberland  and  Missis- 
sippi rivers,  with  only  n  few  unarmed  men,  the  general  dismissed  the 
troops,  and  reported  his  proceedings  to  the  government. 

After  Burr  was  arrested  and  taken  to  Richmond,  Virginia,  for  trial,  on 
a  charge  of  treason  against  the  United  States,  General  Jackson  was  sum- 
moned as  a  witness,  but  was  not  examined.  He  knew  nothing  tending  to 


$78  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON. 

criminate  the  accused,  and  his  evidence,  if  given,  would  have  been  in 
favor  of  Burr.  It  may  be  here  remarked,  that  Colonel  Burr's  respect  for 
General  Jackson  continued  through  life  ;  and  he  always  spoke  of  him  as 
a  man  of  integrity  and  honor.  It  is  believed  that  he  was  the  first  to  name 
him  (though  this  was  then  unknown  to  the  general  himself),  as  early  as  1815, 
in  his  private  correspondence,  as  a  suitable  candidate  for  the  presidency. 

General  Jackson  continued  in  private  life,  attending  to  his  agricultural 
employments,  until  the  war  of  1812  with  Great  Britain.  Having  become 
interested  in  a  mercantile  establishment  in  Nashville,  the  management  of 
which  he  intrusted  to  his  partner  in  that  business,  he  became  seriously 
involved  in  the  debts  of  the  concern,  which  he  was  compelled  to  close  ; 
and,  for  the  payment  of  his  debts,  sold  his  residence  and  plantation.  He 
then  retired  into  a  log-cabin,  near  the  place  since  called  "  the  Hermitage," 
and  commenced  the  world  anew.  By  a  prudent  and  economical  manage- 
ment of  his  affairs,  he  soon  retrieved  his  pecuniary  condition,  and  again 
became  possessed  of  the  means  of  comfort  and  enjoyment. 

But  a  period  approached  when  the  pleasures  and  endearments  of  home 
were  to  be  abandoned,  for  the  duties  of  more  active  life.  War  with  Great 
Britain  was  declared  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  on  the  12th  of 
June,  1812.  General  Jackson,  ever  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  coun- 
try, from  the  moment  of  the  declaration  knew  no  wish  so  strong  as  that 
of  entering  into  her  service  against  a  power  which,  independent  of  public- 
considerations,  he  had  many  private  reasons  for  disliking.  In  her  he 
could  trace  sufferings  and  injuries  received,  and  the  efficient  cause  why, 
in  early  life,  he  had  been  left  forlorn  and  wretched,  without  a  single  rela- 
tion in  the  world.  His  proud  and  inflexible  mind,  however,  could  not 
bend  to  solicit  an  appointment  in  the  army  which  was  about  to  be  raised. 
He  accordingly  remained  wholly  unknown,  until,  at  the  head  of  the  militia 
employed  against  the  Creek  Indians,  his  constant  vigilance,  and  the 
splendor  of  his  victories,  apprized  the  general  government  of  those  great 
military  talents  which  he  so  eminently  possessed  and  conspicuously 
displayed,  when  opportunities  for  exerting  them  were  afforded. 

The  acts  of  Congress  on  the  6th  of  February  and  July,  1812,  afforded 
the  means  of  bringing  into  view  a  display  of  those  powers  which,  being 
unknown,  unfortunately  might  have  slumbered  in  inaction.  Under  the 
authority  of  these  acts,  authorizing  the  president  to  accept  the  services  of 
fifty  thousand  volunteers,  he  addressed  the  citizens  of  his  division,  and 
twenty-five  hundred  flocked  to  his  standard.  A  tender  of  them  having 
been  made,  and  the  offer  accepted,  in  November  he  received  orders  to 
place  himself  at  their  head  and  to  descend  the  Mississippi,  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  lower  country,  which  was  then  supposed  to  be  in  danger. 
Accordingly,  on  the  10th  of  December,  1812,  those  troops  rendezvoused 
at  Nashville,  prepared  to  advance  to  their  place  of  destination  ;  and 
although  the  weather  was  then  excessively  severe,  and  the  ground  covered 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JACKSON.  679 

with  snow,  no  troops  could  have  displayed  greater  firmness.  The  gen- 
eral was  everywhere  with  them,  inspiring  them  with  the  ardor  that  ani- 
mated his  own  bosom.* 

Having  procured  supplies,  and  made  the  necessary  arrangements  for  an 
active  campaign,  they  proceeded,  the  7th  of  January,  1813,  on  their  jour- 
ney, and  descending  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  through  cold  and  ice,  ar- 
rived and  halted  at  Natchez.  Here  Jackson  had  been  instructed  to  remain, 
until  he  should  receive  further  orders.  Having  chosen  a  healthy  site  for 
the  encampment  of  his  troops,  he  devoted  his  time  to  training  and  prepar- 
ing them  for  active  service.  The  clouds  of  war,  however,  in  that  quarter 
having  blown  over,  an  order  was  received  from  the  secretary  of  war,  dated 
the  fifth  of  January,  directing  him,  on  receipt  thereof,  to  dismiss  those  un- 
der his  command  from  service,  and  to  take  measures  for  delivering  over 
every  article  of  public  property  in  his  possession  to  General  Wilkinson. 
When  this  order  reached  his  camp,  there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty  on 
the  sick  report,  and  almost  the  whole  of  them  destitute  of  the  means  of 
defraying  the  expenses  of  their  return.  The  consequence  of  a  strict  com- 
pliance with  the  secretary's  order,  would  have  been,  that  many  of  the  sick 
must  have  perished,  while  most  of  the  others,  from  their  destitute  condi- 
tion, would,  of  necessity,  have  been  compelled  to  enlist  in  the  regular 
army,  under  General  Wilkinson. f 

General  Jackson  could  not  think  of  sacrificing  or  injuring  an  army  that 
had  shown  such  devotedness  to  their  country  ;  and  he  determined  to  dis- 
regard the  order,  and  march  them  again  to  their  homes  in  Tennessee, 
where  they  had  been  embodied.  This  determination  met  with  the  disap- 
probation of  his  field-officers  and  of  General  Wilkinson  ;  but  persisting  in 
his  design,  General  Jackson  marched  the  whole  of  his  division  to  the  sec- 
tion of  country  whence  they  had  been  drawn,  and  dismissed  them  from 
service,  as  he  had  been  instructed.  The  sick  were  transported  in  wagons, 
at  the  same  time.  It  was  at  a  time  of  the  yt-ar  when  the  roads  were  bad, 
and  the  swamps,  lying  in  their  passage,  deep  and  full ;  yet  the  general 
placed  before  his  troops  an  example  of  patience  under  hardships  that  lulled 
to  silence  all  complaints,  and  won  to  him,  still  stronger  than  before,  the 
aeteem  and  respect  of  every  one.  On  arriving  at  Nashville,  he  communi- 
cated to  the  president  of  the  United  States  the  course  he  had  pursued,  and 
the  reasons  that  had  induced  it.  His  conduct  was  in  the  end  approved, 
and  the  expenses  incurred  directed  to  be  paid  by  the  government. 

The  volunteers  who  had  descended  the  river  having  been  discharged, 
early  in  May,  1813,  there  was  little  expectation  that  they  would  again  be 
called  for.  Tennessee  was  too  remotely  situated  in  the  interior,  to  expect 
their  services  would  be  required  for  the  defence  of  the  state  ;  and  thus 
far,  the  Hritish  had  discovered  no  serious  intention  of  waging  operations 
against  any  part  of  Louisiana.  Their  repose,  however,  was  not  of  long 
•  Eaton's  Life  of  Jackson.  f  Ibid. 


680  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON. 

duration.  The  Creek  Indians,  inhabiting  the  country  lying  between  the 
Chattahoochee  and  Tombigbee  rivers,  and  extending  from  the  Tennessee 
river  to  the  Florida  line,  had  lately  manifested  strong  symptoms  of  hostility 
toward  the  United  States.  This  disposition  was  greatly  strengthened 
through  means  used  by  the  northern  Indians,  who  were  then  making  prep- 
arations for  a  war  against  the  United  States,  and  who  wished  to  engage 
the  southern  tribes  in  the  same  enterprise. 

An  artful  impostor  had,  about  this  time,  sprung  up  among  the  Shawnees, 
a  northern  tribe,  who,  by  passing  for  a  prophet,  had  acquired  a  most  aston- 
ishing influence  among  his  own  and  the  neighboring  Indian  tribes.  He 
succeeded  in  a  short  time  in  kindling  a  phrensy  and  rage  against  the  Anglo- 
Americans,  which  soon  after  burst  forth  in  acts  of  destructive  violence.  His 
brother,  Tecumseh,  who  became  so  famous  during  the  war,  and  who  was 
killed  subsequently  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  in  Canada,  was  despatched 
to  the  southern  tribes,  to  excite  in  them  the  same  temper.  To  the  Creekss 
then  the  most  numerous  and  powerful  of  the  southern  Indians,  he  directed 
his  principal  attention,  and  in  the  spring  of  1812  he  had  repeated  confer- 
ences with  the  chiefs  of  that  nation.  Deriving  his  powers  from  his  brother, 
the  prophet,  whose  extraordinary  commission  and  endowments  were,  pre- 
vious to  this,  well  understood  by  the  tribes  in  the  south,  his  authority  was 
regarded  with  the  highest  veneration.  To  afford  additional  weight  to  his 
councils,  Tecumseh  gave  assurances  of  aid  and  support  from  Great  Britain  ; 
and  having  made  other  arrangements  to  carry  out  his  plans,  he  returned  to 
his  own  tribe. 

From  this  time,  a  regular  communication  was  kept  up  between  the  Creeks 
and  the  northern  tribes ;  while  depredations  were  committed  on  the  fron- 
tier settlers  by  parties  of  the  allied  Indians.  In  the  summer  of  1812,  sev- 
eral families  were  murdered  near  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  and  soon  after- 
ward similar  outrages  were  committed  in  Tennessee  and  Georgia.  These 
acts  were  not  sanctioned  by  the  chiefs  of  the  Creek  nation,  for,  on  appli- 
cation to  them  by  the  general  government,  the  offenders  were  punished 
with  death.  No  sooner  was  this  done,  than  the  spirit  of  the  greater  part 
of  the  nation  suddenly  kindled  into  civil  war. 

They  first  attacked  their  own  countrymen  who  were  friendly  to  the  Uni- 
ted States,  and  compelled  them  to  retire  toward  the  white  settlements  for 
protection.  After  this,  they  collected  a  supply  of  ammunition  from  the 
Spaniards  at  Pensacola,  and,  on  the  30th  of  August,  1813,  commenced  an 
assault  on  Fort  Minims,  in  the  Mississippi  territory,  which  they  succeeded 
in  carrying,  and  put  to  death  nearly  three  hundred  persons,  including 
women  and  children,  with  the  most  savage  barbarity.  Only  seventeen  of 
the  whole  number  in  the  fort  escaped,  to  bring  intelligence  of  the  catas- 
trophe. 

This  monstrous  and  unprovoked  outrage  was  no  sooner  known  in  Ten- 
nessee, than  the  whole  state  was  thrown  into  a  ferment,  and  immediate 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JACKSON.  681 

measures  were  taken  to  inflict  exemplary  punishment  on  the  hostile  In- 
dians. The  legislature,  by  the  advice  of  numerous  citizens,  among  whom 
were  the  governor  and  General  Jackson,  authorized  the  executive  to  call 
into  the  field  3,500  men,  to  be  marched  against  the  Indians.  The  troops 
were  placed  under  the  command  of  General  Jackson,  notwithstanding  he 
was  at  the  time  seriously  indisposed,  from  the  effects  of  a  fractured  arm, 
owing  to  a  wound  received  by  him  from  a  pistol-shot,  in  a  fight  with 
Colonel  Thomas  H.  Benton,  at  a  public  house  in  Nashville. 

The  army  under  General  Jackson  marched  into  the  Indian  country  in 
October,  1813.  Crossing  the  Tennessee  river,  and  learning  that  a  large 
body  of  the  enemy  had  posted  themselves  at  Tallushatchee,  on  the  river 
Coosa  ;  General  Coffee  was  detached  with  nine  hundred  men  to  attack  and 
disperse  them.  This  was  effected,  with  a  small  loss  on  the  part  of  the 
Tennessee  troops,  while  the  Indians  lost  186  killed,  among  whom  were 
unfortunately,  and  through  accident,  a  few  women  and  children.  Eighty- 
four  Indian  women  and  children  were  taken  prisoners,  and  treated  with 
the  utmost  humanity. 

Another  battle  with  over  a  thousand  of  the  Creeks,  took  place  shortly 
after,  at  Talladega,  thirty  miles  below  Tallushatchee  ;  the  Tennessee 
troops  being  commanded  by  General  Jackson  in  person  ;  when  300  Indians 
were  left  dead  on  the  field,  and  about  as  many  more  slain  in  their  flight. 

This  campaign  was  protracted  much  longer  than  would  otherwise  have 
been  the  case,  in  consequence  of  the  want  of  supplies  of  provisions  for  the 
army,  which  caused  large  numbers  of  the  troops  to  return  to  their  homes. 
Having  at  length  obtained  supplies,  and  being  joined  by  more  troops,  General 
Jackson  advanced  still  further  into  the  enemy's  country.  Several  battles 
took  place  with  the  Indians,  the  most  sanguinary  of  which  was  that  of 
Tohopeka  or  the  Horseshoe,  at  the  bend  of  the  Tallapoosa  river.  On 
that  occasion,  557  warriors,  of  ]  ,000  in  the  engagement,  were  found  dead 
on  the  field,  besides  many  others  who  were  killed  and  thrown  into  the 
river,  while  the  battle  raged,  or  shot  in  attempting  to  escape  by  swimming. 
Over  300  prisoners  were  taken,  all,  but  three  or  four,  women  and  children. 
In  this  and  other  battles,  the  whites  were  assisted  by  a  considerable  body 
of  friendly  Creek  and  Cherokee  Indians,  who  engaged  in  pursuing  and  de- 
stroying their  fugitive  countrymen  with  the  most  unrelenting  rigor  ;  "  a  cir- 
cumstance," says  Eaton,  in  his  life  of  Jackson,  "  which  the  patriot  must  ever 
view  with  abhorrence  ;  and  although,  from  necessity  or  policy,  he  may 
be  compelled  to  avail  himself  of  the  advantages  afforded  by  such  a  cir- 
cumstance, he  can  never  be  induced  either  to  approve  or  justify  it." 

The  battle  of  the  Horsehoe  gave  a  deathblow  to  the  hopes  of  the  In- 
dians ;  nor  did  they  venture  afterward  to  make  a  stand.  The  principal 
chiefs  came  in,  made  their  submission  to  General  Jackson,  and  sued  for 
peace  ;  the  campaign  was  ended,  and  the  troops  were  marched  back  to 
Tennessee  and  discharged. 


682  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON*. 

In  May,  1814,  General  Jackson  received  the  appointment  of  major-gen- 
eral in  the  army  of  the  United  States,  on  the  resignation  of  General  Har- 
•  rison.  Previous  to  this  appointment,  a  commission  as  brigadier  and  bre- 
vet major-general  had  been  forwarded  to  General  Jackson,  but  his  com- 
mission for  the  higher  office  being  received  the  day  after  the  notification 
of  the  other,  he  had  not  sent  his  answer  to  the  war  department,  and  the 
appointment  of  major-general  was  accepted. 

The  contest  with  the  Indians  being  ended,  the  first  and  principal  object 
of  the  government  was,  to  enter  into  some  definite  arrangement  which 
should  deprive  of  success  any  effort  that  might  thereafter  be  made,  by  other 
powers,  to  enlist  those  savages  in  their  wars.  None  was  so  well  calcula- 
ted to  answer  this  end,  as  that  of  restricting  their  limits,  so  as  to  cut  off 
their  communication  with  British  and  Spanish  agents,  in  East  and  West 
Florida. 

No  treaty  of  friendship  or  boundary  had  yet  been  entered  into  by  the 
government  with  the  Indians ;  they  remained  a  conquered  people,  and 
within  the  limits,  and  subject  to  the  regulations  and  restrictions  which 
had  been  prescribed  in  March,  1814,  by  General  Jackson,  when  he  re- 
tired from  the  country.  He  was  now,  by  the  government,  called  upon  to 
act  in  a  new  and  different  character,  and  to  negotiate  the  terms  upon 
which  an  amicable  understanding  should  be  restored  between  the  United 
States  and  these  conquered  Indians.  Colonel  Hawkins,  who  for  a  con- 
siderable time  past  had  been  the  agent  to  the  Creek  nation,  was  also  as- 
sociated in  the  mission. 

On  the  10th  of  July,  1814,  General  Jackson,  with  a  small  retinue, 
reached  the  Alabama;  and  on  the  10th  of  August  succeeded  in  procuring 
the  execution  of  a  treaty,  in  which  the  Indians  pledged  themselves  no 
more  to  listen  to  foreign  emissaries — to  hold  no  communication  with 
British  or  Spanish  garrisons  ;  guarantied  to  the  United  States  the  right 
of  erecting  military  posts  in  their  country,  and  a  free  navigation  of  all 
their  waters.  They  stipulated  also,  that  they  would  suffer  no  agent  or 
trader  to  pass  among  them,  or  hold  any  kind  of  commerce  or  intercourse 
with  the  nation,  unless  specially  deriving  his  authority  from  the  president 
of  the  United  States.* 

The  treaty  also  settled  the  boundary  and  defined  the  extent  of  territory 
secured  to  the  Creeks,  and  that  which  they  were  required  to  surrender. 
Sufficient  territory  was  acquired  on  the  south  by  the  United  States,  to  give 
security  to  the  Mobile  settlements,  and  to  the  western  borders  of  Georgia, 
effectually  cutting  off  the  communication  of  the  Creeks  with  the  Chicka- 
saws  and  Choctaws,  and  separating  them  from  the  Seminole  tribes  and 
other  unfriendly  Indians  in  Florida. 

The  retreat  of  the  savages  in  Florida  had  been  always  looked  upon  as 
a  place  whence  the  United  States  might  apprehend  serious  difficulties  to 

•  Eaton. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JACKSON.  683 

arise.  General  Jackson,  entertained  the  belief  that  the  British,  through 
this  channel,  with  the  aid  of  the  Spanish  governor,  had  protected  the  In- 
dians, and  supplied  them  with  arms  and  ammunition.  He  received  cer- 
tain information,  when  on  his  way  to  negotiate  the  treaty  with  the  Indians, 
that  about  three  hundred  English  troops  had  landed  ;  were  fortifying 
themselves  at  the  mouth  of  the  Apalachicola,  and  were  endeavoring  to 
excite  the  Indians  to  war.  No  time  was  lost  in  giving  the  government 
notice  of  what  was  passing,  and  of  the  course  he  deemed  advisable  to  be 
pursued.  The  advantages  to  be  secured  from  the  possession  of  Pensa- 
cola  he  had  frequently  urged.  But  the  government  were  unwilling  to  en- 
counter the  risk  of  a  rupture  with  Spain,  by  authorizing  the  United 
States  troops  to  enter  her  territory,  while  she  occupied  a  neutral  position, 
and  Jackson  was  unable  to  obtain  any  answer  to  his  repeated  and  pres- 
sing applications  to  be  allowed  to  make  a  descent  upon  Pensacola,  and  re- 
duce it,  which,  he  gave  it  as  his  opinion,  would  bring  the  war  in  the 
south  to  a  speedy  termination.  The  secretary  of  war,  General  Arm- 
strong, however,  wrote  him  a  letter  on  the  18th  of  July,  1814,  which 
Jackson  did  not  receive  until  the  17th  of  January,  1815,  after  the  war  was 
over,  in  which  he  remarked,  that,  "If  the  Spanish  authorities  admit,  feed, 
arm,  and  co-operate  with  the  British  and  hostile  Indians,  we  must  strike, 
on  the  broad  principle  of  self-preservation  ;  under  other  and  different  cyr- 
cumstances  we  must  forbear." 

The  general,  afterward  speaking  of  this  transaction,  remarked  :  "  If 
this  letter,  or  any  hint  that  such  a  course  would  have  been  winked  at  by 
the  government,  had  been  received,  it  would  have  been  in  my  power  to 
have  captured  the  British  shipping  in  the  bay.  But  acting  on  my  own  re- 
sponsibility, against  a  neutral  power,  it  became  essential  for  me  to  pro- 
ceed with  more  caution  than  my  judgment  or  wishes  approved,  and  conse- 
quently, important  advantages  were  lost,  which  might  have  been  secured." 

Having  ascertained,  through  some  Indian  spies,  that  a  considerable  Eng- 
lish force  had  arrived  in  Florida,  and  that  muskets  and  ammunition  had 
been  given  to  the  Indians,  General  Jackson  wrote  to  the  Spanish  governor 
of  Pensacola,  apprizing  him  of  the  information  received,  and  demanding 
the  surrender  to  him  of  such  chiefs  of  the  hostile  Indians  as  were  with 
him.  The  governor,  after  some  delay,  replied  to  this  letter,  denying  that 
any  hostile  Indians  were  with  him  at  that  time  ;  nor  could  he  refuse  those 
Indians  assistance,  on  the  ground  of  hospitality,  when  their  distresses  were 
so  great,  or  surrender  them  without  acting  in  open  violation  of  the  laws  of 
nations.  He  also  demanded  to  be  informed,  if  the  United  States  were  ig- 
norant that,  at  the  conquest  of  Florida,  there  was  a  treaty  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  Creek  Indians,  and  whether  they  did  not  know  that  it  still 
existed  between  Spain  and  those  tribes.  In  the  same  letter,  the  governor 
accused  the  United  States  government  of  having  harbored  traitors  from  the 


684  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON. 

Mexican  provinces,  and  of  countenancing  pirates  who  had  committed  rob- 
beries upon  the  merchant- vessels  of  Spain. 

The  general  answered  this  letter  by  another  equally  high-toned,  in  which, 
among  other  things,  he  says  :  "  Your  excellency  has  been  candid  enough 
to  admit  your  having  supplied  the  Indians  with  arms.  In  addition  to  this, 
I  have  learned  that  a  British  flag  has  been  seen  flying  on  one  of  your 
forts.  All  this  is  done,  while  you  are  pretending  to  be  neutral.  You  can 
not  be  surprised,  then,  but,  on  the  contrary,  will  provide  a  fort  in  your 
town  for  my  soldiers  and  Indians,  should  I  take  it  in  my  head  to  pay  you 
a  visit. 

"  In  future,  I  beg  you  to  withhold  your  insulting  charges  against  my 
government,  for  one  more  inclined  to  listen  to  slander  than  I  am ;  nor 
consider  me  any  more  as  a  diplomatic  character,  unless  so  proclaimed  to 
you  from  the  mouths  of  my  cannon." 

Captain  Gordon,  who  had  been  despatched  to  Pensacola,  on  his  return, 
reported  to  the  general,  that  he  had  seen  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to 
two  hundred  officers  and  soldiers,  a  park  of  artillery,  and  about  five  hun- 
dred Indians,  under  the  drill  of  British  officers,  armed  with  new  muskets, 
and  dressed  in  the  English  uniform. 

Jackson  directly  brought  to  the  view  of  the  government  the  information 
he  had  received,  and  again  urged  his  favorite  scheme,  the  reduction  of 
Pensacola.  Many  difficulties  were  presented ;  but,  to  have  all  things  in 
a  state  of  readiness  for  action,  when  the  time  should  arrive  to  authorize  it, 
he  addressed  the  governors  of  Tennessee,  Louisiana,  and  the  Mississippi 
territory,  informing  them  of  the  necessity  of  holding  all  the  forces  allotted 
for  the  defence  of  the  southwestern  military  district,  in  a  state  of  readiness 
to  march  at  any  notice,  and  to  any  point  where  they  might  be  required. 
The  warriors  of  the  different  Indian  tribes  were  ordered  to  be  marshalled, 
and  taken  into  pay  of  the  government. 

On  the  day  after  completing  his  business  at  Fort  Jackson,  he  departed 
for  Mobile,  to  place  the  country  in  a  state  of  defence.  He  had  already 
despatched  his  adjutant-general,  Colonel  Butler,  to  Tennessee,  with  orders 
to  raise  volunteers ;  and  on  the  28th  September,  1814,  two  thousand  able- 
bodied  men,  well  supplied  with  rifles  and  muskets,  assembled  under  the 
command  of  General  Coffee,  at  Fayetteville,  Tennessee,  to  march  for  Mo- 
bile, a  distance  of  at  least  four  hundred  miles.  The  regular  forces,  lately 
enlisted,  marched  from  Nashville  to  Mobile  in  about  fourteen  days. 

As  General  Jackson  kept  his  own  determination  a  secret,  the  idea  could 
scarcely  be  entertained,  that  at  this  time  he  intended  to  advance  against 
Pensacola  on  his  own  responsibility.  He  was  not  long  in  doubt  as  to  the 
course  proper  to  be  pursued.  Colonel  Nicholls  had  arrived  in  August  at 
that  place,  with  a  squadron  of  British  ships,  and  taken  up  his  quarters  with 
the  Spanish  governor,  Manrequez.  He  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  in- 
habitants of  the  southwest,  inviting  them  to  join  the  British  standard 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JACKSOX.  685 

After  waiting  two  weeks,  he  made  an  unsuccessful  attack  on  Fort  Bowyer, 
which  commanded  the  entrance  to  Mobile  bay.  The  fort  was  defended 
by  Major  Lawrence  in  so  gallant  a  manner,  that  the  British  were  com- 
pelled to  retire,  with  the  loss  of  one  of  their  ships  and  about  two  hundred 
men. 

The  British  retired  to  Pensacola,  and  General  Jackson  determined,  on 
his  own  responsibility,  to  enter  Florida  and  take  that  town.  General 
Coffee,  with  about  twenty-eight  hundred  men,  had  arrived  at  Fort  St. 
Stephens,  on  the  Mobile  river.  General  Jackson  repaired  to  Coffee's 
camp,  and  made  the  necessary  arrangement  for  marching  into  Florida. 
The  quartermasters  were  destitute  of  funds,  and  the  government  credit  was 
insufficient  to  procure  supplies  for  the  army.  Thus  situated,  from  his  own 
limited  funds,  and  loans  effected  on  his  credit  and  responsibility,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  carrying  his  plans  into  effect,  and  in  hastening  his  army  to  the 
place  of  its  destination. 

The  difficulty  of  subsisting  cavalry  on  the  route,  rendered  it  necessary 
that  part  of  the  brigade  should  proceed  on  foot.  Although  they  had  vol- 
unteered in  the  service  as  mounted  men,  and  expected  that  no  different 
disposition  would  be  made  of  them,  yet  they  cheerfully  acquiesced  in  the 
order ;  and  one  thousand,  abandoning  their  horses,  to  subsist  as  they  could, 
on  the  reeds  that  grew  along  the  river-bottoms,  prepared  to  commence 
their  march.  Being  supplied  with  rations  for  the  trip,  on  the  2d  day  of 
November  the  line  of  march  was  taken  up,  and  Pensacola  was  reached  on 
the  6th.  The  British  and  Spaniards  had  obtained  intelligence  of  their  ap- 
proach and  intended  attack,  and  everything  was  in  readiness  to  dispute 
their  passage  to  the  town.  The  forts  were  garrisoned,  and  prepared  for 
resistance  ;  batteries  formed  in  the  principal  streets  ;  and  the  British  ves- 
sels moored  within  the  bay,  and  so  disposed  as  to  command  the  main  en- 
trances which  led  to  Pensacola. 

The  American  army  consisting  of  Coffee's  brigade,  the  regulars,  and  a 
few  Indians,  in  all  about  3,000  men,  had  arrived  within  a  mile  arid  a  half 
of  the  town,  and  formed  their  encampment.  Before  any  final  step  was 
taken,  General  Jackson  concluded  to  make  a  further  application  to  the 
governor,  and  to  learn  of  him  what  course,  at  the  present  moment,  he 
would  make  it  necessary  for  him  to  pursue.  Major  -Pierc  was  accord- 
ingly despatched  with  a  flag,  to  disclose  the  object  of  the  visit,  and  to 
require  that  the  different  forts,  Barancas,  St.  Rose,  and  St.  Michael,  should 
be  immediately  surrendered,  to  be  garrisoned  and  held  by  the  United 
States,  until  Spain,  by  furnishing  a  sufficient  force,  might  be  able  to  pro- 
tect the  province,  and  preserve  her  neutral  character. 

This  mission  experienced  no  very  favorable  result.  Major  Piere,  on 
approaching  St.  Michael's,  was  fired  on,  and  compelled  to  return.  The 
Spanish  flag  was  displayed  on  the  fort,  and  under  it  the  outrage  was  com- 
mitted, although  the  British  flag  had  been  associated  with  it  until  the  day 


686  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON. 

before.  Notwithstanding  this  unprovoked  outrage,  General  Jackson  acted 
with  forbearance,  and  sent  another  letter  to  the  governor,  asking  an  expla- 
nation. In  answer,  the  governor  stated  that  what  had  been  done  was  not 
properly  chargeable  on  him,  but  on  the  English ;  and  he  assured  the  gen- 
eral of  his  perfect  willingness  to  receive  any  overtures  he  might  be  pleased 
to  make. 

Major  Piere  was  again  despatched  to  meet  the  offer  of  the  governor. 
The  surrender  of  the  fortifications  and  munitions  of  war  was  demanded,  to 
be  receipted  for,  and  become  the  subject  of  future  arrangement  by  the 
respective  governments.  The  governor,  after  advising  with  his  council, 
rejected  the  propositions ;  and  as  soon  as  the  answer  was  received  by 
Jackson,  he  resolved  to  urge  his  army  forward,  and,  immediately  com- 
mencing his  march,  proceeded  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  object,  deter- 
mined to  effect  it,  in  despite  of  danger  and  of  consequences. 

The  American  army  was  in  motion  early  in  the  morning  of  the  7th  of 
November.  Pushing  forward,  they  were  soon  in  the  streets,  and  sheltered 
by  the  houses  from  the  cannon  of  the  British  vessels  in  the  harbor.  Cap- 
tain Laval,  who  commanded  the  advance,  fell  severely  wounded,  while 
he  was  charging  a  Spanish  battery.  From  behind  the  houses  and  garden 
fences,  constant  volleys  of  musketry  were  discharged,  until  the  regulars 
arriving,  met  the  Spaniards,  and  drove  them  from  their  positions. 

The  governor,  panic-struck,  and  trembling  for  the  safety  of  the  city, 
hastened,  bearing  a  flag  in  his  hand,  to  find  the  commander,  and  seek  to 
stay  the  carnage,  and  promised  to  consent  to  whatever  terms  might  be 
demanded  of  him. 

No  time  was  lost  by  General  Jackson  in  procuring  what  was  considered 
by  him  of  vital  importance — the  surrender  of  the  forts.  A  capitulation 
was  agreed  on  the  next  day  ;  Pensacola  and  the  different  fortresses  were 
to  be  retained  by  the  United  States,  until  Spain  could  better  maintain  her 
authority  ;  while  the  rights  and  privileges  of  her  citizens  were  to  be 
regarded  and  respected. 

Everything  was  in  readiness  the  next  day  to  take  possession  of  Baran- 
cas  fort,  fourteen  miles  west  of  Pensacola.  The  American  troops  were 
ready  for  marching,  when  a  tremendous  explosion  gave  notice  that  all  was 
destroyed.  It  was  ascertained  that  the  fort  had  been  blown  up,  and  that 
the  British  shipping  had  retired  from  the  bay.  On  their  retreat  from  Pen- 
sacola, the  British  carried  off  with  them  three  or  four  hundred  slaves,  in 
spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  the  owners. 

The  American  loss  in  this  expedition  was  quite  inconsiderable.  The 
left  column  alone  met  resistance,  and  had  fifteen  or  twenty  wounded — 
none  killed.  Captain  Laval  and  Lieutenant  Flournoy  were  among  the 
number  wounded. 

Deeming  it  unnecessary  to  think  of  garrisoning  and  attempting  to  hold  the 
forts  in  Florida,  Jackson  concluded  to  redeliver  all  that  had  been  surren- 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON.  687 

dered,  and  retire  from  the  territory.  Two  days,  therefore,  after  entering 
Pensacola,  he  abandoned  it.  He  wrote  to  the  Spanish  governor,  conclu- 
ding as  follows  :  "  The  enemy  has  retreated  ;  the  hostile  Creeks  have  fled 
to  the  forest ;  and  I  now  retire  from  your  town,  leaving  you  to  occupy 
your  forts  and  protect  the  rights  of  your  citizens." 

It  had  been  for  some  time  rumored  and  generally  accredited,  that  a  very 
considerable  force  might  be  expected  from  England,  destined  to  act  against 
some  part  of  the  United  States,  most  probably  New  Orleans.  The  im- 
portance of  this  place  was  well  known  to  the  enemy ;  it  was  the  key  to 
the  entire  commerce  of  the  western  country.  Had  a  descent  been  made 
upon  it  a  few  months  before,  it  might  have  been  taken  with  all  imaginable 
ease  ;  but  the  British  had  confidently  indulged  the  belief  that  they  could 
possess  it  at  any  time,  without  much  difficulty. 

There  was  nothing  now  so  much  desired  by  General  Jackson,  as  to  be 
able  to  depart  for  New  Orleans,  where  he  apprehended  the  greatest  dan- 
ger, and  where  he  believed  his  presence  was  most  material.  He  had 
already  effected  a  partial  security  for  Mobile,  and  the  inhabitants  in  that 
vicinity.  His  health  was  still  delicate,  which  almost  wholly  unfitted  him 
for  the  duties  he  had  to  encounter ;  but  his  constant  expectation  of  a  large 
force  appearing  on  the  coast,  impelled  him  to  action.  General  Coffee  and 
Colonel  Hinds,  with  their  mounted  men,  were  ordered  to  march,  and  take 
a  position  convenient  to  New  Orleans,  where  they  could  find  forage  for  their 
horses.  Everything  being  arranged,  and  the  command  at  Mobile  left  with 
General  Winchester,  Jackson  on  the  2'2d  of  November,  left  Mobile  for 
New  Orleans,  where  he  arrived  on  the  1st  of  December,  and  where  his 
headquarters  were  for  the  present  established.* 

General  Jackson  was  now  on  a  new  theatre,  and  soon  to  be  brought  in 
collision  with  an  enemy  different  from  any  he  had  yet  encountered  ;  the 
time  had  arrived  to  call  forth  all  the  energies  he  possessed.  His  body 
worn  down  by  sickness  and  exhaustion,  with  a  mind  constantly  alive  to 
the  apprehension,  that,  with  the  means  given  him,  it  would  not  be  in  his 
power  to  satisfy  his  own  wishes,  and  the  expectations  of  his  country, 
were  circumstances  well  calculated  to  depress  him. 

Louisiana,  he  well  knew,  was  ill  supplied  with  arms,  and  contained 
a  mixed  population,  of  different  tongues,  and  doubtful  as  to  their  attach- 
ment to  the  government  of  the  United  States.  No  troops,  arms,  or  ammu- 
nition, had  yet  descended  from  the  states  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
His  only  reliance  for  defence,  if  suddenly  assailed,  was  on  the  few  regu- 
lars ho  had,  the  volunteers  of  General  Coffee,  and  such  troops  as  the  state 
itself  could  furnish.  Although  continually  agitated  by  gloomy  forebodings, 
he  breathed  his  fears  to  none.  He  appeared  constantly  serene,  en- 
deavored to  impress  a  general  belief  that  the  country  could  and  would 
be  successfully  defended.  This  apparent  tranquillity  and  avowed  certainty 

•  Eaton. 


688  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JACKSON. 

of  success  in  the  general,  excited  strong  hopes,  dispelled  everything  like 
fear,  and  impressed  all  with  additional  confidence. 

While  engaged  in  his  operations  on  the  Mobile,  he  had  kept  up  a  cor- 
respondence with  Governor  Claiborne,  of  Louisiana,  urging  him  to  the 
adoption  of  measures  for  the  defence  of  the  state.  He  had  also  forwarded 
an  address  to  the  people  of  Louisiana,  endeavoring  to  excite  them  to  a  de- 
fence of  their  rights  and  liberties.  Preparations  for  collecting  troops  in 
sufficient  strength  to  repel  an  invasion,  had  been  actively  carried  forward. 
The  secretary  of  war  had  called  upon  the  governors  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  for  quotas  of  the  militia  of  those  states,  which  requisitions  were 
promptly  answered  by  the  governors,  and  the  troops  embarked  for  New 
Orleans,  in  November. 

While  the  troops  from  the  upper  country  were  expected,  General  Jack- 
son was  active  in  adopting  such  measures  as  could  be  earliest  effected, 
and  which  were  best  calculated  for  resistance  and  defence.  The  volunteer 
corps  of  the  city,  and  other  militia,  were  reviewed,  the  forts  in  the  vicinity 
visited,  to  ascertain  their  situation  and  capacity  for  defence,  and  new  works 
were  erected  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  below  the  city.  Having 
endeavored,  without  success,  to  induce  the  legislature  of  Louisiana 
promptly  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  sensible  that  delay 
was  dangerous,  he  assumed  the  responsibility,  and  superseded  their  delibera- 
tions, by  declaring  the  city  and  environs  of  New  Orleans  under  martial  law. 
The  expected  British  force  appeared  off  Pensacola,  early  in  December, 
and  on  the  22d  effected  a  landing  of  their  troops,  about  fifteen  miles  south- 
east of  New  Orleans.  The  American  gunboats  on  Lake  Borgne,  only  five 
in  number,  were  previously  attacked  by  a  force  of  forty-three  British  boats, 
and  captured,  after  a  gallant  defence,  on  the  14th  of  December. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Kentucky  troops,  2,250  in  number,  all  the 
forces  expected  had  arrived  previous  to  the  21st  of  December.  The  Ken- 
tucky troops  arrived  on  the  4th  of  January.  The  Tennessee  troops,  un- 
der General  Carroll,  were  about  2,500  in  number.  The  remaining  portion 
of  the  American  forces  consisted  of  Coffee's  brigade  of  mounted  men,  the 
Mississippi  dragoons,  the  Louisiana  militia,  two  regiments  of  United  States 
regular  troops,  and  a  company  of  marines  and  artillery. 

On  the  approach  of  the  enemy  being  announced  to  General  Jackson,  on 
the  22d  of  December,  he  resolved  to  march,  and  that  night  give  them  bat- 
tle. He  therefore  advanced,  at  the  head  of  about  2,000  men,  and  the  fol- 
lowing day  a  battle  took  place  with  a  detachment  of  about  2,500  of  the 
British  army,  nine  miles  below  New  Orleans.  The  enemy's  force  was 
increased  during  the  day  to  four  or  five  thousand,  with  which  the  Ameri- 
cans maintained  a  severe  conflict  of  more  than  an  hour,  and  retired  in 
safety  from  the  ground  ;  with  the  loss  of  but  24  killed,  115  wounded,  and 
74  made  prisoners,  while  the  British  loss,  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prison- 
ers, was  about  400. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON.  689 

General  Jackson  now  withdrew, his  troops  to  his  intrenchments,  four 
miles  below  the  city.  On  the  28th  of  December,  and  the  1st  of  January, 
these  were  vigorously  cannonaded  by  the  enemy,  but  without  success. 

On  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  January,  General  Pakenham,  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  British,  advanced  against  the  American  intrenchments  with 
the  main  body  of  his  army,  numbering  more  than  twelve  thousand  men. 

Behind  their  breastworks  of  cotton  bales,  which  no  balls  could  pene- 
trate, six  thousand  Americans,  mostly  militia,  but  the  best  marksmen  in 
the  land,  silently  awaited  the  attack.  When  the  advancing  columns  had 
approached  within  reach  of  the  batteries,  they  were  met  by  an  incessant 
and  destructive  cannonade  ;  but,  closing  their  ranks  as  fast  as  they  were 
opened,  they  continued  steadily  to  advance,  until  they  came  within  reach 
of  the  American  musketry  and  rifles.  The  extended  American  line  now 
presented  one  vivid  stream  of  fire,  throwing  the  enemy  into  confusion,  and 
covering  the  plain  with  the  wounded  and  the  dead.* 

In  an  attempt  to  rally  his  troops,  General  Pakenham  was  killed  ;  Gen- 
eral Gibbs,  the  second  in  command,  was  mortally  wounded,  and  General 
Keene  severely.  The  enemy  now  fled  in  dismay  from  the  certain  death 
which  seemed  to  await  them.  General  Lambert,  on  whom  the  command 
devolved,  being  unable  to  check  the  flight  of  the  troops,  retired  to  his  en- 
campment. On  the  18th,  the  whole  British  army  hastily  withdrew,  and 
retreated  to  their  shipping. 

The  heartfelt  joy  at  the  glorious  victory  achieved  on  one  side  of  the 
river  was  clouded  by  the  disaster  witnessed  on  the  other.  A  small  body 
of  the  American  forces  was  stationed  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river. 
They  were  attacked  by  eight  hundred  chosen  British  troops,  under  Colo- 
nel Thornton,  and  compelled  to  retreat. 

The  loss  of  the  British  in  the  main  attack  on  the  left  bank  has  been 
variously  stated.  The  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  ascertained  on  the 
next  day  after  the  battle,  by  Colonel  Hayne,  the  inspector-general,  places 
it  at  2,600  ;  General  Lambert's  report  to  Lord  Bathurst  makes  it  2,070. 
The  loss  of  the  Americans  in  killed  and  wounded  was  but  thirteen.! 

On  the  20th  of  January,  1815,  General  Jackson,  with  his  army,  returned 
to  New  Orleans.  The  general  glow  excited  at  beholding  his  entrance 
into  the  city,  at  the  head  of  a  victorious  army,  was  manifested  by  all  those 
feelings  which  patriotism  and  sympathy  inspire.  All  greeted  his  return, 
and  hailed  him  as  their  deliverer.  The  23d  was  appointed  a  day  of  thanks- 
giving. Jackson  repaired  to  the  cathedral,  which  was  crowded  to  excess. 
Children,  robed  in  white,  strewed  his  way  with  flowers,  and  an  ode  was 
recited  as  he  passed.  A  Te  Deum  was  sung,  and  Bishop  Dubourg  deliv- 
ered an  address,  which  he  concluded  by  presenting  the  general  with  a 
wreath  of  laurel. 

Martial  law  still  prevailed  in  New  Orleans,  and  in  February  General 
*  Wilson's  United  States.  f  Eaton. 

VOL.  I.— 44 


690  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON. 

Jackson  arrested  Mr.  Louallier,  a  member  of  the  legislature,  on  a  charge 
of  exciting  mutiny  among  his  troops,  by  a  publication,  on  the  10th  of  Feb- 
ruary, in  the  Louisiana  Gazette,  stating  that  a  treaty  of  peace  had  been 
signed.  Louallier  applied  to  Judge  Hall  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus, 
which  was  immediately  granted.  Instead  of  obeying  the  writ,  the  general 
arrested  the  judge,  and  sent  him  from  the  city  on  the  llth  of  February. 
On  the  13th  of  the  same  month,  an  express  reached  headquarters,  from  the 
war  department  at  Washington  city,  announcing  the  conclusion  of  peace 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  and  directing  a  cessation  of 
hostilities.  The  previous  unofficial  intelligence  on  the  10th  had  been  re- 
ceived by  Mr.  Livingston,  through  Admiral  Cochrane,  of  the  British  fleet. 

On  being  restored  to  the  exercise  of  his  functions,  Judge  Hall  ordered 
General  Jackson  to  appear  before  him,  to  show  cause  why  an  attachment 
for  contempt  should  not  be  awarded,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  refused  to 
obey  a  writ  issued  to  him,  detained  an  original  paper  belonging  to  the 
court,  and  imprisoned  the  judge.  The  general  obeyed  the  summons,  and 
appeared  in  court  in  the  garb  of  a  citizen,  to  receive  the  sentence  of  the 
court,  having  previously  made  a  written  defence.  The  judge  sentenced 
the  general  to  pay  a  fine  of  one  thousand  dollars,  which  he  paid.  A  sum 
was  soon  raised  by  the  people,  to  relieve  him  from  the  payment,  but  he  de- 
clined to  receive  it.  The  amount,  with  interest,  was  subsequently  refunded 
to  Jackson,  by  act  of  Congress,  in  1844. 

The  war  being  ended,  and  the  militia  having  been  discharged,  and  re- 
turned to  their  homes,  General  Jackson  left  New  Orleans  for  Nashville, 
where  he  arrived  in  May,  1815,  and  was  received  by  his  fellow-citizens 
with  the  most  cordial  feelings.  An  address  was  delivered  at  the  court- 
house, in  behalf  of  the  citizens,  welcoming  his  return.  He  then  retired 
to  his  family  residence,  to  repair  a  broken  constitution,  and  to  enjoy  that 
repose  to  which,  for  eighteen  months,  he  had  been  a  stranger. 

The  annunciation  of  the  triumphant  defence  of  New  Orleans  was,  in 
every -section  of  the  United  States,  hailed  with  acclamation.  The  legis- 
latures of  many  of  the  states  voted  to  him  their  approbation  and  thanks,  for 
what  he  had  done.  The  Congress  of  the  United  Slates  did  the  same, 
and  directed  a  gold  medal  to  be  presented  to  him,  commemorative  of  the 
event.  , 

The  president,  on  the  resignation  of  General  Thomas  Pinckney,  in  1815, 
appointed  General  Jackson  commander-in-chief  of  the  southern  division 
of  the  United  States.  Toward  the  close  of  the  autumn  of  1815,  he  visited 
Washington  city,  and  on  his  way  met  with  continued  demonstrations  of  re- 
spect from  the  people.  At  this  period,  Colonel  Burr  wrote  from  New  York, 
to  his  son-in-law,  Ex-Governor  Alston,  of  South  Carolina,  dated  Novem- 
ber 20,  1815,  recommending  the  adoption  of  measures  to  bring  forward  the 
nomination  of  General  Jackson,  as  a  candidate  for  president  of  the  United 
States,  previous  to  the  nomination  of  James  Monroe  by  a  congressional 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JACKSON.  691 

caucus,  which  was  then  anticipated  to  take  place  in  December  following. 
"  Nothing  is  wanting,"  says  Burr,  "  but  a  respectable  nomination  before 
the  proclamation  of  the  Virginia  caucus,  and  Jackson's  success  is  inevita- 
ble. Jackson  is  on  his  way  to  Washington.  If  you  should  have  any  con- 
fidential friend  among  the  members  of  Congress  from  your  state}  charge 
him  to  caution  Jackson  against  the  perfidious  caresses  with  which  he  will 
be  overwhelmed  at  Washington."  On  the  llth  of  December,  Colonel 
Burr  wrote  to  Governor  Alston,  saying,  that,  since  the  date  of  his  last, 
"  things  are  wonderfully  advanced.  These  will  require  a  letter  from  your- 
self and  others,  advising  Jackson  what  is  doing — that  communications  have 
been  had  with  the  northern  states,  requiring  liim  only  to  be  passive,  and 
asking  from  him  a  list  of  persons  to  whom  you  may  address  your  letters." 
To  this  letter  Governor  Alston  replied,  on  the  16th  February,  1816,  in- 
forming Colonel  Burr,  that  his  letter  was  received  in  January,  "  too  late, 
of  course,  had  circumstances  been  ever  so  favorable,  to  be  acted  upon  in 
the  manner  proposed.  I  fully  coincide  with  you  in  sentiment ;  but  the 
spirit,  the  energy,  the  health,  necessary  to  give  practical  effect  to  senti- 
ment, are  all  gone.  I  feel  too  much  alone,  too  entirely  unconnected  with 
the  world,  to  take  much  interest  in  anything."* 

It  appears,  from  this  correspondence,  that  accidental  circumstances 
alone,  prevented  the  public  nomination  of  General  JaCkson  by  his  native 
state,  as  a  candidate  for  president,  at  a  very  early  period  after  the  war 
with  Great  Britain,  and  caused  the  bringing  forward  of  his  name  to  be  de- 
ferred until  the  last  term  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  viz.,  in  1822. 
In  the  spring  of  1816,  General  Jackson  again  visited  New  Orleans.  After 
stationing  the  army  in  the  southern  section  of  his  division,  he  concluded  a 
treaty  with  the  Indians,  the  object  of  which  was  to  obtain  from  them  the 
relinquishment  of  all  the  claim  they  pretended  to  have  to  lands  within  the 
limits  of  the  United  States,  and  which  had  been  previously  ceded  by  them. 
In  the  year  1818,  the  services  of  General  Jackson,  in  his  military  ca- 
pacity, were  again  called  into  requisition.  The  Seminole  Indians,  of 
Florida,  had  shown  their  hostility  to  the  United  States,  by  committing 
depredations  on  the  southern  frontiers.  General  Gaines  had  been  ordered 
by  the  president,  in  October,  1817,  to  take  the  necessary  measures  for  the 
defence  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  section  of  the  Union.  He  accordingly 
built  three  forts,  and  proceeded  to  expel  the  Indians,  who  resisted  him,  as 
fur  as  was  in  their  power,  and  committed  various  outrages.  At  the  mouth 
of  Flint  river,  the  Indians  fell  in  with  a  party  of  forty  men,  under  Lieuten- 
ant Scott,  all  of  whom  they  killed  but  six,  who  escaped  by  swimming. 

When  the  news  of  this  massacre  reached  General  Jackson,  he  raised 
an  army  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  volunteers,  and  mustered  them  as 
in  the  service  of  the  United  States.  After  a  rapid  march,  he  arrived  with 
his  army,  on  the  1st  of  April,  at  the  Mickasucky  villages,  which  were  de- 

•  Davis's  Life  of  Burr. 


692  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSON. 

serted  on  his  approach.     Having  burnt  the  villages,  he  marched  to  St 
Marks,  then  a  Spanish  post  on  the  Appalachee  bay,  in  Florida. 

Two  persons,  who  were  traders  with  the  Indians,  namely,  Arbuthnot,  a 
Scotchman,  and  Ambrister,  a  British  lieutenant  of  marines,  were  taken 
prisoners  by  Jackson,  near  St.  Marks,  and  confined.  They  were  both  ac- 
cused of  exciting  the  Indians  to  hostility  against  the  United  States,  and 
supplying  them  with  arms  and  ammunition.  They  were  tried  by  a  court- 
martial,  consisting  of  officers  of  the  militia,  and  found  guilty.  One  of  them 
was  sentenced  to  be  shot,  and  the  other  to  be  hung,  and  their  execution  took 
place  by  order  of  General  Jackson. 

About  the  middle  of  May,  General  Jackson  arrived  at  the  Escambia, 
near  Pensacola,  having  been  informed  that  a  body  of  hostile  Indians  had 
been  harbored  at  that  place.  He  took  possession  of  Pensacola  and  Fort 
Barancas,  notwithstanding  a  remonstrance  from  the  governor  of  the  terri- 
tory. Two  Indian  chiefs,  who  were  captured,  were  hung,  by  order  of 
General  Jackson,  under  circumstances  which  he  deemed  justifiable,  but 
for  which  he  was  censured  by  many. 

On  the  2d  June,  1818,  General  Jackson  addressed  a  letter  to  the  secre- 
tary of  war,  at  the  close  of  which  he  says  :  "  The  Seminole  war  may  now 
be  considered  as  at  a  close  ;  tranquillity  is  again  restored  to  the  southern 
frontier  of  the  United  States,  and,  as  long  as  a  cordon  of  military  posts  is 
maintained  along  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  America  has  nothing  to  apprehend 
from  either  foreign  or  Indian  hostilities.  The  immutable  principles  of  self- 
defence  justified  the  occupancy  of  the  Floridas,  and  the  same  principles 
will  warrant  the  American  government  in  holding  it,  until  such  time  as 
Spain  can  guaranty,  by  an  adequate  military  force,  the  maintaining  of  her 
authority  within  the  colony." 

After  the  campaign  in  Florida,  General  Jackson  returned  to  Nashville, 
and  shortly  afterward  he  resigned  his  commission  in  the  army.  During 
the  session  of  Congress,  in  January,  1819,  he  visited  Washington,  when 
his  transactions  in  the  Seminole  war  became  the  subject  of  investigation 
by  Congress.  After  a  long  and  exciting  debate  on  the  subject,  resolutions 
of  censure,  for  his  proceedings  in  Florida,  were  rejected  in  the  house  of 
representatives,  by  a  large  majority,  and  his  course  was  sustained  by  the 
president  and  a  majority  of  the  cabinet,  although  the  Spanish  posts  in 
Florida  were  restored. 

When  the  congressional  investigation  had  terminated  favorably  to  Gen- 
eral Jackson,  he  visited  the  cities  of  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  New 
York,  and  various  other  parts  of  the  United  States,  being  received  with 
enthusiasm  by  his  friends  in  all  quarters,  and  with  distinguished  attention 
by  the  public  authorities  and  others. 

In  June,  1821,  the  president  appointed  him  governor  of  Florida,  which 
office  he  accepted,  and  in  August  he  took  possession  of  the  territory,  accord- 
ing to  the  treaty  of  cession.  The  Spanish  governor,  Callava,  having  re- 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  JACKSON.  693 

fused  to  give  up  certain  public  documents,  deemed  of  importance,  he  was 
taken  into  custody,  by  order  of  Governor  Jackson,  and  committed  to  prison. 
The  papers  being  found,  under  a  search-warrant  issued  by  Jackson,  Callava 
was  immediately  set  at  liberty.  Jackson  remained  but  a  few  months  in 
Florida  ;  for,  disliking  the  situation,  and  disapproving  of  the  extent  of  pow- 
ers vested  in  him  as  governor,  he  resigned  the  office  and  again  retired  to 
Tennessee.  President  Monroe  offered  him  the  appointment  of  minister 
to  Mexico,  which  he  declined  in  1823. 

In  July,  1822,  General  Jackson  was  nominated  by  the  legislature  of 
Tennessee  as  a  candidate  for  president  of  the  United  States.  This  nom- 
ination was  repeated  by  assemblages  of  the  people  in  several  other  states. 
In  the  autumn  of  1823,  he  was  elected  by  the  legislature  a  senator  from 
Tennessee,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States  in  De- 
cember, 1823.  He  voted  for  the  protective  tariff  of  1824. 

The  popularity  of  General  Jackson  with  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
was  shown  at  the  presidential  election  of  1824,  when  he  received  a  greater 
number  of  electoral  votes  than  either  of  his  competitors,  namely,  ninety- 
nine.  Mr.  Adams  received  eighty-four,  Mr.  Crawford  forty-one,  and  Mr. 
Clay  thirty-seven.  The  election  consequently  devolved  on  the  house  of 
representatives,  where,  by  the  constitutional  provision,  the  decision  is 
made  by  states.  Mr.  Adams  was  elected  by  that  body,  receiving  the 
votes  of  thirteen  states  ;  General  Jackson  seven  states  ;  and  Mr.  Craw- 
ford four  states.  The  result  caused  much  dissatisfaction  among  the 
friends  of  General  Jackson,  but  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  had  sup- 
ported Mr.  Crawford,  as  well  as  most  of  those  who  had  supported  Mr. 
Clay,  preferred  Mr.  Adams  to  General  Jackson. 

During  General  La  Fayette's  visit  to  the  United  States  in  1824-'5,  he 
passed  through  Tennessee,  and  was  received  by  General  Jackson,  at  the 
Hermitage,  with  his  accustomed  hospitality. 

After  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams  to  the  presidency,  the  opposition  to  his 
administration  was  soon  concentrated  upon  General  Jackson  as  a  candi- 
date to  succeed  him.  In  October,  1825,  he  was  again  nominated  by  the 
legislature  of  Tennessee  for  president,  on  which  occasion  he  resigned  his 
seat  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  in  a  speech  delivered  to  the  legis- 
lature, giving  his  views  on  public  affairs.  During  the  exciting  canvass 
which  resulted  in  his  election  to  the  presidency  in  1828,  by  a  majority  of 
more  than  two  to  one,  of  the  electoral  votes,  over  Mr.  Adams,  he  remained 
in  private  life. 

In  January,  1828,  he  was  present,  by  invitation,  at  New  Orleans,  at  the 
celebration  of  the  anniversary  of  his  victory.  Before  departing  for  Wash- 
ington, in  1829,  to  take  the  reins  of  government,  he  met  with  a  severe 
affliction  in  the  death  of  Mrs.  Jackson.  This  loss  bore  heavily  upon  him 
for  some  time,  and  he  came  into  power  witli  gloomy  feelings.  He  reached 
the  national  capital  early  in  February,  in  a  plain  carriage. 


694  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    JACKSOX. 

The  events  of  his  administration  we  have  given  in  another  place,  and 
to  those  pages  the  reader  is  referred  for  the  history  of  eight  years  of  his 
life.  In  1832  he  was  re-elected  to  the  presidency;  and  at  the  close  of 
his  second  term,  in  March,  1837,  having  published  a  farewell  address  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  he  retired  to  his  favorite  residence,  at 
the  Hermitage,  in  Tennessee,  where  he  passed  the  remnant  of  his  days, 
generally  a  quiet,  but  not  disinterested  spectator  of  public  events.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  presbyterian  church,  and  religious  faith  and  confi- 
dence appear  to  have  soothed  and  cheered  all  the  latter  period  of  his  life. 
For  the  last  year  or  two  of  his  life  he  was  infirm  of  body,  but  retained  his 
mental  faculties  undiminished  up  to  the  hour  of  his  decease,  which  took 
place  on  the  8th  of  June,  1845.  His  countrymen  throughout  the  United 
States  joined  in  testimonials  of  respect  to  his  memory.  He  left  no  blood 
relatives,  and  his  estate  was  bequeathed  to  members  of  the  Donelson  fam- 
ily, who  were  the  relations  of  Mrs.  Jackson. 

The  violence  of  political  strife  will  long  confuse  men's  judgment  of  the 
character  and  abilities  of  General  Jackson  ;  but  all  will  accord  to  him  the 
praise  of  great  firmness,  energy,  decision,  and  disinterestedness ;  of  re- 
markable military  skill,  and  ardent  patriotism.  With  regard  to  his  qualifi- 
cations and  services  as  a  statesman,  his  countrymen  have  been  and  are 
divided  in  opinion.  It  is,  perhaps,  not  yet  time  to  speak  decisively  on 
this  point,  but  it  must  be  left  for  the  impartial  verdict  of  posterity. 

The  personal  appearance  and  private  character  of  General  Jackson  are 
thus  described  by  his  friend  and  biographer,  Mr.  Eaton,  previous  to  his 
election  to  the  presidency :  "  In  the  person  of  General  Jackson  is  per- 
ceived nothing  of  the  robust  and  elegant.  He  is  six  feet  and  an  inch 
high,  remarkably  straight  and  spare,  and  weighs  not  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  pounds.  His  conformation  appears  to  disqualify  him 
for  hardship  ;  yet,  accustomed  to  it  from  early  life,  few  are  capable  of 
enduring  fatigue  to  the  same  extent,  or  with  less  injury.  His  dark  blue 
eyes,  with  brows  arched  and  slightly  projecting,  possess  a  marked  ex- 
pression ;  but  when  from  any  cause  excited,  they  sparkle  with  peculiar 
lustre  and  penetration.  In  his  manners  he  is  pleasing — in  his  address 
commanding  ;  while  his  countenance,  marked  with  firmness  and  decision, 
beams  with  a  strength  and  intelligence  that  strikes  at  first  sight.  In  his 
deportment  there  is  nothing  repulsive.  Easy,  affable,  and  familiar,  he  is 
open  and  accessible  to  all.  Influenced  by  the  belief  that  merit  should 
constitute  the  only  difference  in  men,  his  attention  is  equally  bestowed  on 
honest  poverty  as  on  titled  consequence.  His  moral  character  is  without 
reproach ;  and  by  those  who  know  him  most  intimately  he  is  most  esteemed. 
Benevolence  in  him  is  a  prominent  virtue.  He  was  never  known  to  pass 
distress  without  seeking  to  assist  and  to  relieve  it." 


JACKSON'S 


ADDRESSES   AND   MESSAGES 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

MARCH  4,  1829. 

Fellow-Citizens : — 

ABOUT  to  undertake  the  arduous  duties  that  I  have  been  appointed  to 
perform  by  the  choice  of  a  free  people,  I  avail  myself  of  this  customary  and 
solemn  occasion  to  express  the  gratitude  which  their  confidence  inspires, 
and  to  acknowledge  the  accountability  which  my  situation  enjoins.  While 
the  magnitude  of  their  interests  convinces  me  that  no  thanks  can  be  adequate 
to  the  honor  they  have  conferred,  it  admonishes  me  that  the  best  return  I 
can  make,  is  the  zealous  dedication  of  my  humble  abilities  to  their  service 
and  their  good. 

As  the  instrument  of  the  federal  constitution,  it  will  devolve  upon  me,  for 
a  stated  period,  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  United  States  ;  to  superintend 
their  foreign  and  confederate  relations ;  to  manage  their  revenue  ;  to  com- 
mand their  forces  :  and,  by  communications  to  the  legislature,  to  watch 
over  and  to  promote  their  interests  generally.  And  the  principles  of  action 
by  which  I  shall  endeavor  to  accomplish  this  circle  of  duties,  it  is  now 
proper  for  me  briefly  to  explain. 

In  admin istering  the  laws  of  Congress,  I  shall  keep  steadily  in  view  the 
limitations  as  well  as  the  extent  of  the  executive  power,  trusting  thereby  to 
discharge  the  functions  of  my  office  without  transcending  its  authority. 
With  foreign  nations  it  will  be  my  study  to  preserve  peace,  and  to  cultivate 
friendship  on  fair  and  honorable  terms  ;  and  in  the  adjustment  of  any  dif- 
ferences that  may  exist  or  arise,  to  exhibit  the  forbearance  becoming  a 
powerful  nation,  rather  than  the  sensibility  belonging  to  a  gallant  people. 

In  such  measures  as  I  may  be  called  on  to  pursue,  in  regard  to  the  rights 
of  the  separate  states,  I  hope  to  be  animated  by  a  proper  respect  for  those 
sovereign  members  of  our  Union  ;  taking  care  not  to  confound  the  powers 
they  have  reserved  to  themselves  with  those  they  have  granted  to  the  con- 
federacy. 

The  management  of  the  public  revenue — that  searching  operation  in  all 
governments — is  among  the  most  delicate  and  important  trusts  in  ours  ;  and 
it  will,  of  course,  demand  no  inconsiderable  share  of  my  official  solicitude. 
Under  every  aspect  in  which  it  can  be  considered,  it  would  appear  that  ad- 
vantage must  result  from  the  observance  of  a  strict  and  faithful  economy. 
This  1  shall  aim  at  the  more  anxiously,  both  because  it  will  facilitate  the 
extinguishment  of  the  national  debt,  the  unnecessary  duration  of  which  is 


696  JACKSON'S  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

incompatible  with  real  independence,  and  because  it  will  counteract  that 
tendency  to  public  and  private  profligacy  which  a  profuse  expenditure  of 
money  by  the  government  is  but  too  apt  to  engender.  Powerful  auxiliaries 
to  the  attainment  of  this  desirable  end  are  to  be  found  in  the  regulations 
provided  by  the  wisdom  of  Congress  for  the  specific  appropriation  of  public 
money,  and  the  prompt  accountability  of  public  officers. 

With  regard  to  a  proper  selection  of  the  subjects  of  impost,  with  a  view 
to  revenue,  it  would  seem  to  me  that  the  spirit  of  equity,  caution,  and  com- 
promise, in  which  the  constitution  was  formed,  requires  that  the  great  in- 
terests of  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures,  should  be  equally  favor 
ed ;  and  that  perhaps  the  only  exception  to  this  rule  should  consist  in  the 
peculiar  encouragement  of  any  products  of  either  of  them  that  may  be  found 
essential  to  our  national  independence. 

Internal  improvement,  and  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  so  far  as  they  can 
be  promoted  by  the  constitutional  acts  of  the  federal  government,  are  of 
high  importance. 

Considering  standing  armies  as  dangerous  to  free  governments  in  time 
of  peace,  I  shall  not  seek  to  enlarge  our  present  establishment,  nor  to  disre- 
gard that  salutary  lesson  of  political  experience  which  teaches  that  the  mili- 
tary should  be  held  subordinate  to  the  civil  power.  The  gradual  increase 
of  our  navy,  whose  flag  has  displayed  in  distant  climes  our  skill  in  naviga- 
tion and  our  fame  in  arms ;  the  preservation  of  our  forts,  arsenals,  and 
dock-yards ;  and  the  introduction  of  progressive  improvements  in  the  dis- 
cipline and  science  of  both  branches  of  our  military  service,  are  so  plainly 
prescribed  by  prudence,  that  I  should  be  excused  for  omitting  their  mention, 
sooner  than  enlarging  on  their  importance.  But  the  bulwark  of  our  defence 
is  the  national  militia,  which,  in  the  present  state  of  our  intelligence  and 
population,  must  render  us  invincible.  As  long  as  our  government  is  ad- 
ministered for  the  good  of  the  people,  and  is  regulated  by  their  will  ;  as  long 
as  it  secures  to  us  the  rights  of  person  and  property,  liberty  of  conscience, 
and  of  the  press,  it  will  be  worth  defending  ;  and  so  long  as  it  is  worth  de- 
fending, a  patriotic  militia  will  cover  it  with  an  impenetrable  agis.  Partial 
injuries  and  occasional  mortifications  we  may  be  subjected  to  ;  but  a  million 
of  armed  freemen,  possessed  of  the  means  of  war,  can  never  be  conquered 
by  a  foreign  foe.  To  any  just  system,  therefore,  calculated  to  strengthen 
this  natural  safeguard  of  the  country,  I  shall  cheerfully  lend  all  the  aid  in 
my  power. 

It  will  be  my  sincere  and  constant  desire  to  observe  toward  the  Indian 
tribes  within  our  limits  a  just  and  liberal  policy,  and  to  give  that  humane 
and  considerate  attention  to  their  rights  and  their  wants  which  are  consis- 
tent with  the  habits  of  our  government  and  the  feelings  of  our  people. 

The  recent  demonstration  of  public  sentiment  inscribes  on  the  list  of  exec- 
utive duties,  in  characters  too  legible  to  be  overlooked,  the  task  of  reform  ; 
which  will  require  particularly  the  correction  of  those  abuses  that  have 
brought  the  patronage  of  the  federal  government  into  conflict  with  the  free- 
dom of  elections,  and  the  counteraction  of  those  causes  which  have  dis- 
turbed the  rightful  course  of  appointment,  and  have  placed  or  continued 
power  in  unfaithful  or  incompetent  hands. 

In  the  performance  of  a  task  thus  generally  delineated,  I  shall  endeavor 
to  select  men  whose  diligence  and  talents  Avill  insure,  in  their  respective 
stations,  able  and  faithful  co-operation — depending  for  the  advancement  of 
the  public  service,  more  on  the  integrity  and  zeal  of  the  public  officers, 
than  on  their  numbers. 


JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  697 

A  diffidence,  perhaps  too  just,  in  my  own  qualifications,  will  teach  me  to 
look  Avith  reverence  to  the  examples  of  public  virtue  left  by  my  illustrious 
predecessors,  and  with  veneration  to  the  lights  that  flow  from  the  mind  that 
founded  and  the  mind  that  reformed  our  system.  The  same  diffidence  in- 
duces me  to  hope  for  instruction  and  aid  from  the  co-ordinate  branches  of 
the  government,  and  for  the  indulgence  and  support  of  my  fellow-citizens 
generally.  And  a  firm  reliance  on  the  goodness  of  that  Power  whose 
providence  mercifully  protected  our  national  infancy,  and  has  since  upheld 
our  liberties  in  various  vicissitudes,  encourages  me  to  offer  up  my  ardent 
supplications  that  he  will  continue  to  make  our  beloved  country  the  object 
of  his  divine  care  and  gracious  benediction. 


FIRST    ANNUAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  8,  1829. 

Fellow-  Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives : — 

IT  affords  me  pleasure  to  tender  my  friendly  greetings  to  you  on  the  oc- 
casion of  your  assembling  at  the  seat  of  government,  to  enter  upon  the  im- 
portant duties  to  which  you  have  been  called  by  the  voice  of  our  country- 
men. The  task  devolves  on  me,  under  a  provision  of  the  constitution, 
to  present  to  you,  as  the  federal  legislature  of  twenty-four  sovereign  states, 
and  twelve  millions  of  happy  people,  a  view  of  our  affairs  ;  and  to  purpose 
such  measures  as,  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  functions,  have  suggested 
themselves  as  necessary  to  promote  the  objects  of  our  Union. 

In  communicating  with  you  for  the  first  time,  it  is  to  me  a  source  of  un- 
feigned satisfaction,  calling  for  mutual  gratulation  and  devout  thanks  to 
a  benign  Providence,  that  we  are  at  peace  with  all  mankind,  and  that 
our  country  exhibits  the  most  cheering  evidence  of  general  welfare  and 
progressive  improvement.  Turning  our  eyes  to  other  nations,  our  great 
desire  is  to  see  our  brethren  of  the  human  race  secured  in  the  blessings 
enjoyed  by  ourselves,  and  advancing  in  knowledge,  in  freedom,  and  in 
social  happiness. 

Our  foreign  relations,  although  in  their  general  character  pacific  and 
friendly,  present  subjects  of  difference  between  us  and  other  powers  of 
deep  interest,  as  well  to  the  country  at  large  as  to  many  of  our  citizens. 
To  effect  an  adjustment  of  these  shall  continue  to  be  the  object  of  my 
earnest  endeavors ;  and  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  of  the  task,  I  do 
not  allow  myself  to  apprehend  unfavorable  results.  Blessed  as  our  country 
is  with  everything  which  constitutes  national  strength,  she  is  fully  adequate 
to  the  maintenance  of  all  her  interests.  In  discharging  the  responsible 
trust  confided  to  the  executive  in  this  respect,  it  is  my  settled  purpose  to 
ask  nothing  that  is  not  clearly  right,  and  to  submit  to  nothing  that  is 
wrong  ;  and  I  flatter  myself  that,  supported  by  the  other  branches  of  the 
government,  and  by  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  people,  we  shall 
be  able,  under  the  protection  of  Providence,  to  cause  all  our  just  rights  to 
be  respected. 

Of  the  unsettled  matters  between  the  United  States  and  other  powers, 
the  most  prominent  are  those  which  have  for  years  been  the  subject  of 
negotiation  with  England,  France,  and  Spain.  The  late  periods  at  which 


698  JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

our  ministers  to  those  governments  left  the  United  States  render  it  impossi- 
ble, at  this  early  day,  to  inform  you  of  what  has  been  done  on  the  subjects 
with  which  they  have  been  respectively  charged.  Relying  upon  the  justice 
of  our  views  in  relation  to  the  points  committed  to  negotiation,  and  the 
reciprocal  good  feeling  which  characterizes  our  intercourse  with  those 
nations,  we  have  the  best  reason  to  hope  for  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of 
existing  differences. 

With  Great  Britain,  alike  distinguished  in  peace  and  war,  we  may  look 
forward  to  years  of  peaceful,  honorable,  and  elevated  competition.  Every- 
thing in  the  condition  and  history  of  the  two  nations  is  calculated  to  inspire 
sentiments  of  mutual  respect,  and  to  carry  conviction  to  the  minds  of  both, 
that  it  is  their  policy  to  preserve  the  most  cordial  relations.  Such  are  my 
own  views,  and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  such  are  also  the  prevailing 
sentiments  of  our  constituents.  Although  neither  time  nor  opportunity  has 
been  afforded  for  a  full  development  of  the  policy  which  the  present  cabinet 
of  Great  Britain  designs  to  pursue  toward  this  country,  I  indulge  the  hope 
that  it  will  be  of  a  just  and  pacific  character  ;  and  if  this  anticipation  be  re- 
alized, we  may  look  with  confidence  to  a  speedy  and  acceptable  adjustment 
of  our  affairs. 

Under  the  convention  for  regulating  the  reference  to  arbitration  of  the 
disputed  points  of  boundary  under  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent, 
the  proceedings  have  hitherto  been  conducted  in  that  spirit  of  candor  and 
liberality  which  ought  ever  to  characterize  the  acts  of  sovereign  states, 
seeking  to  adjust,  by  the  most  unexceptionable  means,  important  and  deli- 
cate subjects  of  contention.  The  first  statements  of  the  parties  have  been 
exchanged,  and  the  final  replication,  on  our  part,  is  in  a  course  of  prepara- 
tion. This  subject  has  received  the  attention  demanded  by  its  great  and 
peculiar  importance  to  a  patriotic  member  of  this  confederacy.  The  ex- 
position of  our  rights,  already  made,  is  such  as,  from  the  high  reputation 
of  the  commissioners  by  whom  it  has  been  prepared,  we  had  a  right  to 
expect.  Our  interests  at  the  court  of  the  sovereign  who  has  evinced  his 
friendly  disposition  by  assuming  the  delicate  task  of  arbitration,  have  been 
committed  to  a  citizen  of  the  state  of  Maine,  whose  character,  talents,  and 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  subject,  eminently  qualify  him  for  so  re- 
sponsible a  trust.  With  full  confidence  in  the  justice  of  our  cause,  and  in 
the  probity,  intelligence,  and  uncompromising  independence  of  the  illustrious 
arbitrator,  we  can  have  nothing  to  apprehend  from  the  result. 

From  France,  our  ancient  ally,  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  justice 
which  becomes  the  sovereign  of  a  powerful,  intelligent,  and  magnanimous 
people.  The  beneficial  effects  produced  by  the  commercial  convention  of 
1822,  limited  as  are  its  provisions,  are  too  obvious  not  to  make  a  salutary 
impression  upon  the  minds  of  those  who  are  charged  with  the  administra- 
tion of  her  government.  Should  this  result  induce  a  disposition  to  embrace 
to  their  full  extent  the  wholesome  principles  which  constitute  our  commer- 
cial policy,  our  minister  to  that  court  will  be  found  instructed  to  cherish 
such  a  disposition,  and  to  aid  in  conducting  it  to  useful  practical  conclusions. 
The  claims  of  our  citizens  for  depredations  upon  their  property,  long  since 
committed  under  the  authority,  and  in  many  instances  by  the  express 
direction,  of  the  then  existing  government  of  France,  remained  unsatisfied  j 
and  must,  therefore,  continue  to  furnish  a  subject  of  unpleasant  discussion, 
and  possible  collision,  between  the  two  governments.  I  cherish,  however, 
a  lively  hope,  founded  as  well  on  the  validity  of  those  claims  and  the  estab- 
lished policy  of  all  enlightened  governments,  as  on  the  known  integrity  of 


JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  699 

the  French  monarch,  that  the  injurious  delays  of  the  past  will  find  redress 
in  the  equity  of  the  future.  Our  minister  has  been  instructed  to  press  these 
demands  on  the  French  government  with  all  the  earnestness  which  is  called 
for  by  their  importance  and  irrefutable  justice,  and  in  a  spirit  that  will  evince 
the  respect  which  is  due  to  the  feelings  of  those  from  whom  the  satisfaction 
is  required. 

Our  minister  recently  appointed  to  Spain  has  been  authorized  to  assist  in 
removing  evils  alike  injurious  to  both  countries,  either  by  concluding  a 
commercial  convention  upon  liberal  and  reciprocal  terms,  or  by  urging  the 
acceptance,  in  their  full  extent,  of  the  mutually  beneficial  provisions  of  our 
navigation  acts.  He  has  also  been  instructed  to  make  a  further  appeal  to 
the  justice  of  Spain,  in  behalf  of  our  citizens,  for  indemnity  for  spoliations 
upon  our  commerce,  committed  under  her  authority — an  appeal  which  the 
pacific  and  liberal  course  observed  on  our  part,  and  a  due  confidence  in  the 
honor  of  that  government,  authorize  us  to  expect  will  not  be  made  in  vain. 

With  other  European  powers  our  intercourse  is  on  the  most  friendly 
footing.  In  Russia,  placed  by  her  territorial  limits,  extensive  population, 
and  great  power,  high  in  the  rank  of  nations,  the  United  States  have  always 
found  a  steadfast  friend.  Although  her  recent  invasion  of  Turkey  awa- 
kened a  lively  sympathy  for  those  who  were  exposed  to  the  desolations  of 
war,  we  can  not  but  anticipate  that  the  result  will  prove  favorable  to  the 
cause  of  civilization,  and  to  the  progress  of  human  happiness.  The  treaty 
of  peace  between  these  powers  having  been  ratified,  we  can  not  be  insensible 
to  the  great  benefit  to  be  derived  by  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  from 
unlocking  the  navigation  of  the  Black  sea,  a  free  passage  into  which  is 
secured  to  all  merchant  vessels  bound  to  ports  of  Russia  under  a  flag  at 
peace  with  the  porte.  This  advantage,  enjoyed  upon  conditions,  by  most 
of  the  powers  of  Europe,  has  hitherto  been  withheld  from  us.  During  the 
past  summer,  an  antecedent  but  unsuccessful  attempt  to  obtain  it,  was  re- 
newed under  circumstances  which  promised  the  most  favorable  results. 
Although  these  results  have  fortunately  been  thus  in  part  attained,  further 
facilities  to  the  enjoyment  of  this  new  field  for  the  enterprise  of  our  citizens 
are,  in  my  opinion,  sufficiently  desirable  to  insure  to  them  our  most  zealous 
attention. 

Our  trade  with  Austria,  although  of  secondary  importance,  has  been 
gradually  increasing ;  and  is  now  so  extended  as  to  deserve  the  foster- 
ing care  of  the  government.  A  negotiation,  commenced  and  nearly  com- 
pleted with  that  power,  by  the  late  administration,  has  been  consummated 
by  a  treaty  of  amity,  navigation,  and  commerce,  which  will  be  laid  before 
the  senate. 

During  the  recess  of  Congress  our  diplomatic  relations  with  Portugal 
have  been  resumed.  The  peculiar  state  of  things  in  that  country  caused 
a  suspension  of  the  recognition  of  the  representative  who  presented  himself, 
until  an  opportunity  was  had  to  obtain  from  our  official  organ  there,  informa- 
tion regarding  the  actual,  and,  as  far  as  practicable,  prospective  condition 
of  the  authority  by  which  the  representative  in  question  was  appointed. 
This  information  being  received,  the  application  of  the  established  rule  of 
our  government  in  like  cases  was  no  longer  withheld. 

Considerable  advances  have,  been  made  during  the  present  year  in  the 
adjustment  of  claims  of  our  citizens  upon  Denmark  for  spoliations  ;  but  all 
that  we  have  a  right  to  demand  from  that  government  in  their  behalf  has 
not  yet  been  conceded.  From  the  liberal  footing,  however,  upon  which 
his  subject  has,  with  the  approbation  of  the  claimants,  been  placed  by  the 


700  JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

government,  together  with  the  uniformly  just  and  friendly  disposition  which 
has  been  evinced  by  his  Danish  majesty,  there  is  a  reasonable  ground  to 
hope  that  this  single  subject  of  difference  will  speedily  be  removed. 

Our  relations  with  the  Barbary  powers  continue,  as  they  have  long  been, 
of  the  most  favorable  character.  The  policy  of  keeping  an  adequate  force 
in  the  Mediterranean,  as  security  for  the  continuance  of  this  tranquillity, 
will  be  persevered  in  ;  as  well  as  a  similar  one  for  the  protection  of  our 
commerce  and  fisheries  in  the  Pacific.  * 

The  southern  republics  of  our  own  hemisphere  have  not  yet  realized 
all  the  advantages  for  which  they  have  been  so  long  struggling.  We 
trust,  however,  that  the  day  is  not  distant  when  the  restoration  of  peace  and 
internal  quiet,  under  permanent  systems  of  government,  securing  the  lib- 
erty, and  promoting  the  happiness  of  the  citizens,  will  crown  with  complete 
success  their  long  and  arduous  efforts  in  the  cause  of  self-government ; 
and  enable  us  to  salute  them  as  friendly  rivals  in  all  that  is  truly  great 
and  glorious. 

The  recent  invasion  of  Mexico,  and  the  effect  thereby  produced  upon  her 
domestic  policy,  must  have  a  controlling  influence  upon  the  great  question 
of  South  American  emancipation.  We  have  seen  the  fell  spirit  of  civil  dis- 
sension rebuked,  and  perhaps  for  ever  stifled  in  that  republic  by  the  love  of 
independence.  If  it  be  true,  as  appearances  strongly  indicate,  that  the  spirit 
of  independence  is  the  master  spirit,  and  if  a  corresponding  sentiment  pre- 
vails in  the  other  states,  this  devotion  to  liberty  can  not  be  without  a  proper 
effect  upon  the  counsels  of  the  mother- country.  The  adoption  by  Spain  of 
a  pacific  policy  toward  her  former  colonies — an  event  consoling  to  humanity, 
and  a  blessing  to  the  world,  in  which -she  herself  can  not  fail  largely  to 
participate — may  be  most  reasonably  expected. 

The  claims  of  our  citizens  upon  the  South  American  governments  gene- 
rally, are  in  a  train  of  settlement,  while  the  principal  part  of  those  upon 
Brazil  have  been  adjusted  ;  and  a  decree  of  council,  ordering  bonds  to  be 
issued  by  the  minister  of  the  treasury  for  their  amouni,  has  received  the 
sanction  of  his  imperial  majesty.  This  event,  together  with  the  exchange 
of  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty  negotiated  and  concluded  in  1828,  happily 
terminates  all  serious  causes  of  difference  with  that  power. 

Measures  have  been  taken  to  place  our  commercial  relations  with  Peru 
upon  a  better  footing  than  that  upon  which  they  have  hitherto  rested  ;  and 
if  met  by  a  proper  disposition  on  the  part  of  that  government,  important 
benefits  may  be  secured  to  both  countries. 

Deeply  interested  as  we  are  in  the  prosperity  of  our  sister  republics,  and 
more  particularly  in  that  of  our  immediate  neighbor,  it  would  be  most  grati- 
fying to  me  were  I  permitted  to  say  that  the  treatment  which  we  have 
received  at  her  hands  has  been  as  universally  friendly  as  the  early  and  con- 
stant solicitude  manifested  by  the  United  States  for  her  success  gave  us  a 
right  to  expect.  But  it  becomes  my  duty  to  inform  you  that  prejudices  long 
indulged  by  a  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  Mexico  against  the  envoy  extra- 
ordinary and  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States,  have  had  an 
unfortunate  influence  upon  the  affairs  of  the  two  countries,  and  have  dimin- 
ished that  usefulness  to  his  own  which  was  justly  to  be  expected  from  his 
talents  and  zeal.  To  this  cause  in  a  great  degree  is  to  be  imputed  the 
failure  of  several  measures  equally  interesting  to  both  parties  ;  but  par- 
ticularly that  of  the  Mexican  government  to  ratify  a  treaty  negotiated  and 
concluded  in  its  own  capital,  and  under  its  own  eye.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances it  appeared  expedient  to  give  to  Mr.  Poinsett  the  option  eithei 


JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  701 

to  return  or  not,  as  in  his  judgment  the  interests  of  his  country  might  re- 
quire ;  and  instructions  to  that  end  were  prepared  ;  but  before  they  could 
be  despatched,  a  communication  was  received  from  the  government  of 
Mexico,  through  its  charge  d'affaires  here,  requesting  the  recall  of  our 
minister.  This  was  promptly  complied  with ;  and  a  representative  of  a 
rank  corresponding  with  that  of  the  Mexican  diplomatic  agent  near  this 
government  was  appointed.  Our  conduct  toward  that  republic  has  been 
uniformly  of  the  most  friendly  character ;  and  having  thus  removed  the 
only  alleged  obstacle  to  harmonious  intercourse,  I  can  not  but  hope  that 
an  advantageous  change  will  occur  in  our  affairs. 

In  justice  to  Mr.  Poinsett,  it  is  proper  to  say,  that  my  immediate  com- 
pliance with  the  application  for  his  recall,  and  the  appointment  of  a  succes- 
sor, are  not  to  be  ascribed  to  any  evidence  that  the  imputation  of  an  im- 
proper interference  by  him,  in  the  local  politics  of  Mexico,  was  well 
founded  ;  nor  to  a  want  of  confidence  in  his  talents  or  integrity ;  and  to 
add,  that  the  truth  of  that  charge  has  never  been  affirmed  by  the  federal 
government  of  Mexico  in  its  communications  with  this. 

I  consider  it  one  of  the  most  urgent  of  my  duties  to  bring  to  your  atten- 
tion the  propriety  of  amending  that  part  of  our  constitution  which  relates  to 
the  election  of  a  president  and  vice-president.  Our  system  of  government 
was  by  its  framers  deemed  an  experiment,  and  they  therefore  consistently 
provided  a  mode  of  remedying  its  defects. 

To  the  people  belongs  the  right  of  electing  their  chief  magistrate  ;  it  was 
never  designed  that  their  choice  should,  in  any  case,  be  defeated,  either  by 
the  intervention  of  electoral  colleges,  or  by  the  agency  confided,  under 
certain  contingencies,  to  the  house  of  representatives.  Experience  proves 
that,  in  proportion  as  agents  to  execute  the  will  of  the  people  are  multiplied 
there  is  danger  of  their  wishes  being  frustrated.  Some  may  be  unfaithful 
— all  are  liable  to  err.  So  far,  therefore,  as  the  people  can  with  conveni- 
ence speak,  it  is  safer  for  them  to  express  their  own  will. 

The  number  of  aspirants  to  the  presidency,  and  the  diversity  of  the 
interests  which  may  influence  their  claims,  leave  little  reason  to  expect  a 
choice  in  the  first  instance  ;  and  in  that  event,  the  election  must  devolve  on 
the  house  of  representatives,  where,  it  is  obvious,  the  will  of  the  people 
may  not  be  always  ascertained ;  or,  if  ascertained  may  not  be  regarded. 
From  the  mode  of  voting  by  states,  the  choice  is  to  be  made  by  twenty- 
four  votes ;  and  it  may  often  occur  that  one  of  these  may  be  controlled  by 
an  individual  representative.  Honors  and  offices  are  at  the  disposal  of  the 
successful  candidate.  Repeated  ballotings  may  make  it  apparent  that  a 
single  individual  holds  the  cast  in  his  hand.  May  he  not  be  tempted  to 
name  his  reward  ?  But  even  without  corruption — supposing  the  probity 
of  the  representative  to  be  proof  against  the  powerful  motives  by  which  he 
may  be  assailed — the  will  of  the  people  is  still  constantly  liable  to  be  mis- 
represented. One  may  err  from  ignorance  of  the  wishes  of  his  constituents  ; 
another  from  a  conviction  that  it  is  his  duty  to  be  governed  by  his  own 
judgment  of  the  fitness  of  the  candidate  ;  finally,  although  all  were  inflexi- 
bly honest — all  accurately  informed  of  the  wishes  of  their  constituents — 
yet,  under  the  present  mode  of  election,  a  minority  may  often  elect  a  presi- 
dent ;  and  when  this  happens,  it  may  reasonably  be  expected  that  efforts 
will  be  made  on  the  part  of  the  majority  to  rectify  this  injurious  operation 
of  their  institutions.  But  although  no  evil  of  this  character  should  result 
from  such  a  perversion  of  the  first  principles  of  our  system — that  the  ma- 
jority is  to  govern — it  must  be  very  certain  that  a  president  elected  by  a 


702  JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

minority  can  not  enjoy  the  confidence  necessary  to  the  successful  discharge 
of  his  duties. 

In  this,  as  in  all  other  matters  of  public  concern,  policy  requires  that  as 
few  impediments  as  possible  should  exist  to  the  free  operation  of  the  public 
will.  Let  us  then  endeavor  so  to  amend  our  system,  that  the  office  of  chief 
magistrate  may  not  be  conferred  upon  any  citizen  but  in  pursuance  of  a 
fair  expression  of  the  will  of  the  majority. 

I  would  therefore  recommend  such  an  amendment  of  the  constitution  as 
may  remove  all  intermediate  agency  in  the  election  of  president  and 
vice-president.  The  mode  may  be  so  regulated  as  to  preserve  to  each 
state  its  present  relative  weight  in  the  election  ;  and  a  failure  in  the  first 
attempt  may  be  provided  for,  by  confining  the  second  to  a  choice  between 
the  two  highest  candidates.  In  connexion  with  such  an  amendment,  it 
would  seem  advisable  to  limit  the  service  of  the  chief  magistrate  to  a  single 
term  of  either  four  or  six  years.  If,  however,  it  should  not  be  adopted,  it 
is  worthy  of  consideration  whether  a  provision  disqualifying  for  office  the 
representatives  in  Congress  on  whom  such  an  election  may  have  devolved, 
would  not  be  proper. 

While  members  of  Congress  can  be  constitutionally  appointed  to  offices 
of  trust  and  profit,  it  will  be  the  practice,  even  under  the  most  conscientious 
adherence  to  duty,  to  select  them  for  such  stations  as  they  are  believed  to 
be  better  qualified  to  fill  than  other  citizens ;  but  the  purity  of  our  govern- 
ment would  doubtless  be  promoted  by  their  exclusion  from  all  appointments 
in  the  gift  of  the  president,  in  whose  election  they  may  have  been  officially 
concerned.  The  nature  of  the  judicial  office,  and  the  necessity  of  secur- 
ing in  the  cabinet  and  in  diplomatic  stations  of  the  highest  rank,  the  best 
talents  and  political  experience,  should  perhaps  except  these  from  the 
exclusion. 

There  are  perhaps  few  men  who  can  for  any  great  length  of  time  enjoy 
office  and  power,  without  being  more  or  less  under  the  influence  of  feelings 
unfavorable  to  a  faithful  discharge  of  their  public  duties.  Their  integrity 
may  be  proof  against  improper  considerations  immediately  addressed  to 
themselves  ;  but  they  are  apt  to  acquire  a  habit  of  looking  with  indifference 
upon  the  public  interests,  and  of  tolerating  conduct  from  which  an  unprac- 
tised man  would  revolt.  Office  is  considered  as  a  species  of  property  ; 
and  government  rather  as  a  means  of  promoting  individual  interest,  than 
as  an  instrument  created  solely  for  the  service  of  the  people.  Corruption 
in  some,  and  in  others  a  perversion  of  correct  feelings  and  principles,  divert 
government  from  its  legitimate  ends,  and  make  it  an  engine  for  the  support 
of  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many.  The  duties  of  all  public  officers  are, 
or  at  least,  admit  of  being  made  so  plain  and  simple,  that  men  of  intelligence 
may  readily  qualify  themselves  for  their  performance  ;  and  I  can  not  but 
believe  that  more  is  lost  by  the  long  continuance  of  men  in  office  than  is 
generally  to  be  gained  by  their  experience.  I  submit  therefore  to  your 
consideration  whether  the  efficiency  of  the  government  would  not  be 
promoted,  and  official  industry  and  integrity  better  secured,  by  a  general 
extension  of  the  law  which  limits  appointments  to  four  years. 

In  a  country  where  officers  are  created  solely  for  the  benefit  of  the  people, 
no  one  man  has  any  more  intrinsic  right  to  official  station  than  another. 
Offices  were  not  established  to  give  support  to  particular  men,  at  the  public 
expense.  No  individual  wrong  is  therefore  done  by  removal,  since  neither 
appointment  to  nor  continuance  in  office  is  matter  of  right.  The  incumbent 
became  an  officer  with  a  view  to  public  benefits ;  and  when  these  require 


JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  703 

his  removal,  they  are  not  to  be  sacrificed  to  private  interests.  It  is  the 
people,  and  they  alone,  who  have  a  right  to  complain,  when  a  bad  officer 
is  substituted  for  a  good  one.  He  who  is  removed  has  the  same  means  of 
obtaining  a  living  that  are  enjoyed  by  the  millions  who  never  held  office. 
The  proposed  limitation  would  destroy  the  idea  of  property,  now  so  gene- 
rally connected  with  official  station  ;  and  although  individual  distress  may 
be  sometimes  produced,  it  would,  by  promoting  that  rotation  which  consti- 
tutes a  leading  principle  in  the  republican  creed,  give  healthful  action  to 
the  system. 

No  very  considerable  change  has  occurred  during  the  recess  of  Congress, 
in  the  condition  of  either  our  agriculture,  commerce,  or  manufactures. 
The  operation  of  the  tariff  has  not  proved  so  injurious  to  the  two  former, 
or  as  beneficial  to  the  latter,  as  was  anticipated.  Importations  of  foreign 
goods  have  not  been  sensibly  diminished,  while  domestic  competition, 
under  an  illusive  excitement,  has  increased  the  production  much  beyond 
the  demand  for  home  consumption.  The  consequences  have  been  low 
prices,  temporary  embarrassment,  and  partial  loss.  That  such  of  our 
manufacturing  establishments  as  are  based  upon  capital,  and  are  prudently 
managed,  will  survive  the  shock,  and  be  ultimately  profitable,  there  is  no 
good  reason  to  doubt. 

To  regulate  its  conduct,  so  as  to  promote  equally  the  prosperity  of  these 
three  cardinal  interests,  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  tasks  of  government ; 
and  it  may  be  regretted  that  the  complicated  restrictions  which  now  embar- 
rass the  intercourse  nf  nations,  could  not  by  common  consent  be  abolished, 
and  commerce  allowed  to  flow  in  those  channels  to  which  individual  enter- 
prise, always  its  surest,  guide,  might  direct  it.  But  we  must  ever  expect 
selfish  legislation  in  other  nations  ;  and  are  therefore  compelled  to  adapt  our 
own  to  their  regulations,  in  the  manner  best  calculated  to  avoid  serious  in- 
jury, and  to  harmonize  the  conflicting  interests  of  our  agriculture,  our 
commerce,  and  our  manufactures.  Under  these  impressions,  I  invite  your 
attention  to  the  existing  tariff,  believing  that  some  of  its  provisions  require 
modification. 

The  general  rule  to  be  applied  in  graduating  the  duties  upon  articles  of 
foreign  growth  or  manufacture,  is  that  which  will  place  our  own  in  fair 
competition  with  those  of  other  countries  ;  and  the  inducements  to  advance 
even  a  step  beyond  this  point,  are  controlling  in  regard  to  those  articles 
which  are  of  primary  necessity  in  time  of  war.  When  we  reflect  upon  the 
difficulty  and  delicacy  of  this  operation,  it  is  important  that  it  should  never 
be  attempted  but  with  the  utmost  caution.  Frequent  legislation  in  regard 
to  any  branch  of  industry,  affecting  its  value,  and  by  which  its  capital  may 
be  transferred  to  new  channels,  must  always  be  productive  of  hazardous 
speculation  and  loss. 

In  deliberating,  therefore,  on  these  interesting  subjects,  local  feelings  and 
prejudices  should  be  merged  in  the  patriotic  determination  to  promote  the 
great  interests  of  the  whole.  All  attempts  to  connect  them  with  the  party 
conflicts  of  the  day  are  necessarily  injurious,  and  should  be  discountenanced. 
Our  action  upon  them  should  be  under  the  control  of  higher  and  purer  mo- 
tives. Legislation,  .subjected  to  such  influences,  can  never  be  just ;  and 
will  not  long  retain  the  sanction  of  a  people,  whose  active  patriotism  is  not 
bounded  by  sectional  limits,  nor  insensible  to  that  spirit  of  concession  and 
forbearance  which  gave  life  to  our  political  compact,  and  still  sustains  it. 
Discarding  all  calculations  of  political  ascendency,  the  north,  the  south,  the 


704  JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

east,  and  the  west,  should  unite  in  diminishing  any  burden  of  which  either 
may  justly  complain. 

The  agricultural  interest  of  our  country  is  so  essentially  connected  with 
every  other,  and  so  superior  in  importance  to  them  all,  that  it  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  invite  to  it  your  particular  attention.  It  is  principally  as 
manufactures  and  commerce  tend  to  increase  the  value  of  agricultural 
productions,  and  to  extend  their  application  to  the  wants  and  comforts  of 
ociety,  that  they  deserve  the  fostering  care  of  government. 

Looking  forward  to  the  period,  not  far  distant,  when  a  sinking  fund  will 
no  longer  be  required,  the  duties  on  those  articles  of  importation  which  can 
not  come  in  competition  with  our  own  productions,  are  the  first  that  should 
engage  the  attention  of  Congress  in  the  modification  of  the  tariff.  Of  these, 
tea  and  coffee  are  the  most  prominent ;  they  enter  largely  into  the  consump- 
tion of  the  country,  and  have  become  articles  of  necessity  to  all  classes. 
A  reduction  therefore  of  the  existing  duties  will  be  felt  as  a  common  bene- 
fit ;  but,  like  all  other  legislation  connected  with  commerce, to  be  efficacious, 
and  not  injurious,  it  should  be  gradual  and  certain. 

The  public  prosperity  is  evinced  in  the  increased  revenue  arising  from 
the  sales  of  public  lands  ;  and  in  the  steady  maintenance  of  that  produced  by 
imposts  and  tonnage,  notwithstanding  the  additional  duties  imposed  by  the 
act  of  19th  May,  1828,  and  the  unusual  importations  in  the  early  part  of 
that  year. 

The  balance  in  the  treasury  on  the  1  st  January,  1 829,  was  five  millions 
nine  hundred  and  seventy-two  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars 
and  eighty-one  cents.  The  receipts  of  the  current  year  are  estimated  at 
twenty-four  millions  six  hundred  and  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty 
dollars  ;  and  the  expenditures  for  the  same  time  at  twenty-six  millions  one 
hundred  and  sixty-four  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-five  dollars : 
leaving  a  balance  in  the  treasury,  on  the  1st  of  January  next,  of  four  mill- 
ions four  hundred  and  ten  thousand  and  seventy  dollars  and  eighty-one 
cents. 

There  will  have  been  paid  on  account  of  the  public  debt  during  the  pres- 
ent year,  the  sum  of  twelve  millions  four  hundred  and  five  thousand  and  five 
dollars  and  eighty  cents  ;  reducing  the  whole  debt  of  the  government,  on 
the  first  of  January  next,  to  forty-eight  millions  five  hundred  and  sixty-five 
thousand  four  hundred  and  six  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  including  seven  mill- 
ions of  five  per  cent,  stock,  subscribed  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
The  payment  on  account  of  the  public  debt,  made  on  the  first  of  July  last, 
was  eight  millions  seven  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  four  hundred  and 
sixty-two  dollars  and  eighty-seven  cents.  It  was  apprehended  that  the 
sudden  withdrawal  of  so  large  a  sum  from  the  banks  in  which  it  was 
deposited,  at  a  time  of  unusual  pressure  in  the  money  market,  might  cause 
much  injury  to  the  interests  dependent  on  bank  accommodations.  But 
this  evil  was  wholly  averted  by  an  early  anticipation  of  it  at  the  treasury, 
aided  by  the  judicious  arrangements  of  the  officers  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States. 

The  state  of  the  finances  exhibits  the  resources  of  the  nation  in  an  aspect 
highly  flattering  to  its  industry,  and  auspicious  of  the  ability  of  govern- 
ment, in  a  very  short  time,  to  extinguish  the  public  debt.  When  this  shall 
be  done,  our  population  will  be  relieved  from  a  considerable  portion  of  its 
present  burdens  ;  and  will  find  not  only  new  motives  to  patriotic  affection, 
but  additional  means  for  the  display  of  individual  enterprise.  The  fiscal 
power  of  the  states  will  also  be  increased,  and  may  be  more  extensively 


JACKSON  S    FIRST    ANNUAL    MESSAGE.  705 

exerted  in  favor  of  education  and  other  public  objects  ;  while  ample  means 
will  remain  in  the  federal  government  to  promote  the  general  weal,  in  all 
the  modes  permitted  to  its  authority. 

After  the  extinction  of  the  public  debt,  it  is  not  probable  that  any  adjust- 
ment of  the  tariff,  upon  principles  satisfactory  to  the  people  of  the  Union 
will,  until  a  remote  period,  if  ever,  leave  the  government  without  a  con 
siderable  surplus  in  the  treasury,  beyond  what  may  be  required  for  its  cur- 
rent service.  As,  then,  the  period  approaches  when  the  application  of  the 
revenue  to  the  payment  of  debt  will  cease,  the  disposition  of  the  surplus  will 
present  a  subject  for  the  serious  deliberation  of  Congress  ;  and  it  mav  be 
fortunate  for  the  country  that  it  is  yet  to  be  decided.  Considered  in  con- 
nexion with  the  difficulties  which  have  heretofore  attended  appropriations 
for  purposes  of  internal  improvement,  and  with  those  which  this  experience 
tells  us  will  certainly  arise,  whenever  power  over  such  subjects  may  be  ex- 
ercised by  the  general  government,  it  is  hoped  that  it  may  lead  to  the  adop- 
tion of  some  plan  which  will  reconcile  the  diversified  interests  of  the  states, 
and  strengthen  the  bonds  which  unite  them.  Every  member  of  the  Union, 
in  peace  and  in  war,  will  be  benefited  by  the  improvement  of  inland  navi- 
gation, and  the  construction  of  highways  in  the  several  states.  Let  us  then 
endeavor  to  attain  this  benefit  in  a  mode  which  will  be  satisfactory  to  all. 
That  hitherto  adopted  has,  by  many  of  our  fellow-citizens,  been  deprecated 
as  an  infraction  of  the  constitution  ;  while  by  others  it  has  been  viewed  as 
inexpedient.  All  feel  that  it  has  been  employed  at  the  expense  of  harmony 
in  the  legislative  councils. 

To  avoid  these  evils,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  most  safej  just,  and  federal 
disposition  which  could  be  made  of  this  surplus  revenue,  would  be  its  ap- 
portionment among  the  several  states,  according  to  their  ratio  of  representa- 
tion ;  and  should  this  measure  not  be  found  warranted  by  the  constitution, 
that  it  would  be  expedient  to  propose  to  the  states  an  amendment  authori- 
zing it.     I  regard  an  appeal  to  the  source  of  power,  in  cases  of  real  doubt, 
and  where  its  exercise  is  deemed  indispensable  to  the  general  welfare,  as 
among  the  most  sacred  of  all  our  obligations.     Upon  this  country,  more 
than  any  other,  has,  in  the  providence  of  God,  been  cast  the  special  guar- 
dianship of  the  great  principle  of  adherence  to  written  constitutions.     If  it 
fail  here,  all  hope  in  regard  to  it  will  be  extinguished.     That  this  was  in- 
tended to  be  a  government  of  limited  and  specific,  and  not  general  powers, 
must  be  admitted  by  all ;  and  it  is  our  duty  to  preserve  for  it  the  character 
intended  by  its  framors.     If  experience  point  out  the  necessity  for  an  en- 
largement of  these  powers,  let  us  apply  for  it  to  those  for  whose  benefit  it 
is  to  be   exercised  ;  and  not  undermine  the  whole  system  by  a  resort  to 
overstrained  construction.    The  scheme  has  worked  well.    It  has  exceeded 
the  hopes  of  those  who  devised  it,  and  become  an  object  of  admiration  to 
the  world.     We  are  responsible  to  our  country  and  to  the  glorious  cause 
of  self-government,  for  the  preservation  of  so  great  a  good.     The  great  mass 
of  legislation  relating  to  our  internal  affairs  was  intended  to  be  left  where 
the   federal  convention   found   it — in  the  state  governments.     Nothing  is 
clearer,  in  my  view,  than  that  we  are  chiefly  indebted  for  the  success  of 
the  constitution  under  which  we  are   now  acting,  to  the  watchful  and 
auxiliary  operation  of  the  state  authorities.     This  is  not  the  reflection  of 
a  day,  but  belongs  to  the  most  deeply-rooted  convictions  of  my  mind.     I 
can  not,  therefore,  too  strongly,  or  too  earnestly,  for  my  own  sense  of  its 
importance,  warn  you  against  all  encroachments  upon  the  legitimate  sphere 

VOL.  I.— 45 


706  JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

of  state  sovereignty.     Sustained  by  its  healthful  and  invigorating  influence 
the  federal  system  can  never  fall. 

In  the  collection  of  the  revenue,  the  long  credits  authorized  on  goods 
imported  from  beyond  the  cape  of  Good  Hope  are  the  chief  cause  of 
the  losses  at  present  sustained.  If  these  were  shortened  to  six,  nine,  and 
twelve  months,  and  warehouses  provided  by  government  sufficient  to  re- 
ceive the  goods  offered  in  deposite  for  security  and  for  debenture,  and 
if  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  a  priority  of  payment  out  of  the  estates 
of  its  insolvent  debtors  was  more  effectually  secured,  this  evil  would  in  a 
great  measure  be  obviated.  An  authority  to  construct  such  houses  is, 
therefore,  with  the  proposed  alteration  of  the  credits,  recommended  to  your 
attention. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  laws  for  the  collection  and  security  of  the 
revenue  arising  from  imposts  were  chiefly  framed  when  the  rates  of  duties 
on  imported  goods  presented  much  less  temptation  for  illicit  trade  than  at 
present  exists.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  these  laws  are  in  some  re- 
spects quite  insufficient  for  the  proper  security  of  the  revenue  and  the  pro- 
tection of  the  interests  of  those  who  are  disposed  to  observe  them.  The 
injurious  and  demoralizing  tendency  of  a  successful  system  of  smuggling 
is  so  obvious  as  not  to  require  comment,  and  can  not  be  too  carelfully  guarded 
against.  I  therefore  suggest  to  Congress  the  propriety  of  adopting  efficient 
measures  to  prevent  this  evil,  avoiding,  however,  as  much  as  possible,  every 
unnecessary  infringement  of  individual  liberty  and  embarrassment  of  fair 
and  lawful  business. 

On  an  examination  of  the  records  of  the  treasury,  I  have  been  forcibly 
struck  with  the  large  amount  of  public  money  which  appears  to  be  outstand- 
ing. Of  the  sum  thus  due  from  individuals  to  the  government,  a  considera- 
ble portion  is  undoubtedly  desperate  ;  and  in  many  instances  has  probably 
been  rendered  so  by  remissness  in  the  agents  charged  with  its  collection. 
By  proper  exertions  a  great  part,  however,  may  yet  be  recovered  ;  and 
whatever  may  be  the  portions  respectively  belonging  to  these  two  classes, 
it  behooves  the  government  to  ascertain  the  real  state  of  the  fact.  This  can 
be  done  only  by  the  prompt  adoption  of  judicious  measures  for  the  collec- 
tion of  such  as  may  be  made  available.  It  is  believed  that  a  very  large 
amount  has  been  lost  through  the  inadequacy  of  the  means  provided  for  the 
collection  of  debts  due  to  the  public  ;  and  that  this  inadequacy  lies  chiefly 
in  the  want  of  legal  skill,  habitually  and  constantly  employed  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  agents  engaged  in  the  service.  It  must,  I  think,  be  admitted 
that  the  supervisory  power  over  suits  brought  by  the  public,  which  is  now 
vested  in  an  accounting  officer  of  the  treasury,  not  selected  with  a  view  to 
his  legal  knowledge,  and  encumbered  as  he  is  with  numerous  other  duties, 
operates  unfavorably  to  the  public  interest. 

It  is  important  that  this  branch  of  the  public  service  should  be  subject  to 
the  supervision  of  such  professional  skill  as  will  give  it  efficiency.  The 
expense  attendant  upon  such  a  modification  of  the  executive  department 
would  be  justified  by  the  soundest  principles  of  economy.  I  would  recom- 
mend, therefore,  that  the  duties  now  assigned  to  the  agent  of  the  treasury, 
so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  superintendence  and  management  of  legal  pro- 
ceedings on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  .be  transferred  to  the  attorney- 
general  ;  and  that  this  officer  be  placed  on  the  same  footing  in  all  respects 
as  the  heads  of  the  other  departments — receiving  like  compensation  and 
having  such  subordinate  officers  provided  for  his  department  as  may  be 
requisite  for  the  discharge  of  these  additional  duties.  The  professional 


JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  707 

skill  of  the  attorney-general,  employed  in  directing  the  conduct  of  marshals 
and  district-attorneys,  would  hasten  the  collection  of  debts  now  in  suit  and 
hereafter  save  much  to  the  government.  It  might  be  further  extended  to 
the  superintendence  of  all  criminal  proceedings  for  offences  against  the 
United  States.  In  making  this  transfer  great  care  should  be  taken,  how- 
ever, that  the  power  necessary  to  the  treasury  department  be  not  impaired  ; 
one  of  its  greatest  securities  consisting  in  a  control  over  all  accounts  until 
they  are  audited  or  reported  for  suit. 

In  connexion  with  the  foregoing  views  I  would  suggest,  also,  an  in- 
quiry whether  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  Congress  authorizing  the  dis- 
charge of  the  persons  of  debtors  to  the  government  from  imprisonment, 
may  not,  consistently  with  the  public  interest,  be  extended  to  the  release  of 
the  debt,  where  the  conduct  of  the  debtor  is  wholly  exempt  from  the  impu- 
tation of  fraud.  Some  more  liberal  policy  than  that  which  now  prevails  in 
reference  to  this  unfortunate  class  of  citizens  is  certainly  due  to  them,  and 
would  prove  beneficial  to  the  country.  The  continuance  of  the  liability 
after  the  means  to  discharge  it  have  been  exhausted,  can  only  serve  to 
dispirit  the  debtor ;  or  where  his  resources  are  but  partial,  the  want  of 
power  in  the  government  to  compromise  and  release  the  demand,  instigates 
to  fraud  as  the  only  resource  for  securing  a  support  to  his  family.  He 
thus  sinks  into  a  state  of  apathy  and  becomes  a  useless  drone  in  society,  or 
a  vicious  member  of  it,  if  not  a  feeling  witness  of  the  rigor  and  inhumanity 
of  his  country.  All  experience  proves  that  oppressive  debt  is  the  bane  of 
enterprise  ;  and  it  should  be  the  care  of  a  republic  not  to  exert  a  grinding 
power 'over  misfortune  and  poverty. 

Since  the  last  session  of  Congress  numerous  frauds  on  the  treasury  have 
been  discovered,  which  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  bring  under  the  cognizance 
of  the  United  States  court  for  this  district,  by  a  criminal  prosecution.  It 
was  my  opinion,  and  that  of  able  counsel  who  were  consulted,  that  the 
cases  came  within  the  penalties  of  the  act  of  the  17th  Congress,  approved 
3d  March,  1823,  providing  for  the  punishment  of  frauds  committed  on  the 
government  of  the  United  States.  Either  from  some  defect  in  the  law,  or 
in  its  administration,  every  effort  to  bring  the  accused  to  trial  under  its  pro- 
visions proved  ineffectual,  and  the  government  was  driven  to  the  necessity 
of  resorting  to  the  vague  and  inadequate  provisions  of  the  common  law. 
It  is  therefore  my  duty  to  call  your  attention  to  the  laws  which  hare  been 
passed  for  the  protection  of  the  treasury.  If,  indeed,  there  be  no  provision 
by  which  those  who  may  be  unworthily  intrusted  with  its  guardianship 
can  be  punished  for  the  most  flagrant  violation  of  duty,  extending  even  to 
the  most  fraudulent  appropriation  of  the  public  funds  to  their  own  use, 
it  is  time  to  remedy  so  dangerous  an  omission.  Or  if  the  law  has  been 
perverted  from  its  original  purposes,  and  criminals  deserving  to  be  punished 
under  its  provisions  have  been  rescued  by  legal  subtleties,  it  ought  to  be 
made  so  plain  by  amendatory  provisions  as  to  baffle  the  arts  of  perversion, 
and  accomplish  the  ends  of  its  original  enactment. 

In  one  of  the  most  flagrant  cases,  the  court  decided  that  the  prosecution 
was  barred  by  the  statute  which  limits  its  prosecution  for  fraud  to  two  years. 
In  this  case  all  the  evidences  of  the  fraud,  and  indeed,  all  knowledge  that  a 
fraud  had  been  committed,  were  in  possession  of  the  party  accused,  until 
after  the  two  years  had  elapsed.  Surely  the  statute  ought  not  to  run  in 
favor  of  any  mau'while  he  retains  all  the  evidences  of  his  crime  in  his  own 
possession  ;  and  least  of  all,  in  favor  of  a  public  officer  who  continues  to 
defraud  the  treasury  and  conceal  the  transaction,  for  the  brief  term  of  two 


708  JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

years.  I  would  therefore  recommend  such  an  alteration  of  the  law  as  will 
give  the  injured  party  and  the  government  two  years  after  the  disclosure  of 
the  fraud,  or  after  the  accused  is  out  of  office,  to  commence  their  prosecu- 
tion. 

In  connexion  with  this  subject,  I  invite  the  attention  of  Congress  to  a 
general  and  minute  inquiry  into  the  condition  of  the  government  with  a 
view  to  ascertain  what  offices  can  be  dispensed  with,  what  expenses  re- 
trenched, and  what  improvements  may  be  made  in  the  organization  of  its 
various  parts  to  secure  the  proper  responsibility  of  public  agents,  and  pro- 
mote efficiency  and  justice  in  all  its  operations. 

The  report  of  the  secretary  of  war  will  make  you  acquainted  with  the 
condition  of  our  army,  fortifications,  arsenals,  and  Indian  affairs.  The 
proper  discipline  of  the  army,  the  training  and  equipment  of  the  militia,  the 
education  bestowed  at  West  Point,  and  the  accumulation  of  the  means  of 
defence  applicable  to  the  naval  force,  will  tend  to  prolong  the  peace  we 
now  enjoy,  and  which  every  good  citizen,  more  especially  those  who  have 
felt  the  miseries  of  even  a  successful  warfare,  most  ardently  desires  to 
perpetuate. 

The  returns  from  the  subordinate  branches  of  this  service  exhibit  a  regu- 
larity and  order  highly  creditable  to  its  character  ;  both  officers  and  soldiers 
seem  imbued  with  a  proper  sense  of  duty,  and  conform  to  the  restraints  of 
exact  discipline  with  that  'cheerfulness  which  becomes  the  profession  of 
arms.  There  is  need,  however,  of  further  legislation  to  obviate  the  in- 
conveniences specified  in  the  report  under  consideration,  to  some  of  which 
it  is  proper  that  I  should  call  your  particular  attention. 

The  act  of  Congress  of  the  2d  March,  182 1 ,  to  reduce  and  fix  .the  military 
establishment,  remaining  unexecuted  as  it  regards  the  command  of  one  of 
the  regiments  of  artillery,  can  not  now  be  deemed  a  guide  to  the  executive 
in  making  the  proper  appointment.  An  explanatory  act,  designating  the 
class  of  officers  out  of  which  this  grade  is  to  be  filled — whether  from  the 
military  list,  as  existing  prior  to  the  act  of  1821,  or  from  it,  as  it  has  been 
fixed  by  that  act — would  remove  this  difficulty.  It  is  also  important  that 
the  laws  regulating  the  pay  and  emoluments  of  officers  generally,  should 
be  more  specific  than  they  now  are.  Those,  for  example,  in  relation  to  the 
paymaster  and  surgeon-general,  assign  to  them  an  annual  salary  of  two 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  ;  but  are  silent  as  to  allowances  which,  in 
certain  exigencies  of  the  service,  may  be  deemed  indispensable  to  the 
discharge  of  their  duties.  This  circumstance  has  been  the  authority  for 
extending  to  them  various  allowances  at  different  times  under  former  ad- 
ministrations, but  no  uniform  rule  has  been  observed  on  the  subject.  Simi- 
lar inconveniences  exist  in  other  cases,  in  which  the  construction  put  upon 
the  laws  by  the  public  accountants  may  operate  unequally,  produce  con- 
fusion, and  expose  officers  to  the  odium  of  claiming  what  is  not  their  due. 

I  recommend  to  your  fostering  care,  as  one  of  your  safest  means  of  na- 
tional defence,  the  military  academy.  This  institution  has  already  exer- 
cised the  happiest  influence  upon  the  moral  and  intellectual  character  of 
our  army ;  and  such  of  the  graduates  as,  from  various  causes,  may  not 
pursue  the  profession  of  arms,  will  be  scarcely  less  useful  as  citizens. 
Their  knowledge  of  the  military  art  will  be  advantageously  employed  in 
the  militia  service,  and  in  a  measure  secure  to  that  c]ass  of  troops  the 
advantages  which  in  this  respect  belong  to  standing  armies. 

I  would  also  suggest  a  review  of  the  pension  law,  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
tending its  benefits  to  every  revolutionary  soldier  who  aided  in  establishing 


JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  709 

our  liberties,  and  who  is  unable  to  maintain  himself  in  comfort.  These 
relics  of  the  war  of  independence  have  strong  claims  upon  their  country's 
gratitude  and  bounty.  The  law  is  defective  in  not  embracing  within  its 
provisions  all  those  who  were  during  the  last  war  disabled  from  supporting 
themselves  by  manual  labor.  Such  an  amendment  would  add  but  little  to 
the  amount  of  pensions,  and  is  called  for  by  the  sympathies  of  the  people, 
as  well  as  by  considerations  of  sound  policy.  It  will  be  perceived  that  a 
large  addition  to  the  list  of  pensioners  has  been  occasioned  by  an  order  of 
the  late  administration,  departing  materially  from  the  rules  which  had  pre- 
viously prevailed.  Considering  it  an  act  of  legislation,  1  suspended  its 
operation  as  soon  as  I  was  informed  that  it  had  commenced.  Before  this 
period,  however,  applications  under  the  new  regulation  had  been  pre- 
ferred, to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  ;  of  which,  on  the  27th 
March,  the  date  of  its  revocation,  eighty-seven  were  admitted.  For  the 
amount  there  was  neither  estimate  nor  appropriation  ;  and  besides  this 
deficiency,  the  regular  allowances,  according  to  the  rules  which  have  here- 
tofore governed  the  department,  exceed  the  estimates  of  its  late  secretary 
by  about  fifty  thousand  dollars,  for  which  an  appropriation  is  asked. 

Your  particular  attention  is  requested  to  that  part  of  the  report  of  the 
secretary  of  war  which  relates  to  the  money  held  in  trust  for  the  Seneca 
tribe  of  Indians.  It  will  be  perceived  that,  without  legislative  aid,  the  exec- 
utive can  not  obviate  the  embarrassments  occasioned  by  the  diminution  of 
the  dividends  on  that  fund,  which  originally  amounted  to  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  has  recently  been  vested  in  United  States  three-per- 
cent, stock. 

The  condition  and  ulterior  destiny  of  the  Indian  tribes  within  the  limits 
of  some  of  our  states  have  become  objects  of  much  interest  and  importance. 
It  has  long  been  the  policy  of  government  to  introduce  among  them  the 
arts  of  civilization,  in  the  hope  of  gradually  reclaiming  them  from  a  wan- 
dering life.  This  policy  has,  however,  been  coupled  with  another  wholly 
incompatible  with  its  success.  Professing  a  desire  to  civilize  and  settle 
them,  we  have  at  the  same  time  lost  no  opportunity  to  purchase  their  lands, 
and  thrust  them  further  into  the  wilderness.  By  this  means  they  have  not 
only  been  kept  in  a  wandering  state,  but  been  led  to  look  upon  us  as  un- 
just and  inditlerent  to  their  fate.  Thus,  though  lavish  in  its  expenditures 
upon  the  subject,  government  has  constantly  defeated  its  own  policy;  and 
the  Indians,  in  general,  receding  further  and  further  to  the  west,  have  re- 
tained their  savage  habits.  A  portion,  however,  of  the  southern  tribes, 
having  mingled  much  with  the  whites,  and  made  some  progress  in  the  arts 
of  civilized  life,  have  lately  attempted  to  erect  an  independent  government 
within  the  limits  of  Georgia  and  Alabama.  These  sidles,  claiming  to  be 
the  only  sovereigns  within  their  terrilories,  extended  their  laws  over  the 
Indians,  which  induced  the  latter  to  call  upon  the  United  States  for 
protection. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  question  presented  was,  whether  the 
general  government  had  a  riffht  to  sustain  those  people  in  their  pretensions. 
The  constitution  declares,  that  "no  new  state  shall  be  formed  or  erected 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  state,"  without  the  consent  of  its  legis- 
lature. If  the  general  government  is  not  permitted  to  tolerate  the  erection 
of  a  confederate  state  within  the  territory  of  one  of  the  members  of  this 
Union,  against  her  consent,  much  less  could  it  allow  a  foreign  and  inde- 
pendent government  to  establish  itself  there.  Georgia  became  a  member 
of  the  confederacy  which  eventuated  in  our  federal  union,  as  a  sovereign 


710  JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

state,  always  asserting  her  claim  to  certain  limits,  which,  having  been 
originally  defined  in  her  colonial  charter,  and  subsequently  recognised  in 
the  treaty  of  peace,  she  has  ever  since  continued  to  enjoy,  except  as  they 
have  been  circumscribed  by  her  own  voluntary  transfer  of  a  portion  of  her 
territory  to  the  United  States,  in  the  articles  of  cession  of  1802.  Alabama 
was  admitted  into  the  Union  on  the  same  footing  with  the  original  states, 
with  boundaries  which  were  prescribed  by  Congress.  There  is  no  con- 
stitutional, conventional,  or  legal  provision,  which  allows  them  less  power 
over  the  Indians  within  their  borders,  than  is  possessed  by  Maine  or  New 
York.  .Would  the  people  of  Maine  permit  the  Penobscot  tribe  to  erect  an 
independent  government  within  their  state  ?  and  unless  they  did,  would  it 
not  bfi  the  duty  of  the  general  government  to  support  them  in  resisting  such 
a  measure  ?  Would  the  people  of  New  York  permit  each  remnant  of  the 
Six  Nations  within  her  borders,  to  declare  itself  an  independent  people 
under  the  protection  of  the  United  States  ?  Could  the  Indians  establish  a 
separate  republic  on  each  of  their  reservations  in  Ohio  ?  and  if  they  were 
so  disposed,  would  it  be  the  duty  of  this  government  to  protect  them  in  the 
attempt  ?  If  the  principle  involved  in  the  obvious  answer  to  these  ques- 
tions be  abandoned,  it  will  follow  that  the  objects  of  this  government  are 
reversed  ;  and  that  it  has  become  a  part  of  its  duty  to  aid  in  destroying  the 
states  which  it  was  established  to  protect. 

Actuated  by  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  informed  the  Indians  inhabiting 
parts  of  Georgia  and  Alabama,  that  their  attempt  to  establish  an  independent 
government  would  not  be  countenanced  by  the  executive  of  the  United 
States,  and  advised  them  to  emigrate  beyond  the  Mississippi  or  submit  to 
the  laws  of  those  states. 

Our  conduct  toward  these  people  is  deeply  interesting  to  our  national 
character.  Their  present  condition,  contrasted  with  what  they  once  were, 
makes  a  most  powerful  appeal  to  our  sympathies.  Our  ancestors  found  them 
the  uncontrolled  possessors  of  these  vast  regions.  By  persuasion  and  force 
they  have  been  made  to  retire  from  river  to  river,  and  from  mountain  to 
mountain,  until  some  of  the  tribes  have  become  extinct,  and  others  have 
left  but  remnants,  to  preserve  for  a  while  their  once  terrible  names.  Sur- 
rounded by  the  whites,  with  their  arts  of  civilization,  which,  by  destroying 
the  resources  of  the  savage,  doom  him  to  weakness  and  decay,  the  fate  of 
the  Mohegan,  the  Narraganset,  and  the  Delaware,  is  fast  overtaking  the 
Choctaw,  the  Cherokee,  and  the  Creek.  That  this  fate  surely  awaits  them, 
if  they  remain  within  the  limits  of  the  states,  does  not  admit  of  a  doubt. 
Humanity  and  national  honor  demand  that  every  effort  should  be  made  to 
avert  so  great  a  calamity.  It  is  too  late  to  inquire  whether  it  was  just  in 
the  United  States  to  include  them  and  their  territory  within  the  bounds  of 
new  states  whose  limits  they  could  control.  That  step  can  not  be  retraced. 
A  state  can  not  be  dismembered  by  Congress,  or  restricted  in  the  exercise 
of  her  constitutional  power.  But  the  people  of  those  states,  and  of  every 
state,  actuated  by  feelings  of  justice  and  regard  for  our  national  honor, 
submit  to  you  the  interesting  question,  whether  something  can  not  be  done, 
consistently  with  the  rights  of  the  states,  to  preserve  this  much-injured  race. 

As  a  means  of  effecting  this  end,  I  suggest  for  your  consideration  the 
propriety  of  setting  apart  an  ample  district  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
without  the  limits  of  any  state  or  territory  now  formed,  to  be  guarantied  to 
the  Indian  tribes  as  long  as  they  shall  occupy  it,  each  tribe  having  a  dis- 
tinct control  over  the  portion  designated  for  its  use.  There  they  may  be 
secured  in  the  enjoyment  of  governments  of  their  own  choice,  subject  to 


JACKSON*    FIRST    ANNUAL    MESSAGE.  711 

no  other  control  from  the  United  States  than  such  as  may  be  necessary  to 
preserve  peace  on  the  frontier,  and  between  the  several  tribes.  There  the 
benevolent  may  endeavor  to  teach  them  the  arts  of  civilization  ;  and,  by 
promoting  union  and  harmony  among  them,  to  raise  up  an  interesting  com- 
monwealth, destined  to  perpetuate  the  race,  and  to  attest  the  humanity  and 
justice  of  this  government. 

This  emigration  should  be  voluntary,  for  it  would  be  as  cruel  as  unjust 
to  compel  the  aborigines  to  abandon  the  graves  of  their  fathers  and  seek  a 
^home  in  a  distant  land.  But  they  should  be  distinctly  informed  that,  if  they 
remain  within  the  limits  of  the  states,  they  must  be  subject  to  their  laws. 
In  return  for  their  obedience  as  individuals,  they  will,  without  doubt,  be 
protected  in  the  enjoyment  of  those  possessions  which  they  have  improved 
by  their  industry.  But  it  seems  to  me  visionary  to  suppose  that,  in  this 
state  of  things,  claims  can  be  allowed  on  tracts  of  country  on  which  they 
have  neither  dwelt  nor  made  improvements,  merely  because  they  have 
seen  them  from  the  mountain  or  passed  them  in  the  chase.  Submitting  to 
the  laws  of  the  states,  and  receiving,  like  other  citizens,  protection  in  their 
persons  and  property,  they  will  ere  long  become  merged  in  the  mass  of  our 
population. 

The  accompanying  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  navy  will  make  you 
acquainted  with  the  condition  and  useful  employment  of  that  branch  of  our 
service  during  the  present  year.  Constituting,  as  it  does,  the  best  standing 
security  of  this  country  against  foreign  aggression,  it  claims  the  especial 
attention  of  government.  In  this  spirit,  the  measures  which,  since  the  ter- 
mination of  the  last  war,  have  been  in  operation  for  its  gradual  enlargement, 
were  adopted  ;  and  it  should  continue  to  be  cherished  as  the  offspring  of  our 
national  experience.  It  will  be  seen,  however,  that,  notwithstanding  the 
great  solicitude  which  has  been  manifested  for  ihe  perfect  organization  of 
this  arm,  and  the  liberality  of  the  appropriations  which  that  solicitude  has 
suggested,  this  object  has  in  many  important  respects  not  been  secured. 

In  time  of  peace  we  have  need  of  no  more  ships-of-war  than  are  requisite 
to  the  protection  of  our  commerce.  Those  not  wanted  for  ihis  object  must 
lay  in  the  harbors,  where,  without  proper  covering,  they  rapidly  decay  ; 
and,  even  under  the  best  precautions  for  their  preservation,  must  soon  be- 
come useless.  Such  is  already  the  case  with  many  of  our  finest  vessels, 
which,  though  unfinished,  will  now  require  immense  sums  of  money  to  be 
restored  to  the  condition  in  which  they  were  when  committed  to  their 
proper  element.  On  this  subject  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  our  best 
policy  would  be  to  discontinue  the  building  of  ships  of  the  first  and  second 
class,  and  look  rather  to  the  possession*  of  ample  materials,  prepared  for 
the  emergencies  of  war,  than  to  the  number  of  vessels  which  we  can  float 
in  a  season  of  peace,  as  the  index  of  our  naval  power.  Judicious  deposites 
in  navy-yards,  of  timber  and  other  materials,  fashioned  under  the  hands  of 
skilful  workmen,  and  lilted  for  prompt  application  to  their  various  purposes, 
would  enable  us,  at  all  times,  to  construct  vessels  as  fast  as  they  can  be 
manned,  and  save  the  heavy  expense  of  repairs,  except  to  such  vessels  as 
must  be  employed  in  guarding  our  commerce.  The  proper  points  for  the 
establishment  of  these  yards  are  indicated  with  so  much  force  in  the  re- 
port of  the  navy  board  that,  in  recommending  it  to  your  attention,  I  deem 
it  unnecessary  to  do  more  than  express  my  hearty  concurrence  in  their 
views.  The  yard  in  this  district,  being  already  furnished  with  most  of 
the  machinery  necessary  for  ship-building,  will  be  competent  to  the  supply 
of  the  two  selected  by  the  board  as  the  best  for  the  concentration  of  mate- 


712  JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 

rials  ;  and,  from  the  facility  and  certainty  of  communication  between  them, 
it  will  be  useless  to  incur,  at  these  depots,  the  expense  of  similar  machinery, 
especially  that  used  in  preparing  the  usual  metallic  and  wooden  furniture 
of  vessels. 

Another  improvement  would  be  effected,  by  dispensing  altogether  with 
the  navy  board,  as  now  constituted,  and  substituting  in  its  stead  bureaus 
similar  to  those  already  existing  in  the  war  department.  Each  member  of 
the  board  transferred  to  the  head  of  a  separate  bureau,  charged  with  spe- 
cific duties,  would  feel,  in  its  highest  degree,  that  wholesome  responsibility 
which  can  not  be  divided  without  a  far  more  than  proportionate  diminution 
of  its  force.  Their  valuable  services  would  become  still  more  so  when 
separately  appropriated  to  distinct  portions  of  the  great  interests  of  the  navy; 
to  the  prosperity  of  which  each  would  be  impelled  to  devote  himself  by 
the  strongest  motives.  Under  such  an  arrangement,  every  branch  of  this 
important  service  would  assume  a  more  simple  and  precise  character;  its 
efficiency  would  be  increased,  and  scrupulous  economy  in  the  expenditure 
of  public  money  promoted. 

1  would  also  recommend  that  the  marine  corps  be  merged  in  the  artillery 
or  infantry,  as  the  best  mode  of  curing  the  many  defects  in  its  organization. 
But  little  exceeding  in  number  any  of  the  regiments  of  infantry,  that  corps 
has,  besides  its  lieutenant-colonel  commandant,  five  brevet  lieutenant-colo- 
nels, who  receive  the  full  pay  aftd  emoluments  of  their  brevet  rank,  without 
rendering  proportionate  service.  Details  for  marine  service  could  as  well 
be  made  from  the  infantry  or  artillery,  there  being  no  peculiar  training 
requisite  for  it. 

With  these  improvements,  and  such  others  as  zealous  watchfulness  and 
mature  consideration  may  suggest,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that,  under  an 
energetic  administration  of  its  affairs,  the  navy  may  soon  be  made  every- 
thing that  the  nation  wishes  it  to  be.  Its  efficiency  in  the  suppression  of 
piracy  in  the  West  India  seas,  and  wherever  its  squadrons  have  been  em- 
ployed in  securing  the  interests  of  the  country,  will  appear  from  the  report 
of  the  secretary,  to  which  I  refer  you  for  other  interesting  details.  Among 
these  I  would  bespeak  the  attention  of  Congress  for  the  views  presented 
in  relation  to  the  inequality  between  the  army  and  navy  as  to  the  pay  of 
officers.  No  such  inequality  should  prevail  between  these  brave  defenders 
of  their  country ;  and  where  it  does  exist,  it  is  submitted  to  Congress 
whether  it  ought  not  to  be  rectified 

The  report  of  the  postmaster-general  is  referred  to  as  exhibiting  a  highly 
satisfactory  administration  of  that  department.  Abuses  have  been  reformed, 
increased  expedition  in  the  transmission  of  the  mail  secured,  and  its  reve- 
nue much  improved.  In  a  political  point  of  view,  this  department  is  chiefly 
important  as  affording  the  means  of  diffusing  knowledge.  It  is  to  the  body 
politic  what  the  veins  and  arteries  are  to  the  natural — conveying  rapidly  and 
regularly  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  system,  correct  information  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  government,  and  bringing  back  to  it  the  wishes  and  feelings  of 
the  people.  Through  its  agency,  we  have  secured  to  ourselves  the  full 
enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  a  free  press. 

In  this  general  survey  of  our  affairs,  a  subject  of  high  importance  presents 
itself  in  the  present  organization  of  the  judiciary.  A  uniform  operation  of 
the  federal  government  in  the  different  states  is  certainly  desirable  ;  and. 
existing  as  they  do  in  the  Union,  on  the  basis  of  perfect  equality,  each  state 
has  a  right  to  expect  that  the  benefits  conferred  on  the  citizens  of  others 
should  be  extended  to  hers.  The  judicial  system  of  the  United  States  exists 


JACKSON'S  FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  713 

in  all  its  efficiency  in  only  fifteen  members  of  the  Union  ;  to  three  others, 
the  circuit  courts,  which  constitute  an  important  part  of  that  system,  have 
been  imperfectly  extended  ;  and  to  the  remaining  six,  altogether  denied. 
The  effect Jias  been  to  withhold  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  latter  the  ad- 
vantages afforded  (by  the  supreme  court)  to  their  fellow-citizens  in  other 
states,  in  the  whole  extent  of  the  criminal,  and  much  of  the  civil  authority 
of  the  federal  judiciary.  That  this  state  of  things  ought  to  be  remedied,  if 
it  can  be  done  consistently  with  the  public  welfare,  is  not  to  be  doubtecl ; 
neither  is  it  to  be  disguised  that  the  organization  of  our  judicial  system  is 
at  once  a  difficult  and  delicate  task.  To  extend  the  circuit  courts  equally 
throughout  the  different  parts  of  the  Union,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  avoid 
such  a  multiplication  of  members  as  would  encumber  the  supreme  appellate 
tribunal,  is  the  object  desired.  Perhaps  it  might  be  accomplished  by  divi- 
ding the  circuit  judges  into  two  classes,  and  providing  that  the  supreme 
court  should  be  held  by  those  classes  alternately,  the  chief  justice  always 
presiding. 

If  an  extension  of  the  circuit  court  system  to  those  states  which  do  not 
now  enjoy  its  benefits  should  be  determined  upon,  it  would  of  course  be 
necessary  to  revise  the  present  arrangement  of  the  circuits  ;  and  even  if 
that  system  should  not  be  enlarged,  such  a  revision  is  recommended. 

A  provision  for  taking  the  census  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  will, 
to  insure  the  completion  of  that  work  within  a  convenient  time,  claim  the 
early  attention  of  Congress. 

The  great  and  constant  increase  of  business  in  the  department  of  state 
forced  itself,  at  an  early  period,  upon  the  attention  of  the  executive.  Thir- 
teen years  ago  it  was,  in  Mr.  Madison's  last  message  to  Congress,  made  the 
subject  of  an  earnest  recommendation,  which  has  been  repeated  by  both  of 
his  successors  ;  and  my  comparatively  limited  experience  has  satisfied  me 
of  its  justness.  It  has  arisen  from  many  causes,  not  the  least  of  which  is 
the  large  addition  that  has  been  made  to  the  family  of  independent  nations, 
and  the  proportionate  extension  of  our  foreign  relations.  The  remedy  pro- 
posed was  the  establishment  of  a  home  department — a  measure  which  does 
not  appear  to  have  met  the  views  of  Congress,  on  account  of  its  supposed 
tendency  to  increase,  gradually  and  imperceptibly,  the  already  too  strong 
bias  of  the  federal  system  toward  the  exercise  of  authority  not  delegated  to  it. 
I  am  not,  therefore,  disposed  to  revire  the  recommendation,  but  am  not  the 
less  impressed  with  the  importance  of  so  organizing  that  department,  that 
its  secretary  may  devote  more  of  his  time  to  our  foreign  relations.  Clearly 
satisfied  that  the  public  good  would  be  promoted  by  some  suitable  provision 
on  the  subject,  I  respectfully  invite  your  attention  to  it. 

The  charter  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States  expires  in  1836,  and  its 
stockholders  will  mo>t  probably  apply  fora  renewal  of  their  privileges.  In 
order  to  avoid  the  evils  resulting  from  precipitancy  in  a  measure  involving 
such  important  principles,  and  such  deep  pecuniary  interests,  I  feel  that  I 
can  not,  in  justice  to  the  parties  interested,  too  soon  present  it  to  the  delibe- 
rate consideration  of  the  legislature  and  the  people.  Both  the  constitu- 
tionality and  the  expediency  of  the  law  creating  this  bank  are  well  ques- 
tioned by  a  large  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens  ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  by 
nil,  that  it  has  failed  in  the  great  end  of  establishing  a  uniform  and  sound 
currency. 

Under  these  circumstances,  if  such  an  institution  is  deemed  essential  to 
.he  fiscal  operations  of  the  government,  I  submit  to  the  wisdom  of  the  legis- 
lature whether  a  national  one,  founded  upon  the  credit  of  the  government 


714  JACKSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

and  its  revenues,  might  not  be  devised,  which  would  avoid  all  constitu- 
tional difficulties,  and  at  the  same  time  secure  all  the  advantages  to  the 
government  and  country  that  were  expected  to  result  from  the  present 
bank. 

I  can  not  close  this  communication  without  bringing  to  your  view  the  just 
claim  of  the  representatives  of  Commodore  Decatur,  his  officers  and  crew, 
arising  from  the  recapture  of  the  frigate  Philadelphia,  under  the  heavy 
batteries  of  Tripoli.  Although  sensible,  as  a  general  rule,  of  the  impro- 
priety of  executive  interference  under  a  government  like  ours,  where  every 
individual  enjoys  the  right  of  directly  petitioning  Congress,  yet,  viewing 
this  case  as  one  of  a  very  peculiar  character,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  recom- 
mend it  to  your  favorable  consideration.  Besides  the  justice  of  this  claim, 
as  corresponding  to  those  which  have  been  since  recognised  and  satis- 
fied, it  is  the  fruit  of  a  deed  of  patriotic  and  chivalrous  daring,  which 
infused  life  and  confidence  into  our  infant  navy,  and  contributed,  as 
much  as  any  exploit  in  its  history,  to  elevate  our  national  character. 
Public  gratitude,  therefore,  stamps  her  seal  upon  it,  and  the  meed  should 
not  be  withheld  which  may  hereafter  operate  as  a  stimulus  to  our  gal- 
lant tars. 

'I  now  commend  you,  fellow-citizens,  to  the  guidance  of  Almighty  God, 
with  a  full  reliance  on  his  merciful  providence  for  the  maintenance  of  our 
free  institutions  ;  and  with  an  earnest  supplication  that  whatever  errors  it 
may  be  my  lot  to  commit,  in  discharging  the  arduous  duties  which  have 
devolved  on  me,  will  find  a  remedy  in  the  harmony  and  wisdom  of  your 
counsels. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  5,  1830. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  'States  : — 

I  HAVE  been  requested  by  the  legislature  of  South  Carolina,  as  will  ap- 
pear from  the  documents  accompanying  this  communication,  to  submit  to 
th(f  consideration  of  Congress  certain  claims  against  the  United  States  for 
advances  made  by  that  state  during  the  last  war.  It  is  conceded  that  the 
redress  sought  for  can  only  be  obtained  through  the  interposition  of  Con- 
gress. The  only  agency  allowed  to  me  is,  to  present  such  facts  in  rela- 
tion to  the  subject  as  are  in  the  possession  of  the  executive,  in  order  that 
the  whole  may  be  fairly  considered. 

This  duty  I  perform  with  great  pleasure,  being  well  satisfied  that  no 
inducement  will  be  wanting  to  secure  to  the  claims  of  a  member  of  the 
confederacy  that  has,  under  all  circumstances,  shown  an  ardent  devotion 
to  the  cause  of  the  country,  the  most  ample  justice. 

By  a  reference  to  the  department  of  war,  for  information  as  to  the  na- 
ture and  extent  of  these  claims,  it  appears  that  they  consist  of : — 

1st.  Interest  upon  moneys  advanced  for  the  United  States  which  have 
been  heretofore  reimbursed ; 

2d.  Certain  advances  which,  on  a  settlement  between  South  Carolina 
and  the  United  States,  were  disallowed,  or  suspended,  by  the  accounting 
officers  of  the  treasury. 


JACKSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  715 

In  regard  to  the  former,  the  rule  hitherto  adopted  by  Congress  has  been  to 
allow  to  the  states  interest  only  where  they  had  paid  it  on  money  borrowed, 
and  had  applied  it  to  the  use  of  the  United  States.  The  case  of  South  Caro- 
lina does  not  come  strictly  within  this  rule,  because,  instead  of  borrowing, 
as  she  alleges,  for  the  use  of  the  United  States,  upon  interest,  she  applied 
to  the  use  of  the  United  States  funds  for  which  she  was  actually  receiv- 
ing an  interest ;  and  as  she  is  understood  to  insist  that  the  loss  of  interest 
in  both  cases  being  equal,  and  the  relief  afforded  equally  meritorious,  the 
same  principle  of  remuneration  should  be  applied. 

Acting  upon  an  enlightened  sense  of  national  justice  and  gratitude,  it  is 
confidently  believed  that  Congress  will  be  as  mindful  of  this  claim  as 
it  has  been  of  others  put  forward  by  the  states  that,  in  periods  of  extreme 
peril,  generously  contributed  to  the  service  of  the  Union,  and  enabled  the 
general  government  to  discharge  its  obligations.  The  grounds  upon  which 
certain  portions  of  it  have  been  suspended  or  rejected,  will  appear  from 
the  communications  of  the  secretary  of  war,  and  third  auditor,  herewith 
submitted. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  26,  1830. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : — 

I  FIND  it  necessary  to  recommend  to  Congress  a  revision  of  the  laws 
lelating  to  the  direct  and  contingent  expenses  of  our  intercourse  with  for- 
eign nations,  and  particulaily  of  the  act  of  May  1,  1810,  entitled,  "  An  act 
fixing  the  compensation  of  public  ministers,  and  of  consuls  residing  on  the 
coast  of  Barbary,  and  ior  other  purposes." 

A  letter  from  tne  fiftn  auditor  of  the*  treasury-,  to  the  secretary  of  state, 
herewith  transmitted,  which  notices  the  difficulties  incident  to  the  settle- 
ment of  the  accounts  of  certain  diplomatic  agents  of  the  United  States, 
serves  to  show  the  necessity  ot  this  revision.  This  branch  of  the  govern- 
ment is  incessantly  called  upon  to  sanction  allowances  which  not  unfre- 
quently  appear  to  have  just  ana  equitable  ioundations  in  usage,  but  which 
are  believed  to  be  incompatible  wiih  ihe  piovisions  of  the  act  of  1810. 
The  letter  from  the  fifth  auditor  contains  a.  description  of  several  claims 
of  this  character,  which  are  submitted  10  Congress  as  the  only  tribunal 
competent  to  aflbrd  the  relief  to  which  the  parties  consider  themselves 
entitled. 

Among  the  most  prominent  questions  of  this  aescri|>tii»n  are  the  follow- 
ing:— 

i.  Claims  for  outfits  by  ministers  and  charges  des  ajfairr.s  duly  appointed 
by  the  president  and  senate. 

The  act  of  1790,  regulating  the  expenditures  for  foreign  intercourse, 
provided,  "  that,  exclusive  of  an  outfit,  which  shall  in  no  case  exceed  one 
year's  full  salary  to  the  minister  plenipotentiary  or  charge  d'affaires  to 
whom  the  same  may  be  allowed,  the  president  shall  not  allow  to  any  min- 
ister plenipotentiary  u  greater  sum  than  at  the  rate  of  nine  thousand  dol- 
lars pur  annum,  as  a  compensation  for  all  his  personal  services  and  other 
expenses  ;  nor  a  greater  sum  for  the  same  than  four  thousand  five  hundred 


716  JACKSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

dollars  per  annum  to  a  charge  d'affaires."  By  this  provision,  the  maxi- 
mum of  allowance  only  was  fixed,  leaving  the  question  as  to  any  outfit, 
either  in  whole  or  in  part,  to  the  direction  of  the  president,  to  be  decided 
according  to  circumstances.  Under  it,  a  variety  of  cases  occurred,  in 
which  outfits,  having  been  given  to  diplomatic  agents  on  their  first  ap- 
pointment, afterward,  upon  their  being  transferred  to  other  courts,  or  sent 
upon  special  and  distinct  missions,  full  or  half  outfits  were  again  allowed. 

This  act,  it  will  be  perceived,  although  it  fixes  the  maximum  of  outfit, 
is  altogether  silent  as  to  the  circumstances  under  which  outfits  might  be 
allowed  :  indeed,  the  authority  to  allow  them  at  all  is  not  expressly  con- 
veyed, but  only  incidentally  adverted  to  in  limiting  the  amount.  This 
limitation  continued  to  be  the  only  restriction  upon  the  executive  until 
1810;  the  act  of  1790  having  been  kept  in  force  till  that  period,  by  five 
successive  re-enactments,  in  which  it  is  referred  to  by  means  of  its  title, 
or  its  terms  are  repeated  verbatim.  In  1810,  an  act  passed,  wherein  the 
phraseology  which  had  been  in  use  for  twenty  years  is  departed  from. 
Fixing  the  same  limits  precisely  to  the  amount  of  salaries  and  outfits  to 
ministers  and  charges  as  had  been  six  times  fixed  since  1790,  it  differs 
from  preceding  acts  by  formally  conveying  an  authority  to  allow  an  outfit 
to  "  a  minister  plenipotentiary  or  charge  d'affaires,  on  going  from  the  Uni- 
ted States  to  any  foreign  country ;"  and,  in  addition  to  this  specification 
of  the  circumstances  under  which  the  outfits  may  be  allowed,  it  contains 
one  of  the  condifions  which  shall  be  requisite  to  entitle  a  charge  or  secre- 
tary to  the  compensation  therein  provided. 

Upon  a  view  of  all  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  subject,  I  can 
not  permit  myself  to  doubt,  that  it  was  with  reference  of  multiplying  outfits 
to  the  same  person,  and  in  the  intention  of  prohibiting  it  in  future,  that  this 
act  was  passed. 

It  being,  however,  frequently  deemed  advantageous  to  transfer  ministers 
already  abroad,  from  one  court  to  another,  or  to  employ  those  who  were 
resident  at  a  particular  court,  upon  special  occasions,  elsewhere,  it  seems 
to  have  been  considered,  that  it  was  not  the  intention  of  Congress  to  re- 
strain the  executive  from  so  doing.  It  was  further  contended,  that  the 
president  being  left  free  to  select  for  ministers  citizens,  whether  at  home 
or  abroad,  a  right  on  the  part  of  such  ministers  to  the  usual  emoluments, 
followed  as  a  matter  of  course.  This  view  was  sustained  by  the  opinion 
of  the  law  officer  of  the  government;  and  the  act  of  1810  was  construed 
•to  leave  the  whole  subject  of  salary  and  outfit  where  it  found  it  under  the 
law  of  1790  ;  that  is  to  say,  completely  at  the  discretion  of  the  president, 
without  any  other  restriction  than  the  maximum  already  fixed  by  that  law. 
This  discretion  has,  from  time  to  time,  been  exercised' by  successive 
presidents  ;  but,  while  I  can  not  but  consider  the  restriction  in  this  re- 
spect, imposed  by  the  act  of  1810,  as  inexpedient,  I  can  not  feel  myself 
justified  in  adopting  a  construction  which  defeats  the  only  operation  of 
which  this  part  of  it  seems  susceptible;  at  least,  not  unless  Congress, 
after  having  the  subject  distinctly  brought  to  their  consideration,  should 
virtually  give  their  consent  to  that  construction.  Whatever  may  be  thought 
of  the  propriety  of  giving  an  outfit  to  secretaries  of  legation  or  others,  who 
may  be  considered  as  only  temporarily  charged  with  the  affairs  intrusted 
to  them,  I  am  impressed  with  the  justice  of  such  an  allowance  in  the  case 
of  a  citizen  who  happens  to  be  abroad  when  first  appointed,  and  that  of  a 
minister  already  in  place,  when  the  public  interest  requires  his  transfer, 
and,  from  the  breaking  up  of  his  establishment,  and  other  circumstances 


JACKSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE.  717 

connected  with  the  change,  he  incurs   expenses  to  which  he  would  not 
otherwise  have  been  subjected. 

II.  Claims  for  outfits  and  salaries  by  charges  des  affaires  and  secreta- 
ries of  legation,  who  have  not  been  appointed  by  the  president  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate. 

By  the  second  section  of  the  act  of  1810,  it  is  provided,  "  That,  to  en- 
title any  charge  d'affaires,  or  secretary  of  any  legation,  or  embassy  to  any 
foreign  country,  or  secretary  of  any  minister  plenipotentiary,  to  the  com- 
pensation herein  before  provided,  they  shall  respectively  be  appointed  by 
the  president  of  the  United  States,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  senate  ;  but  in  the  recess  of  the  senate,  the  president  is  hereby  au- 
thorized to  make  such  appointments,  which  shall  be  submitted  to  the  sen- 
ate at  the  next  session  thereafter,  for  their  advice  and  consent ;  and  no 
compensation  shall  be  allowed  to  any  charge  d'affaires,  or  any  of  the  sec- 
retaries herein  before  described,  who  shall  not  be  appointed  as  aforesaid." 
Notwithstanding  the  explicit  language  of  this  act,  claims  for  outfits  and 
salaries  have  been  made,  and  allowed  at  the  treasury,  by  charges  des 
affaires  and  secretaries  of  legation  who  had  not  been  appointed  in  the 
manner  specified.  Among  the  accompanying  documents  will  be  found 
several  claims  of  this  description,  of  which  a  detailed  statement  is  given 
in  the  letter  of  the  fifth  auditor.  The  case  of  Mr.  William  B.  Lawrence, 
late  charge  d'affaires  at  London,  is  of  a  still  more  peculiar  character,  in 
consequence  of  his  having  actually  drawn  his  outfit  and  salary  from  the 
bankers  employed  by  the  government,  and  from  the  length  of  time  he  offi- 
ciated in  that  capacity.  Mr.  Lawrence's  accounts  were  rendered  to  the 
late  administration,  but  not  settled.  I  have  refused  to  sanction  the  allow- 
ance claimed,  because  the  law  does  not  authorize  it ;  but  have  refrained 
from  directing  any  proceedings  to  compel  a  reimbursement  of  the  money 
thus,  in  my  judgment,  illegally  received,  until  an  opportunity  should  be 
afforded  to  Congress  to  pass  upon  the  equity  of  the  claim. 

Appropriations  are  annually  and  necessarily  made  "  for  the  contingent 
expenses  of  all  the  missions  abroad,"  and  "  for  the  contingent  expenses  of 
foreign  intercourse,"  and  the  expenditure  of  these  funds  intrusted  to  the 
discretion  of  the  president.  It  is  out  of  those  appropriations  that  allowan- 
ces of  this  character  have  been  claimed,  and,  it  is  presumed,  made. 
Deeming,  however,  that  the  discretion  thus  committed  to  the  executive, 
does  not  extend  to  the  allowances  of  charges  prohibited  by  express  law,  1 
have  felt  it  my  duty  to  refer  all  existing  claims  to  the  action  of  Congress, 
and  to  submit  to  their  consideration,  whether  any  alteration  of  the  law  in 
this  respect  is  necessary. 

III.  The  allowance  oj a  quarter's  salary  to  ministers  and  charges  des 
affaires,  to  defray  (heir  expenses  home. 

This  allowance  has  been  uniformly  made,  but  is  without  authority  by 
law.  Resting  in  executive  discretion,  it  has,  according  to  circumstances, 
been  extended  to  cases  where  the  ministers  died  abroad,  to  defray  the  re- 
turn of  his  family,  and  was  recently  claimed  in  a  case  where  the  minister 
had  no  family,  on  grounds  of  general  equity.  A  charge  of  this  description 
can  hardly  be  regarded  as  a  contingent  one,  and  if  allowed  at  all,  must  be 
in  lieu  of  salary.  As  such,  it  is  altogether  arbitrary,  although  it  is  not  be- 
lieved that  the  interests  of  the  treasury  are,  upon  the  whole,  much  affected 
by  the  substitution.  In  some  cases,  the  allowance  is  for  a  longer  period 
than  is  occupied  in  the  return  of  the  minister  ;  in  others,  for  one  somewhat 
less  ;  and  il  seems  to  do  away  all  inducement  to  unnecessary  delay.  The 


718  JACKSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

subject  is,  however,  susceptible  of  positive  regulation  by  law  ;  and  it  is,  on 
many  accounts,  highly  expedient  that  it  should  be  placed  on  that  footing. 
I  have,  therefore,  without  directing  any  alteration  in  the  existing  practice, 
lelt  it  my  duty  to  bring  it  to  your  notice. 

IV.  Travelling  and  other  expenses  in  following  the  court,  in  cases  where 
its  residence  is  not  stationary. 

The  only  legations  by  which  expenses  of  this  description  are  incurred 
and  charged  are  those  to  Spain  and  the  Netherlands,  and  to  them  they 
have,  on  several  occasions,  been  allowed.  Among  the  documents  here- 
with communicated,  will  be  found,  with  other  charges  requiring  legislative 
interference,  an  amount  for  travelling  expenses,  with  a  statement  of  the 
grounds  upon  which  their  reimbursement  is  claimed.  This  account  has 
been  suspended  by  the  officer  of  the  treasury  to  whom  its  settlement  be- 
longs ;  and  as  the  question  will  be  one  of  frequent  recurrence,  1  have 
deemed  the  occasion  a  fit  one  to  submit  the  whole  subject  to  the  revision 
of  Congress.  The  justice  of  these  charges,  for  extraordinary  expenses 
unavoidably  incurred,  has  been  admitted  by  former  administrations,  and 
the  claims  allowed.  My  difficulty  grows  out  of  the  language  of  the  act 
of  1310,  which  expressly  declares,  that  the  salary  and  outfit  it  authorizes 
to  the  minister  and  charge  d'affaires  shall  be  "  a  compensation  for  all  his 
personal  services  and  expenses."  The  items  which  ordinarily  form  the 
contingent  expenses  of  a  foreign  mission  are  of  a  character  distinct  from 
the  personal  expenses  of  the  minister.  The  difficulty  of  regarding  those 
now  referred  to  in  that  light  is  obvious.  There  are  certainly  strong  con- 
siderations of  equity  in  favor  of  a  remuneration  for  them  at  the  two  courts 
where  they  are  alone  incurred  ;  and  if  such  should  be  the  opinion  of  Con- 
gress, it  is  desirable  that  authority  to  make  it  be  expressly  conferred  by 
law,  rather  than  continue  to  rest  upon  doubtful  construction. 

V.  Charges  of  consuls  for  discharging  diplomatic  functions,  without  ap- 
pointment, daring  a  temporary  vacancy  in  the  office  of  charge  d'affaires. 

It  has  sometimes  happened,  that  consuls  of  the  United  States,  upon  the 
occurrence  of  vacancies,  at  their  places  of  residence,  in  the  diplomatic 
offices  of  the  United  States,  by  the  death  or  retirement  of  our  minister  or 
charge  d'affaires,  hare  taken  under  their  care  the  papers  of  such  mission, 
and  usefully  discharged  diplomatic  functions,  in  behalf  of  their  government 
and  fellow-citizens,  till  the  vacancies  were  regularly  filled.  In  some  in- 
stances, this  is  stated  to  have  been  done  to  the  abandonment  of  other  pur- 
suits, and  at  a  considerably  increased  expense  of  living.  There  are  exist- 
ing claims  of  this  description,  which  can  not  be  finally  adjusted  or  allowed 
without  the  sanction  of  Congress.  A  particular  statement  of  them  accom- 
panies this  communication. 

The  nature  of  this  branch  of  the  public  service  makes  it  necessary  to 
commit  portions  of  the  expenses  incurred  in  it  to  executive  discretion ; 
but  it  is  desirable  that  such  portions  should  be  as  small  as  possible.  The 
purity  and  permanent  success  of  our  political  institutions  depend,  in  a  great 
measure,  upon  definite  appropriations,  and  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  enact- 
ments of  the  legislature  disposing  of  public  money.  My  desire  is,  to  have 
the  subject  placed  upon  a  more  simple  and  precise,  but  not  less  liberal 
footing,  than  it  stands  on  at  present,  so  far  as  that  may  be  found  practica- 
ble. An  opinion,  that  the  salaries  allowed  by  law  to  our  agents  abroad 
are,  in  many  cases,  inadequate,  is  very  general ;  and  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose,  that  this  impression  has  not  been  without  its  influence  in  the 
construction  of  the  laws  by  which  those  salaries  are  fixed.  These  are 


JACKSON'S  MAYSVILLE  ROAD  VETO.  719 

certainly  motives,  which  it  is  difficult  to  resist,  to  an  increased  expense, 
on  the  part  of  some  of  our  functionaries  abroad,  greatly  beyond  that  which 
would  be  required  at  home. 

Should  Congress  be  of  opinion  that  any  alteration  for  the  better  can  be 
made,  either  in  the  rate  of  salaries  now  allowed,  or  in  the  rank  and  grada- 
tion of  our  diplomatic  agents,  or  both,  the  present  would  be  a  fit  occasion 
for  a  revision  of  the  whole  subject. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MAY  30,  1830. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  : — 

GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  approved  and  signed  the  bill  entitled,  "  An  act 
making  appropriations  for  examinations  and  surveys,  and  also  for  certain 
works  of  internal  improvement ;"  but  as  the  phraseology  of  the  section, 
which  appropriates  the  sum  of  eight  thousand  dollars  for  the  road  from 
Detroit  to  Chicago,  may  be  construed  to  authorize  the  application  of  the 
appropriation  for  the  continuance  of  the  road  beyond  the  limits  of  the  terri- 
tory of. Michigan,  I  desire  to  be  understood,  as  having  approved  this  bill 
with  the  understanding,  that  the  road,  authorized  by  this  section,  is  not  to 
be  extended  beyond  the  limits  of  the  said  territory. 


MAYSVILLE    ROAD    VETO. 
MAY  27,   1830. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  maturely  considered  the  bill  proposing  to  autho- 
rize "  a  subscription  of  stock  in  the  Maysville,  Washington,  Paris,  and 
Lexington  Turnpike-road  Company,"  and  now  return  the  same  to  the 
house  of  representatives,  in  which  it  originated,  with  my  objections  to  its 
passage. 

Sincerely  friendly  to  the  improvement  of  our  country  by  means  of  roads 
and  canals,  I  regret  that  any  difference  of  opinion  in  the  mode  of  contributing 
to  it  should  exist  between  us  ;  and  if,  in  stating  this  difference,  1  go  beyond 
what  the  occasion  may  be  deemed  to  call  for,  I  hope  to  find  an  apology  in 
the  great  importance  of  the  subject,  an  unfeigned  respect  for  the  high  source 
from  which  this  branch  of  it  has  emanated,  and  an  anxious  wish  to  be  cor- 
rectly understood  by  my  constituents  in  the  discharge  of  all  my  duties. 
Diversity  of  sentiment  among  public  functionaries,  actuated  by  the  same 
general  motives,  on  the  character  and  tendency  of  particular  measures,  is  an 
incident  common  to  all  governments,  and  the  more  to  be  expected  in  one 
which  like  ours  owes  its  existence  to  the  freedom  of  opinion,  and  must  be 
upheld  by  the  same  influence.  Controlled  as  we  thus  are  by  a  higher  tri- 
bunal, before  which  our  respective  acts  will  be  canvassed  with  the  indul- 
gence due  to  the  imperfections  of  our  nature,  and  with  that  intelligence 


720  JACKSON'S  MAYSVILLE  ROAD  VETO. 

and  unbiased  judgment  which  are  the  true  correctives  of  error,  all 
that  our  responsibility  demands  is  that  the  public  good  should  be  the 
measure  of  our  views,  dictating  alike  their  frank  expression  and  honest 
maintenance. 

In  the  message  which  was  presented  to  Congress  at  the  opening  of  its 
present  session,  I  endeavored  to  exhibit  briefly  my  views  upon  the  impor- 
tant and  highly  interesting  subject  to  which  our  attention  is  now  to  be 
directed.  I  was  desirous  of  presenting  to  the  representatives  of  the  several 
states  in  Congress  assembled,  the  inquiry  whether  some  mode  could  not 
be  devised  which  would  reconcile  the  diversity  of  opinion  concerning  the 
powers  of  this  government  over  the  subject  of  internal  improvements,  and 
the  manner  in  which  these  powers,  if  conferred  by  the  constitution,  ought 
to  be  exercised.  The  act  which  I  am  called  upon  to  consider  has  therefore 
been  passed  with  a  knowledge  of  my  views  on  this  question,  as  these  are 
expressed  in  the  message  referred  to.  In  that  document  the  following 
suggestion  will  be  found  : — 

"  After  the  extinction  of  the  public  debt  it  is  not  probable  that  any  ad- 
justment of  the  tariff  upon  principles  satisfactory  to  the  people  of  the  Union 
will,  until  a  remote  period,  if  ever,  leave  the  government  without  a  consid- 
erable surplus  in  the  treasury  beyond  what  may  be  required  for  its  current 
service.  As,  then,  the  period  approaches  when  the  application  of  the  reve- 
nue to  the  payment  of  debts  will  cease,  the  disposition  of  the  surplus  will 
present  a  subject  for  the  serious  deliberation  of  Congress  ;  and  it  may  be 
fortunate  for  the  country  that  it  is  yet  to  be  decided.  Considered  in  con- 
nexion with  the  difficulties  which  have  heretofore  attended  appropriations 
for  purposes  of  internal  improvement,  and  with  those  which  this  experience 
tells  us  will  certainly  arise,  whenever  power  over  such  subjects  may  be 
exercised  by  the  general  government,  it  is  hoped  that  it  may  lead  to  the 
adoption  of  some  plan  which  will  reconcile  the  diversified  interests  of  the 
states,  and  strengthen  the  bonds  which  unite  them.  Every  member  of  the 
Union,  in  peace  and  in  war,  will  be-  benefited  by  the  improvement  of  inland 
navigation,  and  the  construction  of  highways  in  the  several  states.  Let 
us  then  endeavor  to  obtain  this  benefit  in  a  mode  which  will  be  satisfactory 
to  all.  That  hitherto  adopted  has  been  deprecated  as  an  infraction  of  the 
constitution  by  many  of  our  fellow-citizens,  while  by  others  it  has  been 
viewed  as  inexpedient.  All  feel  that  it  has  been  employed  at  the  expense 
of  harmony  in  the  legislative  councils."  And  adverting  to  the  constitu- 
tional power  of  Congress  to  make  what  I  consider  a  proper  disposition  of 
the  surplus  revenue,  I  subjoin  the  following  remarks  :  "  To  avoid  these 
evils  it  appears  to  me  that  the  most  safe,  just,  and  federal  disposition  which 
could  be  made  of  the  surplus  revenue  would  be  its  apportionment  among 
the  several  states  according  to  their  ratio  of  representation  ;  and  should 
this  measure  not  be  found  warranted  by  the  constitution,  that  it  would  be 
expedient  to  propose  to  the  states  an  amendment  authorizing  it." 

The  constitutional  power  of  the  federal  government  to  construct  or  pro- 
mote works  of  internal  improvement  presents  itself  in  two  points  of  view  : 
the  first,  as  bearing  upon  the  sovereignty  of  the  states  within  whose  limits 
their  execution  is  contemplated,  if  jurisdiction  of  the  territory  which  they 
may  occupy  be  claimed  as  necessary  to  their  preservation  and  use  ;  the 
second,  as  asserting  the  simple  right  to  appropriate  money  from  the  national 
treasury  in  aid  of  such  works  when  undertaken  by  state  authority  sur- 
rendering the  claim  of  jurisdiction.  In  the  first  view,  the  question  of  power 
is  an  open  one,  and  can  be  decided  without  the  embarrassment  attendi  >g 


JACKSON'S  MAYSVILLE  ROAD  VETO.  721 

the  other,  arising  from  the  practice  of  the  government.  Although  frequently 
and  strenuously  attempted,  the  power  to  this  extent  has  never  been  exer- 
cised by  the  government  in  a  single  instance.  It  does  not,  in  my  opinion, 
possess  it ;  and  no  bill,  therefore,  which  admits  it  can  receive  my  official 
sanction. 

But  in  the  other  view  of  the  power  the  question  is  differently  situated. 
The  ground  taken  at  an  early  period  of  the  government  was,  "  that  when- 
ever money  has  been  raised  by  the  general  authority,  and  is  to  be  applied 
to  a  particular  measure,  a  question  arises  whether  the  particular  measure 
be  within  the  enumerated  authorities  vested  in  Congress.  If  it  be,  the 
money  requisite  for  it  may  be  applied  to  it ;  if  not,  no  such  application  can 
be  made."  The  document  in  which  this  principle  was  first  advanced  is  of 
deservedly  high  authority,  and  should  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  for  its 
immediate  agency  in  rescuing  the  country  from  much  existing  abuse,  and 
for  its  conservative  effect  upon  some  of  the  most  valuable  principles  of  the 
constitution.  The  symmetry  and  purity  of  the  government  would  doubt- 
less have  been  better  preserved  if  this  restriction  of  the  power  of  appropri- 
ation could  have  been  maintained  without  weakening  its  ability  to  fulfil  the 
general  objects  of  its  institution — an  effect  so  likely  to  attend  its  admission, 
notwithstanding  its  apparent  fitness,  that  every  subsequent  administration 
of  the  government,  embracing  a  period  of  thirty  out  of  the  forty-two  years 
of  its  existence,  has  adopted  a  more  enlarged  construction  of  the  power.  It 
is  not  my  purpose  to  detain  you  by  a  minute  recital  of  the  acts  which  sus- 
tain this  assertion,  but  it  is  proper  that  I  should  notice  some  of  the  most 
prominent,  in  order  that  the  reflections  which  they  suggest  to  my  mind  may 
be  better  understood. 

In  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson  we  have  two  examples  of  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  right  of  appropriation,  which,  in  the  considerations  that  led 
to  their  adoption,  and  in  their  effects  upon  the  public  mind,  have  had  a 
greater  agency  in  marking  the  character  of  the  power  than  any  subsequent 
events.  I  allude  to  the  payment  of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  for  the  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana,  and  to  the  original  appropriation  for  the  construction  of 
the  Cumberland  road  ;  the  latter  act  deriving  much  weight  from  the  acqui- 
escence and  approbation  of  three  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  original  mem- 
bers of  the  confederacy,  expressed  through  their  respective  legislatures. 
Although  the  circumstances  of  the  latter  case  may  be  such  as  to  deprive  so 
much  of  it  as  relates  to  the  actual  construction  of  the  road  of  the  force  of 
an  obligatory  exposition  of  the  constitution,  it  must  nevertheless  be  admitted 
that  so  far  as  the  mere  appropriation  of  money  is  concerned,  they  present 
the  principle  in  its  most  imposing  aspect.  No  less  than  twenty-three 
different  laws  have  been  passed  through  all  the  forms  of  the  constitu- 
tion, appropriating  upward  of  two  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars  out  of  the 
national  treasury  in  support  of  that  improvement,  with  the  approbation  of 
every  president  of  the  United  States,  including  my  predecessor,  since  its 
commencement. 

Independently  of  the  sanction  given  to  appropriations  for  the  Cumber- 
land and  other  roads  arid  objects,  under  this  power,  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Madison  was  characterized  by  an  act  which  furnishes  the  strongest  evidence 
of  his  opinion  of  its  extent.  A  bill  was  passed  through  both  houses  of  Con- 
gress and  presented  for  his  approval,  "  setting  apart  and  pledging  certain 
funds  for  constructing  roads  and  canals,  and  improving  the  navigation  of 
water-courses,  in  order  to  facilitate,  promote,  and  give  security  to  internal 
commerce  among  the  several  states,  and  to  render  more  easy  and  less  ex 

VOL.  I.— 46 


722  JACKSON'S  MAYSVILLE  ROAD  VETO. 

pensive  the  means  and  provisions  for  the  common  defence."  Regarding 
the  bill  as  asserting  a  power  in  the  federal  goyernment  to  construct  roads 
and  canals  within  the  limits  of  the  states  in  which  they  were  made,  he  ob- 
jected to  its  passage  on  the  ground  of  its  unconstitutionality,  declaring  that 
the  assent  of  the  respective  states  in  the  mode  provided  by  the  bill  could 
not  confer  the  power  in  question  ;  that  the  only  cases  in  which  the  consent 
and  cession  of  particular  states  can  extend  the  power  of  Congress  are 
those  specified  and  provided  for  in  the  constitution  ;  and  superadding  to 
these  avowals  his  opinion  that  a  restriction  of  the  power  "  to  provide  for 
the  common  defence  and  general  walfare"  to  cases  which  are  to  be  provi- 
ded for  by  the  expenditure  of  money,  would  still  leave  within  the  legisla- 
tive power  of  Congress  all  the  great  and  most  important  measures  of  govem- 
i  ment,  money  being  the  ordinary  and  necessary  means  of  carrying  them 
into  execution.  1  have  not  been  able  to  consider  these  declarations  in  any 
other  point  of  view  than  as  a  concession  that  the  right,  of  appropriation  is 
not  limited  by  the  power  to  carry  into  effect  the  measure  for  which  the 
money  is  asked,  as  was  formerly  contended. 

The  views  of  Mr.  Monroe  upon  this  subject  were  not  left  to  inference. 
During  his  administration,  a  bill  was  passed  through  both  houses  of  Con- 
gress conferring  the  jurisdiction  and  prescribing  the  mode  by  which  the 
federal  government  should  exercise  it  in  the  case  of  the  Cumberland  road. 
He  returned  it  with  objections  to  its  passage,  and  in  assigning  them  took 
occasion  to  say  that  in  the  early  stages  of  the  government  he  had  inclined 
to  the  construction  that  it  had  no  right  to  expend  money  except  in  the  per- 
formance of  acts  authorized  by  the  other  specific  grants  of  power,  according 
to  a  strict  construction  of  them  ;  but  that  on  further  reflection  and  observa- 
tion his  mind  had  undergone  a  change  ;  that  his  opinion  then  was  :  "  that 
Congress  have  an  unlimited  power  to  raise  money,  and  that  in  its  appropri- 
ation they  have  a  discretionary  power,  restricted  only  by  the  duty  to  appro- 
priate it  to  purposes  of  common  defence  and  of  general,  not  local,  national, 
not  state,  benefit ;"  and  this  was  avowed  to  be  the  governing  principle 
through  the  residue  of  his  administration.  The  views  of  the  last  adminis- 
tration are  of  such  recent  date  as  to  render  a  particular  reference  to  them 
unnecessary.  It  is  well  known  that  the  appropriating  power,  to  the  utmost 
extent  which  had  been  claimed  for  it  in  relation  to  internal  improvements, 
was  fully  recognised  and  exercised  by  it. 

This  brief  reference  to  known  facts  will  be  sufficient  to  show  the  diffi- 
culty if  not  impracticability  of  bringing  back  the  operations  of  the  govern- 
ment to  the  construction  of  the  constitution  set  up  in  1793,  assuming  that 
to  be  its  true  reading  in  relation  to  the  power  under  consideration ;  thus 
giving  an  admonitory  proof  of  the  force  of  implication,  and  the  necessity 
of  guarding  the  constitution  with  sleepless  vigilance  against  the  authority 
of  precedents  which  have  not  the  sanction  of  its  most  plainly  defined 
powers.  For  although  it  is  the  duty  of  all  to  look  to  that  sacred  instru- 
ment instead  of  the  statute  book  ;  to  repudiate  at  all  times  encroachments 
upon  its  spirit,  which  are  too  apt  to  be  effected  by  the  conjuncture  of  pe- 
culiar and  facilitating  circumstances  ;  it  is  not  less  true  that  the  public 
good  and  the  nature  of  our  political  institutions  require  that  individual 
differences  should  yield  to  a  well-settled  acquiescence  of  the  people  and 
confederated  authorities  in  particular  constructions  of  the  constitution  on 
doubtful  points.  Not  to  concede  this  much  to  the  spirit  of  our  institu- 
tions would  impair  their  stability  and  defeat  the  objects  of  the  constitution 
itself. 


JACKSOX'S    MAYSVILLE    ROAD    VETO.  723 

The  bill  before  me  does  not  call  for  a  more  definite  opinion  upon  the  par- 
ticular circumstances  which  will  warrant  appropriations  of  money  by  Con- 
gress to  aid  works  of  internal  improvement ;  for  although  the  extension  of 
the  power  to  apply  money  beyond  that  of  carrying  into  effect  the  object  for 
which  it  is  appropriated  has,  as  we  have  seen,  been  long  claimed  and  ex- 
ercised by  the  federal  government,  yet  such  grants  have  always  been  pro- 
fessedly under  the  control  of  the  general  principle  that  the  works  which 
might  be  thus  aided  should  be  "  of  a  general,  not  local,  national,  not  state, 
character."  A  disregard  of  this  distinction  would  of  necessity  lead  to  the 
subversion  of  the  federal  system.  That  even  this  is  an  unsafe  one,  arbitra- 
ry in  its  nature,  and  liable  consequently  to  great  abuses,  is  too  obvious 
to  require  the  confirmation  of  experience.  It  is,  however,  sufficiently  defi- 
nite and  imperative  to  my  mind  to  forbid  my  approbation  of  any  bill  having 
the  character  of  the  one  under  consideration.  I  have  given  to  its  pro- 
visions all  the  reflection  demanded  by  a  just  regard  for  the  interests  of  those 
of  our  fellow-citizens  who  have  desired  its  passage,  and  by  the  respect 
which  is  due  to  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  government ;  but  I  am  not  able 
to  view  it  in  any  other  light  than  as  a  measure  of  purely  local  character  ; 
or,  if  it  can  be  considered  national,  that  no  further  distinction  between  the 
appropriate  duties  of  the  general  and  state  governments  need  be  attempted, 
for  there  can  be  no  local  interest  that  may  not  with  equal  propriety  be 
denominated  national.  It  has  no  connexion  with  any  established  system  of 
improvements  ;•  is  exclusively  within  the  limits  of  a  state,  starting  at  a  point 
on  the  Ohio  river,  and  running  out  sixty  miles  to  an  interior  town  ;  and 
even  as  far  as  the  state  is  interested  conferring  partial  instead  of  general 
advantages. 

Considering  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the  power,  and  the  embar- 
rassments to  which,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  thing,  its  exercise  must 
necessarily  be  subjected,  the  real  friends  of  internal  improvement  ought  not 
to  be  willing  to  confide  it  to  accident  and  chance.  What  is  properly  na- 
tional in  its  character  or  otherwise,  is  an  inquiry  which  is  often  extremely 
difficult  of  solution.  The  appropriations  of  one  year,  for  an  object  which  is 
considered  national,  may  be  rendered  nugatory  by  the  refusal  of  a  succeeding 
Congress  to  continue  the  work,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  local.  No  aid  can 
be  derived  from  the  intervention  of  corporations.  The  question  regards  the 
character  of  the  work,  not  that  of  those  by  whom  it  is  to  be  accomplished. 
Notwithstanding  the  union  of  the  government  with  the  corporation,  by 
whose  immediate  agency  any  work  of  internal  improvement  is  carried  on, 
the  inquiry  will  still  remain,  is  it  national,  and  conducive  to  the  benefit  of 
the  whole,  or  local,  and  operating  only  to  the  advantage  of  a  portion  of  the 
Union  ? 

But,  although  I  might  not  feel  it  to  be  my  official  duty  to  interpose  the 
executive  veto  to  the  passage  of  a  bill  appropriating  money  for  the  construc- 
tion of  such  works  as  are  authorized  by  the  states,  and  are  national  in  their 
character,  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  expressing  an  opinion  that  it 
is  expedient  at  this  time  for  the  general  government  to  embark  in  a  system 
of  this  kind  ;  and,  anxious  that  my  constituents  should  be  possessed  of  my 
views  on  this  as  well  as  on  all  other  subjects  which  they  have  committed 
to  my  discretion,  1  shall  state  them  frankly  and  briefly.  Besides  many 
minor  considerations,  there  are  two  prominent  views  on  the  subject  which 
have  made  a  deep  impression  upon  my  mind,  which  1  think  are  well  entitled 
to  your  serious  attention,  and  will,  I  hope,  be  maturely  weighed  by  the 
people. 


724  JACKSON'S  MAYSVILLE  ROAD  VETO. 

From  the  official  communications  submitted  to  you,  it  appears  that  if  no 
adverse  or  unforeseen  contingency  happens  in  our  foreign  relations,  and  no 
unusual  diversion  be  made  of  the  funds  set  apart  for  the  payment  of  the  na- 
tional debt,  we  may  look  with  confidence  to  its  entire  extinguishment  in  the 
short  period  of  four  years.  The  extent  to  which  this  pleasing  anticipation 
is  dependent  upon  the  policy  which  may  be  pursued  in  relation  to  measures 
of  the  character  of  the  one  now  under  consideration,  must  be  obvious  to  all, 
and  equally  so  that  the  events  of  the  present  session  are  well  calculated  to 
awaken  public  solicitude  upon  the  subject.  By  the  statement  from  the 
treasury  department,  and  those  from  the  clerks  of  the  senate  and  house  of 
representatives,  herewith  submitted,  it  appears  that  the  bills  which  have 
passed  into  laws,  and  those  which,  in  all  probability,  will  pass  before  the 
adjournment  of  Congress,  anticipate  appropriations  which,  with  the  ordi- 
nary expenditures  for  the  support  of  government,  will  exceed  considera- 
bly the  amount  in  the  treasury  for  the  year  1830.  Thus,  while  we  are 
diminishing  the  revenue  by  a  reduction  of  the  duties  on  tea,  coffee,  and 
cocoa,  the  appropriations  for  internal  improvement  are  increasing  beyond 
the  available  means  of  the  treasury  ;  and  if  to  this  calculation  be  added  the 
amount  contained  in  bills  which  are  pending  before  the  two  houses,  it  may 
be  safely  affirmed  that  ten  millions  of  dollars  would  not  make  up  the  excess 
over  the  treasury  receipts,  unless  the  payment  of  the  national  debt  be  post- 
poned, and  the  means  now  pledged  to  that  object  applied  to  those  enume- 
rated in  these  bills.  Without  a  well-regulated  system  of  internal  improve- 
ment, this  exhausting  mode  of  appropriation  is  not  likely  to  be  avoided,  and 
the  plain  consequence  must  be,  either  a  continuance  of  the  national  debtor 
a  resort  to  additional  taxes. 

Although  many  of  the  states,  with  a  laudable  zeal,  and  under  the  influence 
of  an  enlightened  policy,  are  successfully  applying  their  separate  efforts  to 
works  of  this  character,  the  desire  to  enlist  the  aid  of  the  general  govern- 
ment in  the  construction  of  such  as,  from  their  nature,  ought  to  devolve 
upon  it,  and  to  which  the  means  of  the  individual  states  are  inadequate,  is 
both  rational  and  patriotic  ;  and  if  that  desire  is  not  gratified  now,  it  does  not 
follow  that  it  never  will  be.  The  general  intelligence  and  public  spirit  of 
the  American  people  furnish  a  sure  guarantee  that,  at  the  proper  time,  this 
policy  will  be  made  to  prevail  under  circumstances  more  auspicious  to  its 
successful  prosecution  than  those  which  now  exist.  But,  great  as  this  ob- 
ject undoubtedly  is,  it  is  not  the  only  one  which  demands  the  fostering  care 
of  the  government.  The  preservation  and  success  of  the  republican  prin- 
ciple rest  with  us.  To  elevate  its  character  and  extend  its  influence  rank 
among  our  most  important  duties,  and  the  best  means  to  accomplish  this 
desirable  end  are  those  which  will  rivet  the  attachment  of  our  citizens  to 
the  government  of  their  choice,  by  the  comparative  lightness  of  their  public 
burdens,  and  by  the  attraction  which  the  superior  success  of  its  operations 
will  present  to  the  admiration  and  respect  of  the  world.  Through  the  favor 
of  an  overruling  and  indulgent  Providence,  our  country  is  blessed  with 
general  prosperity,  and  our  citizens  exempted  from  the  pressure  of  taxation 
which  other  less-favored  portions  of  the  human  family  are  obliged  to  bear  ; 
yet  it  is  true  that  many  of  the  taxes  collected  from  our  citizens,  through 
the  medium  of  imposts,  have. for  a  considerable  period  been  onerous.  In 
many  particulars^  these  taxes  have  borne  severely  upon  the  laboring  and 
less  prosperous  classes  of  the  community,  being  imposed  on  the  necessaries 
of  life,  and  this,  too,  in  cases  where  the  burden  was  not  relieved  by  the 
consciousness  that  it  would  ultimately  contribute  to  make  us  independent 


JACKSON'S  MAYSVILLE  ROAD  VETO.  725 

of  foreign  nations  for  articles  of  prime  necessity,  by  the  encouragement  of 
their  growth  and  manufacture  at  home.  They  have  been  cheerfully  borne, 
because  they  were  thought  to  be  necessary  to  the  support  of  government, 
and  the  payment  of  the  debts  unavoidably  incurred  in  the  acquisition  and 
maintenance  of  our  national  rights  and  liberties.  But  have  we  a  right  to 
calculate  oathe  same  cheerful  acquiescence,  when  it  is  known  that  the  ne- 
cessity for  their  continuance  would  cease,  were  it  not  for  the  irregular,  im- 
provident, and  unequal  appropriations  of  the  public  funds  ?  Will  not  the 
people  demand,  as  they  have  a  right  to  do,  such  a  prudent  system  of  expen- 
diture as  will  pay  the  debts  of  the  Union,  and  authorize  the  reduction  of 
every  tax  to  as  low  a  point  as  the  wise  observance  of 'the  necessity  to  protect 
that  portion  of  our  manufactures  and  labor,  whose  prosperity  is  essential 
to  our  national  safety  and  independence,  will  allow  ?  When  the  national 
debt  is  paid,  the  duties  upon  those  articles  which  we  do  not  raise  may  be 
repealed  with  safety,  and  still  leave,  I  trust,  without  oppression  to  any  section 
of  the  country,  an  accumulating  surplus  fund,  which  may  be  beneficially 
applied  to  some  well-digested  system  of  improvement. 

Under  this  view,  the  question,  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  federal 
government  can,  or  ought  to  embark  in  the  construction  of  roads  and  canals, 
and  the  extent  to  which  it  may  impose  burdens  on  the  people  for  these 
purposes,  may  be  presented  on  its  own  merits,  free  of  all  disguise,  and  of 
every  embarrassment  except  such  as  may  arise  from  the  constitution  itself. 
Assuming  these  suggestions  to  be  correct,  will  not  our  constituents  require 
the  observance  of  a  course  by  which  they  can  be  effected  ?  Ought  they 
not  to  require  it  ?  With  the  best  disposition  to  aid,  as  far  as  I  can  consci- 
entiously, in  the  furtherance  of  works  of  internal  improvement,  my  opinion 
is,  that  the  soundest  views  of  national  policy,  at  this  time,  point  to  such  a 
course.  Besides  the  avoidance  of  an  evil  influence  upon  the  local  concerns 
of  the  country,  how  solid  is  the  advantage  which  the  government  will  reap 
from  it  in  the  elevation  of  its  character  !  How  gratifying  the  effect  of 
presenting  to  the  world  the  sublime  spectacle  of  a  republic,  of  more  than 
twelve  millions  of  happy  people,  in  the  forty-fourth  year  of  her  existence 
— after  having  passed  through  two  protracted  wars,  the  one  for  the  acquisi- 
tion, and  the  other  for  the  maintenance  of  liberty — free  from  debt,  and  with 
all  her  immense  resources  unfettered  !  What  a  salutary  influence  would 
not  such  an  exhibition  exercise  upon  the  cause  of  liberal  principles  and  free 
government  throughout  the  world.  Would  we  not  ourselves  find,  in  its 
effect,  an  additional  guarantee  that  our  political  institutions  will  he  trans- 
mitted to  the  most  remote  posterity  without  decay  ?  A  course  of  policy 
destined  to  witness  events  like  these,  can  not  be  benefited  by  a  legislation 
which  tolerates  a  scramble  for  appropriations  that  have  no  relation  to  any 
general  system  of  improvement,  and  whose  good  effects  must  of  necessity 
be  very  limited.  In  the  best  view  of  these  appropriations,  the  abuses  to 
which  they  lead  far  exceed  the  good  which  they  are  capable  of  promoting. 
They  may  be  resorted  to  as  artful  expedients  to  shift  upon  the  government 
the  losses  of  unsuccessful  private  speculation,  and  thus,  by  ministering  to 
personal  ambition  and  self-aggrandizement,  tend  to  sap  the  foundations  of 
public  virtue,  and  taint  the  administration  of  the  government  with  a  demor- 
alizing influence. 

In  the  other  view  of  the  subject,  and  the  only  remaining  one  which  it  is 
my  intention  to  present  at  this  time,  is  involved  the  expediency  of  embark- 
ing in  a  system  of  internal  improvement  without  a  previous  amendment  of 
^he  constitution,  explaining  and  defining  the  precise  powers  of  the  federaJ 


726  JACKSON'S  MAYSVILLE  ROAD  VETO. 

government  over  it.  Assuming  the  right  to  appropriate  money  to  aid  in  the 
construction  of  national  works,  to  be  warranted  by  the  contemporaneous 
and  continued  exposition  of  the  constitution,  its  insufficiency  for  the  success- 
ful prosecution  of  them  must  be  admitted  by  all  candid  minds.  If  we  look 
to  usage  to  define  the  extent  of  the  right,  that  will  be  found  so  variant,  and 
embracing  so  much  that  has  been  overruled,  as  to  involve  the  whole  subject 
in  great  uncertainty,  and  to  render  the  execution  of  our  respective  duties  in 
relation  to  it  replete  with  difficulty  and  embarrassment.  It  is  in  regard  to 
such  works  and  the  acquisition  of  additional  territory,  that  the  practice  ob- 
tained its  first  footing.  In  most  if  not  all  other  disputed  questions  of  appro- 
priation, the  construction  of  the  constitution  may  be  regarded  as  unsettled, 
if  the  right  to  apply  money,  in  the  enumerated  cases,  is  placed  on  the  ground 
of  usage. 

This  subject  has  been  one  of  much,  and,  I  may  add;  painful  reflection  to 
me.  It  has  bearings  that  are  well  calculated  to  exert  a  powerful  influence 
upon  our  hitherto  prosperous  system  of  government,  and  which,  on  some 
accounts,  may  even  excite  despondency  in  the  breast  of  an  American  citizen. 
I  will  not  detain  you  with  professions  of  zeal  in  the  cause  of  internal  im- 
provements. If  to  be  their  friend  is  a  virtue  which  deserves  commenda- 
tion, our  country  is  blest  with  an  abundance  of  it ;  for  I  do  not  suppose 
there  is  an  intelligent  citizen  who  does  not  wish  to  see  them  flourish. 
But  though  all  are  their  friends,  but  few,  I  trust,  are  unmindful  of  the  means 
by  which  they  should  be  promoted  ;  none  certainly  are  so  degenerate  as 
to  desire  their  success  at  the  cost  of  that  sacred  instrument,  with  the  pres- 
ervation of  which  is  indissolubly  bound  our  country's  hopes.  If  different 
impressions  are  entertained  in  any  quarter  ;  if  it  is  expected  that  the  people 
of  this  country,  reckless  of  their  constitutional  obligations,  will  prefer  their 
local  interest  to  the  principles  of  the  Union,  such  expectations  will  in  the 
end  be  disappointed  ;  or,  if  it  be  not  so,  then  indeed  has  the  world  but  little 
to  hope  from  the  example  of  free  government.  When  an  honest  observance 
of  constitutional  compacts  can  not  be  obtained  from  communities  like  ours, 
it  need  not  be  anticipated  elsewhere ;  and  the  cause  in  which  there  has 
been  so  much  martyrdom,  and  from  which  so  much  was  expected  by  the 
friends  of  liberty,  may  be  abandoned,  and  the  degrading  truth,  that  man  is 
unfit  for  self-government,  admitted.  And  this  will  be  the  case,  if  expedi- 
ency be  made  a  rule  of  construction  in  interpreting  the  constitution. 
Power,  in  no  government  could  desire  a  better  shield  for  the  insidious  ad- 
vances which  it  is  ever  ready  to  make  upon  the  checks  that  are  designed 
to  restrain  its  action. 

But  I  do  not  entertain  such  gloomy  apprehensions.  If  it  be  the  wish  of 
the  people  that  the  construction  of  roads  and  canals  should  be  conducted  by 
the  federal  government,  it  is  not  only  highly  expedient,  but  indispensably 
necessary,  that  aprevious  amendment  of  the  constitution,  delegating  the  ne- 
cessary power,  and  defining  and  restricting  its  exercise  with  reference  to 
the  sovereignty  of  the  states,  should  be  made.  Without  it,  nothing  exten- 
sively useful  can  be  effected.  The  right  to  exercise  as  much  jurisdiction 
as  is  necessary  to  preserve  the  works,  and  to  raise  funds  by  the  collection 
of  tolls  to  keep  them  in  repair,  can  not  be  dispensed  with.  The  Cumber- 
land road  should  be  an  instructive  admonition  of  the  consequences  of  acting 
without  this  right.  Year  after  year,  contests  are  witnessed,  growing  out  of 
efforts  to  obtain  the  necessary  appropriations  for  completing  and  repairing 
this  useful  work.  While  one  Congress  may  claim  and  exercise  the  power, 
a  succeeding  one  may  deny  it ;  and  this  fluctuation  of  opinion  must  be  un- 


JACKSON'S  MATSVILLE  ROAD  VETO.  727 

avoidably  fatal  to  any  scheme  which,  from  its  extent,  would  promote  the 
interests  and  elevate  the  character  of  the  country.  The  experience  of  the 
past  has  shown  that  the  opinion  of  Congress  is  subject  to  such  fluctuations 

If  it  be  the  desire  of  the  people  that  the  agency  of  the  federal  government 
should  be  confined  to  the  appropriation  of  money  in  aid  of  such  under- 
takings, in  virtue  of  state  authorities,  then  the  occasion,  the  manner,  and 
the  extent  of  the  appropriations,  should  be  made  the  subject  of  constitu- 
tional regulation.  This  is  the  more  necessary,  in  order  that  they  may  be 
equitable  among  the  several  states ;  promote  harmony  between  different 
sections  of  the  Union  and  their  representatives  ;  preserve  other  parts  of 
the  constitution  from  being  undermined  by  the  exercise  of  doubtful  power?, 
or  the  too  great  extension  of  those  which  are  not  so  ;  and  protect  the  whoje 
subject  against  the  deleterious  influence  of  combinations  to  carry,  by  con- 
cert, measures  which,  considered  by  themselves,  might  meet  but  little 
countenance.  That  a  constitutional  adjustment  of  this  power  upon  equitable 
principles  is  in  the  highest  degree  desirable,  can  scarcely  be  doubted  ;  nor 
can  it  fail  to  be  promoted  by  every  sincere  friend  to  the  success  of  our 
political  institutions.  In  no  government  are  appeals  to  the  source  of  power 
in  cases  of  real  doubt  more  suitable  than  in  ours.  No  good  motive  can  be 
assigned  for  the  exercise  of  power  by  the  constituted  authorities,  while 
those  for  whose  benefit  it  is  to  be  exercised  have  not  conferred  it,  and  may 
not  be  willing  to  confer  it.  It  would  seem  to  me  that  an  honest  applica- 
tion of  the  conceded  powers  of  the  general  government  to  the  advancement 
of  the  common  weal,  presents  a  sufficient  scope  to  satisfy  a  reasonable 
ambition.  The  difficulty  and  supposed  impracticability  of  obtaining  an 
amendment  of  the  constitution  in  this  respect  is,  I  firmly  believe,  in  a  great 
degree  unfounded.  The  time  has  never  yet  been  when  the  patriotism  and 
intelligence  of  the  American  people  were  not  fully  equal  to  the  greatest 
exigency  ;  and  it  never  will,  when  the  subject  calling  forth  their  interposition 
is  plainly  presented  to  them.  To  do  so  with  the  questions  involved  in  this 
bill,  and  to  urge  them  to  an  early,  zealous,  and  full  consideration  of  their 
deep  importance,  is  in  my  estimation  among  the  highest  of  our  duties. 

A  supposed  connexion  between  appropriations  for  internal  improvement 
and  the  system  of  protecting  duties,  grow'..g  out  of  the  anxieties  of  those 
more  immediately  interested  in  their  success,  has  given  rise  to  suggestions 
which  it  is  proper  I  should  notice  on  this  occasion.  My  opinions  on  these 
subjects  have  never  been  concealed  from  those  who  had  a  right  to  know 
them.  '  Those  which  I  have  entertained  on  the  latter  have  frequently  placed 
me  in  opposition  to  individuals  as  well  as  communities,  whose  claims  upon 
my  friendship  and  gratitude  are  of  the  strongest  character  ;  but  I  trust  there 
has  been  nothing  in  my  public  life  which  has  exposed  me  to  the  suspicion 
of  being  thought  capable  of  sacrificing  my  views  of  duty  to  private  consider- 
ations, however  strong  they  may  have  been,  or  deep  the  regrets  which  th»y 
are  capable  of  exciting. 

As  long  as  the  encouragement  of  domestic  manufactures  is  directed  to  na- 
tional ends,  it  shall  receive  from  me  a  temperate  but  steady  support.  There 
is  no  necessary  connexion  between  it  and  the  system  of  appropriations.  On 
the  contrary,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  supposition  of  their  dependence  upon 
each  other  is  calculated  to  excite  the  prejudices  of  the  public  against  both. 
The  former  is  sustained  on  the  ground  of  its  consistency  with  the  letter  and 
spirit  of  the  constitution,  of  its  origin  being  traced  to  the  assent  of  all  the 
parties  to  the  original  compact,  and  of  its  having  the  support  and  approbation 
of  a  majority  of  the  people  ;  on  which  account  it  is  at  least  entitled  to  a  fai* 


728  JACKSON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 

experiment.  The  suggestions  to  which  I  have  alluded  refer  to  a  forced 
continuance  of  the  national  debt,  by  means  of  large  appropriations,  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  security  which  the  system  derives  from  the  principles  on 
which  it  has  hitherto  been  sustained.  Such  a  course  would  certainly  in- 
dicate either  an  unreasonable  distrust  of  the  people,  or  a  consciousness  that 
the  system  does  not  possess  sufficient  soundness  for  its  support,  if  left  to 
their  voluntary  choice  and  its  own  merits.  Those  who  suppose  that  any 
policy  thus  founded  can  be  long  upheld  in  this  country,  have  looked  upon 
its  history  with  eyes  very  different  from  mine.  This  policy,  like  every 
other,  must  abide  the  will  of  the  people,  who  will  not  be  likely  to  allow 
any  device,  however  specious,  to  conceal  its  character  and  tendency. 

In  presenting  these  opinions,  I  have  spoken  with  the  freedom  and  candor 
which  I  thought  the  occasion  for  their  expression  called  for  ;  and  now  re- 
spectfully return  the  bill  which  has  been  under  consideration,  for  your 
further  deliberation  and  judgment. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MAY  26,  1830. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

GENTLEMEN  :  I  think  it  my  duty  to  inform  you,  that  I  am  daily  expect- 
ing the  definitive  answer  of  the  British  government  to  a  proposition  which 
has  been  submitted  to  it  by  this,  upon  the  subject  of  the  colonial  trade. 

This  communication  has  been  delayed  by  a  confident  belief,  that  the 
answer  referred  to  would  have  been  received  early  enough  to  have  admit- 
ted of  its  submission  to  you  in  sufficient  season  for  the  final  action  of  Con- 
gress at  its  present  session ;  and  is  now  induced  by  an  apprehension  that, 
although  the  packet  by  which  it  was  intended  to  be  sent  is  hourly  ex- 
pected, its  arrival  may,  nevertheless,  be  delayed  until  after  your  adjourn- 
ment. 

Should  this  branch  of  the  negotiation  committed  to  our  minister  be  suc- 
cessful, the  present  interdict  would,  nevertheless,  be  necessarily  continued 
until  the  next  session  of  Congress,  as  the  president  has,  in  no  event,  au- 
thority to  remove  it. 

Although  no  decision  had  been  made  at  the  date  of  our  last  advices  from 
Mr.  McLane,  yet,  from  the  genera]  character  of  the  interviews  between 
him  and  those  of  his  majesty's  ministers,  whose  particular  duty  it  was  to 
confer  with  him  on  the  subject,  there  is  sufficient  reason  to  expect  a  favor- 
able result,  to  justify  me  in  submitting  to  you  the  propriety  of  providing 
for  a  decision  in  the  recess. 

This  may  be  done  by  authorizing  the  president,  in  case  an  arrange- 
ment can  be  effected,  upon  such  terms  as  Congress  would  approve,  to 
carry  the  same  into  effect  on  our  part  by  proclamation  ;  or,  if  it  should  be 
thought  advisable  to  execute  the  views  of  Congress,  by  like  means,  in  the 
event  of  an  unfavorable  decision. 

Any  information  in  the  possession  of  the  executive,  which  you  may 
deem  necessary  to  guide  your  deliberations,  and  which  it  may,  under  ex- 
isting circumstances,  be  proper  to  communicate,  shall  be  promptly  laid  be 
fore  you,  if  required. 


APPENDIX. 


SPECIAL   MESSAGES  OF  WASHINGTON, 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
AUGUST  7,  1789. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the   United  States  : — 

THE  business,  which  has  been  under  the  consideration  of  Congress,  has 
been  of  so  much  importance,  that  I  was  unwilling  to  draw  their  attentior 
from  it  to  any  other  subject ;  but  the  disputes  which  exist  between  some 
of  the  United  States  and  several  powerful  tribes  of  Indians  within  the  lim- 
its of  the  Union,  and  the  hostilities  which  have  in  several  instances  been 
committed  on  the  frontiers,  seem  to  require  the  immediate  interposition  of 
the  general  government. 

I  have  therefore  directed  the  several  statements  and  papers,  which  have 
been  submitted  to  me  on  this  subject  by  General  Knox,  to  be  laid  before 
you  for  your  information.  While  the  measures  of  government  ought  to  be 
calculated  to  protect  the  citizens  from  all  injury  and  violence,  a  due  regard 
should  be  extended  to  those  Indian  tribes,  whose  happiness,  in  the  course 
of  events,  so  materially  depends  on  the  national  justice  and  humanity  of 
the  United  States. 

If  it  should  be  the  judgment  of  Congress  that  it  would  be  most  expedi- 
ent to  terminate  all  differences  in  the  southern  district,  and  to  lay  the 
foundation  for  future  confidence,  by  an  amicable  treaty  with  the  Indian 
tribes  in  that  quarter,  I  think  proper  to  suggest  the  consideration  of  the 
expediency  of  instituting  a  temporary  commission  for  that  purpose,  to  con- 
sist of  three  persons,  whose  authority  should  expire  with  the  occasion. 
How  far  such  a  measure,  unassisted  by  posts,  would  be  competent  to  the 
establishment  and  preservation  of  peace  and  tranquillity  on  the  frontier,  is 
also  a  matter  which  merits  your  serious  consideration. 

Along  with  this  object,  I  am  induced  to  suggest  another,  with  the  na- 
tional importance  and  necessity  of  which  I  am  deeply  impressed  :  I  mean 
some  uniform  and  effective  system  for  the  militia  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  offer  arguments  in  recommendation  of  a  measure  on 
which  the  honor,  safety,  and  well-being  of  our  country  so  evidently  and 
so  essentially  depend.  But  it  may  not  bo  amiss  to  observe,  thai  I  am 
particularly  anxious  it  should  receive  as  early  attention  as  circumstance* 
will  admit  ;  because  it  is  now  in  our  power  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  mil) 


WASHINGTON  S    SPECIAL    MESSAGES. 


tary  knowledge  disseminated  throughout  the  several  states  by  means  of 
the  many  well-instructed  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  late  army,  a  resource 
which  is  daily  diminishing  by  deaths  and  other  causes.  To  suffer  this 
peculiar  advantage  to  pass  away  unimproved,  would  be  to  neglect  an  op- 
portunity which  will  never  again  occur,  unless  unfortunately  we  should 
again  be  involved  in  a  long  and  arduous  war. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

SEPTEMBER  17,  1789. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  : — 

IT  doubtless  is  important  that  all  treaties  and  compacts  formed  by  the 
United  States  with  other  nations,  whether  civilized  or  not,  should  be  made 
with  caution,  and  executed  with  fidelity. 

It  is  said  to  be  the  general  understanding  and  practice  of  nations,  as  a 
check  on  the  mistakes  and  indiscretions  of  ministers  or  commissioners, 
not  to  consider  any  treaty,  negotiated  and  signed  by  such  officers,  as  final 
and  conclusive,  until  ratified  by  the  sovereign  or  government  from  whom 
hey  derive  their  powers.  This  practice  has  been  adopted  by  the  United 
States  respecting  their  treaties  with  European  nations,  and  I  am  inclined 
to  think  it  would  be  advisable  to  observe  it  in  the  conduct  of  our  treaties 
with  the  Indians ;  for,  though  such  treaties,  being,  on  their  part,  made  by 
their  chiefs  or  rulers,  need  not  be  ratified  by  them,  yet,  being  formed  on 
our  part  by  the  agency  of  subordinate  officers,  it  seems  to  me  both  prudent 
and  reasonable  that  their  acts  should  not  be  binding  on  the  nation,  until 
approved  and  ratified  by  the  government.  It  strikes  me  that  this  point 
should  be  well  considered  and  settled,  so  that  our  national  proceedings 
in  this  respect  may  become  uniform,  and  be  directed  by  fixed  and  stable 
principles. 

The  treaties  with  certain  Indian  nations,  which  were  laid  before  you 
with  my  message  of  the  25th  of  May  last,  suggested  two  questions  to  my 
mind,  namely — first,  whether  those  treaties  were  to  be  considered  as  per- 
fected, and  consequently  as  obligatory,  without  being  ratified.  If  not,  then, 
secondly,  whether  both,  or  either,  and  which  of  them,  ought  to  be  ratified. 
On  these  questions  I  request  your  opinion  and  advice. 

You  have,  indeed,  advised  me  "  to  execute  and  enjoin  an  observance 
of"  the  treaty  with  the  Wyandots,  &c.  You,  gentlemen,  doubtless  in- 
tended to  be  clear  and  explicit ;  and  yet.  without  further  explanation,  1 
fear  I  may  misunderstand  your  meaning  :  for  if,  by  my  executing  that  trea- 
ty, you  mean  that  I  should  make  it  (in  a  more  particular  and  immediate 
manner  than  it  now  is)  the  act  of  government,  then  it  follows  that  I  am  to 
ratify  it.  If  you  meaji,  by  my  executing  it,  that  I  am  to  see  it  carried  into 
effect  and  operation,  then  I  am  led  to  conclude,  either  that  you  consider  it 
as  being  perfect  and  obligatory  in  its  present  state,  and  therefore  to  be 
executed  and  observed  ;  or,  that  you ,  consider  it  to  derive  its  completion 
and  obligation  from  the  silent  approbation  and  ratification  which  my  proc- 
lamation may  be  construed  to  imply.  Although  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  the  latter  is  your  intention,  yet  it  is  certainly  best  that  all  doubts  re- 
specting it  be  removed. 


WASHINGTON  S    SPECIAL    MESSAGES.  Ill 

Permit  me  to  observe,  that  it  will  be  proper  for  me  to  be  informed  o. 
your  sentiments  relative  to  the  treaty  with  the  Six  Nations,  previous  t& 
the  departure  of  the  governor  of  the  western  territory,  and  therefore  I  rec 
ommend  it  to  your  early  consideration. 


S/P  EC  I  A  L    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  9,   1790. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  : — 

You  will  perceive,  from  the  papers  herewith  delivered,  and  which  are 
enumerated  in  the  annexed  list,  that  a  difference  subsists  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  relative  to  the  boundary  line  between  our 
eastern  and  their  territories.  A  plan  for  deciding  this  difference  was  laid 
before  the  late  Congress  ;  and  whether  that  or  some  other  plan  of  a  like 
kind  would  not  now  be  eligible,  is  submitted  to  your  consideration. 

In  my  opinion  it  is  desirable  that  all  questions  between  this  and  other 
nations  be  speedily  and  amicably  settled  ;  and,  in  this  instance,  I  think  it 
advisable  to  postpone  any  negotiations  on  the  subject  until  I  shall  be  in- 
formed of  the  result  of  your  deliberations,  and  receive  your  advice  as 
to  the  propositions  most  proper  to  be  offered  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States. 

As  I  am  taking  measures  for  learning  the  intentions  of  Great  Britain 
respecting  the  further  detention  of  our  posts,  &c.,  I  am  the  more  solicit- 
ous that  the  business  now  submitted  to  you  may  be  prepared  for  nego- 
tiation as  soon  as  the  other  important  affairs  which  engage  your  attention 
will  permit. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
AUGUST  4,  1790. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States : — 

I.v  consequence  of  the  general  principles  agreed  to  by  the  senate  in 
August,  1789,  the  adjustment  of  the  terms  of  a  treaty  is  far  advanced  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the  chiefs  of  the  Creek  Indians,  now  in  this 
city,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  the  whole  Creek  nation. 

In  preparing  this  treaty,  the  present  arrangements  of  trade  with  the 
Creeks  have  caused  much  embarrassment.  It  seems  to  be  well  ascer- 
tained that  the  said  trade  is  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  a  company 
of  British  merchants,  who,  by  agreement,  make  their  importations  of  goods 
from  England  into  the  Spanish  ports. 

As  the  trade  of  the  Indians  is  a  main  means  of  their  political  manage- 
ment, it  is  therefore  obvious  that  the  United  States  can  not  possess  any 
security  for  the  performance  of  treaties  with  the  Creeks,  while  their  trade 
is  liable  to  be  interrupted,  or  withheld,  at  the  caprice  of  two  foreign 
powers. 


IV  WASHINGTON S    SPECIAL    MESSAGES. 

Hence  it  becomes  an  object  of  real  importance  to  form  new  channels 
for  the  commerce  of  the  Creeks  through  the  United  States.  But  this 
operation  will  require  time,  as  the  present  arrangements  can  not  be  sud- 
denly broken  without  the  greatest  violation  of  faith  and  morals. 

It  therefore  appears  to  be  important  to  form  a  secret  article  of  a  treaty, 
similar  to  the  one  which  accompanies  this  message. 

If  the  senate  should  require  any  further  explanation,  the  secretary  of 
war  will  attend  them  for  that  purpose. 


SECRET    ARTICLE. 

The  commerce  necessary  for  the  Creek  nation  shall  be  carried  on 
through  the  ports,  and  by  the  citizens,  of  the  United  States,  if  substantial 
and  effectual  arrangements  shall  be  made  for  that  purpose  by  the  United 
States  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  August,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  ninety-two.  In  the  meantime,  the  said  commerce  may  be  carried  on 
through  its  present  channels,  and  according  to  its  present  arrangements. 

And,  whereas,  the  trade  of  the  said  Creek  nation  is  now  carried  on 
wholly  or  principally  through  the  territories  of  Spain,  and  obstructions 
thereto  may  happen  by  war  or  prohibitions  of  the  Spanish  government :  it 
is  therefore  agreed  between  the  said  parties,  that,  in  the  event  of  any  such 

obstructions  happening,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  such  persons  as  

shall  designate,  to  introduce  into,  and  transport  through  the  territories  of 
the  United  States,  to  the  country  of  the  said  Creek  nation,  any  quantity 
of  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise,  not  exceeding  in  value  in  any  one  year 
sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  that  free  from  any  duties  or  impositions  what- 
soever, but  subject  to  such  regulations  for  guarding  against  abuse  as  the 
United  States  shall  judge  necessary  ;  which  privilege  shall  continue  as 
long  as  such  obstructions  shall  continue. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
AUGUST  7,  1790. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States : — 

I  LAY  before  you  a  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  the  chiefs  of 
the  Creek  nation,  now  in  this  city,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  the  whole 
Creek  nation,  subject  to  the  ratification  of  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate. 

While  I  flatter  myself  that  this  treaty  will  be  productive  of  present 
peace  and  prosperity  to  our  southern  frontier,  it  is  expected  that  it  will 
also  in  its  consequences  be  the  means  of  firmly  attaching  the  Creeks  and 
the  neighboring  tribes  to  the  interests  of  the  United  States. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  afford  solid  grounds  of 
satisfaction  to  the  state  of  Georgia,  as  it  contains  a  regular,  full,  and  de- 
finitive relinquishment,  on  the  part  of  the  Creek  nation,  of  the  Oconee  land, 
in  the  utmost  extent  in  which  it  has  been  claimed  by  that  state,  and  thus 
extinguishes  the  principal  cause  of  those  hostilities  from  which  it  has 
more  than  once  experienced  such  severe  calamities.  But  although  the 


WASHINGTON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES,  v 

most  valuable  of  the  disputed  land  is  included,  yet  there  is  a  certain  claim 
of  Georgia,  arising  out  of  the  treaty  made  by  that  state  at  Galphinston,  in 
November,  1785,  of  land  to  the  eastward  of  a  new  temporary  line  from 
the  forks  of  the  Oconee  and  Oakmulgee  in  a  southwest  direction  to  the 
St.  Mary's  river,  which  tract  of  land  the  Creeks  in  this  city  absolutely  re- 
fuse to  yield. 

This  land  is  reported  to  be  generally  barren,  sunken,  and  unfit  for  culti- 
vation, except  in  some  instances  on  the  margin  of  the  rivers,  on  which, 
by  improvement,  rice  might  be  cultivated,  its  chief  value  depending  on 
the  timber  fit  for  the  building  of  ships,  with  which  it  is  represented  as 
abounding. 

While  it  is  thus  circumstanced,  on  the  one  hand,  it  is  stated  by  the 
Creeks,  on  the  other,  to  be  of  the  highest  importance  to  them,  as  constitu- 
ting some  of  their  most  valuable  winter  hunting-ground. 

1  have  directed  the  commissioner,  to  whom  the  charge  of  adjusting  this 
treaty  has  been  committed,  to  lay  before  you  such  papers  and  documents, 
and  to  communicate  to  you  such  information  relatively  to  it,  as  you  may 
require. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
AUGUST  11,  1790. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  :— 

ALTHOUGH  the  treaty  with  the  Creeks  may  be  regarded  as  the  main 
foundation  of  the  future  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  southwestern  frontier 
of  the  United  States,  yet,  in  order  fully  to  effect  so  desirable  an  object,  the 
treaties  which  have  been  entered  into  with  the  other  tribes  in  that  quarter 
must  be  faithfully  performed  on  our  part. 

During  the  last  year,  I  laid  before  the  senate  a  particular  statement  of 
the  case  of  the  Cherokees.  By  a  reference  to  that  paper  it  will  appear 
that  the  United  States  formed  a  treaty  with  the  Cherokees  in  November, 
1785  ;  that  the  said  Cherokees  thereby  placed  themselves  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  United  States,  and  had  a  boundary  assigned  them  ;  that  the 
white  people,  settled  on  the  frontiers,  had  openly  violated  the  said  bound- 
ary by  intruding  on  the  Indian  lands  ;  that  the  United  States,  in  Congress 
assembled,  on  1st  day  of  September,  1788,  issued  their  proclamation  for- 
bidding all  such  unwarrantable  intrusions,  and  enjoined  all  those  who  had 
settled  upon  the  hunting-grounds  of  the  Cherokees  to  depart  with  their 
families  and  effects  without  loss  of  time,  as  they  would  answer  their  diso- 
bedience to  the  injunctions  and  prohibitions  expressed  at  their  peril. 

But  information  has  beeu  received,  that,  notwithstanding  the  said  treaty 
and  proclamation,  upward  of  five  hundred  families  have  settled  on  the 
Cherokee  land,  exclusively  of  those  settled  between  the  forks  of  French, 
Broad,  and  Holstcin  rivers,  mentioned  in  the  said  treaty. 

As  the  obstructions  to  a  proper  conduct  on  this  matter  have  been  re- 
moved since  it  was  mentioned  to  the  senate  on  the  'J'Jd  of  August,  1789, 
by  the  accession  of  North  Carolina  to  the  present  Union,  and  tho  cessions 
of  the  lands  in  question,  1  shalUconcei\  e  myself  bound  to  exert  the  powers 
intrusted  to  me  by  the  constitution,  in  order  ti*  carry  into  faithful  exeeu- 


vi  WASHINGTON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

tion  the  treaty  of  Hopewell,  unless  it  shall  be  thought  proper  to  attempt  to 
arrange  a  new  boundary  with  the  Cherokees,  embracing  the  settlements, 
and  compensating  the  Cherokees  for  the  cessions  they  shall  make  on  the 
occasion.  On  this  point,  therefore,  I  state  the  following  questions,  and 
request  the  advice  of  the  senate  thereon  : — 

1.  Is  it  the  judgment  of  the  senate  that  overtures  shall  be  made  to  the 
Cherokees  to  arrange  a  new  boundary,  so  as  to  embrace  the  settlements 
made   by  the  white   people   since  the  treaty  of  Hopewell,  in  November, 
1785? 

2.  If  so,  shall  compensation  to  the  amount  of dollars  annually, 

or  of  dollars  in  gross,  be  made  to  the  Cherokees  for  the  land  they 

shall  relinquish,  holding  the  occupiers  of  the  land  accountable  to  the  United 
States  for  its  value  ? 

3.  Shall  the  United  States  stipulate  solemnly  to  guaranty  the  new  bound- 
ary which  may.  be  arranged  ? 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  24,  1791. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

IN  execution  of  the  powers  with  which  Congress  were  pleased  to  in- 
vest me  by  their  act,  entitled,  "  An  act  for  establishing  the  temporary  and 
permanent  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,"  and  on  mature 
consideration  of  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  several  positions 
within  the  limits,  prescribed  by  the  said  act,  I  have,  by  a  proclamation, 
bearing  date  this  day,  a  copy  of  which  is  herewith  transmitted,  directed 
commissioners,  appointed  in  pursuance  of  the  act,  to  survey  and  limit  a 
part  of  the  territory  of  ten  miles  square,  on  both  sides  the  river  Potomac, 
so  as  to  comprehend  Georgetown,  in  Maryland,  and  to  extend  to  the  East- 
ern Branch. 

I  have  not,  by  this  first  act,  given  to  the  said  territory  the  whole  extent 
of  which  it  is  susceptible  in  the  direction  of  the  river,  because  I  thought 
it  important  that  Congress  should  have  an  opportunity  of  considering 
whether,  by  an  amendatory  law,  they  would  authorize  the  location  of  the 
residue  at  the  lower  end  of  the  present,  so  as  to  comprehend  the  Eastern 
Branch  itself  and  some  of  the  country  on  its  lower  side  in  the  state  of 
Maryland,  and  the  town  of  Alexandria,  in  Virginia ;  if,  however,  they  are 
of  opinion  that  the  federal  territory  should  be  bounded  by  the  water-edge 
of  the  Eastern  Branch,  the  location  of  the  residue  will  be  to  be  made 
at  the  upper  end  of  what  is  now  directed. 

I  have  thought  best  to  await  a  survey  of  the  territory,  before  it  is  de- 
cided on  what  particular  spot  on  the  northeastern  side  of  the  river  the 
public  buildings  shall  be  erected. 


WASHINGTON  S    SPECIAL    MESSAGES.  VU 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY  14,  1791. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the   United   States  : — 

SOON  after  I  was  called  to  the  administration  of  the  government,  I  found 
it  important  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  court  of  London  on  sev- 
eral points  interesting  to  the  United  States,  and  particularly  to  know 
whether  they  were  disposed  to  enter  into  arrangements,  by  mutual  con- 
sent, which  might  fix  the  commerce  between  the  two  nations  on  principles 
of  reciprocal  advantage.  For  this  purpose,  I  authorized  informal  confer- 
ences with  their  minister ;  and  from  these  I  do  not  infer  any  disposition, 
on  their  part,  to  enter  into  any  arrangements  merely  commercial.  I  have 
thought  it  proper  to  give  you  this  information,  as  it  might  at  some  time 
have  influence  on  matters  under  your  consideration. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  : — 

Conceiving,  that  in  the  possible  event  of  a  refusal  of  justice  on  the  part 
of  Great  Britain,  we  should  stand  less  committed  should  it  be  made  to  a 
private  rather  than  a  public  person,  I  employed  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris, 
who  was  on  the  spot,  and  without  giving  him  any  definite  character,  to 
enter  informally  into  the  conferences  before  mentioned.  For  your  more 
particular  information,  1  lay  before  you  the  instructions  I  gave  him,  and 
those  parts  of  his  communications  wherein  the  British  ministers  appear, 
either  in  conversation  or  by  letter.  These  are  two  letters  from  the  duke 
of  Leeds,  and  one  with  him  and  Mr.  Pitt.  The  sum  of  these  is,  that  they 
declare  without  scruple  that  they  do  not  mean  to  fulfil  what  remains  of  the 
treaty  of  peace  to  be  fulfilled  on  their  part  (by  which  we  are  to  understand 
the  delivery  of  the  posts,  and  payment  for  property  carried  off),  till  per- 
formance on  our  part,  and  compensation  where  the  delay  has  rendered  the 
performance  now  impracticable  ;  that,  on  the  subject  of  a  treaty  of  com- 
merce, they  avoided  direct  answers,  so  as  to  satisfy  Mr.  Morris  they  did 
not  mean  to  enter  into  one,  unless  it  could  be  extended  into  a  treaty  of 
alliance  offensive  and  defensive,  or  unless  in  the  event  ef  a  rupture  with 
Spain. 

As  to  the  sending  a  minister  here,  they  made  excuses  at  the  first  con- 
ference, seem  disposed  to  it  in  the  second,  and  in  the  last  express  an  in- 
tention of  so  doing. 

Their  views  being  thus  sufficiently  ascertained,  I  have  directed  Mr. 
Morris  to  discontinue  his  communications  with  them. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
FEBRUARY   18,  1791. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States : — 

THE  aspect  of  affairs  in  Europe  during  the  last  summer,  and  especially 
between  Spain  and  England,  gave  reason  to  expect  a  favorable  occasion 
for  pressing  to  accommodation  the  unsettled  matters  between  them  and  us 


Till  WASHINGTON  S    SPECIAL    MESSAGES. 

Mr.  Carmichael,  our  charge  d'affaires  at  Madrid,  having  been  long  absent 
from  his  country,  and  great  changes  having  taken  place  in  our  circum- 
stances and  sentiments  during  the  interval,  it  was  thought  expedient  to 
send  some  person  in  a  private  character,  fully  acquainted  with  the  present 
state  of  things  here,  to  be  the  bearer  of  written  and  confidential  instruc- 
tions to  him,  and  at  the  same  time  to  possess  him,  in  full  and  frequent  con- 
versations, of  all  those  details  of  facts  and  topics  of  argument  which  could 
not  be  conveyed  in  writing,  but  which  would  be  necessary  to  enable 
him  to  meet  the  reasonings  of  that  court  with  advantage.  Colonel  David 
Humphreys  was  therefore  sent  for  these  purposes. 

An  additional  motive  for  this  confidential  mission  arose  in  the  same 
quarter.  The  court  of  Lisbon  had,  on  several  occasions,  made  the  most 
amicable  advances  for  cultivating  friendship  and  intercourse  with  the 
United  States.  The  exchange  of  a  diplomatic  character  had  been  infor- 
mally, but  repeatedly,  suggested  on  their  part.  It  was  our  interest  to  meet 
this  nation  in  its  friendly  dispositions,  and  to  concur  in  the  exchange  pro- 
posed. But  my  wish  was,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  character  to  be  ex- 
changed should  be  of  the  lowest  and  most  economical  grade.  To  this  it 
was  known  that  certain  rules  of  long  standing  at  that  court  would  produce 
obstacles.  Colonel  Humphreys  was  charged  with  despatches  to  the  prime- 
minister  of  Portugal,  and  with  instructions  to  endeavor  to  arrange  this  to 
our  views.  It  happened,  however,  that,  previous  to  his  arrival  at  Lisbon, 
the  queen  had  appointed  a  minister  resident  to  the  United  States.  This 
embarrassment  seems  to  have  rendered  the  difficulty  completely  insur- 
mountable. The  minister  of  that  court,  in  his  own  conferences  with 
Colonel  Humphreys,  professing  every  wish  to  accommodate,  yet  expresses 
his  regrets  that  circumstances  do  not  permit  them  to  concur  in  the  grade 
of  charge  d'affaires — a  grade  of  little  privilege  or  respectability  by  the 
rules  of  their  court — and  held  in  so  low  estimation  by  them,  that  no  proper 
character  would  accept  it  to  go  abroad.  In  a  letter  to  the  secretary  of 
state,  he  expresses  the  same  sentiments,  and  announces  the  appointment 
on  their  part  of  a  minister  resident  to  the  United  States,  and  the  pleasure 
with  which  the  queen  will  receive  one  from  us  at  her  court.  A  copy  of 
his  letter,  and  also  of  Colonel  Humphreys',  giving  the  details  of  this  trans- 
action, will  be  delivered  to  you. 

On  this  consideration  of  all  circumstances,  I  have  determined  to  accede 
to  the  desire  of  the  court  of  Lisbon  in  the  article  of  grade.  I  am  aware 
that  the  consequences  will  not  end  here,  and  that  this  is  not  the  only  in- 
stance in  whic£  a  like  change  may  be  pressed.  But,  should  it  be  neces- 
sary to  yield  elsewhere  also,  I  shall  think  it  a  less  evil  than  to  disgust  a 
government  so  friendly  and  so  interesting  to  us  as  that  of  Portugal.  I 
do  not  mean  that  the  change  of  grade  shall  render  the  mission  more  ex- 
pensive. 

I  have,  therefore,  nominated  David  Humphreys  minister  resident  from 
the  United  States  to  her  most  faithful  majesty  the  queen  of  Portugal. 


WASHINGTON'S    SPECIAL    MESSAGES.  ix 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  5,  1792. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

KNOWING  the  friendly  interest  you  take  in  whatever  may  promote  the 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  French  nation,  it  is  with  pleasure  I  lay 
before  you  the  translation  of  a  letter  which  I  have  received  from  his  most 
Christian  majesty,  announcing  to  the  United  States  of  America  his  ac- 
ceptance of  the  constitution  presented  to  his  nation. 

The  translation  of  the  letter  above  referred  to. 

September  19,  1791. 
VERY  DEAR,  GREAT  FRIENDS  AND  ALLIES  : — 

WE  make  it  our  duty  to  inform  you  that  we  have  accepted  the  constitu- 
tion which  has  been  presented  to  us  in  the  name  of  the  nation,  and  accord- 
ing to  which  France  will  be  henceforth  governed. 

We  dd  not  doubt  that  you  take  an  interest  in  an  event  so  important  to 
our  kingdom  and  to  us,  and  it  is  with  real  pleasure  we  take  this  occasion 
to  renew  to  you  assurances  of  the  sincere  friendship  we  bear  you.  Where- 
upon we  pray  God  to  have  you,  very  dear,  great  friends  and  allies,  in  his 
just  and  holy  keeping.  Written  at  Paris,  the  19th  of  September,  1791. 
Your  good  friend  and  ally,  Louis 

MONTMORIN. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MAY  8,  1792. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  : — 

IF  the  president  of  the  United  States  should  conclude  a  convention  or 
treaty  with  the  government  of  Algiers  for  the  ransom  of  the  thirteen  Amer- 
icans in  captivity  there,  for  a  sum  not  exceeding  forty  thousand  dollars,  all 
expenses  included,  will  the  senate  approve  the  same  ?  Or  is  there  any 
and  what  greater  or  lesser  sum,  which  they  would  fix  on  as  the  limit  be- 
yond which  they  would  not  approve  the  ransom  ? 

If  the  president  of  the  United  States  should  conclude  a  treaty  with  the 
government  of  Algiers  for  the  establishment  of  peace  with  them,  at  an  ex- 
pense not  exceeding  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  paid  at  the  signature,  and 
a  like  sum  to  be  paid  annually  afterward  during  the  continuance  of  the 
treaty,  would  the  senate  approve  the  same  ?  Or  are  there  any  greater  or 
lesser  sums  which  they  would  fix  on  as  the  limit  beyond  which  they 
would  not  approve  of  such  treaty  ? 

VOL.  I.— 47 


JC  WASHINGTON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  16,  1793. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

THE  situation  of  affairs  in  Europe,  in  the  course  of  the  year  1790,  hav- 
ing rendered  it  possible  that  a  moment  might  arrive  favorable  for  the  ar- 
rangement of  our  unsettled  matters  with  Spain,  it  was  thought  proper  to 
prepare  a  representative  at  that  court  to  avail  us  of  it.  A  confidential  per- 
son was  therefore  despatched  to  be  the  bearer  of  instructions  to  him,  and 
to  supply,  by  verbal  communications,  any  additional  information  of  which 
he  might  find  himself  in  need.  The  gOA'ernrnent  of  France  was  at  the 
same  time  applied  to  for  its  aid  and  influence  in  this  negotiation.  Events, 
however,  took  a  turn  which  did  not  present  the  occasion  hoped  for. 

About  the  close  of  the  ensuing  year,  I  was  informed,  through  the  repre- 
sentatives of  Spain  here,  that  their  government  would  be  willing  to  renew 
at  Madrid  the  former  conferences  on  these  subjects.  Though  the  transfer 
of  scene  was  not  what  would  have  been  desired,  yet  I  did  not  think  it  im- 
portant enough  to  regret  the  proposition  ;  and  therefore,  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  senate,  I  appointed  commissioners  plenipotentiary  for  ne- 
gotiating and  concluding  a  treaty  with  that  country  on  the  several  subjects 
of  boundary,  navigation,  and  commerce,  and  gave  them  the  instructions 
now  communicated.  Before  these  negotiations,  however,  could  be  got 
into  train,  the  new  troubles  which  had  arisen  in  Europe  had  produced  new 
combinations  among  the  powers  there,  the  effects  of  which  are  but  too 
visible  in  the  proceedings  now. laid  before  you. 

In  the  meantime,  some  other  points  of  discussion  had  arisen  with  that 
country,  to  wit,  the  restitution  of  property  escaping  into  the  territories  of 
each  other,  the  mutual  exchange  of  fugitives  from  justice,  and,  above  all, 
the  mutual  interferences  with  the  Indians  lying  between  us.  I  had  the 
best  reason  to  believe  that  the  hostilities  threatened  and  exercised  by  the 
southern  Indians  on  our  border  were  excited  by  the  agents  of  that  govern- 
ment. Representations  were  thereon  directed  to  be  made  by  our  commis- 
sioners to  the  Spanish  government,  and  a  proposal  to  cultivate  with  good 
faith  the  peace  of  each  other  with  those  people.  In  the  meantime,  corre- 
sponding suspicions  were  entertained,  or  pretended  to  be  entertained,  on 
their  part,  of  like  hostile  excitements  by  our  agents  to  disturb  their  peace 
with  the  same  nations.  These  were  brought  forward  by  the  representa- 
tives of  Spain  here  in  a  style  which  could  not  fail  to  produce  attention. 
A  claim  of  patronage  and  protection  of  those  Indians  was  asserted  ;  a  me- 
diation between  them  and  us  by  the  sovereign  assumed  ;  their  boundaries 
with  us  made  a  subject  of  interference  ;  and  at  length,  at  the  very  moment 
when  these  savages  were  committing  daily  inroads  upon  our  frontier,  we 
were  informed  by  them  that  "  the  continuation  of  the  peace,  good  har- 
mony, and  perfect  friendship  of  the  two  nations,  was  very  problematical 
for  the  future,  unless  the  United  States  should  take  more  convenient 
measures  and  of  greater  energy  than  those  adopted  for  a  long  time  past." 

If  their  previous  correspondence  had  worn  the  appearance  of  a  desire 
to  urge  on  a  disagreement,  this  last  declaration  left  no  room  to  evade  it, 
since  it  could  not  be  conceived  we  would  submit  to  the  scalping-knife  and 
tomahawk  of  the  savage  without  any  resistance.  I  thought  it  time,  there- 
fore, to  know  if  these  were  the  views  of  the  sovereign  :  and  despatched  a 


WASHINGTON  S    SPECIAL    MESSAGES.  « 

special  messenger  with  instructions  to  our  commissioners,  which  are  among 
the  papers  now  communicated.  This  last  letter  gives  us  reason  to  expect 
very  shortly  to  know  the  result.  I  must  add,  that  the  Spanish  represen- 
tatives here,  perceiving  that  their  last  communication  had  made  no  consid- 
erable impression,  endeavored  to  abate  this  by  some  subsequent  profes- 
sions, which,  being  also  among  the  communications  to  the  legislature,  they 
will  be  able  to  form  their  own  conclusions. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBF.R   16,  1793. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States : — 

I  LAY  before  you  a  report  of  the  secretary  of  state  on  the  measures 
which  have  been  taken  on  behalf  of  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  a  recognition  of  our  treaty  with  Morocco,  and  for  the  ransom 
of  our  citizens  and  establishment  of  peace  with  Algiers. 

While  it  is  proper  our  citizens  should  know  that  subjects,  which  so  much 
concern  their  interests  and  their  feelings,  have  duly  engaged  the  attention 
of  their  legislature  and  executive,  it  would  still  be  improper  that  some  par- 
ticulars of  this  communication  should  be  made  known.  The  confidential 
conversation  stated  in  one  of  the  last  letters  sent  herewith  is  one  of  these. 
Both  justice  and  policy  require  that  the  source  of  that  information  remain 
secret.  So  a  knowledge  of  the  sums  meant  to  have  been  given  for  peace 
and  ransom  might  have  disadvantageous  influence  on  future  proceedings 
for  the  same  objects. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  21,   1794. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Rtprcse ntatives  : — 

IT  is  with  satisfaction  I  announce  to  you  that  the  alterations  which  have 
been  made  by  law'in  the  original  plan  for  raising  a  duty  on  spirits  distilled 
within  the  United  States,  and  on  stills,  co-operating  with  better  informa- 
tion, have  had  a  considerable  influence  in  obviating  the  difficulties  which 
have  embarrassed  that  brunch  of  the  public  revenue.  But  the  obstacles 
which  have  been  experienced,  though  lessened,  are  not  yet  entirely  sur- 
mounted, and  it  would  seem  that  some  further  legislative  provisions  may 
usefully  be  superadded  ;  which  leads  me  to  recall  the  attention  of  Congress 
to  the  subject.  Among  the  matters  which  may  demand  regulation,  is  the 
effect,  in  point  of  organization,  produced  by  the  separation  of  Kentucky 
from  the  state  of  Virginia  ;  and  the  situation,  with  regard  to  the  law,  of  the 
territories  northwest  and  southwest  of  the  Ohio. 

The  laws  respecting  lighthouse  establishments  require,  as  a  condition 
of  their  permanent  maintenance,  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States,  a 


Xll  WASHINGTON  S    SPECIAL    MESSAGES. 

complete  cession  of  soil  and  jurisdiction.  The  cessions  of  different  states 
having  been  qualified  with  a  reservation  of  the  right  of  serving  legal  pro- 
cess within  the  ceded  jurisdiction,  are  understood  to  be  inconclusive,  as 
annexing  a  qualification  not  consonant  with  the  terms  of  the  law,  I  pre- 
sent this  circumstance  to  the  view  of  Congress,  that  they  may  judge 
whether  any  alteration  ought  to  be  made. 

As  it  appears  to  be  conformable  with  the  intention  of  the  "  ordinance 
for  the  government  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  northwest  of  the 
river  Ohio,"  although  it  is  not  expressly  directed  that  the  laws  of  that  ter- 
ritory should  be  laid  before  Congress,  I  now  transmit  to  you  a  copy  of 
such  as  have  been  passed  from  July  to  December,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  ninety-two,  inclusive,  being  the  last  which  have  been  re- 
ceived by  the  secretary  of  state. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  28,  1794. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : — 

IN  the  execution  of  the  resolution  of  Congress,  bearing  date  the  26th 
of  March,  1794,  and  imposing  an  embargo,  I  have  requested  the  governors 
of  the  several  states  to  call  forth  the  force  of  their  militia,  if  it  should  be 
necessary  for  the  detention  of  vessels.  This  power  is  conceived  to  be 
incidental  to  an  embargo. 

It  also  deserves  the  attention  of  Congress,  how  far  the  clearances  from 
one  district  to  another,  under  the  law  as  it  now  stands,  may  give  rise  to 
evasions  of  the  embargo.  As  one  security,  the  collectors  have  been  in- 
structed to  refuse  to  receive  the  surrender  of  coasting-licenses,  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  out  registers,  and  to  require  bond  from  registered  vessels, 
bound  from  one  district  to  another,  for  the  delivery  of  the  cargo  within  the 
United  States. 

It  is  not  understood  that  the  resolution  applies  to  fishing-vessels,  al- 
though their  occupations  lie  generally  in  parts  beyond  the  United  States. 
But  without  further  restrictions,  there  is  an  opportunity  of  their  privileges 
being  used  as  a  means  of  eluding  the  embargo. 

All  armed  vessels,  possessing  public  commissions  from  any  foreign 
power  (letters  of  marque  excepted),  are  considered  as  not  liable  to  the 
embargo. 

These  circumstances  are  transmitted  to  Congress  for  their  considera- 
tion. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MAY  20,  1794. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  cf  Representatives : — 

IN  the  communication  which  I  have  made  to  Congress,  during  the  pres- 
ent session,  relative  to  foreign  nations,  I  have  omitted  no  opportunity  of 
testifying  my  anxiety  to  preserve  the  United  States  in  peace.  It  is  pecu- 


WASHINGTON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  xui 

liarly,  therefore,  my  duty  at  this  time  to  lay  before  you  the  present  state 
of  certain  hostile  threats  against  the  territories  of  Spain,  in  our  neighbor- 
hood. 

The  documents  which  accompany  this  message  develop  the  measures 
which  I  have  taken  to  suppress  them,  and  the  intelligence  which  has  been 
lately  received. 

It  will  be  seen  thence  that  the  subject  has  not  been  neglected  ;  that  ev- 
ery power  vested  in  the  executive,  on  such  occasions,  has  been  exerted ; 
and  that  there  was  reason  to  believe  that  the  enterprise  projected  against 
the  Spanish  dominions  was  relinquished. 

But  it  appears  to  have  been  revived  upon  principles  which  set  public 
order  at  defiance,  and  place  the  peace  of  the  United  States  in  the  discre- 
tion of  unauthorized  individuals.  The  means  already  deposited  in  the  dif- 
ferent departments  of  government  are  shown  by  experience  not  to  be 
adequate  to  these  high  exigencies,  although  such  of  them  as  are  lodged  in 
the  hands  of  the  executive  shall  continue  to  be  used  with  promptness,  en- 
ergy, and  decision,  proportioned  to  the  case.  But  I  am  impelled,  by  the 
position  of  our  public  affairs,  to  recommend  that  provision  be  made  for 
a  stronger  and  more  vigorous  opposition  than  can  be  given  to  such  hos- 
tile movements  under  the  laws  as  they  now  stand. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MAY  21,   1794. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  : — 

I  LAY  before  you  in  confidence  sundry  papers,  by  which  you  will  per- 
ceive the  state  of  affairs  between  us  and  the  Six  Nations,  and  the  probable 
cause  to  which  it  is  owing  ;  and  also  certain  information,  whereby  it  would 
appear  that  some  encroachment  was  about  to  be  made  on  our  territory  by 
an  officer  and  party  of  British  troops.  Proceeding  on  a  supposition  of  the 
authenticity  of  this  information,  although  of  a  private  nature,  I  have  caused 
the  representation  to  be  made  to  the  British  minister,  a  copy  of  which  ac- 
companies this  message. 

It  can  not  be  necessary  to  comment  upon  the  very  serious  nature  of 
such  an  encroachment,  nor  to  urge  that  this  new  state  of  things  suggests 
the  propriety  of  placing  the  United  States  in  a  posture  of  effectual  prepa- 
ration for  an  event,  which,  notwithstanding  the  endeavors  making  to  avert 
it,  may,  by  circumstances  beyond  our  control,  be  forced  upon  us. 


SPECIAL    M  E  S  S  A G  E . 
FEBRUARY  28,  1795. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the    United   States  : — 

IN  my  first  communication  to  Congress  during  their  present  session,  I 
gave  them  reason  to  expect  that  "curtain  circumstances  of  our  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations"  would  be  transmitted  to  them.  There  was  at  thf . 


XIV  WASHINGTONS    SPECIAL    MESSAGES. 

time  every  assurance  for  believing  thai  some  of  the  most  important  of  our 
foreign  affairs  would  have  been  concluded,  and  others  considerably  ma- 
tured, before  they  should  rise.  But,  notwithstanding  I  have  waited  until 
this  moment,  it  has  so  happened,  that,  either  from  causes  unknown  to  me, 
or  from  events  which  could  not  be  controlled,  I  am  yet  unable  to  exe- 
cute my  original  intention.  That  I  may,  however,  fulfil  the  expecta- 
tion given,  as  far  as  the  actual  situation  of  things  will  in  my  judgment 
permit,  I  now,  in  confidence,  lay  before  Congress  the  following  general 
statement : — 

Our  minister  near  the  French  republic  has  urged  compensation  for  the 
injuries  which  our  commerce  has  sustained  from  captures  by  French 
cruisers,  from  the  non-fulfilment  of  the  contracts  of  the  agents  of  that  re- 
public with  our  citizens,  and  from  the  embargo  at  Bordeaux.  He  has 
also  pressed  an  allowance  for  the  money  voted  by  Congress  for  relieving 
the  inhabitants  of  St.  Domingo.  It  affords  me  the  highest  pleasure  to 
inform  Congress  that  perfect  harmony  reigns  between  the  two  republics  ; 
and  that  those  claims  are  in  a  train  of  being  discussed  with  candor,  and 
of  being  amicably  adjusted. 

So  much  of  our  relation  to  Great  Britain  may  depend  upon  the  result  of 
our  late  negotiations  in  London,  that,  until  that  result  shall  arrive,  I  can 
not  undertake  to  make  any  communication  upon  this  subject. 

After  the  negotiation  with  Spain  had  been  long  depending,  unusual  and 
unexpected  embarrassments  were  raised  to  interrupt  its  progress.  But  the 
commissioner  of  his  catholic  majesty,  an  envoy  extraordinary,  has  been 
specially  charged  to  bring  to  a  conclusion  the  discussions,  which  have  been 
formerly  announced  to  Congres#. 

The  friendship  of  her  most  faithful  majesty  has  been  often  manifested 
by  checking  the  passage  of  the  Algerine  corsairs  into  the  Atlantic  ocean. 
She  has  also  furnished  occasional  convoys  to  the  vessels  of  the  United 
States,  even  when  bound  to  other  ports  than  her  own.  We  may  therefore 
promise  ourselves,  that,  as  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things,  few  causes 
can  exist  for  dissatisfaction  between  the  United  States  and  Portugal,  so 
the  temper  with  which  accidental  difficulties  will  be  met  on  each  side  will 
speedily  remove  them. 

Between  the  executive  of  the  United  States  and  the  government  of  the 
United  Netherlands  but  little  intercourse  has  taken  place  during  the  last 
year.  It  may  be  acceptable  to  Congress  to  learn  that  our  credit  in  Hol- 
land is  represented  as  standing  upon  the  most  respectable  footing. 

Upon  the  death  of  the  late  emperor  of  Morocco,  an  agent  was  de- 
spatched to  renew  with  his  successor  the  treaty  which  the  United  States 
had  made  with  him.  The  agent  unfortunately  died  after  he  had  reached 
Europe,  in  the  prosecution  of  his  mission.  But  until  lately  it  was  impos- 
sible to  determine,  with  any  degree  of  probability,  who  of  the  competitors 
for  that  empire  would  be  ultimately  fixed  in  the  supreme  power.  Although 
the  measures  which  have  been  since  adopted  for  the  renewal  of  the  treaty 
have  been  obstructed  by  the  disturbed  situation  of  Amsterdam,  there  are 
good  grounds  for  presuming,  as  yet,  upon  the  pacific  disposition  of  the 
emperor  in  fact  toward  the  United  States,  and  that  the  past  miscarriage 
will  be  shortly  remedied. 

Congress  are  already  acquainted  with  the  failure  of  the  loan  attempted 
in  Holland  for  the  relief  of  our  unhappy  fellow-citizens  in  Algiers.  This 
subject,  than  which  none  deserves  a  more  affectionate  zeal,  has  constantly 
commanded  my  best  exertions.  I  am  happy,  therefore,  in  being  able  to 


WASHINGTON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  xv 

say,  that,  from  the  last  authentic  accounts,  the  dey  was  disposed  to  treat 
for  a  peace  and  ransom,  and  that  both  would  in  all  probability  have  been 
accomplished,  had  we  not  been  disappointed  in  the  means.  Nothing 
which  depends  upon  the  executive  shall  be  left  undone  for  carrying  into 
immediate  effect  the  supplementary  act  of  Congress. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JUNE  25,  1795. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States : — 

JUST  at  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  I  received,  from  one 
of  the  senators  and  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  state  of  Georgia,  an  ap- 
plication for  a  treaty  to  be  held  with  the  tribes  or  nations  of  Indians  claiming 
the  right  of  soil  to  certain  lands  lying  beyond  the  present  temporary  bound- 
ary line  of  that  state,  and  which  were  described  in  an  act  of  the  legis- 
lature of  Georgia,  passed  on  the  28th  of  December  last,  which  has  already 
been  laid  before  the  senate.  This  application,  and  the  subsequent  corre- 
spondence with  the  governor  of  Georgia,  are  herewith  transmitted.  The 
subject  being  very  important,  I  thought  proper  to  postpone  a  decision  upon 
that  application.  The  views  I  have  since  taken  of  the  matter,  with  the 
information  received  of  a  more  pacific  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  Creeks, 
have  induced  me  now  to  accede  to  the  request :  but  with  this  explicit  dec- 
laration, that  neither  my  assent,  nor  the  treaty  which  may  be  made,  shall 
be  considered  as  affecting  any  question  which  may  arise  upon  the  supple- 
mentary act  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  state  of  Georgia  on  the  7th 
of  January  last,  upon  which  inquiries  have  been  instituted,  in  pursuance 
of  a  resolution  of  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  ;  and  that  any 
cession  or  relinquishment  of  the  Indian  claims  shall  be  made  in  the  gen- 
eral terms  of  treaty  of  New  York,  which  are  contemplated  as  the  form 
proper  to  be  generally  used  on  such  occasions  ;  and  on  the  condition  that 
one  half  of  the  expense  of  the  supplies  of  provisions,  for  the  Indians  as- 
sembled at  the  treaty,  be  borne  by  the  state  of  Georgia. 

Having  concluded  to  hold  the  treaty  requested  by  that  state,  I  was  wil- 
ling to  embrace  the  opportunity  it  would  present,  of  inquiring  into  the 
causes  of  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  Creeks  which  has  been  manifested, 
since  the  treaty  of  New  York,  by  the  numerous  and  distressing  depreda- 
tions on  our  southwestern  frontier.  Their  depredations  on  the  Cumber- 
land have  been  so  frequent  and  so  peculiarly  destructive,  as  to  lead  me  to 
think  they  must  originate  in  some  claim  to  the  lands  upon  that  river.  But 
whatever  may  have  been  the  cause,  it  is  important  to  trace  it  to  its  source  ; 
for,  independent  of  the  destruction  of  lives  and  property,  it  occasions  a 
very  serious  annual  expense  to  the  United  States.  The  commissioners  for 
holding  the  proposed  treaty  will  therefore  be  instructed  to  inquire  into  the 
causes  of  the  hostilities  to  which  I  have  referred,  and  to  enter  into  such 
reasonable  stipulations  as  will  remove  them,  and  give  permanent  peace  to 
those  parts  of  the  United  States. 


xvi  WASHINGTON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  4,  1796. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

A  LETTER  from  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  French  republic,  re- 
ceived on  the  22d  of  last  month,  covered  an  address,  dated  21st  of  Octo- 
ber, 1794,  from  the  committee  of  public  safety  to  the  representatives  of 
the  United  States  in  Congress  ;  and  also  informed  me  that  he  was  instruct- 
ed by  the  committee  to  present  to  the  United  States  the  colors  of  France. 
I  thereupon  proposed  to  receive  them  last  Friday,  the  first  day  of  the  new 
year,  a  day  of  general  joy  and  congratulation.  On  that  day  the  minister 
of  the  French  republic  delivered  the  colors,  with  an  address,  to  which  I 
returned  an  answer.  By  the  latter,  the  house  will  see  that  I  have  in- 
formed the  minister  that  the  colors  will  be  deposited  with  the  archives  of 
the  United  States.  But  it  seemed  to  me  proper,  previously,  to  exhibit  to 
the  two  houses  of  Congress  these  evidences  of  the  continued  friendship 
of  the  French  republic,  together  with  the  sentiments  expressed  by  me  on 
the  occasion  in  behalf  of  the  United  States.  They  are  herewith  commu- 
nicated. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE 
JANUARY  8,  1796. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States : — 

I  TRANSMIT  to  you  a  memorial  of  the  commissioners,  appointed  by  vir- 
tue of  an  act  entitled,  "An  act  for  establishing  the  temporary  and  perma- 
nent seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,"  on  the  subject  of  the 
public  buildings  under  their  direction. 

Since  locating  a  district  for  the  permanent  seat  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  as  heretofore  announced  to  both  houses  of  Congress,  I  have 
accepted  the  grants  of  money  and  of  land  in  the  memorial  of  the  commis- 
sioners. I  have  directed  the  buildings  therein  mentioned  to  be  com- 
menced, on  plans  which  I  deemed  consistent  with  the  liberality  of  the 
grants,  and  proper  for  the  purposes  intended. 

I  have  not  been  inattentive  to  this  important  business  intrusted  by  the 
legislature  to  my  care.  1  have  viewed  the  resources  placed  in  my  hands, 
and  observed  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been  applied  ;  the  progress 
is  pretty  fully  detailed  in  the  memorial  from  the  commissioners,  and  one 
of  them  intends  to  give  further  information,  if  required.  In  a  case  new 
and  arduous,  like  the  present,  difficulties  might  naturally  be  expected : 
some  have  occurred,  but  they  are,  in  a  great  degree,  surmounted  ;  and  I 
have  no  doubt,  if  the -remaining  resources  are  properly  cherished,  so  as  to 
prevent  the  loss  of  property  by  hasty  and  numerous  sales,  that  all  the 
buildings  required  for  the  accommodation  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States  may  be  completed  in  season  without  aid  from  the  federal  treasury. 
The  subject  is  therefore  recommended  to  the  consideration  of  Congress, 
and  the  result  will  determine  the  measures  which  I  shall  cause  to  be  pur- 
sued with  respect  to  the  property  remaining  unsold. 


WASHINGTON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  xvu 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  29,  1796. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

IN  pursuance  of  the  authority  vested  in  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  by  an  act  of  Congress,  passed  the  3d  of  March  last,  to  reduce  the 
weights  of  the  copper  coin  of  the  United  States,  whenever  he  should  think 
it  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States — provided  the  reduction  should  not 
exceed  two  pennyweights  in  each  cent,  and  in  a  like  proportion  in  the 
half  cent — I  have  caused  the  same  to  be  reduced,  since  the  27th  of  last 
December,  to  wit :  one  pennyweight  and  sixteen  grains  in  each  cent,  and 
in  the  like  proportion  in  the  half  cent ;  and  I  have  given  notice  thereof  by 
proclamation. 

By  the  letter  of  the  judges  of  the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States,  held 
at  Boston  in  June  last,  and  the  enclosed  application  of  the  under-keeper 
of  the  jail  at  that  place,  of  which  copies  are  herewith  transmitted,  Congress 
will  see  the  necessity  of  making  a  suitable  provision  for  the  maintenance 
of  prisoners  committed  to  the  jails  of  the  several  states,  under  the  authority 
of  the  United  States. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  30,  1796. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  Slates  : — 

WITH  the  utmost  attention  I  have  considered  your  resolution  of  the  24th 
instant,  requiring  me  to  lay  before  your  house  a  copy  of  the  instructions 
to  the  minister  of  the  United  States  who  negotiated  the  treaty  with  the 
king  of  Great  Britain,  together  with  a  correspondence  and  other  documents 
relative  to  that  treaty,  excepting  such  of  the  said  papers  as  any  existing 
negotiation  may  render  improper  to  be  disclosed. 

In  deliberating  upon  this  subject,  it  was  impossible  to  lose  sight  of  the 
principle,  which  some  have  avowed  in  its  discussion,  or  to  avoid  extend- 
ing my  views  to  the  consequences  which  must  flow  from  the  admission 
of  that  principle. 

I  trust  that  no  part  of  my  conduct  has  ever  indicated  a  disposition  to 
withhold  any  information  which  the  constitution  has  enjoined  upon  the 
president  as  a  duty  to  give,  or  which  could  be  required  of  him  by  either 
house  of  Congress  as  a  right ;  and  with  truth  I  uflirm  that  it  has  been,  as 
it  will  continue  to  be  while  I  have  the  honor  to  preside  in  the  government, 
my  constant  endeavor  to  harmonize  with  the  other  branches  thereof,  so  far 
as  the  trust  delegated  to  me  by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  my 
sense  of  the  obligation  it  imposes  to  "  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the 
constitution,"  will  permit. 

The  nature  of  foreign  negotiations  requires  caution,  and  their  success 
must  often  depend  on  secrecy ;  and,  even  when  brought  to  a  conclusion, 
a  full  disclosure  of  all  the  measures,  demands,  or  eventual  concessions, 
which  may  have  been  proposed  or  conU'inpluied,  would  be  extremely  im- 


xviii  WASHINGTON'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 

politic  :  for  this  might  have  a  pernicious  influence  on  future  negotiations, 
or  produce  immediate  inconveniences,  perhaps  danger  and  mischief,  in  re- 
lation to  other  powers.  The  necessity  of  such  caution  and  secrecy 
was  one  cogent  reason  for  vesting  the  power  of  making  treaties  in  the 
president,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate  ;  the  principle  on 
which  that  body  was  formed  confining  it  to  a  small  number  of  members. 
To  admit,  then,  a  right  in  the  house  of  representatives  to  demand,  and  to 
have,  as  a  matter  of  course,  all  the  papers  respecting  a  negotiation  with  a 
foreign  power,  would  be  to  establish  a  dangerous  precedent. 

It  does  not  occur  that  the  inspection  of  the  papers  asked  for  can  be  rela- 
tive to  any  purpose  under  the  cognizance  of  the  house  of  representatives, 
except  that  of  an  impeachment,  which  the  resolution  has  not  expressed. 
I  repeat,  that  I  have  no  disposition  to  withhold  any  information  which  the 
duty  of  my  situation  will  permit,  or  the  public  good  shall  require,  to  be 
disclosed  ;  and,  in  fact,  all  the  papers  affecting  the  negotiation  with  Great 
Britain  were  laid  before  the  senate  when  the  treaty  itself  was  communi- 
cated for  their  consideration  and  advice. 

The  course  which  the  debate  has  taken  on  the  resolution  of  the  house, 
leads  to  some  observations  on  the  mode  of  making  treaties  under  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States. 

Having  been  a  member  of  the  general  convention,  and  knowing  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  the  constitution  was  formed,  I  have  ever  entertained  but 
one  opinion  on  this  subject ;  and,  from  the  first  establishment  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  this  moment,  my  conduct  has  exemplified  that  opinion — that 
the  power  of  making  treaties  is  exclusively  vested  in  the  president,  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  fhe  senate,  provided  two  thirds  of  the  sen- 
ators present  concur  ;  and  that  every  treaty,  so  made  and  promulgated, 
thenceforward  became  the  law  of  the  land.  It  is  thus  that  the  treaty-ma- 
king power  has  been  understogd  by  foreign  nations  ;  and,  in  all  the  treaties 
made  with  them,  we  have  declared,  and  they  have  believed,  that,  when 
ratified  by  the  president,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  they 
became  obligatory.  In  this  construction  of  the  constitution,  every  house 
of  representatives  has  heretofore  acquiesced  ;  and,  until  the  present  time, 
not  a  doubt  or  suspicion  has  appeared,  to  my  knowledge,  that  this  construc- 
tion was  not  the  true  one.  Nay,  they  have  more  than  acquiesced  :  for,  till 
now,  without  controverting  the  obligations  of  such  treaties,  they  have  made 
all  the  requisite  provisions  for  carrying  them  into  effect. 

There  is  also  reason  to  believe  that  this  construction  agrees  with  the 
opinions  entertained  by  the  state  conventions,  when  they  were  deliberating 
on  the  constitution ;  especially  by  those  who  objected  to  it  because  there 
was  not  required,  in  commercial  treaties,  the  consent  of  two  thirds  of  the 
whole  number  of  the  members  of  the  senate,  instead  of  two  thirds  of  the 
senators  present ;  and  because,  in  treaties  respecting  territorial  and  certain 
other  rights  and  claims,  the  concurrence  of  three  fourths  of  the  whole 
number  of  both  houses  respectively  was  not  made  necessary. 

It  is  a  fact  decided  by  the  general  convention,  and  universally  under- 
stood, that  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  was  the  result  of  a  spirit 
of  amity  and  mutual  concession. 

And  it  is  well  known,  that,  under  this  influence,  the  smaller  states 
were  admitted  to  an  equal  representation  in  the  senate  with  the  larger 
states,  and  that  this  branch  of  the  government  was  invested  with  great 
powers ;  for  on  the  equal  participation  of  those  powers  the  sovereignty 
and  political  safety  of  the  smaller  states  were  deemed  essentially  to  depend. 


WASHINGTON  8    SPECIAL    MESSAGES.  XIX 

If  other  proofs  than  these,  and  the  plain  letter  of  the  constitution  itself, 
be  necessary  to  ascertain  the  point  under  consideration,  they  may  be  found 
in  the  journals  of  the  general  convention,  which  I  have  deposited  in  the 
office  of  the  department  of  state.  In  those  journals  it  will  appear  that  a 
proposition  was  made,  "  that  no  treaty  should  be  binding  on  the  United 
States,  which  was  not  ratified  by  a  law  ;"  and  that  the  proposition  was 
explicitly  rejected. 

As,  therefore,  it  is  perfectly  clear  to  my  understanding  that  the  assent 
of  the  house  of  representatives  is  not  necessary  to  the  validity  of  a  treaty  ; 
as  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  exhibits,  in  itself,  all  the  objects  requiring 
legislative  provision,  and  on  these  the  papers  called  for  can  throw  no  light ; 
and  as  it  is  essential  to  the  due  administration  of  the  government  that  the 
boundaries,  fixed  by  the  constitution,  between  the  different  departments, 
should  be  preserved  :  a  just  regard  to  the  constitution  and  to  the  duty  of 
my  office,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  this  case,  forbids  a  compliance 
with  your  request. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY   19,  1797. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

AT  the  opening  of  the  present  session  of  Congress,  I  mentioned  that 
some  circumstances  of  an  unwelcome  nature  had  lately  occurred  in  rela- 
tion to  France  ;  that  our  trade  had  suffered,  and  was  suffering  extensive 
injuries  in  the  West  Indies,  from  the  cruisers  and  agents  of  the  French 
republic  ;  and  that  communications  had  been  received  from  its  minister 
here,  which  indicated  danger  of  a  further  disturbance  of  our  commerce  by 
its  authority,  and  that  were  in  other  respects  far  from  agreeable  ;  but  that  1 
reserved  for  a  special  message  a  more  particular  communication  on  this 
interesting  subject.  This  communication  I  now  make. 

The  complaints  of  the  French  minister  embraced  most  of  the  transac- 
tions of  our  government,  in  relation  to  France,  from  an  early  period  of  the 
present  war  ;  which,  therefore,  it  was  necessary  carefully  to  review.  A 
collection  has  been  formed  of  letters  and  papers  relating  to  those  transac- 
tions, which  I  now  lay  before  you,  with  a  letter  to  Mr.  Pinckney,  our  min- 
ister at  Paris,  containing  an  examination  of  the  notes  of  the  French  min- 
ister, and  such  information  as  I  thought  might  be  useful  to  Mr.  Pitickney 
in  any  further  representations  he  might  find  necessary  to  be  made  to  the 
French  government.  The  immediate  object  of  his  mission  was,  to  make 
to  that  government  such  explanations  of  the  principles  and  conduct  of  our 
own,  as,  by  manifesting  our  good  faiih,  might  remove  all  jealousy  and  dis- 
content, and  maintain  that  harmony  and  good  understanding  witli  the 
French  republic  which  it  has  been  my  constant  solicitude  to  preserve.  A 
government  which  required  only  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  to  justify  its 
measures,  could  not  but  be  anxious  to  have  this  fully  and  frankly  dis- 
played. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGES    OF   JOHN   ADAMS, 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

JUNE   12,  1797. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 
I  HAVE  received  information  from  the  commissioner  appointed  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States,  pursuant  to  the  third  article  of  our  treaty  with 
Spain,  that  the  running  and  marking  of  the  boundary  line  between  the  col- 
onies of  East  and  West  Florida  and  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  have 
been  delayed  by  the  officers  of  his  catholic  majesty ;  and  that  they  have 
declared  their  intention  to  maintain  jurisdiction,  and  to  suspend  the  with- 
drawing of  his  troops  from  military  posts  they  now  occupy,  within  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  United  States,  until  the  two  governments  shall,  by  negotiation, 
have  settled  the  meaning  of  the  second  article  respecting  the  withdrawing 
of  the  troops,  garrisons,  or  settlements,  of  either  party  in  the  territory  ot 
the  other ;  that  is,  whether,  when  the  Spanish  garrisons  withdraw,  they 
are  to  leave  the  works  standing  or  to  demolish  them  ;  and,  until,  by  an  ad- 
ditional article  to  the  treaty,  the  real  property  of  the  inhabitants  shall  be 
secured  ;  and,  likewise,  until  the  Spanish  officers  are  sure  the  Indians 
will  be  pacific.  The  first  two  questions,  if  to  be  determined  by  negotia- 
tion, might  be  made  subjects  of  discussion  for  years ;  and,  as  no  limita- 
tion of  time  can  be  prescribed  to  the  other,  a  certainty  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Spanish  officers  that  the  Indians  will  be  pacific,  it  will  be  impossible 
to  suffer  it  to  remain  an  obstacle  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty  on  the  part 
of  Spain. 

To  remove  the  first  difficulty,  I  have  determined  to  leave  it  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  officers  of  his  catholic  majesty,  when  they  withdraw  their 
troops  from  the  forts  within  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  either 
to  leave  the  works  standing  or  to  demolish  them  ;  and,  to  remove  the  sec- 
ond, I  shall  cause  an  assurance  to  be  published,  and  to  be  particularly 
communicated  to  the  minister  of  his  catholic  majesty,  and  to  the  governor 
of  Louisiana,  that  the  settlers  or  occupants  of  the  lands  in  question  shall 
not  be  disturbed  in  their  possessions  by  the  troops  of  the  United  States ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  shall  be  protected  in  all  their  lawful  claims  ; 
and  to  prevent  or  remove  every  doubt  on  this  point,  it  merits  the  consider- 
ation of  Congress,  whether  it  will  not  be  expedient  immediately  to  pass  a 
law,  giving  positive  assurances  to  those  inhabitants,  who,  by  fair  and  reg- 
ular grants,  or  by  occupancy,  have  obtained  legal  titles  or  equitable  claims 
to  lands  in  that  country,  prior  to  the  final  ratification  of  the  treaty  between 
the  United  States  and  Spain,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  April,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  ninety-six. 

This  country  is  rendered  peculiarly  valuable  by  its  inhabitants,  who  are 
represented  to  amount  to  nearly  four  thousand,  generally  well  effected  and 


JOHN  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  xxi 

much  attached  to  the  United  States,  and  zealous  for  the  establishment  of  a 
government  under  their  authority. 

I  therefore  recommend  to  your  consideration  the  expediency  of  erecting 
a  government  in  the  district  of  Natchez,  similar  to  that  established  for  the 
territory  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio,  but  with  certain  modifications,  rela- 
tive to  titles  or  claims  of  land,  whether  of  individuals  or  companies,  or  to 
claims  of  jurisdiction  of  any  individual  state. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JUNE  22,  1797. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

IMMEDIATELY  after  I  had  received  your  resolution  of  the  tenth  of  June, 
requesting  a  report  respecting  the  depredations  committed  on  the  com- 
merce of  the  United  States,  since  the  first  of  October,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  ninety-six,  specifying  the  name  of  the  vessel  taken,  where 
bound  to  or  from,  species  of  lading,  the  value  (when  it  can  be  ascertained) 
of  the  vessel  and  cargo  taken,  and  by  what  power  captured,  particular- 
izing those  which  have  been  actually  condemned,  together  with  the 
proper  documents  to  ascertain  the  same,  I  directed  a  collection  to  be  made 
of  all  such  information  as  should  be  found  in  the  possession  of  the  govern- 
ment :  in  consequence  of  which,  the  secretary  of  state  has  made  the  re- 
port and  the  collection  of  documents  which  accompany  this  message,  and 
are  now  laid  before  the  house  of  representatives,  in  compliance  with  their 
desire.  * 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JULY  3,  1797. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 
THE  whole  of  the  intelligence  which  has  for  some  time  past  been  re- 
ceived from  abroad,  the  correspondences  between  this  government  and  the 
ministers  of  the  belligerent  powers  residing  here,  and  the  advices  of  the 
officers  of  the  United  States,  civil  and  military,  upon  the  frontiers,  all 
conspire  to  show,  in  a  very  strong  light,  the  critical  situation  of  our  coun- 
try. That  Congress  might  be  enabled  to  form  a  more  perfect  judgment  of 
it,  and  of  the  measures  necessary  to  be  taken,  I  have  directed  the  proper 
officers  to  prepare  such  collections  of  extracts  from  the  public  correspon- 
dences as  might  afford  the  clearest  information.  The  reports  made  to  me 
from  the  secretary  of  state  and  the  secretary  of  war,  with  the  collection 
of  documents  from  each  of  them,  are  now  communicated  to  both  houses  of 
Congress.  I  have  desired  that  the  message,  reports,  and  documents,  may 
be  considered  as  confidential,  merely,  that  the  members  of  both  houses 
of  Congress  may  be  apprized  of  their  contents  before  they  should  be  made 
public.  As  soon  as  the  houses  shall  have  heard  them,  I  shall  submit,  to 
their  discretion,  the  publication  of  the  whole,  or  any  such  parts  of  them,  as 
they  shall  judge  necessary  or  expedient  for  the  public  good. 


XX11  JOHN    ADAM'S    SPECIAL    MESSAGES. 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY   17,  1798. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  .  - 
THE  situation  of  affairs  between  the  United  States  and  the  Cherokee 
Indians  having  evinced  the  expediency  of  a  treaty  with  that  nation,  for  the 
promotion  of  justice  to  them,  as  well  as  of  the  interests  and  convenience 
of  our  citizens,  I  have  nominated,  and,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  con- 
sent of  the  senate,  appointed  commissioners  to  hold  conferences,  and  con- 
clude a  treaty,  as  early  as  the  season  of  the  year,  and  the  convenience  of 
the  parties,  will  admit. 

As  we  know  very  well,  by  experience,  that  such  negotiations  can  not 
be  carried  on  without  considerable  expenses,  I  recommend  to  your  consid- 
eration the  propriety  of  making  an  appropriation,  at  this  time,  for  defraying 
such  as  may  be  necessary  for  holding  and  concluding  a  treaty. 

That  you  may  form  your  judgments  with  greater  facility,  I  shall  direct 
the  proper  officer  to  lay  before  you  an  estimate  of  such  articles  and  ex- 
penses as  may  be  thought  indispensable. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  18,  1798. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 
A  REPRESENTATION  has  been  made  to  me,  by  the  judge  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania district  of  the  United  States,  of  certain  inconveniences,  and  disa- 
greeable circumstances  which  have  occurred  in  the  execution  of  the  law, 
passed  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  May.  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
ninety-six,  entitled,  "  An  act  for  the  relief  of  persons  imprisoned  for  debt," 
as  well  as  of  certain  doubts  which  have  been  raised  concerning  its  con- 
struction. This  representation,  together  with  a  report  of  the  attorney-gen- 
eral on  the  same  subject,  I  now  transmit  to  Congress,  for  their  considera- 
tion, that,  if  any  amendments  or  explanations  of  that  law  should  be  thought 
advisable,  they  should  be  adopted. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  23,  1798. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 
AT  the  commencement  of  this  session  of  Congress,  I  proposed,  in  the 
course  of  it,  to  communicate  to  both  houses  further  information  concerning 
the  situation  of  our  affairs  in  the  territories  of  the  United  States  situated 
on  the  Mississippi  river,  and  its  neighborhood ;  our  intercourse  with  the 
Indian  nations  ;  our  relations  with  the  Spanish  government,  and  the  con- 
duct of  their  officers  and  agents  :  this  information  will  be  found  in  a  report 
of  the  secretary  of  state,  and  the  documents  attending  it,  which  I  now  pre- 
sent to  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives. 


JOHN  ADAMS'S  SPECIAL  MESSAGES.  ixiii 

SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
JANUARY  8,  1799. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

I.v  compliance  with  your  desire,  expressed  in  your  resolution  of  the 
second  of  this  month,  I  lay  before  you  an  extract  of  a  letter  from  George 
C  Moreton,  acting  consul  of  the  United  States  at  the  Havana,  dated  the 
1  3th  of  November,  1 798,  to  the  secretary  of  state,  with  a  copy  of  a  letter 
from  him  to  L.  Tresevant  and  William  Timmons,  Esquires,  with  their 
answer. 

Although  your  request  extends  no  further  than  such  information  as  has 
been  received,  yet  it  may  be  a  satisfaction  to  you  to  know  that,  as  soon  as 
this  intelligence  was  communicated  to  me,  circular  orders  were  given  by 
my  direction  to  all  the  commanders  of  our  vessels-of-war — a  copy  of 
which  is  also  herewith  transmitted.  I  also  directed  this  intelligence,  and 
these  orders,  to  be  communicated  to  his  Britannic  majesty's  envoy  extra- 
ordinary and  minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  United  States,  and  to  ouv 
minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  court  of  Great  Britain,  with  instructions  to 
him  to  make  the  proper  representations  to  that  government  on  this  subject. 

It  is  but  justice  to  say,  that  this  is  the  h'rst  instance  of  misbehavior  of 
any  of  the  British  officers  toward  our  vessels-of-war  that  has  come  to  my 
knowledge.  According  to  all  the  representations  that  I  have  seen,  the 
flag  of  the  United  States,  and  their  officers  and  men,  have  been  treated  by 
the  civil  and  military  authority  of  the  British  nation  in  Nova  Scotia,  the 
West  India  islands,  and  on  the  ocean,  with  uniform  civility,  politeness, 
and  friendship.  I  have  no  doubt  that  this  first  instance  of  misconduct  will 
be  readilv  corrected. 


SPECIAL    .MESSAGE. 
MARCH  2,  1799. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 
JUDGING  it  of  importance  to  the  public  that  the  legislature  should  be  in- 
formed of  the  gradual  progress  of  their  maritime  resources,  I  transmit  to 
Congress  a  statement  of  the  vessels,  with  their  tonnage,  warlike  force,  and 
complement  of  men,  to  which  commissions,  as  private  armed  vessels,  have 
been  issued  since  the  ninth  of  July  last. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  19,  1799. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representative* : — 

THB  letter  herewith  transmitted  will   inform  you  that  it  has  pleased 

Divine   Providence  to   remove  from  this  life  our  excellent  fellow-citizen, 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  by  the  purity  of  his  character,  and  a  long  series  of 


XXlV  JOHN    ADAMS  S    SPECIAL    MESSAGES. 

services  to  his  country,  rendered  illustrious  through  the  world.  It  re- 
mains for  an  affectionate  and  grateful  people,  in  whose  hearts  he  can 
never  die,  to  pay  suitable  honors  to  his  memory. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 
DECEMBER  19,  1799. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

I  RECEIVE,  with  great  respect  and  affection,  the  condolence  of  the  house 
of  representatives,  on  the  melancholy  and  affecting  event,  in  the  death  of 
the  most  illustrious  and  beloved  personage  which  this  country  ever  pro- 
duced. I  sympathize  with  you,  with  the  nation,  and  with  good  men  through 
the  world,  in  this  irreparable  loss  sustained  by  us  all. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

JANUARY  6,  1800. 
Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives :— - 

IN  compliance  with  the  request  in  one  of  the  resolutions  of  Congress 
of  the  twenty-first  of  December  last,  I  transmitted  a  copy  of  those  res- 
olutions, by  my  secretary,  Mr.  Shaw,  to  Mrs.  Washington,  assuring  her 
of  the  profound  respect  Congress  will  ever  bear  to  her  person  and  charac- 
ter ;  'of  their  condolence  in  the  late  afflicting  dispensation  of  Providence  ; 
and  entreating  her  assent  to  the  interment  of  the  remains  of  General  George 
Washington  in  the  manner  expressed  in  the  first  resolution.  As  the  senti- 
ments of  that  virtuous  lady,  not  less  beloved  by  this  nation  than  she  is  at 
present  greatly  afflicted,  can  never  be  so  well  expressed  as  in  her  own 
words,  I  transmit  to  Congress  her  original  letter. 

It  would  be  an  attempt  of  too  much  delicacy  to  make  any  comments 
upon  it ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  nation  at  large,  as  well  as  all 
the  branches  of  the  government,  will  be  highly  gratified  by  any  arrangement 
which  may  diminish  the  sacrifice  she  makes  of  her  individual  feelings. 


SPECIAL    MESSAGE. 

JANUARY   14,  1800. 
Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

As  the  enclosed  letter,  from  a  member  of  your  house,  received  by  me 
in  the  night  of  Saturday,  the  eleventh  instant,  relates  to  the  privileges  of 
the  house,  which,  in  my  opinion,  ought  to  be  inquired  into  in  the  house 
itself,  if  anywhere,  I  have  thought  proper  to  submit  the  whole  letter  and 
its  tendencies  to  your  consideration,  without  any  other  comments  on  its 
matter  or  style  :  but,  as  no  gross  impropriety  of  conduct,  on  the  part  of 
persons  holding  commissions  in  the  army  or  navy  of  the  United  States, 
ought  to  pass  without  due  animadversion,  I  have  directed  the  secretary  of 
war  and  the  secretary  of  the  navy  to  investigate  the  conduct  complained 
of,  and  to  report  to  me  without  delay,  such  a  statement  of  facts  as  will  enable 
me  to  decide  on  the  course  which  duty  and  justice  shall  appear  to  present  ). 


JEFFERSON S     CONFIDENTIAL     MESSAGE.  xxv 

JEFFERSO  N'S    CONFIDENTIAL    MESSAGE 
RECOMMENDING  A  WESTERN  EXPLORING  EXPEDITION. 

JANUARY   18,  1803. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : — 

As  the  continuance  of  the  act  for  establishing  trading-houses  with  (he 
Indian  tribes,  will  be  under  the  consideration  of  the  legislature  at  its 
present  session,  I  think  it  my  duty  to  communicate  the  views  which  have 
guided  me  in  the  execution  of  that  act,  in  order  that  you  may  decide  on 
the  policy  of  continuing  it,  in  the  present  or  any  other  form,  or  discon- 
tinue it  altogether,  if  that  shall,  on  the  whole,  seem  most  for  the  public 
good. 

The  Indian  tribes  residing  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  have, 
for  a  considerable  time,  been  growing  more  and  more  uneasy  at  the  con- 
stant diminution  of  the  territory  they  occupy,  although  effected  by  their 
own  voluntary  sales  ;  and  the  policy  has  long  been  gaining  strength  with 
them,  of  refusing  absolutely  all  further  sale,  on  any  conditions;  insomuch 
that,  at  this  time,  it  hazards  their  friendship,  and  excites  dangerous 
jealousies  and  perturbations  in  their  minds  to  make  any  overture  for  the 
purchase  of  the  smallest  portions  of  their  land.  A  very  few  tribes  only 
are  not  yet  obstinately  in  these  dispositions.  In  order  peaceably  to  coun- 
teract this  policy  of  theirs,  and  to  provide  an  extension  of  territory  which 
the  rapid  increase  of  our  numbers  wiii  call  for,  two  measures  are  deemed 
expedient.  First :  to  encourage  them  to  abandon  hunting,  to  apply  to  the 
raising  stock,  to  agriculture  and  domestic  manufactures,  and  thereby  provp 
to  themselves  that  less  land  and  labor  will  maintain  them  in  this,  better 
than  in  their  former  mode  of  living.  The  extensive  forests  necessary  in 
the  hunting  life  will  then  become  useless,  and  they  will  see  advantage  in 
exchanging  them  for  the  means  of  improving  their  farms  and  of  increasing 
thetr  domestic  comforts.  Secondly :  to  multiply  trading-houses  among 
them,  and  place  within  their  reach  those  things  which  will  contribute 
more  to  iheir  domestic  comfort  than  the  possession  of  extensive  but 
uncultivated  wilds.  Experience  and  reflection  will  develop  to  them  the 
wisdom  of  exchanging  what  they  can  spare  and  wo  want,  for  what  \vi- 
can  spare  and  they  want.  In  leading  them  thus  to  agriculture,  to  man- 
ufactures, and  civilization  ;  in  bringing  together  their  and  our  settlements, 
and  in  preparing  them  ultimately  to  participate  in  the  benefits  of  our  gov- 
ernment, I  trust  and  believe  we  are  acting  for  their  greatest  good.  At 
these  trading-houses  we  have  pursued  the  principles  of  the  act  of  Con- 
gress, which  directs  that  the  commerce  shall  be  carried  on  liberally,  and 
requires  only  that  the  capital  stock  shall  not  be  diminished.  We  conse- 
quently undersell  private  traders,  foreign  and  domestic  ;  drive  them  from 
the  competition  ;  and  thus,  with  the  good  will  of  the  Indians,  rid  ourselves 
of  a  description  of  men  who  are  constantly  endeavoring  to  excite  in  the 
Indian  mind  suspicions,  fears,  and  irritations  toward  us.  A  letter  now 
enclosed,  shows  the  effect  of  our  competition  on  the  operations  of  the 
traders,  while  the  Indians,  perceiving  the  advantage  of  purchasing  from 
us,  are  soliciting  generally  our  establishment  of  trading-houses  among 
them.  In  one  quarter  this  is  particularly  interesting.  The  legislature, 
reflecting  on  the  late  occurrences  on  the  Mississippi,  must  be  sensible 
VOL.  1.— 48 


XXVI  JEFFERSON  S     CONFIDENTIAL    MESSAGE. 

how  desirable  it  is  to  possess  a  respectable  breadth  of  country  on  that 
river,  from  our  southern  limit  to  the  Illinois  at  least,  so  that  we  may  pre- 
sent as  firm  a  front  on  that  as  on  our  eastern  border.  We  possess  what 
is  below  the  Yazoo,  and  can  probably  acquire  a  certain  breadth  from  the 
Illinois  and  W abash  to  the  Ohio  ;  but  between  the  Ohio  and  Yazoo,  the 
country  all  belongs  to  the  Chickasaws,  the  most  friendly  tribe  within  our 
limits,  but  the  most  decided  against  the  alienation  of  lands.  The  portion 
of  their  country  most  important  for  us  is  exactly  that  which  they  do  not 
inhabit.  Their  settlements  are  not  on  the  Mississippi,  but  in  the  interior 
country.  They  have  lately  shown  a  desire  to  become  agricultural,  and 
this  leads  to  the  desire  of  buying  implements  and  comforts.  In  the 
strengthening  and  gratifying  of  these  wants,  I  see  the  only  prospect  of 
planting  on  the  Mississippi  itself,  the  means  of  its  own  safety.  Duty  has 
required  me  to  submit  these  views  to  the  judgment  of  the  legislature  ;  but 
as  their  disclosure  might  embarrass  and  defeat  their  effect,  they  are  com- 
mitted to  the  special  confidence  of  the  two  houses. 

While  the  extension  of  the  public  commerce  among  the  Indian  tribes, 
may  deprive  of  that  source  of  profit  such  of  our  citizens  as  are  engaged 
in  it,  it  might  be  worthy  the  attention  of  Congress,  in  their  care  of  indi- 
vidual as  well  as  of  the  general  interest,  to  point  in  another  direction  the 
enterprise  of  these  citizens,  as  profitably  for  themselves,  and  more  use- 
fully for  the  public.  The  river  Missouri,  and  the  Indians  inhabiting  it, 
are  not  as  well  known  as  is  rendered  desirable  by  their  connexion  with 
the  Mississippi,  and  consequently  with  us.  It  is,  however,  understood, 
that  the.  country  on  that  river  is  inhabited  by  numerous  tribes,  who  furnish 
great  supplies  of  furs  and  peltry  to  the  trade  of  another  nation,  carried  on 
in  a  high  latitude,  through  an  infinite  number  of  portages  and  lakes,  shut 
up  by  ice  through  a  long  season.  The  commerce  on  that  line  could  bear 
no  competition  with  that  of  the  Missouri,  traversing  a  moderate  climate, 
offering,  according  to  the  best  accounts,  a  continued  navigation  from  its 
source,  and  possibly  with  a  single  portage,  from  the  western  ocean,  and 
finding  to  the  Atlantic  a  choice  of  channels  through  the  Illinois  or 
Wabash,  the  lakes  and  Hudson,  through  the  Ohio  and  Susquehanna,  or 
Potomac  or  James  rivers,  and  through  the  Tennessee  and  Savannah  riv- 
ers. An  intelligent  officer,  with  ten  or  twelve  chosen  men,  fit  for  the 
enterprise,  and  willing  to  undertake  it,  taken  frorn.  our  posts,  where  they 
may  be  spared  without  inconvenience,  might  explore  the  whole  line,  even 
to  the  western  ocean  ;  have  conferences  with  the  natives  on  the  subject 
of  commercial  intercourse  ;  get  admission  among  them  for  our  traders,  as 
others  are  admitted  ;  agree  on  convenient  deposites  for  an  interchange  of 
articles  ;  and  return  with  the  information  acquired,  in  the  course  of  two 
summers.  Their  arms  and  accoutrements,  some  instruments  of  observa- 
tion, and  light  and  cheap  presents  for  the  Indians,  would  be  all  the 
apparatus  they  could  carry,  and  with  an  expectation  of  a  soldier's  portion 
of  land  on  their  return,  would  constitute  the  whole  expense.  Their  pay 
would  be  going  on,  whether  here  or  there.  While  other  civilized  nations 
have  encountered  great  expense  to  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  knowledge, 
by  undertaking  voyages  of  discovery,  and  for  other  literary  purposes,  in 
various  parts  and  directions,  our  nation  seem  to  owe  to  the  same  object, 
as  well  as  to  its  own  interests,  to  explore  this,  the  only  line  of  easy 
communication  across  the  continent,  and  so  directly  traversing  our  own 
part  of  it.  The  interests  of  commerce  place  the  principal  object  within 
the  constitutional  powers  and  care  of  Congress,  and  that  it  should  inci- 


WASHINGTON  8    VETO    MESSAGES.  XXV11 

dentally  advance  the  geographical  knowledge  of  our  own  continent,  can 
not  but  be  an  additional  gratification.  The  nation  claiming  the  territory, 
regarding  this  as  a  literary  pursuit,  which  it  is  in  the  habit  of  permitting 
within  its  own  dominions,  would  not  be  disposed  to  view  it  with  jealousy, 
oven  if  the  expiring  state  of  its  interests  there  did  not  render  it  a  matter 
of  indifference.  The  appropriation  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars, 
':  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  external  commerce  of  the  United 
States,"  while  understood  and  considered  by  the  executive  as  giving  the 
legislative  sanction,  would  cover  the  undertaking  from  notice,  and  prevent 
the  obstructions  which  interested  individuals  might  otherwise  previously 
prepare  in  its  way. 


VETO    MESSAGES. 

(Omitted  in  their  proper  places.) 


WASHINGTON'S    FIRST    VETO    MESSAGE. 
APRIL  5,  1792. 

Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — 

1  HAVE  maturely  considered  the  act  passed  by  the  two  houses,  entitled 
•'  An  act  for  an  apportionment  of  representatives  among  the  several  states, 
according  to  the  first  enumeration  ;"  and  I  return  it  to  your  house,  wherein 
it  originated,  with  the  following  objections  :  — 

First.  The  constitution  has  prescribed  that  representatives  shall  be 
apportioned  among  the  several  states  according  to  their  respective  num- 
bers ;  and  there  is  no  one  proportion  or  divisor,  which,  applied  to  the 
respective  numbers  o!'  the  states,  will  yield  the  number  and  allotment  of 
rt-presentativcs  proposed  by  the  bill. 

Second.  The  constitution  has  also  provided,  that  the  number  of  repre- 
sentatives shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty  thousand;  which  restric- 
tion is,  by  the  context,  and  by  fair  and  obvious  construction,  to  be  applied 
to  the  separate  and  respective  numbers  of  the  states.  And  the  bill  has 
allotted  to  eight  of  the  states  more  than  one  for  every  thirty  thousand. 


WASHINGTON'S    SECOND    VETO    MESSAGE. 

FEBRUARY  28,  1797. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Hmisc  of  Representatives  : — 

HAVING  maturely  considered  the  bill  to  alter  and  amend  an  act,  entitled 
"  An  act  to  ascertain  and  fix  the  military  establishment  of  the  United 
States,"  which  was  presented  to  me  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  this 
month,  I  now  return  it  to  the  hou.se  of  representatives,  in  which  it  origin- 
ated, with  my  objections  :  — 

First.  If  the  bill  passes  into  a  law,  the  two  companies  of  light  dragoons 
will  be  found  that  moment  legally  out  of  service,  though  they  will  alter- 


xxviii  MADISON'S   VETO  MESSAGE. 

ward  continue  actually  in  service  ;  and  for  their  services  during  this  inter- 
val, namely,  from  the  time  of  legal,  to  the  time  of  actual  discharge,  it  will 
not  be  lawful  to  pay  them,  unless  some  future  provisions  be  made  by  law. 
Though  they  may  be  discharged  at  the  pleasure  of  Congress,  in  justice 
they  ought  to  receive  their  pay,  not  only  at  the  time  of  passing  the  law, 
but  at  least  to  the  time  of  their  actual  discharge. 

Secondly.  It  will  be  inconvenient  and  injurious  to  the  public  to  dismiss 
the  light  dragoons  as  soon  as  notice  of  the  law  can  be  conveyed  to  them, 
one  of  the  companies  having  been  lately  destined  to  a  necessary  and 
important  service. 

Thirdly.  The  companies  of  light  dragoons  consist  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-six  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates,  who  are  bound  to  serve 
as  dismounted  dragoons,  when  ordered  so  to  do.  They  have  received,  in 
bounties,  about  two  thousand  dollars  ;  one  of  them  is  completely  equipped  ; 
and  above  half  of  the  non-cOmmissioned  officers  and  privates  have  yet  to 
serve  more  than  one  third  of  the  time  of  their  enlistment;  and  besides, 
there  will,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  be  a  considerable  deficiency  in  the 
complement  of  infantry  intended  to  be  continued.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, to  discharge  the  dragoons  does  not  seem  to  comport  with 
economy. 

Fourthly.  It  is  generally  agreed  that  some  cavalry,  either  militia  or 
regular,  will  be  necessary ;  and  according  to  the  best  information  I  have 
been  able  to  obtain,  it  is  my  opinion  that  the  latter  will  be  less  expensive 
and  more  useful  than  the  former,  in  preserving  peace  between  the  frontier 
settlers  and  the  Indians;  and  therefore  a  part  of  the  military  establish- 
ment should  be  cavalry. 


MADISON'S    VETO    MESSAGE. 
MARCH  3,  1817. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: — 

HAVING  considered  the  bill  this  day  presented  to  me,  entitled  "  An  act 
to  set  apart  and  pledge  certain  funds  for  internal  improvements,"  and 
which  sets  apart  and  pledges  funds  "  for  constructing  roads  and  canals, 
and  improving  the  navigation  of  water-courses,  in  order  to  facilitate,  pro- 
mote, and  give  security  to  internal  commerce  among  the  several  states, 
and  to  render  more  easy  and  less  expensive  the  means  and  provisions  for 
the- common  defence,"  I  am  constrained,  by  the  insuperable  difficulty  I 
feel  in  reconciling  the  bill  with  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  to 
return  it,  with  that  objection,  to  the  house  of  representatives,  in.  which  it 
originated. 

The  legislative  powers  vested  in  Congress  are  specified  and  enumer- 
ated in  the  eighth  section  of  the  first  article  of  the  constitution  ;  and  it 
does  not  appear  that  the  power  proposed  to  be  exercised  by  this  bill  is 
among  the  enumerated  powers,  or  that  it  falls,  by  any  just  interpretation, 
within  the  power  to  make  laws  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into 
execution  those  or  other  powers  vested  by  the  constitution  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States. 

'•  The  power  to  regulate  commerce  among  the  several  states,"  can  not 
include  a  power  to  construct  roads  and  canals,  and  to  improve  the  naviga- 


I 

MADISON'S  VETO  MESSAGE.  xxix 

tion  of  water-courses,  in  order  to  facilitate,  promote,  and  secure  such  a 
commerce,  without  a  latitude  of  construction,  departing  from  the  ordinary 
import  of  the  terms,  strengthened  by  the  known  inconveniences  which 
doubtless  led  to  the  grant  of  this  remedial  power  to  Congress.  To  refer 
the  power  in  question  to  the  clause  "  to  provide  for  the  common  defence 
and  general  welfare,"  would  be  contrary  to  the  established  and  consistent 
rules  of  interpretation,  as  rendering  the  special  and  careful  enumeration 
of  powers  which  follow  the  clause  nugatory  and  improper.  Such  a  view 
of  the  constitution  would  have  the  effect  of  giving  to  Congress  a  general 
power  of  legislation,  instead  of  the  defined  and  limited  one  hitherto  under- 
stood to  belong  to  them ;  thp  terms  "  common  defence  and  general  wel- 
fare" embracing  every  object  and  act  within  the  purview  of  a  legislative 
trust.  It  would  have  the  effect  of  subjecting  both  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  the  several  states,  in  all  cases  not  specifically  exempted,  to  be 
superseded  by  laws  of  Congress  ;  it  being  expressly  declared,  "  that  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  laws  made  JH  pursuance  thereof, 
shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  the  judges  of  every  state  sh^ll 
be  bound  thereby,  any  thing  in  the  constitution  or  laws  of  any  state  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding."  Such  a  view  of  the  constitution,  finally, 
would  have  the  effect  of  excluding  the  judicial  authority  of  the  United 
States  from  its  participation  in  guarding  the  boundary  between  the  legis- 
lative powers  of  the  general  and  of  the  state  governments,  inasmuch  as 
questions  relating  to  the  general  welfare,  being  questions  of  policy  and 
expediency,  are  unsusceptible  of  judicial  cognizance  and  decision. 

A  restriction  of  the  power  "  to  provide  for  the  common  defence  and 
general  welfare,"  to  cases  which  are  to  be  provided  for  by  the  expenditure 
of  money,  would  still  leave  within  the  legislative  power  of  Congress  all  the 
great  and  most  important  measures  of  government,  money  being  the 
ordinary  and  necessary  means  of  carrying  them  into  execution. 

If  a  general  power  to  construct  roads  and  canals,  and  to  improve  the 
navigation  of  water-courses,  with  the  train  of  powers  incident  thereto,  be 
not  possessed  by  Congress,  the  assent  of  the  states,  in  the  mode  provided 
by  the  bill,  can  not  confer  the  power.  The  only  cases  in  winch  the  con- 
sent and  cession  of  particular  states  can  extend  the  power  of  Congress, 
are  those  specified  and  provided  for  in  the  constitution. 

I  am  not  unaware  of  the  great  importance  of  roads  and  canals,  and  the 
improved  navigation  of  water-courses,  and  that  a  power  in  the  national 
legislature  to  provide  for  them,  might  be  exercised  with  signal  advantage 
to  the  general  prosperity.  But  seeing  that  such  a  power  is  not  expressly 
given  by  the  constitution,  and  believing  it  can  not  be  deduced  from  any 
part  of  it,  without  an  inadmissible  latitude  of  construction,  and  a  reliance 
on  insufficient  precedents;  believing,  also,  that  the  permanent  success  of 
the  constitution  depends  on  a  definite  partition  of  powers  between  the 
general  and  the  state  governments,  and  that  no  adequate  landmarks  would 
be  left  by  the  constructive  extension  of  the  powers  of  Congress,  as  pro- 
posed in  the  bill.  1  have  no  option  but  to  withhold  my  signature  from  it, 
cherishing  the  hope  that  its  beneficial  object  may  be  attained,  by  a  resort, 
for  the  necessary  powers,  to  the  same  wisdom  and  virtue  in  the  nation 
which  established  the  constitution  in  its  actual  form,  and  providently 
marked  out,  in  the  instrument  itself,  a  safe  and  practicable  mode  of  im- 
proving it,  as  experience  might  suggest. 


XIX  JACKSON  S     LAND     BILL    VETO     MESSAGE. 

JACKSON'S    L  A  N  D    BILL    VETO. 
DECEMBER  4.  1833. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  : — 

AT  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress  I  received  from  that  body 
a  bill  entitled  "  An  act  to  appropriate  for  a  limited  time  the  proceeds  of 
the  sales  of  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States  and  for  granting  lands 
to  certain  states.''  The  brief  period  then  remaining  before  the  rising  of 
Congress,  and  the  extreme  pressure  of  official  duties,  unavoidable  on  such 
occasions,  did  not  leave  me  sufficient  time  for  that  full  consideration  of 
the  subject  which  was  due  to  its  great  importance.  Subsequent  con- 
sideration and  reflection  have,  however,  confirmed  the  objections  to  the 
bill  which  presented  themselves  to  my  mind  upon  its  first  perusal,  and 
have  satisfied  me  that  it  ought  not  to  become  a  law.  I  felt  myself,  there- 
fore, constrained  to  withhold  from  it  my  approval,  and  now  return  it  to 
the  senate,  in  which  it  originated,  with  the  reasons  on  which  my  dissent 
is  founded. 

I  am  fully  sensible  of  the  importance,  as  it  respects  both  the  harmony 
and  union  of  the  states,  of  making,  as  soon  as  circumstances  will  allow 
of  it,  a  proper  and  final  disposition  of  the  whole  subject  of  the  public 
lands :  and  any  measure  for  that  object,  providing  for  the  reimbursement 
of  the  United  States  of  those  expenses  with  which  they  are  justly  charge- 
able, that  may  be  consistent  with  my  views  of  the  constitution,  sound 
policy,  and  the  rights  of  the  respective  states,  will  readily  receive  my  co- 
operation. This  bill,  however,  is  not  of  that  character.  The  arrange- 
ment it  contemplates  is  not  permanent,  but  limited  to  five  years  only  ;  and 
in  its  terms  appears  to  anticipate  alterations  within  that  time,  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  Congress ;  and  it  furnishes  no  adequate  security  against  those 
continued  agitations  of  the  subject  which  it  should  be  the  principal  object 
of  any  measure  for  the  disposition  of  the  public  lands  to  avert.  - 

Neither  the  merits  of  the  bill  under  consideration,  nor  the  validity  of  the 
objections  which  I  have  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  make  to  its  passage,  can 
be  correctly  appreciated  without  a  full  understanding  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  public  lands  upon  which  it  is  intended  to  operate,  were  acquired, 
and  the  conditions  upon  which  they  are  now  held  by  the  United  States.  I 
will,  therefore,  precede  the  statement  of  those  objections  by  a  brief  and 
distinct  exposition  of  these  points. 

The  waste  lands  within  the  United  States  constituted  one  of  the  early 
obstacles  to  the  organization  of  any  government  for  the  protection  of  their 
common  interests.  In' October,  1777,  while  Congress  were  ^framing  the 
articles  of  confederation,  a  proposition  was  made  to  amend  them  to  the 
following  effect,  viz  : — 

"  That  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  have  the  sole 
and  exclusive  right  and  power  to  ascertain  and  fix  the  western  boundary 
of  such  states  as  claim  to  the  Mississippi  or  South  sea,  and  lay  out  the 
land  beyond  the  boundary  so  ascertained  into  separate  and  independent 
states,  from  time  to  time,  as  the  numbers  and  circumstances  of  the  people 
thereof  may  require." 

It  was,  however,  rejected,  Maryland  only  voting  for  it ;  and  so  difficult 
did  the  subject  appear,  that  the  patriots  of  that  body  agreed  to  waive  it  in 
the  articles  of  confederation,  and  leave  it  for  future  settlement. 


JACKSOX  S     LAND     BILL     VETO     MESSAGE.  XXXI 

On  the  submission  of  the  articles  to  the  several  state  legislatures  for 
ratification,  the  most  formidable  objection  was  found  to  be  in  this  subject 
of  the  waste  lands.  Maryland,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  Jersey,  instructed 
their  delegates  in  Congress  to  move  amendments  to  them,  providing  that 
the  waste  or  crown  lands  should  be  considered  the  common  property  of 
the  United  States  ;  but  they  were  rejected.  All  the  states,  except  Mary- 
land, acceded  to  the  articles,  notwithstanding  some  of  them  did  so  with 
the  reservation,  that  their  claim  to  those  lands,  as  common  property,  was 
not  thereby  abandoned. 

On  the  sole  ground  that  no  declaration  to  that  effect  was  contained  in 
the  articles,  Maryland  withheld  her  assent,  and  in  May,  1779,  imbodied 
her  objections  in  the  form  of  instructions  to  her  delegates,  which  were 
entered  upon  the  journals  of  Congress.  The  following  extracts  are  from 
that  document,  viz  : — 

"Is  it  possible  that  those  states  who  are  ambitiously  grasping  at  terri- 
tories, to  which  in  our  judgment  they  have  not  the  least  shadow  of  exclu- 
sive right,  will  use  with  greater  moderation  the  increase  of  wealth  and 
power,  derived  from  those  territories,  when  acquired,  than  what  they  have 
displayed  in  their  endeavors  to  acquire  them  ?"  &c.,  <tc. 

"  We  are  convinced,  policy  and  justice  require,  that  a  country  un- 
settled at  the  commencement  of  this  war,  claimed  by  the  British  crown, 
and  ceded  to  it  by  the  treaty  at  Paris,  if  wrested  from  the  common  enemy 
by  the  blood  and  treasure  of  the  thirteen  states,  should  be  considered  as 
a  common  property,  subject  to  be  parcelled  out  by  Congress  into  free, 
convenient  and  independent  governments,  in  such  manner  and  at  such 
times  as  the  wisdom  of  that  assembly  shall  hereafter  direct,"  &c.,  &c. 

Virginia  proceeded  to  open  a  land  office  for  the  sale  of  her  western 
lands,  which  produced  such  excitement  as  to  induce  Congress  in  October, 
1779,  to  interpose  and  earnestly  recommend  to  "  the  said  state  and  all 
states  similarly  circumstanced,  to  forbear  settling  or  issuing  warrants  for 
such  unappropriated  lands,  or  granting  the  same  during  the  continuance 
of  the  present  war." 

In  March,  1780,  the  legislature  of  Xew  York  passed  an  act  tendering 
a  cession  to  the  United  Stales  of  the  claims  of  that  state  to  the  western 
territory,  preceded  by  a  preamble  to  the  following  ellect,  viz  : — 

"  Whereas  nothing  under  Divine  Providence  can  more  effectually  con- 
tribute to  the  tranquillity  and  safety  of  the  United  States  of  America,  than 
a  federal  alliance  on  such  liberal  principles  as  will  give  satisfaction  to  its 
respective  members  ;  and  whereas,  the  articles  of  confederation  and  per- 
petual union,  recommended  by  the  honorable  Congress  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  have  not  proved  acceptable  to  all  the  states,  it  having 
been  conceived  that  a  portion  of  the  waste  and  uncultivated  territory 
within  the  limits  or  claims  of  certain  states,  ought  to  be  appropriated  as 
a  common  fund  for  the  expenses  of  the  war  ;  and  the  people  of  the  state 
of  New  York,  being  on  all  occasions  disposed  to  manifest  their  regard  for 
their  sister  states  and  their  earnest  desire  to  promote  the  general  interest 
and  security,  and  more  especially  to  accelerate  the  federal  alliance,  by 
removing,  as  far  as  it  depends  upon  them,  the  before-mentioned  impedi- 
ment to  its  final  accomplishment,"  &c. 

This  act  of  New  York,  the  instructions  of  Maryland,  and  a  remonstrance 
of  Virginia,  were  referred  to  a  committee  of  Congress,  who  reported  a 
preamble  and  resolutions  thereon,  which  were  adopted  on  the  6th  of 


XXX11  JACKSON  S    LAND    BILL    VETO     MESSAGE. 

September,  1780;  so  much  of  which  as  is  necessary  to  elucidate  the 
subject  is  to  the  following  effect,  viz  : — 

"  That  it  appears  advisable  to  press  upon  those  states  which  can  re- 
move the  embarrassments  respecting  the  western  country,  a  liberal  sur- 
render of  a  portion  of  their  territorial  claims,  since  they  can  not  be  pre- 
served entire  without  endangering  the  stability  of  the  general  confederacy; 
to  remind  them  how  indispensably  necessary  it  is  to  establish  the  federal 
union  on  a  fixed  and  permanent  basis  and  on  principles  acceptable  to  all 
its  respective  members  ;  how  essential  to  public  credit  and  confidence,  to 
the  support  of  our  army,  to  the  vigor  of  our  councils  and  success  of  our 
measures,  to  our  tranquillily  at  home,  our  reputation  abroad,  to  our  very 
existence  as  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  people  ;  that  they  are  fully 
persuaded  the  wisdom  of  the  several  legislatures  will  lead  them  to  a  full 
and  impartial  consideration  of  a  subject  so  interesting  to  the  United  States, 
and  so  necessary  to  the  happy  establishment  of  the  federal  union,  that  they 
are  confirmed  in  these  expectations  by  a  review  of  the  before-mentioned 
act  of  the  legislature  of  New  York,  submitted  to  their  consideration,"  &c. 

"  Resolved,  That  copies  of  the  several  papers,  referred  to  the  committee, 
be  transmitted,  with  a  copy  of  the  report,  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several 
states,  and  that  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  those  states  who  have 
claims  to  the  western  country,  to  pass  such  laws  and  give  their  delegates 
in  Congress  such  powers  as  may  effectually  remove  the  only  obstacle  to 
a  final  ratification  of  the  articles  of  confederation  ;  and  that  the  legislature 
of  Maryland  be  earnestly  requested  to  authorize  their  delegates  in  Con- 
gress to  subscribe  to  the  said  articles." 

Following  up  this  policy,  Congress  proceeded,  on  the  10th  October, 
1780,  to  pass  a  resolution  pledging  the  United  States  to  the  several  states 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  any  lands  that  might  be  ceded  by  them  should 
be  disposed  of,  the  material  parts  of  which  are  as  follows,  viz  :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  unappropriated  lands  which  may  be  ceded  or  re- 
linquished to  the  United  States,  by  any  particular  state  pursuant  to  the 
recommendation  of  Congress  of  the  Gth  day  of  September  last,  shall  be 
disposed  of  for  the  common  benefit  of  the  United  States,  and  be  settled 
and  formed  into  distinct  republican  states,  which  shall  become  members 
of  the  federal  union,  and  have  the  same  rights  of  sovereignty,  freedom, 
and  independence  as  the  other  states,"  &c.  li  That  the  said  lands  shall 
be  granted  or  settled  at  such  times  and  under  such  regulations  as  shall 
hereafter  be  agreed  on  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  or 
nine  or  more  of  them." 

In  February,  1781,  the  legislature  of  Maryland  passed  an  act  author- 
izing their  delegates  in  Congress  to  sign  the  articles  of  confederation. 
The  following  are  extracts  from  the  preamble  and  body  of  the  act,  viz  :  — 

"  Whereas  it  hath  been  said  that  the  common  enemy  is  encouraged  by 
this  state  not  acceding  to  the  confederation,  to  hope  that  the  union  of  the 
sister  states  may  be  dissolved,  and  therefore  prosecutes  the  war  in  ex- 
pectation of  an  event  so  disgraceful  to  America  ;  and  our  friend  and 
illustrious  ally  are  impressed  with  an  idea  that  the  common  cause  would 
be  promoted  by  our  formally  acceding  to  the  confederation,"  &c. 

The  act  of  which  this  is  the  preamble,  authorizes  the  delegates  of  that 
state  to  sign  the  articles,  and  proceeds  to  declare.  •'  that  by  acceding  to  the 
said  confederation,  this  state  doth  not  relinquish,  nor  intend  to  relinquish, 
any  right  or  interest  she  hath,  with  the  other  united  or  confederated  states 
to  the  back  country,"  &c.,  &c. 


JACKSON'S  LAND  BILL  VETO  MESSAGE.  xxxiii 

On  the  1st  of  March,  1781,  the  delegates  of  Maryland  signed  the  articles 
of  confederation,  and  the  federal  union  under  that  compact  was  complete. 
The  conflicting  claims  to  the  western  lands,  however,  were  not  disposed 
of,  and  continued  to  give  great  trouble  to  Congress.  Repeated  and  urgent 
calls  were  made  by  Congress  upon  the  states  claiming  them,  to  make 
liberal  cessions  to  the  United  States,  and  it  was  not  until  long  after  the 
present  constitution  was  formed,  that  the  grants  were  completed.- 

The  deed  of  cession  from  New  York  was  executed  on  the  1st  of  March, 
1781,  the  day  the  articles  of  confederation  were  ratified,  and  it  was  ac- 
cepted by  Congress  on  the  29th  October,  1782.  One  of  the  conditions 
of  this  cession  thus  tendered  and  accepted,  was,  that  the  lands  ceded  to 
the  United  States  "  shall  be  and  enure  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  of  the 
United  States,  as  shall  become  members  of  the  federal  alliance  of  the  said 
states,  and  for  no  other  use  or  purpose  whatsoever." 

The  Virginia  deed  of  cession  was  executed  and  accepted  on  the  1st 
day  of  March,  1784.  One  of  the  conditions  of  this  cession  is  as  fol- 
lows, viz  : — 

"  That  all  the  lands  within  the  territory  so  ceded  to  the  United  States, 
and  not  reserved  for  or  appropriated  to  any  of  the  before-mentioned  pur- 
poses, or  disposed  of  in  bounties  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Ameri- 
can army,  shall  be  considered  as  a  common  fund  for  the  use  and  benefit  of 
such  of  the  United  States  as  have  become  or  shall  become  members  of  the 
confederation  or  federal  alliance  of  the  said  states,  Virginia  inclusive,  ac- 
cording to  their  usual  respective  proportions  in  the  general  charge  and  ex~ 
penditure,and  shall  be  faithfully  and  bona  jide  disposed  of  for  that  purpose, 
and  for  no  other  use  or  purpose  whatsoever."  / 

Within  the  years  1785,  1786,  and  1787,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
and  South  Carolina,  ceded  their  claims  upon  similar  conditions.  The 
federal  government  went  into  operation  under  the  existing  constitution  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1789.  The  following  is  the  only  provision  of  that 
constitution  which  has  a  direct  bearing  on  the  subject  of  the  public 
lands,  viz  : — 

"  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of,  and  make  all  needful 
rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other  property  belonging 
to  the  United  States,  and  nothing  in  this  constitution  shall  be  so  construed 
as  to  prejudice  any  claims  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  state." 

Thus  the  constitution  left  all  the  compacts  before  made  in  full  force,  and 
the  right  of  all  parties  remained  the  same  under  the  new  government  as 
they  were  under  the  confederation. 

The  deed  of  cession  of  North  Carolina  was  executed  in  December, 
1789,  and  accepted  by  an  act  of  Congress  approved  April  2,  1790.  The 
third  condition  of  the  cession  was  in  the  following  words,  viz  : — 

"  That  all  the  lands  intended  to  be  ceded  by  virtue  of  this  act  to  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  not  appropriated  as  before  mentioned,  shall 
be  considered  as  a  common  fund  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  North  Carolina  inclusive,  according  to  their  respective 
and  usual  proportions  of  the  general  charge  and  expenditure,  and  shall  be 
faithfully  disposed  of  for  that  purpose,  and  for  no  other  use  or  purpose 
whatever." 

The  cession  of  Georgia  was  completed  on  the  10th  June,  1802,  and  it 
its  leading  condition,  is  precisely  like  that  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 
This  grant  completed  the  title  of  the  United  States  to  all  those  lands, 
generally  called  public  lands,  lying  within  the  original  limits  of  the  con 


XXXIV  JACKSON  S     LAND    BILL    VETO    MESSAGE. 

federacy.  Those  which  have  been  acquired  by  the  purchase  of  Louisiana 
and  Florida,  having  been  paid  for  out  of  the  common  treasure  of  the  United 
States,  are  as  much  the  property  of  the  general  government,  to  be  disposed 
of  for  the  common  benefit,  as  those  ceded  by  the  several  states. 

By  the  facis  here  collected  from  the  early  history  of  our  republic,  it 
appears  that  the  subject  of  the  public  lands  entered  into  the  elements  of 
its  institutions.  It  was  only  upon  the  condition  that  those  lands  should 
be  considered  as  common  property,  to  be  disposed  of  for  the  benefit  of 
the  United  States,  that  some  of  the  states  agreed  to  come  into  a  "  per- 
petual union."  The  states  claiming  those  lands,  acceded  to  those  views, 
and  transferred  their  claims  to  the  United  States  upon  certain  specific 
conditions,  and  on  those  conditions  the  grants  were  accepted.  These 
solemn  compacts,  invited  by  Congress  in  a  resolution  declaring  the  pur- 
poses to  which  the  proceeds  of  these  lands  should  be  applied,  originating 
before  the  constitution,  and  forming  the  basis  on  which  it  was  made, 
bound  the  United*  States  to  a  particular  course  of  policy  in  relation  to 
them,  by  ties  as  strong  as  can  be  invented  to  secure  the  faith  of  nations. 

As  early  as  May,  1785.  Congress,  in  execution  of  these  compacts, 
passed  an  ordinance,  providing  for  the  sales  of  lands  in  the  western 
territory,  and  directing  the  proceeds  to  be  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States.  With  the  same  object  other  ordinances  were  adopted  prior 
to  the  organization  of  the  present  government. 

In  further  execution  of  these  compacts,  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  under  the  present  constitution,  as  early  as  the  4th  of  August,  1790, 
in  "  An  act  making  provision  for  the  debt  of  the  United  States,"  enacted  as 
follows,  viz  : — 

"  That  the  proceeds  of  sales  which  shall  be  made  of  lands  in  the 
western  territory,  now  belonging  or  that  may  hereafter  belong  to  the 
United  States,  shall  be,  and  are  hereby  appropriated  toward  sinking  or 
discharging  the  debts  for  the  payment  whereof  the  United  States  now  are, 
or  by  virtue  of  this  act  may  be  holden,  and  shall  be  applied  solely  to  that 
use  until  the  said  debt  shall  be  fully  satisfied." 

To  secure  the  government  of  the  United  States  for  ever,  the  power  to 
execute  those  compacts  in  good  faith,  the  Congress  of  the  confederation 
as  early  as  July  13th,  1787,  in  an  ordinance  for  the  government  of  the 
territory  of  the  United  States  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio,  prescribed  to 
the  people  inhabiting  the  western  territory  certain  conditions  which  were 
declared  to  be  "  articles  of  compact  between  the  original  states  and  the 
people  and  states  in  the  said  territory"  which  should  "  for  ever  remain 
unalterable,  unless  by  common  consent."  In  one  of  these  articles  it  is 
declared  that — 

"  The  legislatures  of  those  districts  or  new  states  shall  never  interfere 
with  the  primary  disposal  of  the  soil  by  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  nor  with  any  regulation  Congress  may  find  necessary  for 
securing  the  title  in  such  soil  to  the  bonaf.de  purchasers." 

This  condition  has  been  exacted  from  the  people  of  all  the  new  terri- 
tories ;  and  to  put  its  obligation  beyond  dispute,  each  new  state,  carved 
out  of  the  public  domain,  has  been  required  explicitly  to  recognize  it  as 
one  of  the  conditions  of  admission  into  the  union.  Some  of  them  have 
declared  through  their  conventions  in  separate  acts  that  their  people  '•  for 
ever  disclaim  all  right  and  title  to  the  waste  and  unappropriated  lands 
lying  within  this  state,  and  that  the  same  shall  be  and  remain  at  the  sole 
and  entire  disposition  of  the  United  States." 


JACKSON  S    LAND    BILL    VETO     MESSAGE.  XXXV 

With  such  care  have  the  United  States  reserved  to  themselves,  in  all 
their  acts  down  to  this  day — in  legislating  for  the  territories  and  admitting 
states  into  the  Union — the  unshackled  power  to  execute  in  good  faith  the 
compacts  of  cession  made  with  the  original  states.  From  these  facts  and 
proceedings  it  plainly  and  certainly  results  :  — 

1.  That  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  on  which  the  confederation 
of  the  United  States  was  originally  based,  was  that  the  waste  lands  of  the 
west  within  their  limits,  should   be   the   common  property  of  the  United 
States. 

2.  That  those   lands  were  ceded   to  the  United  States  by  the  states 
which   claimed   them,  and  the  cessions  were  accepted. -on  the   express 
condition  that  they  should  be  disposed  of  for  the  common  benefit  of  the 
states,  according  to  their  respective  proportions  in  the  general  charge  and 
expenditure,  and  for  no  other  purpose  whatsoever. 

3.  That  in  execution  of  these  solemn  compacts,  the  .Congress  of  the 
United  States  did,  under  the  confederation,  proceed  to  sell  these  lands  and 
put  the  avails  into  the  common  treasury ;  anJ,  under  the  new  constitution, 
did  repeatedly  pledge  them  for  the   payment  of  the   public  debt   of  the 
United  States,  by  which  each  state  was  expected  to  profit  in  proportion  to 
the  general  charge  to  be  made  upon  it  for  that  object. 

These  are  the  first  principles  of  this  whole  subject,  which  I  think  can 
not  be  contested  by  any  one  who  examines  the  proceedings  of  the  revo- 
lutionary Congress,  the  cessions  of  the  several  states,  and  the  acts  of  Con- 
gress under  the  new  constitution.  Keeping  them  deeply  impressed  upon 
the  mind,  let  us  proceed  to  examine  how  far  the  objects  of  the  cessions 
have  been  completed,  and  see  whether  those  compacts  are  not  still  obliga- 
tory upon  the  United  States. 

The  debt  for  which  these  lands  were  pledged  by  Congress,  may  be 
considered  as  paid,  and  they  are  consequently  released  from  that  lien. 
But  that  pledge  formed  no  part  of  the  compacts  with  the  states,  or  of  the 
conditions  upon  which  the  cessions  were  made.  It  was  a  contract  between 
new  parties — between  the  United  States  and  their  creditors.  Upon  pay- 
ment of  the  debts  the  compacts  remain  in  full  force,  and  the  obligation  of 
the  United  States,  to  dispose  of  the  lands  for  the  common  benefit  is  neither 
destroyed  or  impaired.  As  they  can  not  now  be  executed  in  that  mode, 
the  only  legitimate  question  which  can  arise  is,  in  what  other  way  are 
these  lands  to  be  hereafter  disposed  of  for  the  common  benefit  of  the 
several  states,  "  according  to  their  respective  and  usual  proportion  in  the 
general  charge  and  expenditure."  The  cessions  of  Virginia,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  Georgia,  in  express  terms,  and  all  the  rest  impliedly,  not  only 
provide  thus  specifically  the  proportion  according  to  which  each  state  shall 
profit  by  the  proceeds  of  the  land  sales,  but  they  proceed  to  declare,  that 
they  shall  be  "faithfully  and  bona  fide  disposed  of  for  that  purposr,  and  for 
no  other  use  or  purpose  whatsoever."  This  is  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
land  at  this  moment,  growing  out  of  compacts  which  are  older  than  the 
constitution,  and  formed  the  corner-stone  on  which  the  Union  itself  was 
erected. 

In  the  practice  of  the  government,  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  have 
not  been  set  apart  as  a  separate  fund  for  the  payment  of  the  public  debt, 
but  have  been  and  are  now  paid  into  the  treasury,  where  they  constitute 
a  part  of  the  aggregate  of  the  revenue  upon  which  the  government  draws 
as  well  for  its  current  expenditures  as  for  payment  of  the  public  debt.  In 
this  manner  they  have  heretofore  and  do  now  lessen  the  general  charge 


XXXVI  JACKSON  3     LAND     BILL    VETO    MESSAGE. 

.upon  the  people  of  the  several  states  in  the  exact  proportions  stipulated  in 
the  compacts. 

These  general  charges  have  been  composed  not  only  of  the  public  debt 
and  the  unusual  expenditures  attending  the  civil  and  military  administra- 
tions of  the  government,  but  of  the  amounts  paid  to  the  states  with  which 
these  compacts  were  formed,  the  amounts  paid  the  Indians  for  their  right 
of  possession,  amounts  paid  for  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  and  Florida,  and 
the  amounts  paid  surveyors,  registers,  receivers,  clerks,  &c.,  employed  in 
preparing  for  market  and  selling  the  western  domain. 

From  the  origin  of  the  land  system  down  to  September  30,  1832,  the 
amount  expended  for  all  these  purposes  has  been  about  $49,701,280 — 
and  the  amount  received  from  the  sales,  deducting  payments  on  account 
of  roads.  &c.,  $38,386,624.  The  revenue  arising  from  the  public  lands 
therefore,  has  not  been  sufficient  to  meet  the  general  charges  on  the 
treasury  which  have  grown  out  of  them,  by  about  $11,314,656.  Yet,  in 
having  been  applied  to  lessen  those  charges,  the  conditions  of  the  com- 
pacts have  been  thus  far  fulfilled,  and  each  state  has  profitted  according 
to  its  usual  proportion  in  the  general  charge  and  expenditure.  The  annual 
proceeds  of  land  sales  have  increased  and  the  charges  have  diminished, 
so  that  at  a  reduced  price  those  lands  would  now  defray  all  current  charges 
growing  out  of  them,  and  save  the  treasury  from  further  advances  on  their 
account.  Their  original  intent  and  object,  therefore,  would  be  accom 
plished  as  fully  as  it  has  hitherto  been,  by  reducing  the  price,  and  here 
after,  as  heretofore,  bringing  the  proceeds  into  the  treasury.  Indeed,  as 
this  is  the  only  mode  in  which  the  objects  of  the  original  compacts  can 
be  attained,  it  may  be  considered  for  all  practical  purposes,  that  it  is  one 
of  their  requirements. 

The  bill  before  me  begins  with  an  entire  subversion  of  every  one  of  the 
compacts  by  which  the  United  States  became  possessed  of  their  western 
domain,  and  treats  the  subject  as  if  they  never  had  existence,  and  as  if 
the  United  States  were  the  original  and  unconditional  owners  of  all  the 
public  lands.  The  first  cession  directs — 

"That  from  and  after  the  31st  day  of  December,  1832,  there  shall  be 
allowed  and  paid  to  each  of  the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Alabama, 
Missouri,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana,  over  and  above  what  each  of  the  said 
states  is  entitled  to  by  the  terms  of  the  compacts  entered  into  between 
them  respectively  upon  their  admission  into  the  Union  and  the  United 
States,  the  sum  of  twelve  and  a  half  per  centum  upon  the  net  amount  of 
sales  of  the  public  lands  which  subsequent  to  the  day  aforesaid  shall  be 
made  within  the  several  limits  of  the  said  states ;  which  said  sum  of 
twelve  and  a  half  per  centum  shall  be  applied  to  some  object  or  objects 
of  internal  improvements  or  education  within  the  said  states  under  th< 
direction  of  the  several  legislatures." 

This  twelve  and  a  half  per  centum  is  to  be  taken  out  of  the  net  proceeds 
of  the  land  sales  before  any  apportionments  is  made  ;  and  the  same  seven 
states  which  are  first  to  receive  this  proportion,  are  also  to  receive  their 
due  proportion  of  the  residue,  according  to  the  ratio  of  general  distribution. 

Now,  waiving  all  considerations  of  equity  or  policy  in  regard  .o  this 
provision,  what  more  need  be  said  to  demonstrate  its  objectionabl'  charac- 
ter than  that  it  is  in  direct  and  undisguised  violation  of  the  pl'.Jge  given 
by  Congress  to  the  states  before  a  single  cession  was  made  ;  that  it 
abrogates  the  condition  upon  which  some  of  the  states  come  into  the 
Union ;  and  that  it  sets  at  naught  the  terms  of  cession  spread  upon  the 


JACKSON"  S    LAXD    BILL    VETO    MESSAGE.  XXXV11 

face  of  every  grant  undei  which  the  title  to  that  portion  of  the  public  lands 
is  held  by  the  federal  government. 

In  the  apportionment  of  the  remaining  seven-eighths  of  the  proceeds, 
this-  bill,  in  a  manner  equally  undisguised,  violates  the  conditions  upon 
which  the  United  States  acquired  title  to  the  ceded  lands.  Abandoning 
altogether  the  ratio  of  distribution  according  to  the  general  charge  and 
expenditure,  provided  by  the  compacts,  it  adopts  that  of  the  federal  repre- 
sentative population.  Virginia,  and  other  states,  which  ceded  their  land.- 
upon  the  express  condition,  that  they  should  receive  a  benefit  from  their 
sales,  in  proportion  to  their  part  of  the  general  charge,  are  by  the  bill  al- 
lowed only  a  portion,  of  seven  eighths  of  their  proceeds,  and  that  not  in 
the  proportion  of  general  charge  and  expenditure,  but  in  the  ratio  of  their 
federal  representative  population. 

The  constitution  of  the  United  States  did  not  delegate  to  Congress  the 
power  to  abrogate  these  compacts.  On  the  contrary,  by  declaring  that 
nothing  in  it  "  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims  of  (he  United 
States  or  of  any  particular  statr"  it  virtually  provides  that  these  com- 
pacts, and  the  rights  they  secure,  shall  remain  untouched  by  the  legislative 
power,  which  shall  only  make  all  "  ncrdful  rules  and  regulations"  for 
carrying  them  into  effect.  All  beyond  this  would  seem  to  be  an  assump- 
tion of  the  undelegated  power. 

These  ancient  compacts  are  invaluable  monuments  of  an  age  of  virtue, 
patriotism,  and  disinterestedness.  They  exhibit  the  price  that  great  states, 
which  had  won  liberty,  were  willing  to  pay  for  that  union,  without  which 
they  plainly  saw  it  could  not  be  preserved.  It  was  not  for  territory  or  state 
power,  that  our  revolutionary  fathers  took  up  arms  ;  it  was  for  individual 
liberty,  and  the  right  of  self-government.  The  expulsion  from  the  continent 
of  British  armies  and  British  power,  was  to  them  a  barren  conquest,  if, 
through  the  collisions  of  the  redeemed  states,  the  individual  rights  for  which 
they  fought,  should  become  the  prey  of  petty  military  tyrannies,  establish- 
ed at  home.  To  avert  such  consequences,  and  throw  around  liberty  the 
shield  of  union,  states,  whose  relative  strength  at  the  time,  gave  them  a 
preponderating  power,  magnanimously  sacrificed  domains,  which  would 
have  made  them  the  rivals  of  empires,  only  stipulating  that  they  should 
be  disposed  of  for  the  common  benefit  of  themselves  and  the  other  con- 
federate states.  This  enlightened  policy  produced  union,  and  has  secured 
liberty.  It  has  made  our  waste  lands  to  swarm  with  the  busy  people, 
and  added  many  powerful  states  to  our  confederation.  As  well  for  the 
fruits  which  these  noble  works  of  our  ancestors  have  produced,  as  for  the 
devotedness  in  which  they  originated,  we  should  hesitate  before  we 
demolish  them. 

But  there  are  other  principles  asserted  in  the  bill  which  should  have 
impelled  me  to  withhold  my  signature,  had  I  not  seen  in  it  a  violation  of 
the  compacts  by  which  the  United  States  acquired  title  to  a  large  portion 
of  public  lands.  It  reasserts  the  principle  contained  in  the  bill  authorizing 
a  subscription  to  the  stock  of  the  Maysville,  Washington,  Paris,  and 
Lexinglon  turnpike-road  company,  from  which  1  was  compelled  to  with- 
hold my  consent  for  reasons  contained  in  my  message  on  the  27th  May, 
1830,  to  the  house  of  representatives. 

The  leading  principle  then  asserted  was,  that  Congress  possesses  no 
constitutional  power  to  appropriate  any  part  of  the  moneys  of  the  United 
States  for  objects  of  a  local  character,  within  the  states.  That  principle, 
I  can  not  be  mistaken  in  supposing,  has  received  the  unequivocal  sanction 


XXXV111  JACKSON  S    LAND    BILL    VETO    MESSAGE. 

of  the  American  people,  and  all  subsequent  reflection  lias  but  satisfied  me 
more  thoroughly,  that  the  interests  of  our  people,  and  the  purity  of  our 
government,  if  not  its  existence,  depend  on  its  observance.  The  public 
lands  are  the  common  property  of  the  United  States,  and  the  moneys 
arising  from  their  sales,  are  a  part  of  the  public  revenue.  This  bill  pro- 
poses to  raise  from  and  appropriate  a  portion  of  this  public  revenue  to 
certain  states,  providing  expressly,  that  it  shall  "be  applied  to  objects  of 
infernal  improvement  or  education  within  those  states,"  and  then  proceeds 
to  appropriate  the  balance  to  all  the  states,  with  the  declaration,  that  it 
shall  be  applied  "  to  such  purpose  as  the  legislatures  of  the  said  respective 
states  shall  deem  proper."  The  former  appropriation  is  expressly  for  in- 
ternal improvement  or  education,  without  qualification  as  to  the  kind  of 
improvements,  and  therefore  in  express  violation  of  the  principle  main- 
tained in  my  objections  to  the  turnpike-road  bill,  above  referred  to.  The 
latter  appropriation  is  more  broad,  and  gives  the  money  to  be  applied  to 
any  local  purpose  whatsoever.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  under  the  pro- 
visions of  the  bill,  a  portion  of  the  money  might  have  been  applied  to 
making  the  very  road  to  which  the  bill  of  1830  had  reference,  and  must 
of  course  come  within  the  scope  of  the  same  principle.  If  the  money  of 
the  United  States  can  not  be  applied  to  local  purposes  "  through  its  own 
agents,"  as  little  can  it  be  permitted  to  be  thus  expended  "  through  the 
agency  of  the  state  governments." 

It  has  been  supposed  that  with  all  the  reductions  in  our  revenue  which 
could  be  speedily  effected  by  Congress,  without  injury  to  the  substantial 
interests  of  the  country,  there  might  be  for  some  years  to  come  a  surplus 
of  moneys  in  the  treasury,  and  that  there  was,  in  principle,  no  objection 
to  returning  them  to  the  people  by  whom  they  were  paid.  As  the  literal 
accomplishment  of  such  an  object  is  obviously  impracticable^!  was  thought 
admissible,  as  the  nearest  approximation  to  it,  to  hand  them  over  to  the 
state  governments,  the  more  immediate  representatives  of  the  people,  to 
be  by  them  applied  to  the  benefit  of  those  to  whom  they  properly  belonged. 
The  principle  and  the  object  was,  to  return  to  the  people  an  unavoidable 
surplus  of  revenue,  which  might  have  been  paid  by  them  under  a  system 
which  could  not  at  once  be  abandoned  ;  but  even  this  resource,  which  at 
one  time  seemed  to  be  almost  the  only  alternative  to  suve  the  general 
government  from  grasping  unlimited  power  over  internal  improvements, 
was  suggested  with  doubts  of  its  constitutionality. 

But  this  bill  assumes  a  new  principle.  Its  object  is  not  to  return  to  the 
people  an  unavoidable  surplus  of  revenue  paid  in  by  them,  but  to  create  a 
surplus  for  distribution  among  the  states.  It  seizes  the  entire  proceeds  of 
one  source  of  revenue  and  sets  them  apart  as  a  surplus,  making  it  neces 
sary  to  raise  the  moneys  for  supporting  the  government  and  meeting  the 
general  charges  from  other  sources.  It  even  throws  the  entire  land  sys- 
tem upon  the  customs  for  its  support,  and  makes  the  public  lands  a 
perpetual  charge  upon  the  treasury.  It  does  not  return  to  the  people, 
moneys  accidentally  or  unavoidably  paid  by  them  to  the  government,  by 
which  they  are  not  wanted  ;  but  compels  the  people  to  pay  moneys  into 
the  treasury  for  the  mere  purpose  of  creating  a  surplus  for  distribution  to 
their  state  governments. 

If  this  principle  be  once  admitted,  it  is  not  difficult  to  preceive  to  what 
consequences  it  may  lead.  Already  this  bill,  by  throwing  the  land  system 
on  the  revenues  from  imports  for  support,  virtually  distributes  among  the 
states  a  part  of  those  revenues.  The  proportion  may  be  increased  from 


JACKSON'S    LAND   BILL   VETO    MESSAGE.  xxxix 

time  to  time,  without  any  departure  from  the  principle  now  asserted,  until 
the  state  governments  shall  derive  all  the  funds  necessary  for  their  support 
from  the  treasury  of  the  United  States  ;  or,  if  a  sufficient  supply  should  be 
obtained  by  some  states  and  not  by  others,  the  deficient  stales  might  com- 
plain, and  to  put  an  end  to  all  further  difficulty,  Congress,  without  assuming 
any  no\v  principle,  need  go  but  one  step  further  and  put  the  salaries  of  all 
the  state  governors^  judges,  and  other  officers,  with  a  sufficient  sum  for 
other  expenses,  in  tneir  general  appropriation  bill. 

It  appears  to  me  that  a  more  direct  road  to  consolidation  can  not  be 
devised.  Money  is  power,  and  in  that  government  which  pays  all  the 
public  officers  of  the  states,  will  all  political  power  be  substantially  con- 
centrated. The  state  governments,  if  governments  they  might  be  called, 
Avould  lose  all  their  independence  and  dignity — the  economy  which  now 
distinguishes  them  would  be  converted  into  a  profusion,  limited  only  by 
the  extent  of  the  supply.  Being  the  dependants  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, and  looking  to  its  treasury  as  the  source  of  all  their  emoluments,  the 
state  officers,  under  whatever  names  they  might  pass,  and  by  whatever 
forms  their  duties  might  be  -prescribed,  would  in  effect  be  the  mere 
stipendiaries  and  instruments  of  the  central  power. 

I  am  quite  sure  that  the  intelligent  people  of  our  several  states  will  be 
satisfied,  on  a  little  reflection,  that  it  is  neither  wise  nor  safe  to  release  the 
members  of  their  local  legislatures  from  the  responsibility  of  levying  the 
taxes  necessary  to  support  their  state  governments  and  vest  it  in  Congress, 
over  most  of  whose  members  they  have  no  control. 

They  will  not  think  it  expedient  that  Congress  shall  be  the  tax-gatherer 
and  paymaster  of  all  their  state  governments,  thus  amalgamating  all  their 
officers  into^me  mass  of  common  interest  and  common  feeling.  It  is  too 
obvious  that  such  a  course  would  subvert  our  well-balanced  system  of 
government,  and  ultimately  deprive  us  of  all  the  blessing*  now  derived 
from  our  happy  Union. 

However  willing  I  might  be,  that  any  unavoidable  surplus  in  the  treasury 
should  be  returned  to  the  people  through  their  state  governments,  I  can 
not  assent  to  the  principle  that  a  surplus  may  be  created  for  the  purpose 
of  distribution.  Viewing  this  bill  as  in  effect  assuming  the  right,  not  only 
to  create  a  surplus  for  that  purpose,  but  to  divide  the  contents  of  the 
treasury  among  the  states  without  limitation,  from  whatever  source  they 
may  be  derived,  and  asserting  the  power  to  raise  and  appropriate  money 
for  the  support  of  every  state  government  and  institution,  as  well  as  for 
making  every  local  improvement,  however  trivial,  I  can  not  give  it  my 
assent. 

It  is  difficult  to  perceive  what  advantages  would  accrue  to  the  old  states 
or  the  new,  from  the  system  of  distribution  which  this  bill  proposes,  if  it 
were  otherwise  objectionable.  It  requires  no  argument  to  prove  that,  if 
three  millions  of  dollors  a  year,  or  any  other  sum,  shall  be  taken  out  of  the 
treasury  by  this  bill  for  distribution,  it  must  bo  replaced  by  the  same  sum 
collected  from  the  people  through  some  other  means.  The  old  states  will 
receive  annually  a  sum  of  money  from  the  treasury,  but  they  will  pay  in 
a  larger  sum,  together  with  the  expense  of  collection  and  distribution.  It 
is  only  their  proportion  of  serrn-dg/it/is  of  the  proceeds  of  land  sales  which 
they  are  to  rrrtivc,  but  they  must  ]><ti/  their  due  proportion  of  the  whnle. 
Disguise  it  as  we  mav,  the  bill  proposes  to  them  a  dead  loss,  in  the  ratio 
ol '  nglit  to  seven,  in  addition  to  expenses  and  other  incidental  losses.  This 
assertion  is  not  the  loss  true  becau.su  it  may  not  at  first  be  palpable 


xl  JACKSON'S   LAND  BILL  VETO  MESSAGE. 

Their  receipts  will  be  in  large  sums,  but  their  payments  in  small  ones.  The  govern- 
ments of  the  states  will  receive  seven  dollars  for  which  the  people  of  the  states  will  pa) 
eight.  The  large  sums  received  will  be  palpable  to  the  senses  ;  the  small  sums  paid, 
it  requires  thought  to  identify.  But  a  little  consideration  will  satisfy  the  people  that 
the  effect  is  the  same  as  if  seven  hundred  dollars  were  given  -them  from  the  public 
treasury,  for  which  they  were  at  the  same  time  required  to  pay  in  taxes,  direct  or  in- 
direct, eight  hundred. 

I  deceive  myself  greatly  if  the  new  states  would  find  their  interests  promoted  by 
such  a  system  as  this  bill  proposes.  Their  true  policy  consists  in  the  rapid  settling 
and  improvement  of  the  waste  lands  within  their  limits.  As  a  means  of  hastening 
those  events,  they  have  long  been  looking  to  a  reduction  in  the  price  of  public  lands 
upon  the  final  payment  of  the  national  debt.  The  effect  of  the  proposed  system 
would  be  to  prevent  that  reduction.  It  is  true,  the  bill  reserves  to  Congress  the 
power  to  reduce  the  price,  but  the  effect  of  its  details,  as  now  arranged,  would  prob- 
ably be  for  ever  to  prevent  its  exercise. 

With  the  just  men  who  inhabit  the  new  states,  it  is  a  sufficient  reason  to  reject  this 
system,  that  it  is  in  violation  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  republic  and  its  constitu- 
tion. But  if  it  were  a  mere  question,  of  interest  or  expediency,  they  would  still  re- 
ject it.  They  would  not  sell  their  bright  prospects  of  increasing  wealth  and  growing 
power  at  such  a  price.  They  would  not  place  a  sum  of  money  to  be  paid  into  their 
treasuries,  in  competition  with  the  settlement  of  their  waste  lands,  and  the  increase 
of  their  population.  They  would  not  consider  a'small  or  a  large  annual  sum  to  be 
paid  to  their  governments  and  immediately  expended,  as  an  equivalent  for  that  endu- 
ring wealth  which  is  composed  of  flocks"  and  herds,  and  cultivated  farms.  No  tempta- 
tion will  allure  them  from  that  object  of  abiding  interest,  the  settlement  of  their  waste 
lands,  and  the  increase  of  a  hardy  race  of  free  citizens,  their  glory  in  peace,  and  their 
defence  in  war. 

On  the  whole,  I  adhere  to  the  opinion  expressed  by  me  in  my  annual  message  of 
1832,  that  it  is  our  true  policy  that  the  public  lands  shall  cease  as  soon  as  practicable 
to  be  a  source  of  revenue,  except  for  the  payment  of  those  general  charges  which  grow 
out  of  the  acquisition  of  the  lands,  their  survey  and  sale.  Although  these  expenses 
have  not  been  met  by  the  proceeds  of  sales  heretofore,  it  is  quite  certain  they  will  be 
hereafter,  even  after  a  considerable  reduction  in  the  price.  By  meeting  in  the 
treasury  so  much  of  the  general  charge  as  arises  from  that  source,  they  will  hereafter, 
as  they  have  been  heretofore,  be  disposed  of  for  the  common  benefit  of  the  United 
States,  according  to  the  compacts  of  cession.  I  do  not  doubt  that  it  is  the  real  in- 
terest of  each  and  all  the  states  in  the  Union,  and  particularly  of  the  new  states,  that 
the  price  of  these  lands  shall  be  reduced  and  graduated,  and  that  after  they  have  been 
offered  for  a  certain  number  of  years,  the  refuse  remaining  unsold  shall  be  abandoned 
to  the  states,  and  the  machinery  of  our  land  system  entirely  withdrawn.  It  can  not 
be  supposed  the  compacts  intended  that  the  United  States  should  retain  for  ever  a 
title  to  lands  within  the  states  which  are  of  no  value,  and  no  doubt  is  entertained 
that  the  general  interest  would  be  best  promoted  by  surrendering  such  lands  to  the 
states. 

This  plan  for  disposing  of  the  public  lands  impairs  no  principle,  violates  no  com- 
pact, and  deranges  no  system.  Already  has  the  price  of  those  lands  been  reduced 
from  two  dollars  per  acre  to  one  dollar  and  a  quarter,  and  upon  the  will  of  Congress, 
it  depends  whether  there  shall  be  a  further  reduction.  While  the  burdens  of  the 
east  are  diminishing  by  the  reduction  of  the  duties  upon  imports,  it  seems  but  equal 
justice  that  the  chief  burden  of  the  west  should  be  lightened  in  an  equal  degree  at 
least.  It  would  be  just  to  the  old  states  and  the  new,  conciliate  every  interest, 
disarm  the  subject  of  all  its  dangers,  and  add  another  guaranty  to  the  perpetuity 
of  our  happy  Union. 

Sensible,  however,  of  the  difficulties  which  surround  this  important  subject,  I  can 
only  add  to  my  regrets,  at  finding  myself  again  compelled  to  disagree  with  the  legis- 
lative power,  the  sincere  declaration  that  any  plan  which  shall  promise  a  final  and 
satisfactory  disposition  of  the  question,  and  be  compatible  with  the  constitution  and 
public  faith,  shall  have  my  hearty  concurrence. 


ANALYTICAL   INDEX. 


A.  PAGE. 

ffdami>  John,  biography  of 95 

elected  vice-president ' 98 

re-elected  vice-president 98 

elected  president 99 

his  administration  approved  by 

Washington 100 

retires  from  public  life 100 

supports  Jefferson's  adminis'tion.  100 

chosen  presidential  elector 100 

chosen  member  of  state  conv'tion.  100 

death  of  Mrs.  Adams 100 

her  character 101 

death  of  Mr.  Adams 101 

personal  appearance  and  char- 
acter  101 

addresses  and  messages 103—128 

special  messages  (appendix) xx 

inaugural  address 103 

his  opinjgn  of  Washington 105 

his  views  of  the  constitution 104 

his  confidence  in  the  people 106 

his  regard  for  the  Christian  re- 
ligion  106 

his  political  principles Ill 

announces  the  death  of  Washing- 
ton (appendix) xxiii 

special  message  on  the  death  of 

Washington. 124 

transmits  letter  of  Mrs.  Wash- 
ington to  Congress 125 

administration  of 129 

inauguration  of 129 

cabinet 129 

dismisses  two  cabinet  officers. . . .  136 
character  of  his  administration. .  138 
,  Joint  Quincy,  biography  of. .  .563 
appointed  minister  to  Holland.  ..566 
"  "  Portugal... 566 

«  "  Prussia.... 566 

Washington's  testimony  in  favor 

of... 567 

elected  to  U.  S.  senate ..56N 

votes  in  favor  of  the  embargo . .  .568 

resigns  as  U.  S.  senator 568 

disclosures  respecting  embargo 
and  New  Knglnnd  federal- 
ists  262,263 

appointed  minister  t«  Russia. 362,  5(JN 
enjoys  the  confidence  of  the  em- 
peror  5fiH 

VOL.  II.— 55 


Mams,   John   Quincy,   promotes  the 

mediation  of  Russia 569 

appointed    a    commissioner    at 

Ghent..... 362,569 

his  services  in  negotiating  trea- 
ties of  peace  and  commerce. .  .570 
appointed  minister  to  G't  Britain. 570 
appointed  secretary  of  state.  54 1,570 
elected  president  of  U.  S. .  .562,  572 

inauguration  of 649 

administration  of 649 

"  early  opposition  to. 650 

addresses  and  messages 575-647 

inaugural  address 575 

political  views  and  principles...  .577 
proclamation     respecting    trade 

with  British  colonies 644 

attack  upon  his  private  secretary  .646 
his  remarks  upon  the  death  of 

John  Adams  and  Jefferson. . .  .606 
character  of  his  administration..  .669 

elected  to  Congress 573 

his  congressional  career 573 

personal  appearance  anJ  char- 
acter  574 

^idet,   Mr.,   French  minister  to  the 
U.  S.,  presents  colors  of  the  re- 
public to  U.  S.  government 89 

appeals  to  the  American  people 
on  election  of  president,  1796. .  .92 

MmintttratitM  of  Washington 79 

John  Adams 129 

Jefferson 219 

Madison 341 

Monroe 54 1 

John  Quincy  Adams 649 

Jackson 96 1 

Van  Buren 115-7 

Tyler 1393 

Administrations  successive 1547 

Addresses- -see  Inaugural  Addresses 
Africa,  U.   S.  establishment  on   the 

coast  of  (Liberia) 4S9 

African    squadron,    Tyler's    special 

message  in  relation  to 1361 

Afrirnri  slave-trade — see  slave-trade. 
.izrirvltttrf,  advancement  of  (Wash- 
ington)   34,  6fi 

connexion  of  with  rommercp  and 
manufactures (J.  Q.  Adams^...62l 


1594 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Agriculture,  connexion  of  with  com- 
merce and  manufactures(  Jack- 
son)  704 

prosperity  of  in  U.  S.,  from  defi- 
ciency in  European  harvests. .  .624 
•Alabama  admitted  to  the  Union. .1508,  551 

Indians  advised  to  emigrate 710 

senators      and     representatives 

from 1536 

synopsis  of  constitution 1572 

Albany,  congress  at,  in  1754 1508 

Alexandria,  British  expedition  against. 320 

laid  under  contribution 368 

Algiers,   (Washington)    treaty  with 

61,  65  (appendix) ix,  xi 

president  asks  advice  of  senate 

(appendix) ix 

Portugal   assists   if.   S.  against 

(appendix) xiv 

treaty  with  and  ransom  of  Amer- 
icans (appendix) xiv,  xv 

(Jefferson)  aggressions  of,  and 

relations  with 208,  209,  215 

(Madison)  difficulties  with 301 

war  with,  recommmended 327 

carried  on  by  U.  S.  navy. .  .377,  378 

termination  of  war  with 328 

relations  with 334 

treaty  with,  by  Com.  Decatur. .  .378 

Alien  and  Sedition  laws  enacted 132 

opposition  to 133 

Aliens,  time  of  residence  reduced  to 

five  years 230 

Amelia  Island  taken  by  adventurers.  .398 
suppression      of     establishment 

at 406,  479 

America,   Central — see    Guatemala    and 
Central  America. 
South — see  South  America. 
Spanish — see  Spanish  America. 
American  Flag  (Madison),  commer- 
cial abuses  under 279,  283 

act  of  Congress  respecting  ar- 
rangement of  p«ars  and  stripes 

in 547 

insulted  by  Spanish  vessels 334 

seamen    should   be    exclusively 

employed  in  American  vessels.. 327 
Amistad    schooner,    correspondence 

with  Chevalier  d'Arguiz 1332 

Anti-Federalists,  origin  of  name  and 

party 81 

oppose  Washington's  adminis- 
tration  81 

Anti-Masonic  party,  origin  of. 988 

Apportionment — see  ratio. 
Arbitration,  U.  S.  propose  to  France 
to  submit  the  subject  of  Amer- 
ican claims  to 611 

of  king  of  the  Netherlands,  on 

N.  E.  boundary 620 

result  of  the  award  of  the  king 
of  the  Netherlands  not  ac- 
cepted by  U.  S 756,  781,  1000 


Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  execution 

of. g92 

Argentine  republic,  relations  with 

the.... 867,  891,  1074,  1098,  1120 

Arkansas  admitted  into  the  Union.  <  *9?| 

(  1508 

synopsis  of  the  constitution 1574 

senators  and  repre'tives  from. . .  1537 

Armistice  proposed  by  U.  S., . . . .  300,  357 

"        by  Great  Britain.. 301 

"        by  Ad'l  Warren.. 358 

agreed    to   by  Sir  George   Pre- 

vost  and  Gen.  Dearborn 359 

Armory  (Madison) 284,  289 

western  (Monroe) 455 

Arms,  manufacture  of,  in  U.  States 

(J.  Adams) 127 

ammunition,  exportation  of  to  be 

prohibited  (Jefferson) 179,  216 

Armstrong,  John,  minister  to  France. 248 
associated  with  James    Bow- 
doin,  as  joint  commissioner  to 

Spain 248 

collision  with  Mr.  Bowdoin 249 

his  course  as  minister  to  France. 255 
remonstrates  against  Berlin  and 

Milan  decrees 260 

appointed  secretary  of  war 361 

resigns 374 

Army  (Washington) 62 

(  J.  Adams) 110 

temporary,    disbanded  „  ( J.   Ad- 
ams)  ]26 

augmentation  of  in  1798 131 

not  wanted  in  time  of  peace  (Jef- 
ferson)  155,  160 

augmentation  of  (Jefferson) 210 

(Madron)  $  276'  301»  302>  309 

°n) ?  322,  347,  372,  374 

successes  of.. 316 

services  of  officers  and   soldiers 
recommended  to  Congress  in 

1815 326 

deficiency  of  clothing  for 364 

peace  establishment 329,  555 

(Monroe) 393,  400,  445, 454,  471 

(J.  Q.  Adams)  585, 600,  603, 615,  626 
"            cavalry  and  artil- 
lery tactics 604 

(Jackson^  $  708>  839'  87<S 

CJackson) \  905,937,938 

(Van  Buren) 1085,  1 105 

(Tyler) 1258,  1307,  1343,  1380 

(Polk) 1469 

Arsenals  and  magazines  (Washington) .  42 

Articles  of  confederation I 

summary  of  powers  under. . .  .494 

Artillery,  school  of 471,  585,  604 

Arts     and     sciences     recommended 

(Washington) 67 

Ashley,  Gen.,  and  trading  party  at- 
tacked by  Indians 455 

Astronomical  observatory  (J.  Q.  Ad- 
ams")  591 


ANALYTICAL    IXDEX. 


1595 


Attorneys-General,  increase  of  pow- 
ers and  compensation  recom- 
mended (Jackson)  ...........  706 

list  of  .......................  1  556 

Austria,  treaty  with  ................  620 

reciprocity  .................  .  .  .621 


B. 
Badger,  George  E.,  appointed  secre- 

tary of  the  navy  ............  1  192 

resigns  ......................  1  115 

Bainbridge,  Capt.,  captures  a  Moor- 

ish vessel  ...................  167 

captures  British  frigate  Java.305,  360 

operations  at  Tripoli  and  Tunis..  328 

Baltimore,  defence  of,  1814  .....  321,  368 

whig  convention  at,  1844  ......  1425 

democratic  convention  at,  1844.1425 
see  convention. 
Bancroft,  George,  appointed  secreta- 

ry of  the  navy  .......  .......  1438 

Bank,  National,  not   sanctioned   by 

the  constitution  (Jackson).  ..  .930 
origin  and  operations  of.  .  .  .930,  931 
the  opinions  of  Van  Buren 

against  ..............  1  100,  1  148 

Bank  of  the  United  States  (Washing- 

ton) ......................  39,  45 

loan  to  U.  S.  government  ........  45 

incorporation  of,  1791  ...........  82 

veto  of  Madison,  18  15  ..........  323 

recommended  in  1815  ..........  330 

organized  in  1816  ..............  337 

prospective  benefits  of  ..........  337 

bill  to  renew,  rejected  in  1811..  .345 
recommended  by  Dallas  in  1814.  .376 
bill  passed  by  Congress,  1815..  .376 
vetoed  by  Madison  .............  376 

bill  of  1816  signed  l>y  Madison..  379 
constitutionality  and  expediency 

of  questioned  (Jackson)  ......  713 

new  one  recommended  ..........  713 

recharter  of  bank  of  1816  ques- 

tioned .....................  753 

objections  to,  repeated  ..........  765 

veto  message  (Jackson)  ........  767 

United  States  deposites  removed 

from  .............  837,  1014,  1016 

pension  a7»*ncy  ................  842 

conduct  of  directors  censured..  .  .875 

seizure  of  dividends  on  public 

stock  .......................  875 

mischief  and  dangers  of.  ........  877 

not  necessary  to  fiscal  operations 

of  government  ..........  877,  903 

state  hanks  fully  adequate  to  all 

services  required  .............  877 

bills  no  longer  received  in  pay- 

ment of  revenue  .............  901 

effects  of  its  operations  on  the 

public  interest*  ..............  W2 

part  of  a  system  of  monopoly  to 

be  suppressed  ................  t'02 


Bank  of  the  United  States,  reissue 
of  notes   under  charter  from 

Pennsylvania 935 

operations  of,  and  effects 956 

action  of  Congress  on 967 

renewal  of  charter  by  Congress.. 992 

bill  vetoed  by  the  president 993 

reissue  of  notes  under  charter 
from  Pennsylvania  disapproved 

of  (Van  Buren) 1079 

first  veto  message  of  Tyler 1244 

second  veto  message  of  Tyler. .  1248 
importance  of  regulating  circu- 
lation  T ." 1260 

Tyler's  exchequer  plan 1261 

fiscal,  Mr.  Ewing's  plan 1401 

passage  of  modified  bill  in  Con- 
press 1404 

vetoed  by  Tyler 1405 

fiscal  corporation  passed 1407 

vetoed  by  Tyler.  14 10 

Mr.  Botts's  letter '. 1408 

Bankrupt  Lau;  enacted  in  John  Ad- 
ams's administration,  1800. . . .  135 
repealed  in  Jefferson's  adminis- 
tration   242 

attempt  to  pass  one 552,  556 

recommended  by  J.  Q.  Adams. .  .583 

defeated  in  Congress 662 

applicable  to  corporations  (Van 

Buren) 1067 

again  agitated  and  defeated. . . .  1169 
special  message  on  (Tyler). ...  1243 

passage  of,  1841 1407 

repeal  of J  422 

Banks,  State,  embarrassed  condition 

of,  1819 417 

United  States  deposites  in 837 

fully  adequate  to  perform  all  ser- 
vices  required  of  the  United 
States  bank  by  government. . .  .877 
small     bills     to     be    suppress- 
ed  877,  903,932 

over-issues  of  paper  by 932 

preferable  to  U.  States  bank  as 

deposite  banks 933,  934 

importation  of  specie  by 934 

public  funds  in 935 

suspension  of  payment  by 1051 

separation  of  fiscal  concerns  of 
government  from,  recommend- 
ed by  Van  Buren 105h 

by  Polk 1465 

argument     against     banks     as 

agents  of  government 1058 

extravagant  credit  promoted  by.  1128 

evils  from  operations  of. 1 135 

remarks  on,  as  public  deposito- 
ries (Polk) 1465 

Barbary  States — See  Algiers,  Moroc- 
co, Tripoli,  and  Tunis. 
Bnrbonr,  Ph  Hip  P.,  elected  speaker. . .  55»> 
appointed  judgeof  supreme  court  l.Wi 

,  Jamn,  appointed  secretary 
of  war i.649 


1596 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Sarbour,  James,  appointed  minister 

to  G.  Britain 668 

Barlow,  Joel,  appointed  minister  to 

France 345 

his  negotiations 346 

his  death 310 

Barren,  Commodore,  his  transactions 

in  Tripoli 182 

Barry,  William  T.,  appointed  post- 
master-general  962 

appointed  minister  to  Spain. . . .  1020 
vote  of  censure  on  by  senate. . .  1023 

his  death 1023 

Bayard,  James  Jl.,  his  testimony  on 

election  of  1801 224 

appointed  commissioner  to  Ghent.  362 

Belgium,  treaty  with 833 

"      disavowed  by  Belgi- 
an government.. 866 

relations  with 922,  1257,  1373 

American  claims  on 922 

Bell,  John,  elected  speaker 1017 

appointed  secretary  of  war 1 192 

resigns 1415 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  his  proposal  to 
amend  United  States  constitu- 
tion   655 

his  report  on  executive  patron- 
age  655 

his  expunging  resolution. ..... .1024 

Berlin  and  Milan  Decrees 254,  255 

revoked 281,  301 

conditionally  repealed 344 

revived  in  1811 344 

finally  revoked 355 

Berrien,  John  M.,  appointed  attor- 
ney-general  962 

resigns. 985, 986 

Bibb,  George  M.,  appointed  secreta- 

tary  of  the  treasury 1423 

Bidwell,  Mr.,  of  Massachusetts,  his 

resolutions  in  Congress 246 

Biography  of  Washington 25 

John  Adams 95 

Jefferson 139 

Madison 267 

Monroe 383 

John  Quincy  Adams 563 

Jackson 67 1 

Van  Buren 1029 

Harrison 1171 

Tyler 1211 

Polk 1429 

Birney,  James  G.,  abolition  candidate 

for  president 1169, 1427 

popular  vote  for  in  1844 1427 

Blakely,  Captain,  captures  two  Brit- 
ish sloops-of-war 321,  369 

Blockade — See  Berlin  and  Milan  de- 
crees and  orders  in  council, 
of  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  358 

of  the  United  States  coast 358 

Bolivar,  General,  suggests  congress 
at  Panama 656 


PAG*. 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  first  consul  of 
France,  directs  Marbois  to  ne- 
gotiate for  the  cession  of  Lou- 
isiana to  the  United  States  ----  234 

See  Napoleon 
Botts's,  John  M.,  letter  respecting  U. 

States  bank  ................  1408 

letter  to  Mr.  Tyler  ............  1405 

Boundary      Question,      northeastern 

(Washington)  ................  64 

appendix  .......................  ill 

(John  Adams)  ............  114,  120 

(  J.  Q.  Adams)  ........  609,  620,  645 

698,734,735,756,781 
828,865,889,922,1001 


.,    , 

>n'" 


<V,»Bu,eD)...j 


communicating  treaty  of  Wash- 

ington ....................  .1290 

southwestern  with  <  65,  1  13,  119,  186 

Spain  I       187,  282,  380 

"        "         "      appendix  .......  xx 

between  U.  States  and  British 

territories  ...................  164 

northwestern  with  Russia  .......  452 

various  questions  with  G.  Britain  .467 
between  Ohio  and  Michigan.  .  .  .914 

northeastern  with  G.  Britain  .  .  .  1000 
recommendation  of  measures  to 

prevent  aggression  on  adjoin- 

ing territories  by    citizens  of 

U.  S.  (Van  Buren)  ..........  1091 

Oregon,  or  northwestern,  with  G. 

Britain  ..........  1315,1334,  1347 

(Polk)  ......    .....  1446,  1453,  1478 

Bowdoin,  James,  minister  to  Spain  .  .  .248 
Bradford,  William,  attorney-general  ...  85 
Branch,  John,  appointed  secretary  of 

the  navy  .....................  85 

resigns  .......................  985 

Brazil,  Independence  of  ............  468 

minister  from  ..................  468 

commercial  rela-$  468,  622,  761,  783 

tions  with         (  1120,   1258,   1390 
aggressions  on  American  com- 

merce ......................  613 

treaty  with  ...............  669,  981 

expiration  of  treaty  ...........  1143 

Slave-trade  .............  1390,  1485 

ministers  to  ..................  1554 

Breckenridge,  John,  appointed  attor- 

ney-general ................  1556 

British  and  American  claims  (John 

Adams),  commission  to  settle.  .  122 
Britain  —  See  Great  Britain. 
British  Colonies,  restrictions  on  trade 

with  U.  States  ........  416,  421,  434 

trade  with  restored  ........  443,  557 

negotiations     respecting     trade 

with  ......  452,  466,  598,  644,  728 

commercial  intercourse  with,pro- 

hibited  .............  610,  620,  662 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1597 


British  Colonies,  authority  requested 

to  arrange,  respecting  trade. .  .728 

arrangement  completed  to  open 

the  trade 730 

British  officers,  conduct  as  to  prison- 

ers-of-war 314 

retaliation  by  U.  S.  government.  .314  ! 

armies  and  fleets  supplied  with 
provisions  by  Americans 318  j 

goods,  smuggled  into  U.  States.  .318 

colonial  system,  effects  of,  on 
commerce  and  navigation  of 
United  States 334  j 

goods,  imported  into  U.  States 
under  bonds,  seized  under  aon- 
intercourse  act 345 

squadrons,  operations  on  United 
States  coast 365  , 

military  operations,  1814 367 

West  Indies,  restrictions  con- 
tinued  421,  434 

Brown,   Gen.,   his    success  in   Can- 
ada  320,  367 

Buchanan,  James,  appointed  secre- 
tary of  state 1438 

Buetiot  -4yres,  minister  to,  appointed.. 453 

relations  with... 468,  761,  783,  1004 

ministers  to , 1554 

See  Argentine  republic. 
Burr,   Jlaram^    nominated    for  vice- 
president 136 

voted  for  by  federalists  in  Con- 
gress for  preside^ 138 

disclaims  competition  with  Jef- 
ferson for  presidency 219 

elected  vice-president 138 

f    193    19/7 

his  western  expedition...  -.   O'g'  ,,-,,. 

supposed  objects  and  intentions..  194 

arraigned  in  Virginia 203  , 

his  expedition  suppressed.  ..203,  204 
tried  and  acquitted  at  Richmond, 

Virginia 250 

proposes  Jackson  for  president, 

1815 ~ 380,  678 

Butler,  Benj.  F.,  appointed  attorney- 
general 1015 

resigns 1  lf>9 

communication  in  relation  to  X. 

York  customhouse 1277 

C. 

Cabinet — sre  ministers,  cabinet. 
Cabinets,  ministers  of  successive..  ..1547  ! 
Calhoun,   John  C.,  appointed   secre- 
tary of  war 541 

elected  vice-president 56 1 

decision  in  favor  of  altering  rules 

of  senate fi67 

re-elected  vice-president 667 

position  in  relation  to  Jackson's 

administration 971  i 

resigns  office  of  vice-president. .  1007  • 
appointed  secretary  of  stale 1423 


Campbell,  Geo.  W.,  appointed  secre- 
tary of  the  treasury 374 

Canada,  invasion  by  Gen.  Hull 298 

"  Gen.  Van  Rens- 

selaer 299 

American  successes  in 320 

invasion  in  1813  by  Gen.  Dear- 
born  364 

events  of  the  war  in 364 

insurrection  in 1 163 

special  message  of  Tyler,  in  re- 
lation to  invasion  of. 1 252 

transmission   of   mails   through 

United  States 1363 

Canadian  affairs 1092,  1095,  1118 

Canal,  Xew  York,  proposed  from  the 
Hudson  to  the  lakes,  recom- 
mended by  Madison 291 

Chesapeake  and  Ohio,  a  nation- 
al work  (Monroe) 459 

Canal  company,  Louisville  and  Port- 
land, bill  relating  to  appro- 
priation for  stock  in,  returned 

(Jackson) 735 

Canals,  surveys  of,  recommended ....  459 
and  roads,  military,  surveyed. . .  .472 

advantages  of  U.  States  for 530 

great  importance  of 530 

surveys  of,  reported 539 

Canning,  George,  British  minister,  his 

course  on  American  affairs.  ...252 
correspondence  with  Pinkney. .  .260 
Capitol,  national,  location  of  (ap.)..vi,  xvi 
removal  of  the,   to  Washington 

city 123,  125/126,  137 

Carolina,  \orth,  accedes  to  the  Union . . 33 
relations  with  Indians  (appendix) . .  .v 
senators  and  repres'tives  from.. 1533 

synopsis  of  constitution 1569 

Carolina,  South,  claims  for  advances 

during  the  war 714 

cedes  forts  to  United  States. .184 

proclamation  concerning  (Jack- 
son)  794 

progress  of  nullification  in 1010 

action  on  compromise  tariff  act.  1012 
senators  and  repres'tives  from..  1534 

synopsis  of  constitution 1569 

Caroline,  steamboat,  case  of 1254 

correspondence  in  relation  to. ..1290 
Carondelet,  Baron  dc,  grant  to  Mar- 
<|uis   Mnison  Rouge,  in  Lou- 
isiana   1283 

Carrying  trade  of  West  Indies 730 

C<7*»,   ifirw,   appointed  secretary  of 

war 987 

minister  to  France 1551 

Catharine,  schooner,  seizure  by  Brit- 
ish on  the  const  of  Africa. ...  1321 
Caucui,  legislation  by,  commenced.  ..244 
democratic,  for  president.  ...259,  260 
congressional,  democratic,  nomi- 
nate   Mr.    Madison    for    re- 
election  35<i 


1598 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Caucus,   democratic,   nominate  Mr. 
Monroe    for   president,    over 

Mr.  Crawford 380,  381 

congressional  minority  nominate 
Mr.  Crawford  for  president. .  .561 

Censu*  of  1790,  result  of. 40 

1800,  result  of. 1558 

1810,        "      1558 

1820,        «      ...' 1558 

1830,  suggestions  for  taking 630 

"    result  of 630 

1840,        "       1258,  1557 

act  to  lengthen  time  for  taking 

recommended 754 

provision  for  taking ._ 1095 

Central  America,  treat}'  with 597 

civil  war  in 622 

relations  with 760,  7  82,  1 1 20 

Certificates,  president's,  payment  of.  1481 

Chase,  Judge,  trial  of 241 

Chauncey,  Commodore,  operations  on 

Lake  Ontario 313 

Cherokees  and  Creeks — see  Indian  affairs, 
payments  of  awards  (special'mes- 

sage) 1346 

special  message  in  relation  to.  ..1479 
Chesapeake  frigate,  attack  on. .  .200,  253 
affair  settled  before  the  war  of 

1812 254,  343 

Chevalier  d'Arguiz,  letters  from 1332 

Cheves,  Langdon,  chosen  speaker. .  ..365 

Chili,  minister  to,  appointed 453 

relations  with. .  .468,  761,  783,  1143 
Chilton's    resolutions    on    retrench-  * 

ment 665 

China,  relations  with 760,  1374,  1461 

commerce  with 1317 

minister  to 1339 

treaty 1387 

Caleb  Gushing  appointed  minis- 
ter to 1423 

Chronological  table 1571 

Circular,  specie — see  specie  circular. 
Claims  for  property  lost  during  the 

war 339 

C  346,  361 

Clay,  Henry,  elected  speaker.. <  378,  546 
(  551,  560 

his  views  on  war  measures 356 

appointed  commissioner  to  Ghent. 366 

returns  from  Ghent .378 

advocates  charter  of  U.  States 

bank,1816 379 

proposes  mission  to  S.  America.  .548 
candidate  for  presidency,  1823... 559 

appointed  secretary  of  state 649 

opinions  on  congress  at  Panama. 656 
replies  to  charges  against  him. .  .660 
nominated  for  president,  1831  —  987 
reports  bill  on  distributing  pro- 
ceeds of  public  lands 994 

visit  to  Canada  and  New  York.  1167 
whig  candidate  for  president  in 
1844,  and  defeated 1425,  1427 


Clinton,  Dewitt,  his  course  on  the  em- 

bargo .......................  256 

nominated  for  president  .........  357 

Clinton,  George,  elected  vice-presid't  .  .243 
re-elected  vice-president  ........  260 

gives  casting  vote  against  U.  S. 
bank  .......................  345 

his  death  ......................  352 

Coast  survey,  progress  of  .......  423,  940 

defence  of,  by  fortifications.  427,  441 
Coffee,   General,   his  victories   over 

the  Creek  Indians  ............  314 

Coins,  regulation  of  foreign  ..........  45 

U.  S.  copper  (ap- 
pendix) .......  xvi 

U.  S.  gold  and  silver  ..........  1018 

Colombia,  minister  to,  appointed.  453,  1188 
relations  with  .........  468,  582,  760 

treaty  with  ....................  582 

special  message  on  treaty  with.  ..641 
treaty  with,  rejected  ............  649 

Colonial     authorities,    West    India, 
interference    with    American 
merchant  vessels  ............  1290 

Colonies,  New  England,  first  union 

of,  1643  ...................  1493 

Columbia,  District  of,  organized..  40,  12(5 
surveyed  and  located  (Washing- 
ton), appendix  ................  vi 

grants  of  money,  land,  and  build- 
ings accepted,  appendix  .......  xvi 

affairs  of  (Monroe)  ............  411 

"  (J.Q.  Adams)  ...606,  629 

(Tyler)  .............  1089 

protection     against     contagious 
diseases  .....................  539 


slavery  in  ...................  1049 

Jackson  proposes  to  Congress  to 
allow  representation  .....  753,  765 

Columbia    River,    military    post    at 

mouth  of  recommended  .......  477 

exploration  of  (Monroe)  ........  477 

"  "  (J.Q.Adams)  ----  591 

Commerce    and    navigation,    treaty 

with  France  .................  558 

Commerce,  encouragement  of  (Wash- 

ington) ..................  34,  37 

spoliations  on,  French  ........  51,  67 

encouragement  of  (J.  Adams).  .  .  113 
spoliations  on,  appendix  .....  xiv,  xxi 

effects  of  restrictive  measures.  .  .346 
"       "  war  on  ..............  365 

right  of  general  government  to 
regulate  ....................  512 

United  States,  exports,  imports, 

and  revenue,  1791  to  1845.  .  .  1589 
Commission  for    claims    on    Great 

Britain  (Monroe)  ............  453 

"      (J.Q.Adams)  ........  630 

Spain  ........  .'  ...............  453 

Compensation  of  government  officers 

(Washington)  ...........  .  .....  67 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1593 


extra  sessions  of.. 


Compensation  of  members  of  Con- 
gress ($1,500  law) 379 

of  public  officers 1555 

Confederation,  articles  of. 1,  495 

ratified  and  signed 1498 

Congress,  house  of  representatives 
demand  copy  of  instructions  to 
Mr.  Jay ;  refused  by  Wash- 
ington  90 

opposition    to    answer    to    last 
speech    of    Washington,    by 

twelve  members „ 92 

war  measures  adopted  by 355 

the  compensation  law  passed. . .  .379 

powers  of  stated  by  Monroe 505 

constitutional  powers  of 500 

administration  opposition  major- 
ity in  ( J.  Q.  Adams) 664 

state  of  parties,  1828 667 

See  parties. 

action  on  removal  of  deposites. .  lOlfi 
report  of  convention  at  Annapo- 
lis to... 1505 

extra   sessions   under    different 

administrations 1193 

81,  129,341,361 
1160,  1400 

stamp-act,  1765 1494 

continental,  duration  of 1499 

at  Albany,  1754 1508 

it  New  York,  1765 1509 

continental,  presidents  of,  from 

1774  to  1788 1510 

continental,  sessions  of 1510 

"  members  of 1511 

federal,  sessions  of,  from  1789  to 

1846,  table  of 1543 

.ist  of  senators  and  representa- 
tives from  1789  to  1847 1516 

list  of  speakers  of. 1543 

number  of  nets  passed  by 1543 

"         of  vetoes 1543 

length  of  seFsions  of 1543 

first,   1st    session,  Washington's 

administration 81 

«       2d         "         82 

"       3d         "         82 

second,  1st  session,  do         do.... 83 

<•         2d        "         S3 

third,  1st  session,       do         do.... 85 

«       2d       "  87 

fourth,  1st  session,    do         do.... 88 

<•'        2d        "  92 

fifth,  1st  session,  John  Adams's 

administration 129,  130 

"       2d         «         131 

«       3d         "          13H 

jixth,  1st  session,     do         do....  135 

"     2d        «         137 

seventh,  1st  session,  Jefferson's 

admini.otrntion 229 

"  2d         "         231 

eighth,  1st  session,  do        do.  ...210 
«        2<1       "         243 


Congress,  ninth,  1st  session,  Jeffer- 
son's administration 246 

"       2d         "          250 

tenth,  1st  session,   do        do.... 255 

"      2d        "         ' 261 

eleventh,  1st  session,  Madison's 

administration 341 

"  2d        «         343 

"  3d        "         345 

twelfth,  1st  session,  do        do... 346 

"        2d        «         361 

thirteenth,  1st  session,  do    do.. 361 

"  2d        "         365 

"  3d         «         371 

fourteenth,  1st  session,  do     do.. 378 

"  2d        "         381 

fifteenth,  1st  session,  Monroe's 

administration 546 

"  2d         "         549 

sixteenth,  1st  session,  do    do... 551 

"          2d        "         553 

seventeenth,  1st  session,  do  do.. 555 

2d      "         557 

eighteenth,  1st  session,  do    do.. 560 

2d       "         562 

nineteenth,  1st  session,  John  Q. 

Adams's  administration 65 1 

"  2d       "         661 

twentieth,  1st  session,  do     do... 664 

"          2d       "         6t;.*> 

twenty-first,  1st    session,  Jack- 
son's administration 967 

"  2d        "         981 

twenty-second,  1st  session,  do  do. 989 

2d       "         ....1007 

twenty-third,  1st  session,  do  do..  101»> 

"          2d       "         1019 

twenty-fourth,  1st  session,  do  do.  1020 

2d       "         1024 

twenty-fifth,    1st    session,    Van 

Buren's  administration 11(>0 

2d        "         1162 

"  3d         <;         1164 

twenty-sixth,  1st  session,  do  do..  1165 

"  2d        "          Ilb9 

twenty-seventh,  1st  session,  Ty- 
ler's administration 140O 

"  2d       "         ...1420 

"  3d       "         ...1421 

twenty-eighth,  1st  session,  do  do.  1422 

"    "         2d       "         1427 

of  Panama 600,  655 

"         "       results  of 657 

Connecticut,  governor  of  refuses   to 
place  militia  under  U.  States 

officers 300 

senators  and  representatives  from  1520 

synopsis  of  constitution  of 1563 

Conscription  net  proposed,  1814 373 

Conspiracies  to  dismember  th^  Un- 
ion  '...204,  20* 

Constellation,     frigate,    captures     a 

French  frigate 132 

Constitution,  frigate,  successes  of  360,  36'.» 


1600 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX 


Jackson's 


PAGE. 

Conttitution  of  the  United  States 9 

amendments  to 22 

notes  on 1-24 

amended  in  1789  and  1795. . .  .82,  86 

"     1804 240 

amendments  recommended  by 
Monroe,  for  internal  improve- 
ments  402,  534 

principles  of,  stated 496,  500 

powers  not  transferable  by  the 

states  to  the  United  States 534 

importance  of  amending,  so  as"  to 
vest  power  of  internal  im- 
provement in  Congress 534 

J.  Q.  Adams's  view  of  powers 

and  obligations  under 593 

J.  Q.  Adams's  views  in  regard  to 
acts  of  Congress  and  state  le- 
gislatures   625 

Benton's  proposition  to  amend. ..655 
Mc'Duffie's    "  "          655 

(  701,  744,  764,  789 
I  841,  885,  912,  941 
single  term  proposed  by  Jackson. 702 
Jackson  proposes  that  members 
of  Congress    be    disqualified 
from  appointment  to  office,  in 

certain  cases 702 

appointments  to  office  to  be  lim- 
ited to  four  years  (Jackson).  ..702 
to  be  amenfted  in  doubtful  cases 

(Jackson) 705 

convention     at    Annapolis    for 

forming 1501 

list  of  delegates  to  Philadelphia 

convention  for  framing 1507 

dates  of  ratification  by  thirteen 

original  states 1507 

Constitutions,  State,  adoption  of  first..  1559 

synopsis  of. 1559,  1560 

comparative  view  of. 1 580 

Consular  laws,  revisal  recommended 

(Jackson) 762 

Consuls,  laws  respecting  (Washington) .  37 

"  "         (J.  Adams)..  115 

Contagious  diseases  (special  message)  539 

Continental  Congress,  duration  of. ...  1499 

history  of. 1495 

presidents  of,  1774-88 1510 

sessions  of. 1510 

members  of 1511 

Convention  with  France 581 

of  St.  Petersburg 608 

Harrisburg  industrial 663 

anti-masonic,  at  Philad.,  1830.. 988 
"  at   Baltimore, 

1831, , 988,  989,  1004 

national  republican,  at  Balti- 
more, 1831 1004 

democratic  (Jackson)  at  Balti- 
more, 1 832 1004 

"  "          «     1836.. 1020 

"  "         "     1840.. 1168 

whig,  at  Harrisburg,  1839 . 1 166,  1 168 


Convention  at  Baltimore,  1844 1425 

democratic,  at  Baltimore,  1844.. 1425 
Jackson's   opinion   in   favor   of 

democratic 1019 

between  United  States  and  Mex- 
ico (Russian  umpirage) 1284 

with  Mexico,  and  award  by  com- 
missioners   1303 

with  Peru  (special  message). . .  1350 
of  July,  1815,  payment  of  import 

duties  in  violation  of 1476 

at  Annapolis,  for  forming  con- 
stitution   1501 

Philadelphia,  list  of  delegates  to.  1507 

Copyright  Law,  amendment  of. 983 

correspondence  with  British  gov- 
ernment  1275 

Court  of  inquiry  in  relation  to  con- 
duct of  Jackson  during  Semi- 

nole  war 976 

supreme,  of  United  States,  list 
of  chief-justices,  associate-jus- 
tices, and  attorneys-gen'l 1556 

Crawford,  Wm.  H.,  elected  president 

of  senate 352 

appointed  minister  to  France. . .  .374 

"         secretary  of  war 374 

proposed  for  president,  and  de- 
feated in  the  nomination  by 

Mr.  Monroe 380,  381 

appointed  secretary  of  the  treas- 
ury  541 

candidate  for  president  in  1824.  .559 
nominated  by  congressional  cau- 
cus   561 

defeated  by  election  of  Mr.  Ad- 
ams   ; 562 

'  advocates  recharter  of  U.  S.'bank 

in  1811 965 

Crawford  party  unite  with  friends  of 

Jackson 659 

Credit,  bank,  effects  of,  extension  of..932 

public  (Washington) 35,  36 

"      (Madison) 281 

"      (Tyler) 1345 

"      advantages  to,  from  a  na- 
tional" bank „ 323 

"      revival  of. 329,336 

Credit  system,  effect  of  extension. .  .1052 
Creeks  and  Cherokees — see  Indian  affairs. 
Criminal  code,  revision  recommended .  335 
Crittenden,  John  J.,  appointed  attor- 
ney-general   1192 

resigns. 1415 

Crowninshield,  Benj.  W.}  appointed 

secretary  of  navy 374 

continued  secretary  of  navy 541 

Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  invasion  of, 
contemplated  by  Mexico  and 

Colombia 636 

Cumberland  Road,  survey  of  (Jeffer- 
son)  197 

route  of,  described 209 

approved  of  by  Jefferson 248 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX 


1601 


Cumberland  Road,   importance    and 

condition  of  (Monroe).  <  ,-q'  -iL 

veto  of  bill  for 49l!  557 

Monroe's  veto  message  on 491 

continuation    of    (J.    Q.    Ad- 
ams)..„  586,  616,  669 

acccount  of,  and  amount  expend- 
ed on 523 

(Jackson)  amount  of  appropria- 
tions for,  in  twenty-three  bills, 

to  1830 721 

appropriations  for,   and  acts  to 

extend 983,994,  1013,  1163, 

Currency,  uniform  (Washington) 34 

condition  of,  in  1815  (Madison). .329 

benefits  of  uniform 330 

treasury-notes 330  i 

importance  of  uniform 337  j 

condition  of,  in  1816 337  j 

(Monroe) 417 

design  of  constitution  to  establish 
a   currency    of    the    precious 

metals  (Jackson) 930  I 

consequences  of  a  paper  (Jack- 
son)  954  ; 

(Van  Buren)  remarks  on  j  j^'  ]  J]7,  I 

necessity  of  regulating  (Tyler).  1260 

classification  of. 1311 

See  banks. 

Currency  and  exchange,  state  of. . . .  1260 
Gushing,    Caleb,  appointed   commis- 
sioner to  China 1423 

negotiates  a  treaty 1423 

Customhouse  investigation,  answer 
to  inquiries  respecting  powers, 

purposes,  and  objects 1266 

Cuitomhou.it,  New   York,   reports  of 

Messrs.  Kelly  and  Steuart. ...  1275 
communication  of  B.  F.  Butler.  1277 
supplemental  report  of  W.  M. 

Steuart 1283 

Cyane  and  Levant,  British  ships  of 
war,  taken  by  U.  S.  frigate 
Constitution 369 

D. 

Dallas,  .Alexander  J.,  appointed  sec- 
retary of  the  treasury 374 

recommends  a  national  bank.  ...376 
Dallas,  George  M.,  presents   memo- 
rial  from  U.  S.   bank  for  re- 
charter 992 

elected  vice-president 1427  j 

Davis,  John  W.,  elected  speaker. .  ..1513  j 
Dayton.  Jonn.,  elected  speaker...  .89,  130 

Daniih  vessel,  case  of,  in   1799 162 

indemnity  for  commercial  spoli- 
ation..  733 

claim.«,  commission  to  examine.  .832 
D'Arguiz,  Chevalier,  Spanish  minis- 
ter, letters  respecting  schooner 
\mistad 1332 


Deaf  and  dumb  asylum,  appropria- 
tion for 661 

Dearborn,  Henry,  appointed  secretary 

of  war 219 

Debt,  imprisonment  for,  execution  of 
act  for  relief  of  persons  im- 
prisoned (appendix) xxii 

to  the  U.  S.,  release  from,  rec- 
ommended   in    certain    cases 

(Jackson) 707 

imprisonment  for,  by  U.  States, 
abolished ! 557,  1164 

Debt,'Public  (Washington)...  $  JjJ'gg'gjj 

(John  Adams) Ill,  115 

reduction  of  (Jefferson).  159,  16J,  181 
increase  of,  by  purchase  of  Lou- 
isiana   165 

reduction  of 190,  203.  217 

"         "  (Madison) 276,290 

amount  of,  1815 .330 

reduction  of. 337 

«         «  (Monroe)...  {  J°J;  J0| 

increase  of,  by  war  of  1812 426 

reduction  of. 430 

increase  of. 440 

redemption  of. 445,  454,  470 

condition  of,  in  1824 470 

"         "  (J.  Q.  Ad- 
ams)  584,  600,  613,  623,  624 

reduction  of,  in  J.  Q.  Adams's 

administration 670 

remarks  on  (Jackson) 704,  725 

reduction  of,  in  Jackson's  admin- 
istration . '. 704,  725,  763,  875 

extinction  of,  in  Jackson's  admin- 
istration  901,  925 

loan 1259 

new  one  contracted 1 462 

Debts,  State,  amount  of 1264 

should  be  honorably  redeemed. .  1264 
states  not  bound  for  each  other.  .1264 
Debtors,  Government.,  act  for  relief  of 

insolvent 983 

lenient  policy  recommended. 707,  764 
Decutur,  Cotnm&lore,  captures  Brit- 

.  ish  frigate 304,  360 

success  against  Algiers 328 

captures  an  Aluerine  frivratc  ....  378 
dictates  terms  of  peace  to  the  dey 

of  Algiers 378 

claims  of  his  heirs,  officers,  and 
crew  recommended  (Jackson).7l4 

Declaration  of  Iwlr/ienilence xiii 

noticed 1 496 

signers  of. . .  .< 1515 

Defalcation  of  Swartwout 1 101 

Defalcations,    act    recommended    to 

prevent 1102 

amount  of,  by  cov'mont  officers.  112f> 

Defence,  National,  (J.  Adams) 123 

men  (in  res   adopted   by  Congress, 
1808 261 


1602 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Defence,   National,  survey  of  coast, 

for 427,441 

state  of,  in  1817 512 

investigated  by  Monroe 542 

Delaware  breakwater 459,  669 

synopsis  of  constitution 1566 

senators  and  represent' ves from.  1529 
Democratic    Societies   introduced    in 

United  States 85 

debates  on 87 

Democratic    party  resolve    on   war 

with  England 348 

Democrats  called  republicans  by  Jef- 
ferson   '. .  145 

Denmark,  depredations  on  American 

commerce  (Madison) 282 

C  208,  301,  679 

relations  with <  733,  757,  782 

(  832,  865,  890 
claims  on  (J.  Q.  Adams). .  .581,  622 

(Jackson) 699 

treaty  with 596 

Departments,  executive  and  judicial, 
recommendation  of  enlarge- 
ment of  ( J.  Q.  Adams) 592 

Deposites,  U.  S.,  removal  of 837,  1014 

Deposite  system,  bank 837,  935 

Deserters  from  U.  States  army 1485 

Dexter,  Samuel,  appointed  secretary 

of  war 137 

appointed  sec'tary  of  the  treasury .  137 
Dicker  son,   Mahlon,  of  New  Jersey, 
proposition  to  distribute  sur- 
plus revenue 661 

appointed  secretary  of  navy. . . .  1018 

resigns 1 163 

Diplomatic  ministers,  compensation  of. 3 4 
intercourse,  revision  of  laws  rec- 
ommended  715 

Distribution  of  Surplus  Revenue,  (Jef- 
ferson)  174 

proposed  by  Mr.  Dickerson,  of 

New  Jersey,  in  senate :  661 

recommended  by  Jackson..  .705,  740 

Drawback,  system  of,  extended 668 

Drummond,  Gen.,  British  command- 
er in  Canada 367 

Duane,  William  J.,  appointed  secre- 
tary of  the  treasury 1015 

refuses    to  remove    public  de- 

posites  from  U.  States  bank.  .1015 
removed   from  office   by  Presi- 
dent Jackson 1015 

Duties,  additional,  on  imports,  exten- 
sion of  time 319 

on  domestic  manufactures,  when 
appropriate 441 

E. 
Eaton,  John  H.,  appointed  secretary 

of  war 962 

resigns 985 

appointed  minister  to  Spain ....  1023 
See  Jackson. 


Eaton,    General,   his    expedition    to 

Tripoli 18C 

detail  of  his  transactions. 182 

Ecuador,  treaty  with 1257 

ratification  of  treaty  with 1 304 

Education,  national  (Washington) ....  34 
national  (Madison). .  .283,  332,  335 
public,  encouragement  of  (Jef- 
ferson)  191 

Education,  (Monroe)  amendment  of 
constitution  recommended  to 
encourage  institutions  of  learn- 
ing  402 

(J.  Q.  Adams)  public  land  ap- 
propriated for 66 1 

Ejectment  suit  recommended  in  or- 
der to  test  validity  of  grant  in 
Louisiana  by  Baron  de  Caron- 
delet  to  Marquis  de  Maison 

Rouge 1283 

Elections,  contested,  Tyler's  rea- 
sons for  not  signing  bill  rela- 
ting to 1314 

Ellmaker,  Amos,  nominated  for  vice- 
president 989 

Embezzlement  of  public  money 1392 

Embargo — see  Restrictions 

Engineer  corps,  increase  of. 938 

England — See    Great    Britain     and 

British  colonies. 

Epervier,  British  sloop-of-war,  taken.  .369 
Erskine,  Mr.,  British   minister,  his 
arrangement   with   U".    States 
respecting  orders  in  council. .  .341 
his  acts  disavowed  and  he   re- 
called    by     British     govern- 
ment  278,342 

Essex,  frigate,  captured  by  the  Brit- 
ish   321,369 

European  affairs,  effect  of,  in  United 

States 450 

colonization   on  Am.   continent 
in  future,  objected  to  by  Uni- 
ted States  (Monroe). 452,  453,  460 
interference    with    independent 

states  objected  to  (Monroe)460, 476 
colonial  system  in  America  abol- 
ished, except  by  G.  Britain. . . .  621 
Eustis,  William,  appointed  secretary 

of  war 341 

Ewing,  Thomas,  appointed  secretary 

of  the  treasury 1192,  1395 

report  of,  on  fiscal  bank  of  United 

States 1400 

his  letter  to  the  president 1409 

resigns 1415 

Example  of  the  United  States  to  other 

nations 450 

Exchequer  plan  proposed  by  Tyler.  .1261 

bill,  notice  of 1309 

Excise  Duty,  (Washington) 4C 

appendix xi 

opposed 44,  51,  54,  55 

insurrection  in  Pennsylvania 83 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1603 


Executive  Patronage 635,  1202 

interference  with  legislation. . .  1204 
Expenditures,    public,   reduction    of 

(Jefferson) 154 

Experiment  of  a   National  Govern- 
ment successful  (Washington) . .  68 

( J.  Q.  Adams) 576 

Exploration  of  N.  W.  coast  recom- 
mended by  J.  Q.  Adams 591 

Exploring  Expedition,  western,  rec- 
ommended by  Jefferson,  (ap.) .  .xxv 

results  of 185,  189,  242 

Fremont's,  to  the  Rocky  mount- 
ains, &c 1469 

to  the  South  seas 628,  689,  1 154 

Exports  should   always   exceed  im- 
ports ( J.  Q.  Adams) 623 

Exports  and  Imports,  table  of 1589 

F. 

Falkland  Islands,  affair  at 1004 

Farewell  Jddress  (Washington).  ..69,  91 

reception  by  state  legislatures 91 

(Jackson)  .' 947 

Fast-day  appointed  by  Madison,  by 

recommendation  of  Congress.  .357 

recommended  by  Tyler 1232 

Federal  Party,  origin  of 81 

Federalists,  their  course  on  the  ces- 
sion of  Louisiana '.  .233,  238 

in  Congress  protest  against  the 

war  with  Great  Britain 356 

support   De   Witt    Clinton    for 

president,  1812 357 

cease  opposition  in  Congress,  18 1 5.378 

excluded  from  office  by  Monroe.  .544 

Finance,  plan  proposed  by  Tyler. ...  1261 

Finances  (Washington) .  .36,  43,  45,  49, 59 

(J.Adams)..  Ill,  115,  120,  123,  127 

(Jefferson^  $  155'  159>  164 

} <  181,203,  217 

/MnH;.nn\      $   277>   279»  285>  290»  303 

(Mad,son)   |  310;  sie)  322,329|  336 

plan  of  Mr.  Gallatin 363 

course  of  administration  on,  em- 
barrassed condition  of.. .  .360,  363 
/xr          ^     <,  399,  403,  409,  417,  422 
(Monroe). •  $  439,  444|  448;  454; 470 

productive  state  of 448 

unsettled  accounts 448,  458 

(J.  Q.  Adams)  flourishing  state 

of 583,600,613,  622 

C  70-1,  763,  784,  785,  787 

(Jack.srn)..<  835,  873,  874,  880,  899 

(901,915,  924,  925,935 

/v      n         x$  107r>>  1092,1098,  1120 

<Va..Buren)j          'i  132?  1139,  1143 

._  ,  <  1258,1267,1287 

'"  t  1305,  1327,1339 

(Polk) 1461 

Fiscal  Agent,  sucgested  by  Tyler. . .  1236 
bank—  Soc  Bank  of  U.  States, 
year,  change  of  its  termination 
recommended  . .  , 1089 


Fisheries,  negotiations  respecting. . .  .397 
Flag — See  American  flag. 
Florida,  boundaries  with,  appendix . . . .  xx 
proposition  to  purchase  for  U. 

States 233 

Mr.  Bid  well's  resolutions  on. . .  .246 
failure  of  attempt  to  purchase. . . .  248 

East,  expedition  against 39S 

Amelia  Island  taken  by  adven- 
turers  398,  406,  407,  549,  550 

cession  of  by  Spain 412,  550 

Spanish  grant  of  land  in 413 

depots  for  smuggling  in 42 1 

taken  possession  of  by  United 

States 437,  549 

collision    between  the  governor 

and  judge  of  the  territory  of.  .438 
territorial  government  formed. .  .444 
act  of  Congress  respecting 

wrecks  on  the  coast  of 540 

commission      respecting      land 

claims 556 

donations  of  lands  to  settlers  in.  .560 

land  titles 606 

invasion  of,  by  General  Jackson, 

in  1814....' 683 

archives  carried  to  Havana — de- 
manded by  Jackson 782,  866 

admitted  into  the  Union.  .1427,  1508 
senators  and  representatives  from!542 
synopsis  of  the  constitution  of. .  157 1 

Florida  War 1109,  1123,  1152,  125S 

cessation   of    hostilities   recom- 
mended   1277 

termination  of 1301 

Fort  Meigs,  defence  of 1 183 

Fortifications  (Washington) 63 

on  frontier  relinquished  by  G. 

Britain    64 

( J.  Adams) 127 

(Jefferson) 156,  215,  247 

message  to  Con  cress  on,  1809. .  .218 
(Madison)..  .276,  279,  284,  288,  331 

(Monroe) 394,409,  418,  423 

extensive  plans  in  progress 423 

system  and  importance  of  <  .«,'  ,-.. 

special  me«sa<re  respecting  those 
of  Dauphin  island  for  defence 

of  southwest  coast 483 

(J.  Q.  Adams)..  ..586,  603,  616,  627 
appropriations  fo*  (Jack-J  708,  751 

son) (  839,  906 

(Van  Buren) 1085,  1 105,  1 123 

(Tyler) 1210,  1264,  1307,  1380 

(Polk) 1469,  1478 

Forward,  Walter,  appointed  secreta- 
ry of  the  treasury 1418 

resigns 1422 

Forsyth,  John,  appointed  secretary  of 

state 1018 

Foster,  Mr.,  British  minister  to  Uni- 
ted Slates 343 

settles  Chesapeake  affair 343 


1604 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Foster,  Mr.,  his  correspondence  with 

U.  States  government.  ...351,352 

Foundry,  national,  recommended 1086 

Fox,  Charles  James,  British  minister, 

death  of 250 

consequences  of 252 

France,    relations    with    (Washing- 
ton)  50,51,  67,  68 

"  "     (ap.).ix,  xiv,  xix 

Louis  XVI.  informs  the  presi- 
dent of  his  acceptance  of  the 

new  constitution,  1791  (ap.) ix 

(  107,  1J2,  115 

(J.Adams) {  116,117,  118,  122 

(  127,  131,  132,  134 
J.  Adams  appoints  envoys  to.  130,  134 
dissatisfaction  of  the  federalists. .  134 
remonstrance  of  the  president's 

cabinet 134 

difficulties  with,  settled 134 

treaty  with,  ratified 135 

cession  of  Louisiana.  ..163,  167,  232 
Berlin  and  Milan  decrees.  ..201,  211 

relations  with  (Jefferson) 213 

treaty  ratified 240 

relations  with 256,  260 

decrees  of,  Congress  of  United 
States  adopt  resolutions  against  261 
C  275,  278 

relations  with  (Madison)  .<  281,  287 
(  301,  315 

Berlin    and   Milan    decrees   re- 
voked  281,  344 

intercourse  with,  restored 281 

reasons   for   not  recommending 

war  with 298 

decree  of  Rambouillet 343 

relations  with  (Monroe).  ...421,  466 

tonnage  duty 421 

restrictions  on  trade  with ,  .435 

claims  of  government  on  U.  S.  ...435 

commercial  treaty  with 443,  558 

American  claims  on 452 

commercial  relations  with 558 

relations     with     (J.     Q.     Ad- 
ams)  581,  595,  620 

claims  on 581,  596,  611,  620 

U.  S.  propose  to  submit  claims 

on,  to  arbitration  (Jackson) . .  .698 
relations  (  729,  734,  757,  758,  781 
with  (Jack-.?  829,  867,  892,  921,  922 

son) (.  1002,1013,1020 

recall  of  Mr.  Livingston  as  min- 
ister to 888 

and  the  United   States,   media- 
tion of  Great  Britain  .920,  938,  959 
(  1072 

relations  with  (Van  Buren) . .  <  1119 
(  1142 
difficulties  between  France  and 

Mexico 1097 

C  1335 

relations  with  (Tyler) <  1361 

(  1373 


Franklin,  Benjamin,  vote  of  thanks 
by  Congress,  for  presentation 
of  his  staff  (special  message).  1846 
his  plan  of  union  for  the  colonies.  1508 
Fremont's   exploring   expedition    to 

the  Rocky  mountains,  &c.  .  .  .  1469 

French  revolution,  influence  of  in  U.  S.84 
colors,  presentation  of  ...........  89 

"       (appendix)  ..........  xvi,  xix 

spoliations   on    American    com- 
merce (appendix)  ........  xiv,  xix 

spoliations    on    American    com- 

merce (J.  Adams)..  .115,  116,  118 

republic,  mission  to  (J.  Adams)..  127 

"       hostilities  with  ____  131,132 

claims  (American)   assumed   by 

the  convention  with  France.  .  .  181 

republic  cedes  Louisiana  to  U.  S.232 

"       treaty  ratified  .........  240 

spoliations,  American  claims  for.  452 

indemnity  for  spoliations.  .  .734,  915 

"         payment  of  ..........  921 

vessels,  special  message  in  rela- 
tion to  tonnage  duties  ........  1350 

Frolic,  British  sloop-of-war,  capture 

of  ..........................  304 

Fund,  navy-pension  ...............  1240 

1273 


land,  pledge  of,  recommended 


,019 


Funds,  Public,  provision  in  relation  to  .  876 
care  of  ..................  905,  1077 

disposition  of.  .................  925 

distribution  of  ......  929,  1020,  1025 

condition  of  ..................  1051 

See  finances  and  public  debt. 

G. 

Gaillard,  John,  president   pro  tern., 

of  senate  ....................  376 

Gaines,  General,  his  success  in  Can- 

ada ....................  320,  367 

Gallatin,    jllbert,    secretary    of    the 

treasury  ....................  220 

certifies  that  accounts  of  his  pre- 
d  ecessors  were  correct  ......  .  .  23  1 

favors    renewal    United    States 
bank  ........................  345 

opposed  to  war  with  Great  Brit- 
ain .........  \  ..............  348 

appointed  commissioner  to  Ghent.  362 
his  nomination  rejected  .........  363 

"  renewed  and  con- 

firmed ......................  366 

office  of  secretary  of  the  treas- 
ury  declared    vacant   by  his 
absence  ..................  374 

appointed  minister  to  G.  Britain  .1551 
Galveston,  piratical  and  smuggling  es- 

tablishment at  .............  •  .  399 

considered  as  part  of  Louisiana..  399 
establishment  broken  up  ........  479 

Genet  ,  Mr.,  arrival  of,  in  U.  States  ....  84 

institutes  democratic  societies.  .  .  .85 

bis  course  in  the  United  States.  .  ..85 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1605 


Georgia,  state  of,  relations  with  In- 

dians (Washington)  (ap'dix)  iv,  xv 
(Jefferson)  ................  18  J,  181 

land  claims  in  Mississippi  (Mad- 
ison) .......................  340 

(Monroe)  .....................  482 

difficulties  with  Creek   Indians 
(Ada  ms)  ....................  642 

Cherokee  and  Creek  question.  .  .651 
course  of  Governor  Troup  ......  652 

removal  of  Cherokees  $  762,  791,  936 
and  Creeks  (Jackson)  {          968,  983 
senators  and  representatives.  .  .1535 
synopsis  of  constitution  ........  1570 

Germanic  confederation  ............  1335 

Germany,  relations  with  ......  1073,  1  142 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  appointed  envoy  to 

France  .....................  130 

his  course  on  that  occasion  ......  130 

nominated  for  vice-president-  .  ..356 
elected  "  ----  360 

death  of.  .....................  376 

Ghent,  United  States  commissioners  to 

meet  at,  appointed  ...........  363 

British  commissioners  ..........  37  1 

negotiations  at  ................  37  1 

treaty  of  peace  at  ..........  325,  375 

commercial  treaty  at  ............  375 

questions  under  treaty  of  (Mon- 
roe) ........................  397 

Giles,   Wm.  B.,  opposes  answer   to 

Washington's  last  speech  ......  92 

opposes  Madison's  nominations.  .375 
Gilmer,  Thomas  W,,  appointed  sec- 

retary of  the  navy  ..........  1423 

Tyler's  special   message   in  re- 
lation to  deatli  of  .  .  .  ........  1349 

Gilpin,  Henry  D.,  appointed  attorney- 

general  ....................  1  169 

Gold  and  silver  —  see  coins,  currency, 

and  specie. 
Government,  seat  of  national,  located 

by  Washington  (appendix).  vi,  xvi 

removal  to  Washington..  .  $  j^'  ^7 

debtors  —  see  debtors. 
Granger,  Francis,  nominated  for  vice- 

president  ...................  1021 

election  decided  by  the  senate, 

in  favor  of  R.  M.  Johnson..  .1024 


appointed  postmaster-general.  ] 

( 

resigns  ......................  1416 

t   220 
Granger,  Gideon,  postmaster-gen'l  .  )    OJQ 

opposes    Madison's   administra- 
tion .........................  375 

removal  as  postmaster-general.  ..374 
Grtal  Britain,  relations  with  (Wash- 

ington) ...............  51,  61,  61 

(appendix)  .........  iii,  vii,  xiii,  xxiii 

conduct  of  British  naval  officers, 
1798  (appendix)  ............  xxiii 

Jay's  treaty  with  ................  61 


Great    Britain,   payment   of  indem- 
nity  114 

N.  E.  boundary  (J.  Adams) 120 

relations  with 120,  122,  126 

novel  principles  of  blockade 
avowed  and  practised  by  (Jef- 
ferson)   184 

impressment  of  U.  S.  seamen  by.  184 

C  187    ''1 2   °14 

relations  with..  j]92)20o;  201,' 2\)7 

orders  in  council 201,  207 

"      effect  of,  on  U. 

States  trade 201 

import   of  certain   goods   from, 

prohibited 247 

treaty  with,  negotiated  by  Messrs. 

Monroe  and  Pinkney 250 

rejected  by  Mr.  Jefferson 251 

effects  of  rejection 252 

change  in   cabinet,  by  death  of 

Mr.  Fox 252 

ministers  of,  refuse  to  renew  ne- 
gotiations on  basis  of  the 

treaty 252,  253 

ministers'  views  on  impressment 

of  seamen 252 

affair  of  the  attack  on  the  Ches- 
apeake frigate 253 

settlement   of    the   Chesapeake 

affair 254,343 

orders  in  council —  255 

proposals  to  withdraw  orders  in 

council  (Madison) 275 

orders  in  council  not  revoked.. .  .277 

negotiations  with 278 

non-intercourse  with,  restored. .  .277 
Mr.  Erskine's  arrangement. 275,  341 

Mr.  Erskine  recalled 278,  342 

Mr.  F.  J.  Jackson,  president  re- 
fuses to  communicate  with  278,342 
relations  with  (Jefferson).  ..281,  286 
refuses  to  revoke  orders  in  coun- 
cil  281,  344,  34fi 

orders  in  council  not  revoked. . .  .286 

affair  of  the  ship  Little  Belt 287 

alleged  intrigues  of  agents,  to 
separate  New  England  from 

the  Union 291 

summary  of  aggressions  by 293 

war  with,  recommended  by  pres- 
ident (Madison) 293 

importation      of.    manufactures 

from,  in  1812 303 

commercial  relations  with.  .334,  340 
views  of  government  on  difficul- 
ties with  the  United  Slates 352 

orders  in  council  repealed 355 

course  of,  after  United  States  de- 
clare war 357 

government  manifesto  issued. . .  .357 
declines  Russian  mediation. 3 12,  362 

negotiations  with 31? 

her  advantages,  from  successes 
in  Europe 320 


1606 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Great  Britain,  treaty  of  peace  with 

at  Ghent 325,  375 

commercial  treaty  with.  328,  375,  379 
offers  direct  negotiation  for  peace .  362 
relations  with  (Mon-<  397,  416,  429 

roe) \          452,  466 

intercourse  with  colonies  of 416 

commission  for  claims  on,  under 

Russian  mediation 453 

various  boundary  questions  with .  467 

colonial  trade 466 

negotiations     respecting    slave- 
trade 467 

relations  with  (J.  Q.  $  582,  598,  608 

Adams) \  620,  644,  662 

settlement  of  claims  on,  by  treaty 

of  Ghent 608 

boundary  question  with. . .  .609,  669 
relations  with—  C  698,  728,  730,  732 

(Jackson) {  735,  755,  757,  781 

(  865,  889,  922,  978 
1095,  1071,  1113 
1117,  1141 


(Van  Buren). 


1253, 1267, 1268, 1290, 

,„  .  .        1301,  1319,  1329 
(Tyler)..  <j     ]333j'  1347^  ]3?1 

[  1389'  1419',  1421 

(Polk) 1453,  1475,  1478 

mediation  of,  between    France 

and  United  States 920 

American  claims,  under  British 

tariff  laws 1335 

Washington  treaty,  respecting  N. 

E.  boundary 1290,  1329,  1421 

affair  of  Alexander  Me- 5  1233,  1253 

Leod I  1290,  1419 

Greece,  sympathy    of  United  States 

for: 449,  459,  460,  475 

relations  with 1074 

Grenada,  New — see  New  Grenada. 
Greenhough,  special  message  in  rela- 
tion to  his  statue  of  Washing- 
ton  1243 

Griswold,  Roger,  appointed  by  J.  Ad- 
ams, secretary  of  war 137 

Grundy,  Felix,  appointed   attorney- 
general 1169 

resigns 1 169 

Guatemala,  commercial  relations  with  468 

See  Central  America. 
Guerriere,   British    frigate,    capture 

of 300 

Gunboats  recommended  (Jefferson). .  .243 

appropriation  for 165,  247,  250 

advantages  of 172 

additional,  recommended....  179,  188 

information  respecting 198 

number  required  for  defence 199 

operations  of 202 

progress  of  building 215 

system,  public  opinion  on 244 

opposed  by  navy  officers 244 

advocated  by  Thomas  Paine 244 

to  be  laid  up  (Madison) 276 


H. 

Habersham,  Joseph,  appointed  post- 
master-general   1547 

resigns 220 

Hamilton,   Alexander,    secretary    of 

the  treasury 82 

financial  measures  of 82 

report  on  finances 87 

resigns 87 

his  pamphlet  against  Adams 136 

Hamilton,  Paul,  secretary  of  the  navy..34 1 

resigns 3C1 

Hanse-Towns,  commercial  relations 

with  468,  612 

Harbor   Bill,    eastern,  Tyler's   veto 

of,  1844 1366 

Harbors     and     Hirers,     survey     of 

Presque  Isle  (Erie) 459 

improvement  of  various 47 1 

surveys  of  various 627 

bills  vetoed  by  Jackson.735,  977,  995 

pocket  veto  by  Tyler 1428 

See  internal  improvements. 
Harrisburg     convention     nominates 

Harrison  for  presidency.  11 66,  1189 

Harrison,  biography  of 1171 

commission  of  ensign  by  Wash- 
ington  1172 

promoted  to  rank  of  captain ....  1 174 
appointed  ex  officio  lieut.  govern- 
or of  Northwest  territory  ....  1174 
elected    delegate    to     Congress 

in  1799 1174 

appointed  governor  of  Indiana 

territory 1175 

appointed  Indian  commissioner.  1175 

gains  battle  of  Tippecanoe 1 179 

defends  Fort  Meigs 1183 

gains  battle  of  the  Thames 1185 

receives   vote   of   thanks   from 

Congress 1186 

elected  representative   to   Con- 
gress, 1816 1187 

"       to  senate  of  Ohio 1188 

«  "       «TJ.  States Il«8 

appointed  minister  to  Colombia 

in  1828 1188 

nominated  for  presidency,  1835.1189 
"  "          "          1839.1189 

causes  of  his  nomination 1166 

elected  in  1840 1189 

inaugurated  president,  1841 ....  1190 
issues   proclamation    for    extra 

session  of  Congress 1 193 

death  of,  April,  1841 1194 

personal  appearance  and  char- 
acter  1196 

inaugural  address 1 197 

opinions  on  veto  power. 1200 

"        "  executive  patronage.  1202 
"        "          "     interference 

with  legislation 1204 

proclamation,  March,  1841 121C 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


160? 


Harrison,  Tyler's  recommendation  of 

fast-day  on  death  of  .........  1232 

Tyler's  special  message  in  rela- 
tion to  remains  of.  ..........  1242 

Hartford  convention  ...............  369 

Havre,  steamers  between  New  York 

and,  proposed  ..............  1361 

Hayti,  non-intercourse  with  .........  247 

political  condition  of  ...........  637 

Henry,  John,  his  disclosures  respect- 
ing alleged  British   intrigues 
against  the  Union  ...........  29  1  , 

his  intrigues  in  New  England.  .  .349 
receives  secret  service  money..  .350 
effects  of  his  disclosures  ........  351  I 

Henry,  Patrick,  appointed  envoy  to 

France,  and  declines  .........  134 

approves  of  J.  Adams's  adminis- 
tration ......................  134 

Henshaw,  David,  appointed  secretary 

of  the  navy  ............  ____  1423 

rejected  by  the  senate  .........  1423 

Historical  sketch  of  American  Union.  1493 
table  of  events  ..............  1583 

Hitchcock,  Lieut.  Col.,  reasons  for 
not  communicating  reports  in 
relation  to  Cherokee  war  .....  132 

Holland,  loans  in  ..........  36,  40,  45,  49 

"       "appendix  ...........  xiv 

relations  with.  468,  518,  865,  890,  922 
"  "    appendix  ..........  xiv 

claims  on  ....................  .581 

See  Netherlands. 
Home  Department  (Washington)  ......  66 

(Madison)  ......          "  ........  336 

(  J.  Q.  Adams)  ................  592 

Hospital,  Marine  —  See  Marine  Hos- 

pital. 
Hull,  General,  invades  Canada  ......  288 

surrenders  to  the  British.  .  .  .299,  360 

Hull,  Captain,  of  U.  States  frigate 
Constitution,  captures  British 
frigate  Guerriere  ........  300,  360 

Humphreys,  Dacid,  confidential  agent 
to  Spain  (Washington),  appen- 
dix .........................  viii 

appointed  minister  to  Portugal, 
appendix  ....................  viii 

minister  to  Spain  .............  1552 


, 

JOUo 


I. 

Illinois  admitted  into  the  Union 


senators  and  representatives  of.  1541 
synopsis  of  constitution  of.  .....  1577 

I  mnu  in  of  Muscat,  present  to  presi- 

dent of  U.  States  by....  1140,  1359 

Impeachment  of  Judge  Chase  ........  241 

I  ickering  ...............  .....  24  1 

Peters  ........................  242 

Peck  .........................  981 

Impressment  of  American  Seamen  by 
Great  Britain,  remonstrances 
against  .....................  184 


Impressment   of  American    Seamen, 

views  of  British  cabinet  on. .  .252 
cause  of  the  continuance  of  the 

war  of  1812 308,  359 

treaty  of  Ghent  silent  on 375 

Imprisonment  for  debt — See  debt, 
of   citizens    of   Maine    in    the 
British    provinces,  on   north- 
eastern boundary ,  .  1001 

Inaugural  Addresses,  Washington.  .31,  84 

John  Adams 103 

Jefferson 149,  173 

Madison 306,  373 

Monroe 391,  426 

John  Quincy  Adams 575 

Jackson 695,  826 

Van  Buren 1045 

Harrison 1 197 

Tyler J229 

Polk 1439 

Inauguration  of  Washington 88 

John  Adams 129 

Jefferson 219 

Madison 341 

Monroe 54 1 

John  Quincy  Adams 649 

Jackson 961 

Van  Buren 11 57 

Harrison  and  Tyler 1 190 

Polk 1437 

Indemnity  for  spoliations,  Danish ....  733 

French 734,  915,  921 

to  citizens  for   depredations   of 

United  States  troops 938 

Sicilian. . « 866 

Mexican .* 1389,  1475 

Venezuela,  for  brig  Morris. . . .  1384 

Independence,  declaration  of. xiii 

a  national  act 1499 

signers  of. 1515 

Independent   Treasury   recommended 

by  Van  Buren 1055 

passed  by  the  senate,  and  reject- 
ed by  house  of  representatives.  1161 

finally  passed  both  houses 1 169 

act  repealed 1407 

recommended  by  Polk 1465 

Indiana  admitted  into  the  Union. 382, 1508 
senators  and  representatives  from  154 1 
synopsis  of  constitution  of. 1576 

Indian  Affairs  noticed  5  34,  37,  39,  41,  42 

by  Washington  \  48,  49,  59,  63,  64 

appendix. i,  ii,  iii,  iv,  v,  vi,  x,  xiii,  xv 

(John  Adams) 114 

appendix xxii 

(  153,  159,  161,  163,  167 
(Jefferson)  {  171,  174,  180,  181,  189 
201,  206,  207 


(Madison). 


(  179,  282,  288,  290 
'"I 


301,316,328,  334 
395,  399,  400,  4W 
424,  431,  446,  45'. 
472,  476,  48:! 
(J.  Q.  Adams)  585, 615, 626, 642, 6.V.' 


( Monroe) 


I 


1608 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Indian  -Iffain  rJack-^  709'  745>  762>  766 
i.iffairs,  (jacK-l  79()j  79]j  g39;  87g 

1 '  (          908,  936,  999 
(Van  Buren)..  1086,  1105,  1123,  1152 

(Tyler) 1258,  1304,  1339,  1381 

(Polk) 1469,  1470,  1479 

Indian  depredations,  defence  against  34,  37 

appendix i,  xv 

excited  by  Spain,  appendix x 

Winnebago  tribe 615 

Sacs   and  Foxes,  (Black  Hawk 

war) 999 

See  Florida  and  Seminoles. 
Indians,  civilization  of  ( Washington)63, 64 
baneful  effects  of  intemperance 

on  (Jefferson) 162 

civilization  of 174,  180,  218 

(Madison)  employed  by  Great 
Britain  against  the  U.  States.. 299 

barbarous  warfare  of 313 

war  with  Creek  tribe  of 313 

distressed  condition  of,  in  Michi- 
gan  319 

hostile  tribes  of,  subdued,  1814.. 321 

C    424    477 

(Monroe)  civilization  of.  i   ^^'  ;., ' 

(    Dot),  £>4y 

in  Florida  should  be  removed 446 

removal  of,  to  territory  west  of 
the  Mississippi  recommend- 
ed  477,  536,  537 

treaty  with  Creeks  and  Chero- 

kees 482 

(J.  Q.  Adams)  treaties  with. 585,  652 

civilization  of. 604,  653 

Creeks  in  Georgia  ask  protection 

of  United  States 642 

plan  for  removal  of 652 

relief  to  the  Florida  tribes 654 

(Jackson)  Creeks  and  Cherokees 
of  Georgia  advised  to  emigrate. 710 

condition  and  destiny  of .,  .709 

Seneca  tribe  of,  affairs 709 

discussion  of  policy  of  U.  States 

toward 710 

removal  of 746,  938 

(Van  Buren)  removal  of,  com- 
menced by  Jefferson,  1804. ..  1086 

removal  of 1086,  1105,  1152 

Industry,    National,    encouragement 

of  (Washington) 34 

J.  Q.  Adams's  remarks  on 624 

connexion  of  agriculture,  manu- 
factures, and  commerce .624 

See  manufactures  and  protection. 
Ingersoll,  Jared,  nominated  for  vice- 
president 357 

Ingham,  Sam'l  D.,  appointed  secre- 
tary of  the  treasury 962 

resigns 985 

Insurrection  in  Pennsylvania 51,  54 

suppressed 88 

second  do.  suppressed 133 

in  Canada 1163 

in  Rhode  Island 1350 


Internal  Improvements,  Madison  rec- 
ommends  canal   proposed  by 

New  York 291 

recommended  generally 332,  335 

vetoes  a  bill  for 382 

appendix xxviii 

(Monroe) 394,  402,  447 

amendment  of  constitution  pro- 
posed to  authorize 402,  447 

national   system   of,  considered 

unconstitutional 447 

surveys    and    works    in    prog- 
ress  471,472 

extension  of,  recommended 478 

Cumberland  road  bill  veto 491 

Monroe's  views  as  to  the  powers 

of  Congress  on 492 

when  considered  constitutional.  .520 

when  unconstitutional 520,  529 

enumeration  of  roads  opened ....  521 
advantages  of  a  national  system 

of 530,531,533 

not  made  under  colonial  govern- 
ments   530 

surveys  of  canal  routes  for 539 

importance  of 539 

sanctioned  by  Congress  ....  539,  552 
"        by   Monroe,  after   a 

change  of  his  views 560 

(J.  Q.  Adams)  opinions  on 579 

subscription  to  Chesapeake  and 

Delaware  canal 584,  654 

canals,  roads,  and  harbors 586 

Chesapeake  and  Ohio  canal 586 

importance  of. 590 

surveys  of  roads  and  canals. 603,  615 
"        of  works  in  progress ....  627 

"       of  various  works 654 

encouraged  by  Congress 658 

appropriations  for 661,  662,  668 

(Jackson)  veto  of  the  Maysville 

road  bill 719,976 

debates  in  Congress  on 977 

views  of  the  constitutional  pow- 
ers of  the  federal  govern't  on..  720 
explanations  of  the  president  on 
signing  Detroit  and  Chicago 

road  bill 719 

summary  of  views  of  Jefferson, 

Madison,  and  Monroe  on 721 

two  millions  and  a  half  appro- 
priated for  Cumberland  road, 

in  23  bills 721 

discussions    and  (  765,  782,  788, 793 
appropriations  ^  976,982,994,1013 
(Van  Buren)  appropriations  for.1163 
(Tyler)  improvement  of  harbors 

and  rivers 1307,  1345,  1383 

bills     for     appropriations    ve- 
toed  1366,  1428 

Inventions,  encouragement  of  (Wash- 
ington)  34 

revision  of  laws  (J.  Q.  Adams)..  393 
See  patent  office. 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1509 


J. 

Jackson,  jlndrew,  biography  of. .  .671,  694 
elected  delegate  to  state  conven- 
tion of  Tennessee 674 

elected   first    representative    in 
Congress  (house  of  rep'tives) 

from  Tennessee 674 

his  vote  on  answer  to  Washing- 
ton's speech 675 

elected  to  U.  States  senate 675 

his  duel  with  Dickinson 677 

his  connexion  with  the  expedi- 
tion of  Colonel  Burr 677  | 

first  named  by  Burr    for  presi- 
dent  678,  690 

military    career    from     1812   to 

1815 678,  690 

appointed  major-general   in   U. 

States  army 682  . 

his  victory  at  New  Orleans 689 

his  advice  to  President  Monroe, 

in  selecting  his  cabinet 545  | 

Seminole  war 549,  691,  692 

investigation  in  Congress.  ..550,  692 
appointed  governor  of  Florida. .  .692 
declines  appointment  of  minister 

to  Mexico 693 

nominated  for  president,  1822,.. .693 

elected  to  U.  States  senate 693 

votes  for  protect!  ve  tariff  of  1824.693 
defeated  at  presidential  election, 

1825, 693 

visited  by  La  Fayette 693 

inquiry  in  Congress,  respecting 
the  execution  of  six  mifitiamen,          ; 

by  his  orders 665 

elected  president  in  1828... .667,  C93 

re-elected     «        in  1832 69-1 

inauguration  of • 961 

administration 961 

cabinet 962 

his  quarrel  with  vice-president 

Calhoun 971,983 

dissolution  of  the  "  unit"  cabinet  983 

"         causes  of. 986  | 

Gen.  Jackson's  remarks  on  the 

subject 985 ; 

new  cabinet  formed 987  , 

addresses  and  messages 695-960 

inaugural  address 695 

second  inaugural  address 826 

farewell  address 947  j 

retires  to  private  life 694  i 

character  of  his  administration.  1026  . 

death 694j 

personal  appearance  and  charac- 
ter  694, 

Jackson,  Francis  Jamei,  British  min- 

iiter  to  United  Stales 342 

dispute  with  U.  S.  tjovernrnent..  .342 


President  Madison  refuses  to  re- 
ceive communications  from  278, 342 
recalled  by  British  government.  .342 
resolutions  of  Congress  respecting  3 13 
VOL.  II.— 56 


Jails,  prisoners  in,  Congress  advised 
to  make  provision  for  mainte- 
nance of  (appendix) xvii 

Java,  British  frigate,  capture  of 305 

Jay,  John,  his  treaty  with  Great  Brit- 
ain noticed 61 

jhicf-justice  supreme  court 82 

special  minister  to  Groat  Britain.. 86 

negotiates  a  treaty 86 

Washington  refuses  to  house  of 
representatives  copy  of  in- 
structions to,  respecting  treaty 
with  Great  Britain  (app'dix).  .xvii 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  biography  of 139 

appointed  secretary  of  state. ..82,  144 
his  report  on  commercial  rela- 
tions   85 

opposes  bank  of  U.  States 1 44 

resigns  as  secretary  of  state 85 

organizes  opposition  to  Washing- 
ton's administration 145 

gives  the  opposition  the  name  of 

republicans 145 

character  of,  by  Mr.  Wirt 141 

"  by  Mr.  Webster....  145 

nominated  for  president 145 

elected  vice-president,  1797 145 

"      president,  1801, 145 

re-elected  president,  1804.. .145,  243 

second  inauguration 244 

retires  from  public  life,  1809 145 

his  extensive  correspondence. . . .  145 

sells  his  library  to  Congress 146 

correction 1591 

establishes  university  of  Virginia  146 

death 146 

character  and  personal  appear- 
ance  146 

addresses  and  messages 149-218 

inaugural  address 149 

second  inaugural  address 173 

reasons  for  communicating  with 

Congress  by  message 152,  229 

policy  recommended  by 161 

his  farewell  to  Congress 217 

administration  of. 219 

inauguration 219 

cabinet 219 

his  course  as  to  removals  from 

office 220 

his  letter  to  citizens  of  New  Ha- 
ven   220 

withholds    certain    commissions 

signed  by  Mr.  Adams 222 

extracts  from  his  letters,  after 
the  presidential  election  of 

1801 222,  225 

writes  R.  R.  Livingston,  on  the 

cession  of  Louisiana 232 

considers  the  annexation  of  Lou- 
isiana to  the  United  States  as 

unconstitutional 239 

his  administration  opposed  by 
certain  Virginia  democrats.. .  .2 18 


1610 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Jefferson^  Thomas,  expresses  a  desire 
for  permanent  peace  with  G't 

Britain 249 

rejects   Monroe   and  Pinkney's 

treaty 251 

justified  by  the  democratic  party. 251 
complained   of  by  Monroe  and 

Pinkney 252 

instructions  to  Mr.  Monroe 253 

recommends  embargo 252 

his  remarks  on  embargo 259 

declines  a  third  election  to  the 

presidency,  and  retires 264 

character  and  results  of  his  ad- 
ministration  ., 264 

effects  of  his  policy  on  army  and 

navy ." 347 

recommends  western  exploring 
expedition  across  the  conti- 
nent (appendix) xxv 

system  of  removing  the  Indians 

commenced  by 171,  1086 

Johnson,  Cave,  appointed  postmaster- 
general 1438  , 

Johnson,  R.  M.,  exploit  of,  in  Canada  1 185  ! 
advocates  non-imprisonment  for 

debt  by  United  States 557 

cabinet  pacificator 986 

nominated  for  vice-president  by 

democratic  convention 1020 

result  of  election  by  the  people ; 

no  choice  of  vice-president.  ..1024 
elected    vice-president    by    the 

senate 1024 

democratic  convention  of  1840 
decline  nominating  a  candi- 
date for  vice-president 1 168 

receives  48  votes  for  re-election 

against  246  for  others 1 169 

Jones,  Capt.  Jacob,  captures  British 

sloop-of-war  Frolic". 304,  360 

Jones,    William,    secretary    of   the 

navy 360 

Jones,  John  W.,  elected  speaker. . . .  1422 

Jones,  Captain  Thomas  Ap  Catesby, 

seizes  the  town  of  Monterey, 

in  California,  without  orders, 

for  which  he  is  recalled  from 

the  Pacific 1328 

Judiciary  (Washington) 37,  44 

(J.Adams) 122,  126 

act  of  1801  passed 137 

six  circuits  (three  judges  each) 

established 137 

"midnight  judges"  appointed.  ...137 

revision  of  (Jefferson) 156 

repeal  of  act  of  1801 230 

revision  of  (Madison) 336 

"          (Monroe) 476 

"          (J.Q.Adams) 618 

bdl  to  amend  lost 658 

recommendation  to  revise  and  ex- 
tend (Jackson)..712,  765,  792,  913 
(Van  Buren) 1 125 


K. 

Kendall,  jlmos,  appointed  postmaster- 
general  1020,  1023 

resigns H69 

Kentucky  applies  for  admission  into 

the  Union 35 

forms  a  constitution 45 

admitted  into  the  Union 83 

synopsis  of  constitution 1595 

senators  and  representatives  . . .  1538 
King,  Rufus,  appointed  minister  to 

G.  Britain 90 

federal  candidate  for  vice-presi- 
dent, 1804  and  1808 243,  260 

"     for  president,  1816.381 
his  services  in  U.  States  senate 

in  favor  of  commerce 558 

his    proposal  in  the    senate  for 
the  emancipation  of  slaves  by 
funds  from  sales  of  public  lands  562 
Kitchen  cabinet,  origin  of  the  term..  .984 
Knox,  Henry,  appointed  secretary  of 

war 82 

resigns 87 

L. 

Lands,  Public,  (Washington) 39,  42 

(Jefferson) 155 

proceeds    of,  appropriation    for 

Education  (Jefferson) 191 

surveyed  for  soldiers'  bounties.  .353 
(Monroe)  extensive  additions  to.. 400 
views  of  national  policy  respect- 
ing   400 

large  amounts  due  by  purchasers. 423 

relief  to  purchasers  of 423,  560 

credit  system  abolished,  and  price 

fixed  at  $1,25  per  acre 552 

proposition  of  Rufug  King 562 

(J.  Q.  Adams)   584,  618 

cost  of. 618 

amount  of  purchases  and  sales.  ..618 

relief  to  purchasers 618,  630 

appropriation  of 659 

appropriated  for  education 661 

grants  of,  for  internal  improve- 
ments   662,  668 

(Jackson)      sales   $    704,  750,  763 

of I  787,  900 

payment  to  be  made  in  specie. .  .933 

sold  to  actual  settlers 933 

discussion  on,  in  senate 969 

bill  to  reduce  price  of,  referred 

to  committee 993 

report  of  committee  in  favor  of 
a  division  of  the  proceeds 
from  the  sales  for  internal  im- 
provement, &c 994 

distribution  of  proceeds  of,  pro- 
posed   1012 

Mr.  Clay's  bill 994,  1012,  1020 

veto  of,  by  Jackson 1012 

appendix xxx 

(Van  Buren)  remarks  on.  1080,  1107 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1611 


Lands,  Piiblic,  discrimination  in  re- 
gard to  price  of  different  qual- 
ities   1082 

pre-emption  (Van  Buren) 1085 

amounts  paid  Indian  tribes  for.  .1107. 
proceeds  of  distribution  of,  how 

affected  by  tariff  (Tyler) 1259 

Tyler's  reasons  for  not  signing 

"bill ".1314 

distribution  bill  passed 1419 

(Tyler)  remarks  on. l'23fi,  1272,  1340 

(Polk)         "          "     1467 

Land    Fund,    pledge    of,    recom-$  1273 

mended  (Tyler) (  1312 

Lands,  Mineral,  change  in  manage- 
ment of,  recommended  (Polk). 1468 
La  Fayette,  invitation   by    Congress 

to  visit  United  States 474 

arrival  and  reception  of. ...  474,  562 
President  Adams  takes  leave  of.  .654 

death  of 863,  887 

"         general    orders    on    ac- 
count of 864 

La  Fayelte,  Geo.  Washington,  pre- 
sents to  Congress  the  declara- 
tion of  independence  engraved 

on  copper 887 

Langdon,  John,  elected  president  pro 

tern,  of  the  senate 81 

declines    nomination    for    vice- 
president 356 

Lawrence,  Capt.,  captures  a  British 

sloop-of-war 309 

Lawrence,  Wm.  B.,  his  claim  for  out- 
fit as  charge  d'affaires  at  Lon- 
don refused  by  Jackson 717 

Lead  Mines,  appointment  of  a  super- 
intendent of,  recommended .  —  447 
Leavenworth,  Col.,  suppresses  Indi- 
an hostilities 455 

Lee,  Charles,  appointed  attorney-gen- 
eral  87 

Legacy,  Stnithsou's — See  Smithsoni- 
an legacy. 

Legare,  Hus;h  S.,  appointed  attorney- 
general  1418 

appointed  acting  sec'ry  of  state. .  1422 

death  and  character  of 1422 

Leu-it  and  Clarke's  Expedition  to  the 

Pacific 185,  189,  242 

Jefferson's   special  message  on, 

appendix xxv 

Lexington  Turnpike — See  Maysville. 
Liberia,  United  States  establishment 

on  the  coast  of  Africa 482 

Licence*,  Foreign,  for  American  ves- 
sels, prohibition  of,  recom- 
mended i  M«di«on) 289 

acceptance  of,  prohibited 302 

Life  of  Washington 25 

John  Adams 95 

Jefferson 139 

Madison 2fi9 

Monroe 383 


Life  of  John  Quincy  Adams 563 

Jackson 67 1 

Van  Buren 1029 

Harrison 1171 

Tyler 1211 

Polk 1429 

Lighthouse  Establishment  (Washing- 
ton), appendix xi 

(J.  Q.  Adams) 586 

(Jackson) 736 

bill   making   appropriation    for, 
returned    by  Jackson    at   the 
next  session  after  its  passage.  .735 
Limitations,  repeal  of  statute  of,  rec- 
ommended  945 

Lincoln,  Levi,  attorney-general 219 

Literature,  encouragement  of  (Wash- 
ington)  34 

Livingston,  Edward,  appointed  secre- 
tary of  state 987 

appointed  minister  to  France.. .  1014 
Livingston,  Robert  R.,  appointed  min- 
ister to  France,  James  Monroe 

associated  with  him 233 

and  Monroe  negotiate  the  treaty 

for  purchase  of  Louisiana 234 

Loans    in    Holland    (Washing-  (   36,  40 

ton) I   45,  49 

from  U.  States  bank -15,  49 

for  war  with  G.  Britain 310,  322 

of  three  millions,  in  1820 423 

negotiation  of,  in  1821 439 

Locofocos,  origin  of  the  term 1398 

Louisiana,  cession   of,  by  Spain    to 

France  (Jefferson) 158 

purchase  of 163 

cost  of  purchase 165 

treaty  ratified ' 167 

taken  possession  of  by  U.  States.  168 

limits  undefined 170 

government  of,  organized 171 

importance  of  acquisition  of 174 

Sabine  river  assumed  as  bounda- 
ry of,  with  Spain 187 

troops  required  for 188 

particulars  of  the  cession  of,  by 
France  to  United  States.. 232,  239 

treaty  of  cession  of,  ratified 240 

admitted  into  the  Union 362 

land  titles 606 

appendix xxxiv 

Tyler's  special  message  respect- 
ing the  Maison  Rouge  claim 

for  grant  of  land  in 1283 

senators  and  representatives. . .  1537 
synopsis  of  constitution  of.  1573,  1591 
Louisville  and   Portland   cnnal  com- 
pany,   bill     authori/ing    sub- 
scription to  stock  of,  returned 
by  Jackson  without  signing  735,977 

M. 

MncDonough,  Com.,  capture*  British 

fleet  on  Lake  Champlain.  .321,  367 


1612 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Macedonian,  British  frigate,  capture 

of 304 

Macon,    Nathaniel,    elected     speak- 
er  229,  240,  246 

president  pro  tern,  of  senate 654 

Madison,  James,  biography  of 267 

his  plan  for  a  constitution 268 

supports  the  United  States  con- 
stitution   268,  270 

defeated  in  election  for  U.  States 

senate 270 

elected  to  house  of  representa- 
tives in  1st  Congress 270 

acts  with  the  anti-federal  party.. 271 
resolutions  on  commercial  rela- 
tions     .271J 

elected  to  Virginia  legislature  ..  .271 \ 

resolutions  on  states'  rights 271  • 

appointed  secretary  of  state  .  219,  271  ; 
instructions  to  John  Armstrong.  .260 

nominated  for  president 260 

elected  president 260,  271 

re-elected    "       360 

favors  encouragement  of  manu- 
factures   272 

changes   his  views  on  national 

bank 272  j 

addresses  and  messages 273,  340  j 

first  inaugural  address 273  ! 

second  do.     "       306 

vetoes     two     bills     respecting 

churches 285,  286 

vetoes  district  court  bill 292  ' 

"     naturalization  law 304  • 

"     United  States  bank 323  \ 

•waives  the  question  of  constitu- 
tionality of  U.  S.  bank 323  ! 

farewell  to  Congress 337; 

state  of  the  country  at  the  close 

of  his  administration 338  j 

administration  of 341 

inauguration  of 341 

second      "        361 

cabinet 341,  348 

his  efforts  to  conciliate  France.. 345 
his  administration  censured  by 

federal  party 345 

policy  on  foreign  relations 347 

"     changed  by  advice  of  Clay, 

Calhoun,  &c 347 

opposed   to  declaration  of  war 

with  Great  Britain 348 

acquiesces    finally    in    warlike 

measures 348 

appoints  a  day  of  fasting   and 

prayer  on  account  of  war 357 

opposition  to  his  administration 

by  some  of  the  democrats 375 

embarrassing  effects  of  do 375 

changes  his  opinion  on  United 

States  bank 379 

retoes   a   bill   for   internal  im- 
provement  382 

his  liberal  views  and  policy 381 


Madison,  James,  character  of  his  ad- 
ministration   382 

retires  from  public  life 272 

death 272 

character      and     personal     appear- 
ance   272 

Madison  Papers,  publication  recom- 
mended   942 

authorized  to  be  printed 1 163 

Mails,  transmission   through  United 

States  to  Canada 1363 

Maine,  invasion  of  by  British. .  .367,  369 
state     of,     admitted     into    the 

Union 551,  1508 

protests   against  award  of  king 

of  the  Netherlands 1000 

imprisonment  of  citizens  by  Brit- 
ish authorities  for  participa- 
ting in  state  election 1001 

senators  and  representatives. ..  1516 
synopsis  of  the  constitution. . . .  1560 
Maine  and  N.  Hampshire,  boundary.  1275 
Maine  boundary   question — See 

boundary. 
Maison  Rouge,    Marquis  de,   grant 

from  Baron  de  Carondelet. . . .  1283 
Manufactures,      encouragement     of, 

(Washington) 34,  66 

protection  of  (Jefferson).  ...161,  191 

prompted  by  embargo 216 

by   protection,   duties, 

and  prohibitions 216' 

encouragement  and  protection 
of  (Madison)  276, 280, 283, 289, 319 

increase  of,  by  the  war 317 

protection      and      preservation 

of 326,331 

depressed  condition  of,  1816 333 

protective  tariff  of  1816  passed..  379 

protection    of,  )  395,   402,    409,  418 

(Monroe)..  $  440,  448,  458 

excessive  importation  of  foreign  .417 

depressed  condition  of 418,  551 

advantages  of  the  U.  States  for. .  .440 
effect  of  protection  on  revenue. .  .441 

condition  of,  in  1 822 448,  449 

encouragement  of 458 

tariff  act  of  1824  passed 560 

(J.  Q.  Adams)  flourishing  con- 
dition of 600 

bill   for   protection  of  woollens 

defeated 662 

convention  at  Harrisburg 663 

(Jackson)  remarks  on  protec- 
tion to 703,  786 

Marbois,   M.   de,   French   minister, 
negotiates  treaty  for  cession  of 

Louisiana 234 

Marcy,  W.  L.,  appointed  secretary  of 

war 1438 

Marine  hospitals  on  rivers  and  west- 
ern waters 1153,  1267 

Marshall,  John,  appointed  envoy  to 

France 130 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1613 


Marshall,  John,  appointed  secretary 

of  state  by  J.  Adams 137 

appointed    chief-justice    of    su- 
preme court  by  J.  Adams ....  1556 
Maryland,  senators  and   representa- 
tives from 1529 

synopsis  of  the  constitution 1567 

Mason,  John  ¥.,  appointed  secretary 

of  the  navy 1423 

appointed  attorney-general 1438 

Massachusetts,    governor    of   refuses    to 
place  militia  under  U.  States 

officers 3CO 

claim  for  militia  services  during 

war  of  1812 462 

special  message  on  claims  of ....  539 

appropriation  to  pay  militia 968 

senators  and  representatives ....  1518 

synopsis  of  constitution 1562 

Maysville  road  bill,  veto  of,  by  Jack- 
son   "...719,  976 

Maysville  and   Rockville  road  com- 
panies, objections  to 738 

McDuffie,  Mr.,  proposes  amendments 

to  the  constitution 655 

McHcnry,  James,  appointed  secretary 

of  war  by  Washington 87 

continued  by  J.  Adams 129 

dismissed  by         "         136 

McLnne,  Louis,  appointed  minister  to 

Great  Britain 979 

appointed  secretary  of  the  treas- 
ury   ." 947 

reports  in  favor  of  reduction  of 

tariff 996 

appointed  secretary  of  state. ...  1015 

resigns ". 10 1 8 

again  appointed  minister  to  Eng- 
land   1551 

McLean,  John,  appointed  postmaster- 
general 542 

continued 649 

his  course  dm  ins?  Adams's  admin- 
istration   661 

appointed  judge  of  the  supreme 

court 962 

declines  being  candidate  for  pres- 
idency in  1832 988 

Me  Lead,  Jlex.,  case  of 1253 

acquittal  of 1419 

34,  37,  42 
335,  591,  940 

Mediation  of  Russia  nrrvptcd 308 

"  Great  Britain   between 

France  and  U.  States 919,  920 

Mediterranean,  commerce  in  (Wash- 

inston)   37 

naval  oprrations  in  (Jefferson). .  .170 

fund 190,  213 

Meigs,  Return  J.,  appointed  posttnas- 

ter-genernl ....  374 

Meigs,  Fort,  defence  of 1 183 

Merchandise,  i-JFWt  of  excessive  im- 
portation   1 1 58 


Measures  and  Weights 


!  Merchant  vessels,  American,  inter- 
ference with  by  colonial  au- 
thorities in  West  Indies 1290 

j  Merchants'  bonds,  Mr.  Cheve's  bill  to 

remit,  passed 361 

Messages,  annual,  Jefferson's  reasons 
for  preferring  that  mode  of 
communication  at  opening  of 

Congress 152 

See  contents  in  each  volume. 

Mexican  relations  with  France 1079 

war  message 1485 

indemnity — See  indemnity. 
Mexico,     independence     of,     recog- 
nized   453,  577 

commercial  relations  with 468 

treaty  witli 622 

independence  of 700 

Mr.  Poinsett  recalled 700 

f735,  760,  782,  867 
relations  with      (891,922,946,1002 
n"  f     1074,  1095,  1119 
I     1142,  1143,  1449 
and  U.  States,  umpirage  of  Rus- 
sia  1284 

claims  against 1296 

convention  with,  and  award  of 

commissioners 1303 

mission  to  United  States 1303 

despatches  from  minister  (spe- 
cial message) 1384 

Mexico  and  Texas,  right  of  Congress 

to  discuss  affairs  of. 1326 

special  message 1361,  1362 

relations  with 1374 

Michigan  and  Ohio,  controversy  re- 
specting boundary 914 

!  Michigan,  destitute  condition  of  the 

people  of,  1814 318 

authorized  to  elect  a  delegate  to 

Congress 549 

road  from  Detroit  to  Chicago, 
Jackson's  explanation  on  sign- 
ing bill ....719 

state     of,     admitted     into     the 

Union 1021,  1024,  1508 

senators  and   representatives. ..  1542 

synopsis  of  the  constitution 1578 

Milan  decree — see  Berlin  and  Milan 

decrees. 
Military  Academy,    at    West    Point 

(Washington) 48,  66 

(Jefferson). 211 

(Madison) 281,  331 

(Monroe) 445,  471 

(J.  Q.  A'lams) 585,  616,  627 

(Jackson) 708,  906,  938 

(Van  Buren) 1086 

Military  Establishment,  corps  of  inva- 
lids (Madison) 331 

posts  established 410,  4  IS 

condition  of 424,  445,  47 1 

recommended  at  mouth  of  Co- 
lumbia  -477 


1614 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Military  posts  from  Missouri  to  Pa- 
cific  1264 

Military  and  naval  force,  increase  of.  1477 
Militia  (Washington).  .37,  41,  48,  62,  68 
"             (appendix). xxvii,  i 
called  out  to  suppress  insurrec- 
tion   57,  83 

( J.  Adams)  notice  of Ill 

,  „.         .       c    5  155,  160,  172,  179 

I  191,  202,  210,  216 

rMadison)      «    5276,279,280,284 

I  302,  315,  335 

large  bodies  of,  called  out,  1814.322 

expenses    of,    incurred    by   the 

states 330 

achievements  during  the  war  of 

1812 331 

acts  respecting,  proposed,  1814.. 373 

(Monroe) 394,  400,  455 

(J.  Q.  Adams) 604,  619 

(Jackson) 708,  790,  907,  937 

called  out  during  the  war  with 
Great  Britain — discussion  of 
Massachusetts  claim  for  ser- 
vices and  expenditures  (Mon- 
roe)  463 

special  message  respecting  Mas- 
sachusetts claim 540 

of  Massachusetts,  appropriation 
to  pay 968 

(Van  Buren)  notices  of$    1085' 

(Tyler) « 1240,  1343 

(Polk) " 1469 

Mineral  lands 1468 

Ministers,  Cabinet,  (Wash'ton).82,  85,  87 

(John  Adams) 129,  136,  137 

(Jefferson) 219 

(Madison)... 341,  348,  361,  363,  374 

(Monroe) 541 

(J.  Q.  Adams) 649,  667 

,T    ,       ,  (  962,  985,  987,  989 

(Jackson) \     1015,1018,1020 

(Van  Buren) 1158,  1169 

(Harrison) 1 192 

(Tyler) 1395,  1418,  1422,  1423 

(Polk) 1438 

list  of 1547 

Ministers  to  foreign  countries,  com- 
pensation of  (Washington)  34,  1555  ] 
to  Spanish  America,  first  appoint- 
ed (Monroe) 453 

revision  of  laws  respecting  them 

recommended 715 

list  of. 1551 

Mint,  (Washington).... 37,  42,  45,  59,  63 

establishment  of 82 

coinage  of  gold  at  (Jackson)  878,  901 

branch  mints 901 

Mississippi  territory,  organization  of, 
recommended    by    J.    Adams 

(appendix) xxi 

Mississippi,  navigation  of,  secured  by 

purchase  of  Louisiana. .......  163 


Mississippi,  settlement  of  west  side 

of,  to  be  encouraged 188 

river  explored  by  Lieut.  Pike....  190 

territory,  Georgia  claims 340 

state  of,  admitted  into  the  Union. 547 

senators  and  representatives 1537 

synopsis  of  constitution 1572 

Missouri  territory  organized 353 

river,  military  posts  established 

on 410 

state  of,  question  of  admission  of, 
on  account  of  slavery,  agitated 

in  Congress 551.  553,  554 

admitted  into  the  Union.  ..554,  1508 

boundary  affairs  of 946 

senators  and  representatives 1542 

synopsis  of  constitution •  1578 

Missouri,  loss  of  steamship 1344 

Mobile  made  a  port  of  entry 170 

bay,   fortification  at    Dauphin's 

isJand 485 

Monroe,  James,  biography  of 383 

opposes    adoption  of  U.    States 

constitution 385 

elected  to  United  States  senate.  .385 
appointed  minister  to  France. 87,  386 
recalled  by  Gen.  Washington. 91,  386 

elected  governor  of  Virginia 386 

appointed    special    minister    to 
France  (associated  with  R.  R. 

Livingston) 233,  386 

with  Livingston  negotiates  the 

Louisiana  treaty 234,  386 

his  mission  to  Spain 387 

associated   with  Win.    Pinkney, 

as  minister  to  England. .  .249,  387 
with  Mr.  P.  negotiates  a  treaty 
with  England,  which  is  reject- 
ed by  Mr.  Jefferson 250,  387 

this  treaty  compared  with  Jay's 

treaty £51 

failure  of  attempt  to  renew  nego- 
tiations  252 

Monroe  and   Pinkney  complain 

of  Jefferson's  course 252 

returns  to  the  U.  States 253,  387 

proposed  as  candidate  for  presi- 
dent  248,  387 

differences  between  his   friends 

and  Madison's 248 

differences  reconciled  by  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson  248 

Virginia  prefers  Mr.  Madison. .  .387 
again   chosen  governor  of  Vir- 
ginia  387 

appointed  secretary  of  state. 348,  387 
"        acting  sec.  of  war.  374,  388 
his  proposition  to  augment  the 

army 373,  388 

his  public  services  in  the  cabinet. 388 
nominated    and    elected    presi- 
dent  381,389 

his  liberal  policy  as  president.. .  .389 
addresses  and  messages 391-540 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1615 


Monroe,  James,  inaugural  address. . .  .391 

second  inaugural  address 426 

inauguration  of. 54 1 

admi  nistration  of 54 1 

cabinet 541 

declines  Gen.  Jackson's  advice 
in  the  formation  of  his  cabi- 
net  389,  545 

excludes     federalists     generally 

from  office ." 389,  514 

his  tour  through   the   northern 

states ." 389,  542 

his  tour  through  Virginia 549 

"  "     the  southern  states. 550 

re-elected  president 390,  553 

his  liberal  and  enlightened  pol- 
icy  389,  562 

character  of  his  administration.  .562 
retirement  from  office,  and  death. 390 
personal  appearance  and    char- 
acter  390 

his  views  as  to  constitutional 
powers  of  Congress  on  inter- 
nal improvements 402,  492 

his   declaration   respecting   Eu- 
ropean colonization  in  America  452 
his    views    as    to  European    in- 
terference  with    independent 

American  states 460 

vetoes  Cumberland  road  bill 49 1 

invites  a  scrutiny  of  his  accounts, 
and  settlement  of  the  same  by 

Congress 535 

changes  his   views  on   internal 

improvements 560 

settlement  of  claim 983 

Monterey,  seizure  of,  by  Capt.  Thos. 

Ap  Catesby  Jones 1328 

Morocco,  treaty  with.. 60,  (appendix). ..xi 

relations  with 167,  168,  924 

'•  "     (appendix) xiv 

present  from  the  emperor  to  pres- 
ident of  United  States 841 

Morris,   Gvurcnieur,    recalled    from 

France 87 

employed  by  Washington  as  con- 
fidential agent  in  London  (ap- 
pendix)  vii 

approves  of  purchase  of  Louisiana  239 
Morris,  brig,  special  message  in  rela- 
tion to  indemnity  from  Vene- 
zuela  .' 1384 

Muhlenburg,  F.  A.,  elected    speak- 
er..  81,  85,  1543 

Mwcat,  relations  with 923 

Imaum  of, present  to  president..!  110  ' 
"       special  message 1359 

N. 

Napltt,  claims  on 581 

relations  with 782 

Napoleon  Rowparte  cedes   Louisiana 

to  the  United  .States 234 

his  views  on  the  subject 231 


Napoleon  Bonaparte,  his  continental 

system 254 

Berlin  and  Milan  decrees..  .254,  255 
Nashville,  collection  of  duties  at.... 983 
National  Republican  parly,  formation 

of 987 

constituent  parts  of 987,  988 

National  convention,   Whig,  at  Har- 

risburg ." 1 166 

at  Baltimore 1423 

democratic...  1004,  1020,  1168,  1425 
Naturalization  Law,  recommended 

by  Washington 34 

revision    of,    recommended    by 

Jefferson 157 

term  of  residence  reduced  to  five 

years 230 

law  of  1812  vetoed  by  Madison.. 304 

Naval  establishment  of  180 1 137 

exploits  during  the  wa/of  1812.. 360 
force  on  the  lakes  reduced  (Mon- 
roe)  397 

school  recommended  (J.  Q.  Ad- 
ams)   589,617 

service,  message  in  relation  to 

transfers  (Tyler) 1348 

Navigation,  encouragement  of(  Wash- 
ington)     37 

protection  of  (Madison) 283,  289 

American    seamen    to    be   em- 
ployed  327 

depressed  state  of,  in  U.  States.. 333 
caused  by  British  colonial  system. 334 

alteration  of  la ws 434 

act  of  1815  explained 434 

prohibition   of    British    colonial 

vessels 552 

measures  to  relieve 666 

steam-vessels 840,  1471 

Navy,  notices  of  (Washington). . .  .63,65 
(John  Adams)... .109,  117,  119,  127 

department  established 131 

(Jefferson) 155,  160 

dry   dock    at    Washington    pro- 

l»osed ^ 161 

operations  in  Mediterranean 170 

progress  of,  in  1*05 179 

gunboats 179,  243,  244 

complement  of  men  in  frigates.  ..180 

opposed  by  republican  party 243 

officers  of,  oppose  gunboat  sys- 
tem  244 

(Madison)... 276,  279,  2*0,  289,  302 

commencement  of,  on  lakes 300 

increase    of,     recommended    to 

Congress 302 

augmentation  of,  in  progress 309 

successes  of 321 

officers  and  men  recommended..  .326 

increa.se  of 331,  348 

system  of  impressment  proposed 
for,  by  secretary  of  the  nary.. 373 

war  with  Algiers 377 

Mediterranean  squadron 377 


1616 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


, 
notlced  ........ 


Navy  (Monroe)  vie  ws(  393,  397,  400,  410 

and  condition?  418,  424,  442,  446 

of  ..........  (  456,  457,  473 

charges  against  officers  in  the 

Pacific  ......................  536 

(  J.  Q.  Adams)  squadrons  in  ser- 

vice ........................  587 

condition  of  ......  604,  617,  628,  629 

dry  docks  .....................  629 

(Jackson)  building  of  ships  to 

be  discontinued  ..............  711 

board  to  be  dispensed  with  ......  712 

marine  corps  to  be  reorganized.  .712 
751,  764,  791,  840 
881,909,939 

(Van  Buren).  1088,  1109,  1123/1154 
coast  survey  .................  1088 

(Tyler)  ......  1264,  1307,  1343,  1381 

(Polk)  ......................  1470 

augmentation  of.  ........  1472,  1477 

Navy  pension  fund  ................  1240 

Nelson,  John,  appointed  attorney-gen- 

eral ...................  '....1423 

acting  secretary  of  state  ........  1423 

Netherlands,   relations    with   (J.  Q. 

Adams)  ....................  596 

king  of,  arbiter  between  United 

States  and   Great   Britain  on 

N.  E.  boundary  question  ......  620 

protest    of    Maine    against   his 

award  .....................  1000 

relations  with  ......  .....1119,  1460 

See  Holland. 
Neutrality,   rules   of,   for   U.  States 

(Washington)  ............  •  .....  47 

(John  Adams)  ................  Ill 

(Jefferson)  ................  165,  170 

(Madison)  ....................  339 

between  Spain  and  colonies  .....  380 

(Monroe)  ................  415,  416 

policy  of  U.  States  on  ..........  460 

Neutral  Rights  of  United  States  vio- 

lated (Jefferson)  .............  184 

(Monroe)  proposals  for  settling.  .469 
New  England  colonies,  first  union  of, 

in  1643  ...................  1493 

states,  alleged  attempt  to  sepa- 

rate from  the  Union  ..........  291 

British  license  to  trade  with  .....  305 

New  Hampshire,  senators  and  repre- 

sentatives .................  1516 

synopsis  of  constitution  ........  1561 

New  Jersey,  senators  and  representa- 

tives ......................  1521 

synopsis  of  constitution  ........  1565 

New    Orleans,    (Jefferson)   proposi- 

tions for  purchasing  right  of 

deposite  at  ..................  163 

defences  of  ...................  188 

titles  to  certain  lands  at  ........  210 

batture  at  .....................  210 

right  of  deposite  at  refused  by 

Spanish  authorities  ..........   232 

proposals  for  purchase  of  ......  '.  233 


New   Orleans,   purchase  of   Louisi- 
ana  233,  239 

battle  of 369,  388 

battle  of,  proposal  in  Congress 
to  illustrate,  by  a  painting  for 

the  capital 664 

Newspapers,   free  transportation   of, 
by     mail     recommended     by 

Washington 45,  50 

number  and  political  character 

of,  in  U.  States  in  1789 133 

should  be  free  of  postage  (Jef- 
ferson)   154 

New  York, senators  and  represent's..!521 

synopsis  of  constitution 1564 

discovery   of  new  channel  into 

the  harbor  of. 1088 

•   See  Customhouse. 
Niles,  John  M.,  appointed  postmas- 
ter-general     1169 

Nominations — See  Caucus  and  Con- 
ventions. 

Non-importation  Act,  passage  of 247 

suspended,  on   recommendation 

of  Jefferson  250 

forfeitures  under  (Madison) 302 

goods  bonded  under 345 

merchants'  bonds   cancelled  by 

Mr.  Cheves's  bill  in  Congress. 361 
its  enforcement  recommended  . .  .318 

partial  repeal  of  advised 319 

Non-intercourse  Jlct  (with  Great  Brit- 
ain and  France),  substituted 

for  embargo 263 

suspended 275,  342 

renewed 277,  342 

new  act  passed,  1810 343,345 

with  Hay ti 247 

North  Carolina — See  Carolina. 
Northeast  Boundary — See  Boundary. 
Northern  Frontier,  outrages  on. 1091,  1092 
Norway,  commercial  relations  with  ..437 
Nullification,  discussion  on,  in  United 

States  senate 969 

speeches  of  Hayne  and  Webster.  .969 
effect  of  Mr.  Webster's  speech..  .969 
oriein  and  progress  of  the  doc- 
trine of 969,  973 

address  on  the  tariff  by  S.  Caro- 
lina delegation  in  Congress..  .996 

effect  of,  in  South  Carolina 997 

president's  proclamation 794 

special  message  on 808 

action  of  Congress  on 1008 

progress  of  in  several  states ....  1009 

events  in  S.  Carolina 1010 

termination  of  the  controversy..  1012 

O. 

Observatory,    astronomical,     recom- 
mended by  J.  Q.  Adams 591 

Office,  removals  from,  executive  pow- 
er discussed 82 

removals  from,  by  Jefferson. 220, 963 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1617 


Office,  removals  from,  by  Jackson . . .  .963 

by  other  presidents 963 

by  Tyler 1396,  1420 

appointments    to,    recommended 
to  be   limited   to   four  years 

(Jackson) : 702 

views  on  appointments  to  (Ty- 
ler)  1241 

removal  from,  to  be  regulated  by 

law 1265 

applications  for,  by  members  of 
Congress,  president  refuses  to 

give  names 1269 

Ohio,  N.  W.  territory  of  (appendix) . .  .xii 
river,  appropriation  for  improving  662 
See  internal  improvements, 
state     of,     admitted     into     the 

Union 231,  1508 

right  of  toll  on  Cumberland  road. 983 
senators  and  representatives.  ...15-10 

synopsis  of  constitution 1576 

Ohio  and  Michigan,  controversy  re- 
specting boundary 914 

Oldenburs,  commercial  relations  with  468 

Orders  in  Council,  British,  1807 255 

Congress       adopt       resolutions 

against 261 

arrangement  of  Mr.  Erskine  re- 
specting  275,  341 

arrangement  disavowed    by  the 

British  government 277,  342 

not  repealed  in  February,  1812.. 351 

repealed  in  June,  1812 301,  355 

for  special  licenses 305 

recommendation  to  prohibit  trade 

under 305 

Oregon,  treaty  with  Russia  respect- 
ing northwest  coast  of  Amer- 
ica  468 

military  post  on  the  Pacific,  at 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  river, 

recommended  by  Monroe 477 

exploration  of  coast  recommended  477 
"  "      (J.Q.Adams)  591 

boundary  of,  with  G't  Britain. .  .608 
right  to  trade  on  N.  \V.  coast  by 
U.  States,  refused  by  Russia 

(Van  Buren) 1097 

arbitration  respecting  boundary 
with  Great  Britain,  proposed 

by  United  States 1117,  1142 

chain  of  military  posts  to 1264 

boundary  of,  and  emigration  to 

(Tyler) 1302 

special  messages  on 1347,  1389 

negotiations  on  boundary  ques- 
tion  1371 

title  of  U.  States  declared  (Polk)  1  14U 

negotiations  with  G't  Britain.  <  .  .-'_ 

controversy  with         "  1478 
Osgood,  Samuel,  appointed  postmas- 
ter-general  1547 

Ottoman  Porte — see  Turkey. 


P. 
Pacific  Ocean,  exploring   expedition 

to .591,  628,  669 

See  Oregon,  and  Columbia  river. 

(appendix) xxv 

Panama,  congress  of  American  states 

proposed  at 582,  655 

invitation  to  send  ministers  ac- 
cepted by  J.  Q.  Adams 582 

meeting  and  results  of 600,  612 

confidential  communication 631 

special  message  on 632 

copy  of  instructions  to  U.  States 
minister  communicated  to  Con- 

sress  by  J.  Q.  Adams 647 

president's   recommendation  of, 

confirmed  by  Congress 657 

result  of 657 

Parlies,  political,  in  United  State? 83 

divisions  and  name* 83,  1396 

state  of,  in  third  Congress 87 

"         fourth       "          89 

federalists  and  anti-federalists. . .  .81 
republicans  or  democrats. . .  .83,  145 

state  of,  in  fifth  Congress 130 

"         sixth        "         135 

"         ninth       "         216 

"         Congress,  1811 347 

"               "         Dec.,  1815.378 
federalists  cease  acting  as  oppo- 
sition  378 

Monroe's  policy,  and  advice  of 
Gen.  Jackson  to  him 544 

state  of,  in  Congress,  1822. 1824  -j  ^9. 

(   Ou  1 

opinions  of  J.  Q.  Adams  on 577 

state  of,  in  1825 650 

combination  of  friends  of  Jack- 
son and  Crawford 655 

state  of,  in   Jackson's  adminis- 

trnt!    ,  $  965>  96!>>  970'  977>  987 

"  t  1004,  1019,  1024 

state  of,  in  Van  Buren's  ndm'n.1160 

Washington's  remarks  on 73 

Harrison's  remarks  on 1209 

notice  and  review  of  successive, 

from  1815  to  1841 1396 

Patent  Office  recommended  by  Wash- 
ington  34 

recommended  by  Madison 339 

"  J.  Q.  Adams... .593 

new  law  passed 1021 

Patents,  law  in  relation  to 1025 

Pauhlint,1,  James  K.,  appointed  secre- 
tary of  the  navy 1 163 

Peace  to  be  preserved  by  preparation 

for  war  (Washington) 34 

anxiety  to  preserve  ( Washington) 

(appendix) xii 

the  policy  of  the  United  States 

(Jefferson) 165 

party  organized 355 

treaty    of,    with    Grent    Britain, 
communicated  Feb.,  1815 325 


1618 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Peace  treaty  at  Ghent 375 

public  rejoicings  in  consequence. 375 
the  policy  of  the  U.  S.  (Monroe). 427 

Peck,  Judse,  impeachment  of 981 

Penguin,  British  brig,  taken  by  the 

U.  S.  sloop-of-war  Hornet 369  j 

Penitentiary,  compensation  to  keepers .  753 
Pennsylvania,  senators  and  rep'tives  1526 

synopsis  of  constitution 1566  '< 

Pensions  for  revolutionary  officers  and 
soldiers  recommended  by  Mon- 
roe  403 

act  passed 547 

operation  of  (J.Q.  Adams)  <        '  rie 

operation  of  suspended  (Jackson)  709 
revision  of  "        709 

should  be  extended  to  soldiers  of 

war  of  1812 709 

agents,  appointment  of. 876 

Pensioners,  appropriation  for  in  valid.  983 

Pension  fund,  navy 1240 

People,  occupations  of 1558 

Perry,  Commodore,  captures  British 

fleet  on  Lake  Erie 312 

notice  of  death  of 419 

Peru,  relations  with 761,  783,  1374 

convention  with 1350 

Peters,  Judge,  impeachment  of 242 

Philadelphia  frigate  lost  on  coast  of 

Tripoli 169 

pension  to  heirs  of  officers  and 

crew  recommended 714 

Pickering,  Timothy,  appointed  secre- 
tary of  war  by  Washington 87 

appointed  secretary  of  state 87 

"         postmaster-gen'1..87,  1547 
continued  as  secretary  of  state  by 

J.  Adams 129 

dismissed  by  J.  Adams 136 

Pickering,  Judge,  impeachment  of.  ...241 
Pike's  expedition  on  the  Mississippi. .  190 
Pinckney,    Charles   Cotesworth,    ap- 
pointed minister  to  France.  .87,  91 
notified  to  leave  France. 91,  107,  129 
his  nesotiations  in  France  (ap.)..xix 

nominated  for  vice-president 136 

federal  candidate  for  president, 

in  1804 243 

"                "            in  1808.. 260 
Pinckney,  Thomas,  resigns  as  minis- 
ter to  Great  Britain 90 

candidate  for  president  or  vice- 
president 91 

Pinckney,  Charles,  minister  to  Spain. .249 
Pinkiiey,  William,  minister  to  Great 

Brit'n,  associated  with  Monroe  249 
correspondence  with  Canning..  .260 

appointed  attorney-general 348 

Piracies,  suppression  of 442 

in  the  West  Indies j  £«;  «J 

Piratical   establishments   suppressed 

at  Amelia  island  and  Galveston  479 


Pittsburg,  collection  of  duties  at 983 

Platts burgh,  defence  of,  1814 321,  367 

Pocket  vetoes,  origin  of  the  term 995 


Poindexter,  Geo.,  chosen  president  of 

senate,  pro  tern 1019 

Poinsett,  Joel  .R.,  appointed  secretary 

of  war 1 157 

appointed  minister  to  Mexico. . .  1554 

recalled 700 

Polk,  James  K.,  biography  of. 1427 

elected  to   Congress  from  Ten- 
nessee   1431 

his  congressional  career. .  1431,  1435 
elected  speaker  in  1835  and 

1837 1020,  1160,1433 

supports    Van    Buren    for    pres- 
ident in  1836 1435 

declines  a  re-election  to  Congress  1435 
elected  governor  of  Tennessee. .  1435 
nominated  for  vice-president  of 

the  U.  States 1435 

his  opinions  on   the  Texas  and 

Oregon  questions 1436 

nominated  for  president  of  the 

U.  States 1436 

elected  president 1436,  1437 

inauguration 1437 

personal  appearance  and  charac- 
ter  1437 

cabinet 1438 

address  and  messages 1439 

Population,  progress  of,  1790 — 1840.1557 
Porter,  Peter  B.,  appointed  secretary 

of  war 668 

Porter,  James  M.,  appointed  secreta- 
ry of  war 1423 

rejected  by  the  senate 1423 

Porter,  Captain,  gallant  exploit  of,  in 

the  frigate  Essex 321 

suppresses   piracy  in  the  West 

Indies 456 

Porto  Rico,  piracies  at 456 

Portugal,     relations    with,    (appen- 
dix)   vii,  xiv 

convoys    United    States   vessels, 

(appendix) vii,  xiy 

checks   Algerine   corsairs,    (ap- 
pendix)   vii,  xiv 

relations  with 439,  597,  699 

revolution  in 460 

depredations  on  American  com- 
merce   735 

indemnity  from 782 

relations  with.  ...759,  889,  922,  1073 
Postoffices  and  postroads( Washington). 34 

See  postoffice  department. 
Postojfice   department  (Monroe),  no- 
tices of. 457,474 

( J.  Q.  Adams) 589,  606,  629 

(Jack«on)  $  712'  751>  764>  791 

"  I  840,881,910,939 

censure  on  Mr.  Barry 1023 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1619 


Postoffice  department,  notices  of  (Van 

Buren) 1088,  1110,  1124,  1154 

(Tyler) 1265,  1308,  1381 

Pre-emption-rights  bill  passed 1 163 

Presidency,  one  term  recommended..  .764 

Presidential  elections — See  table 1544 

first,  Washington 79 

second,       "  84 

third,  J.  Adams 92 

fourth,  Jefferson 136,  138 

fifth,  "         243 

sixth,  Madison 259 

seventh,     "      360 

eighth,  Monroe  381 

ninth,         "        553 

tenth,  J.  Q.  Adams 561,  562 

eleventh,  Jackson 667 

twelfth,         "         1007 

thirteenth,  Van  Buren 1024 

fourteenth,  Harrison 1169 

fifteenth,  Polk 1427 

.Presidential  election  of  1801,  contest 

in  Congress 223 

proposal  to  amend  constitution.  ..701 
single  term  proposed  by  Jackson. 702 
Presidents  of  the  senate,  list  of,  from 

1789  to  1845 1590 

duties  of,  defined  by  rules 667 

President,  frigate,  taken  by  British.  ..369 
President  and   vice-president,    mode 

of  electing 791,  841,  912 

Press,  licentiousness  of  (Jefierson).  ..175 
Prevost,   Sir    George,     British   com- 
mander in  Canada 367 

his  attack  on  Plattsburgh 367 

Privateers,    commissions    issued    by 

John  Adams,  (appendix) xxiii 

foreign,  treated  as  pirates  (Jef- 
ferson)   178 

American,  success  of 365 

suppressed  by  French  governm't.  .453 
efforts  of  U.  States  to  suppress.  ..453 
Proclamation  of  Harrison  for  extra 

session 1210 

of  Jackson  on  nullification 794 

of  Tyler  on  Canada  invasion..  ..1252 
See  table  of  contents  in  each  vol. 
Protection   to  national    industry    (see 
manufactures,  tariff,  &.c.) 

(Jefferson) 156,  161,  191,216 

(Madison) 319,331 

advocated  by  Clay,  Calhoun, 
and  Lowndes 379 

i  j  i     if  <    395,  402 

recommended  by  Monroe  \     tnQ'  ... 

{    m/y,  4*i 1 

question  agitated  in  Con- 
gress   552,  556,  557 

public  opinion  on,  in  1X27 664 

president  Adams  takes  no  notice 
of,  in  1827 664 

recommended  by  J.  Q.  Adams  in 
his  fourth  annual  message 624 

discussed  by  J.  Q.  Adams  in  his 
fourth  annual  message 668 


Protection  to  national  industry,  Jack- 
son's views  of. 370 

Protective  tariff — See  tariff. 

Protest  (Jackson)  against  resolution 

of  censure  by  senate 843 

of  Maine  against  award  of  the 

king  of  the  Netherlands 1000 

of  Tyler  against  resolutions  of 
house    of   representatives   on 

tariff 1297 

Provinces,  British,  imprisonment  of 
citizens  of  Maine  for  participa- 
tion in  state  election 1001 

Provost,  Mr.,   U.  S.  agent  in  Peru, 

charges  against 536 

Prussia,  treaty  with  (J.  Q.  Adams)..  126 

relations  with  (Monroe) 468 

(J.  Q.  Adams) 597 

relations  with  (Jackson).  ..865,  890, 

(Polk) 1459 

Public  accounts,  reform   in  keeping 

recommended 764 

Debt — see  debt,  public. 
Lands — see  lands,  public. 

Q. 

Quarantine  establishment  (J.  Adams).  117 

(Jefferson) 177 

Quintuple  treaty,  information  re- 
quested by  senate  in  relation 

to  (Tyler) 1318 

copy  requested  by  Congress. . . .  1279 

R. 
Randolph,  Edmund,  attorney-general.  .82 

secretary  of  state 85 

resigns 87 

Randolph,  John,  insulted  by  an  officer 
of  the  United  States ;  commu- 
nication to  Congress  by  J. 

Adams,  appendix xxiv 

opposes    Jefferson's    administra- 
tion  246 

Ratio  of  Representation,  1790 83 

1800 230 

1810 353 

1820 556 

1830 990 

1840 1420,  1279 

Reciprocity  in  trade  insisted  on  (Jef- 

fi-rson) 153 

art  of  British  parliament 158 

refused  by  Great  Britain 334 

navigation   act,  result  of  (Mon- 
roe)   433,  434,  435, 437 

in  commerce  invited  by  IT.  States 
in  various  treaties  and  acts  of 

Consress 468 

partially  accepted  by  certain  F.u- 

ropran  nations  (J.  Q.  Adams).. 580 
Red    River,    exploration    of,    by  Mr. 

Freeman 189 

Rerd,  Silas,  case  of 138S 

Regency,  Albany,  origin  of  the  term.  1037 


1620 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Removal  from  office,  executive  power 

discussed 82 

under  Jackson's  administra- 
tion  963 

Representatives  and  senators  in  Con- 
gress to  March,  1840 1516 

Republican  Party,  origin  of 83 

name  given  by  Jefferson  to  op- 
position to  Washington's  ad- 
ministration  145 

Resources  of  United  States,  develop- 
ment of 423,  432 

Restrictions  on  Trade  and  Commerce: 

Embargo  of  1794,  militia  called 

out  to  enforce  (Washington) 

appendix xii 

various  other  measures  to  en- 
force, recommended,  appendix,  .xii 

recommended  (Jefferson) 204 

effects  of  on  foreign  nations 213 

"         on  United  States.  .214,  262 

votes  in  Congress  on 256 

opposed  by  the  federal  party. . . .  256 

public  opinion  on 256,  262 

predicted  by  Napoleon 257 

unsuccessful  attempt  to  repeal..  .261 

operation  and  effects  of. 258 

Mr.  Jefferson's  remarks  on 259 

repeal  of 263 

recommended  by  Madison,  1812.. 292 

"  "        "  July,  1813.311 

"  "         "  Dec.  1813.318 

suspension  of,  recommended,  1814. 3 19 

act  passed,  1812 353 

"  enacted  and  repealed,  1814.. 366 
See  non-intercourse  and  non-im- 
portation. 

Revenue-cutter  veto  message 1390 

Revenue,  state  of  (Washington) 44 

surplus,  distribution  of  (Jeffer- 
son)  174 

application  of 191,  203 

"           to  internal  improve- 
ments, education,  &c 217 

condition  of,  in  1817  (Monroe).  .403 

deficiency  of  in  1821 430 

decrease  of 440 

condition  of 444,  445,  470 

deficiency    of,    from   protection, 
should  be  made  up  by  duties 
on  domestic  articles  protected.  .441 
surplus,  appropriation  of 470 

(J.  Q.  Adams)  state  of.  I    f^  6^ 

frauds  on 602 

Mr.  Dickerson's  proposition  to 
distribute  surplus  among  the 
states 661 

(Jackson)  reduction  of  credits 
on  duties  recommended 706 

warehouse  system  recommend- 
ed  706 

revision  of  laws  as  to  smug- 
gling  .\.706 


Revenue,     surplus,     distribution    of, 

among  the  states  recommended . 70u 

frauds  on 707 

surplus,  distribution  of 740 

service,  organization  of 750 

distribution  act  passed  and  ap- 
proved by  Jackson 924 

surplus 925 

Jackson  changes  his  opinion  on .  .929 

condition  of 1 267 

deficiency  of 1268 

Revolutionary  army,  provision  for 
surviving  officers  and  soldiers 
recommended  by  Mr.  Monroe  .  403 

act  passed  by  Congress 547 

(J.    Q.    Adams)     operation    of 

act 587,  604,  618 

appropriation  for,  defeated.  .658,  603 
appropriation  for  in  Adams's  ad- 
ministration   670 

(Jackson)  revision  of  pension  law.708 

Rhode  Island  rebellion 1350  ' 

accedes  to  constitution  of  U.  S..  1507 

senators  and  representatives 1520 

synopsis  of  constitution 1562 

Riall,   General,    British    commander 

in  Canada 367 

Right  of  search 1 255 

Ripley,  Gen.,  military  operations  of  ..367 
Road,  Cumberland — See  Cumberland 
road. 

Roads,  survey  of 472 

importance  of  national 530 

Rodger  s,  Capt.,  destroys  a  Tripolitan 

corvette 168 

his    encounter    with    a    British 

frigate 287 

his  services  against  the  pirates.  ..456 
Rodney,    Caesar    A.,     attorney-gen- 
eral  ^341,  1556 

Rose,  Mr.,  special  minister  from  Eng- 
land on  the  Chesapeake  affair. 258 
Ross,  Gen.,   his  successful  attack  on 

Washington  city 368 

his  defeat  "at  Baltimore 368 

killed  in  battle  at  "     368 

Rush,  Richard,  appointed  attorney- 
general  374 

appointed  secretary  of  state 649 

his  report  in  favor  of  the  protec- 
tive system 664 

candidate  for  vice-president. . .    .  667 
Russell,  Jona.,  charge  d'affairs  to  G. 

Britain 351 

his  correspondence 351 

leaves  England 357 

appointed  commissioner  to  Ghent  366 
appointed  minister  to  Sweden ....  374 
Russia,      relations      with       (Madi- 
son)  288,301,  308 

mediation  of,  accepted 308,  362 

declined  by  Great  Britain 362 

(Monroe)    mediation   on   article 
of  treaty  of  Ghent. . .  .421,  437,  444 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1621 


Riusia,  negotiations  with,  as  to  the 

northwest  boundary 452 

"          northwest  coast. 468 
(  J.  Q.  Adams)  relations  with. 595, 612 
intervention  with  Spain  respect- 
ing   independence    of    South 

America 595 

takes  the  part  of  the  Greeks. 6 12,  619 
acquiesces  in  Monroe's  declara- 
tion respecting  colonization  in 

America 636 

relations  with  (Jack-<  699,  733,  782 

son) I          830,  865 

relations  with(  Van  Buren)  1013,  1072 
umpirage  between  U.  States  and 
Mexico  (Tyler) 1284 


Sabine  river  assumed  as  the  boundary 
between  U.  States  and  Spanish 
territories  (Jefferson) 186,  187 

Saint  Dominso,  renewal  of  commer- 
cial intercourse  with 122 

Saint  Lawrence,  navigation  of,  nego- 
tiations respecting  it 452 

Salt,  repeal  of  duties  on,  recommended  190 

Sandwich  islands,  independence  of. .  1316 

Sardinia,  comm'cial  relations  with .  <  . .  .Q 

Science  and  literature,  national  uni- 
versity (Washington) 34 

Scott,  Gen.  Winfield,  his  success  in 

Canada 320,  367 

candidate  for  president  at  whig 

convention,  1839 1 168 

his  name  withdrawn  in  favor  of 

Harrison 1168 

Secret  Service  Money,  spec,  message.  1481 

See  Henry,  John. 
Sedgwick,  Theodore,  elected  speaker.  135 

Sedition  and  *>ilien  Laws  enacted 132 

opposition  to 133 

discussion  of  sedition  act,  as  to 

constitutionality,  in  senate. ..  .555 
attempt  to  refund  fines  under  se- 
dition law,  defeated 662 

Seminole  War,  in  Florida,  causes  of  <  -  ,„ 

incidents  of. 691,  692 

t  550 
inquiry  in  Congress,  respecting  <  „„„ 

Indians,  act  in  relation  to 1164 

Senators  and  representatives  in  Con- 
gress, to  March,  1847 1516 

Service  sword  of  Washington,  special 
message  in  relation  to  vote  of 
thanks  for  presentation  to  Con- 
gress   1346 

Sesiions  of  continental  congress. ...  1510 

of  federal  congress 1543 

Siam,  relations  with 923 

Sicilian  indemnity 866 

Sicily,  relations  with 759,  833,  889 

Silk,  culture  of,  encouraged 659 


Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia..  1049 
Slaves,  emancipatkm  of,  proposed  by 

RufusKingin  the  U.  S.  senate.  562 
Slave-Trade,  suppression  of  (Jefler- 
son)   190 

violation     of    laws     respecting 

(Madison) 283,  336 

suppression    of  (    419,  425,  442,  453 
(Monroe)...  £  457,467,474 

considered  as  piracy 453 

suppression  of 481,  547 

U.  States  establishment  in  Africa  482 
suppression  of  (J.  Q.  Adams). .  .588 
effectual  abolition  of,  proposed 

to  Congress  at  Panama 636 

messase  respecting  121  Africans 
landed  at  Key  West,  Florida.. 647 

.     .        r  .      <     968 

appropriations  for  suppressing  <  . .  -  - 

{  11  oo 

information  requested  by  senate 
in  relation  to  quintuple  treaty.  1318 

special  message  (Polk) 1474 

communication  from  Brazil 1458 

Smith,  Robert,  Secretary  of  the  Navy.220 

secretary  of  state 34 1 

Smithsonian  Legacy,  receipts  and  in- 
vestments of 1112 

"          "         specific  application, 

recommended 1266 

Pres.  of  senate  pro  tern 1192 

Smuggling,   laws    against,   violated 

(Madison) ". 299 

of  British  goods,  1813 318 

South  America,  civil  war  in  (Mon- 
roe)   408 

independence  of    Spanish   Pro- 
vinces   403 

mediation  of  allied  powers 40S 

independence  of 415 

relations  with  independent  states 

of 468 

mission  to,  first  proposed  by  Mr. 

Clay 549 

relations  with  (J.  Q.  Adams) 000 

condition  of. 012 

"  (Jackson). 300,  S33,  807 

891,  922 

"  (Van  Buren).  1074, 1143 

"  (Tyler) 133S 

Southard,  Samuel   L.,   Secretary   of 

Navy 661,  1549 

South  Carolina — see  Carolina. 

Spain,  relations  with  (Washing-  (  51,  65 

ton) I        88 

appendix viii,  x,  ziv 

hostile    expedition    against    the 
territory  of,  by  citizens  of  U.  S. 
and  measures  taken  to  suppress 
the  same  (Washington)  appen.  ziii 
relations  with  (J.  Adams)       "       zz 
\\u  .  113,  119,  120 

„.*».,..{»*  '«•  '*£; 

attempt  to  invade  territories  of, 
luppreased H 


1622 


ANALYTICAL    I.NDEX. 


Spain,  decree  of,  against  neu-  (  201,  211 

trals '. i  257 

difficulties  with 232 

cedes  Louisiana  to  France 232 

renounces  opposition  to  cession 

of  Louisiana  by  France  to  U.  S. .  23G 
report  in  Congress  in  1SOG  on  ag- 
gressions of. 246  j 

negotiations  with 249  i 

Florida       boundary       question 

(Madison) 282,  3SO  ' 

relations  with 334,  3SO 

insult  to  American  flag  by  armed 

vessels  of. 334 

relations  with  (Mon-  (  397,  405,  412 

roe) I  4-20,480 

Seminole  war 405 

commercial  claims  on 412 

treaty  with 412,429,  550 

delay  in  ratifying 412 

cession  of  Florida 412 

civil  war  with  colonies 415,  484 

Amelia  Island  affair 480 

treaty  of  1819  carried  into  ef- 
fect  437,  555 

claims  of  American  citizens  in.  .439 
board  of  commissioners  organized. 439  j 
U.  S.  minister  to,  interrupted  on 
his  passage  by  a  French  vessel. 454 

revolution  in 400 

relations  with  (J.  Q.  Adams). . .  .597 

"   (Jackson)  $699»734'75S'7S1 
'$831,865,890,  922 

"   (Van  Buren) 1073 

"  (Polk) 1459 

Spanish  America,  success  of  revolu- 
tionists announced  by  presi- 
dent to  Congress 422 

offer  of  Spain  to  settle  differences.422 

neutrality  of  U.  S 428 

success  of  patriots  of 439 

independence  of,  desired  by  U.  S. .  439 

recognition  of,  by  U.  S 449,  483 

neutrality  of  U.  S 449 

piracies  occasioned  by  the  war  in. 44 9 

independence  achieved 475 

"         of,  acknowledged  by 

Congress 555,  557 

republics  of,  relations  with 582 

Congress  at  Panama  proposed. . . .  582 
Speakers  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives of  the  U.  S.  list  of. . .  1543 
election  of — see  Congress  sessions. 
Specie,  prohibition  of  export  of  ad- 
vised  319 

Specie  circular  issued  by  Jackson ....  1022 
application  to  President  Van  Bu- 
ren to  rescind f 1159 

Speeches  to  Congress,  discontinued 

by  Jefferson 152 

Spencer,  John  C.,  appointed  sec.  of 

war 1418 

"          appointed  sec.  of  treas. . .  1422 

"          resigns 1423 

State  Department,  to  be  re-organized 

(Jackson) 713 


State  Rights,  doctrine  of,  argued  by 

Monroe 493 

articles   of  confederation,  sum- 
mary of  powers  under 494 

origin  of 499 

See  Nullification 

Steam  navigation 540 

Steamer  Caroline — see  Caroline. 

Steamers,  Atlantic 1382 

between  Havre  and  New  York.  .1361 

Steamship  Missouri,  loss  of 1344 

Steuart,  W.  M.,  report  on  N.  Y.  Cus- 
tom House ;  .  1283 

Stevenson,  Andrew,  elected  speaker. 064 

re-elected 967,  989,  1010 

resigns  as  speaker 1017 

nominated  minister  toG.  Britain  1017 

rejected  by  senate 1017 

again  nominated  and  confirmed.  1018 
Stewart,   Capt.,  takes  two    British 

ships  of  war 309 

charges  against,  while  on  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean 530 

Stockton  &.  Stokes  vs.  Postmaster  Gen.l  110 

Stoddert,  Benj.,  sec.  of  the  navy 129 

Stoning  ton,  Conn.,  defence  of 368 

Sublime  Port — see  Turkey. 

Sub-Treasury 1077,  1100,  1149,  1237 

report  on  and  its  passage  by  sen- 
ate  " 1161 

Clay's  resolution  to  repeal  reject- 
ed by  senate 

See  Independent  Treasury 
Sugar,  refined,  bill  passed  for  addi- 
tional drawback  on 668 

Supreme  court  of  U.  S 1556 

Surplus  Revenue — see  revenue. 
Surveys.     See  coast  survey,  internal 
improvement,  harbors,  canals, 
and  roads 

Sweden,  relations  with    (Madison)  >  ^ 

(Monroe) 467 

(J.  Q.  Adams) 597,611 

(Jackson) 758,  865,  890 

Synopsis  of  the  state  constitutions  . .  1559 

T. 

Tallmadge,  James,  his  course  in  the 
New  York  Legislature  causes 
the  defeat  of  the  Crawford 

party  in  1824 561 

Tallmadge,  Nathaniel  P.,  (Senator 
from  New  York),  his  letter  to 
John  Tyler  on  the  Bank  ques- 
tion   1411 

Taney,  Roger  B. ,  appointed  attorney 

general 987 

appointed  secretary  of  the  trea- 
sury   1015 

removes  the  public  deposits  from 

U.  S.  bank 1018 

nomination      rejected      by    the 

Senate 1017 

appointed   chief  justice  of  the 
supreme  court 1023 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1623 


Tariff,   on   Imports  adopted  by   1st 

Congress 52 

protective,  (Madison) 253,  331 

"     of  1316  adopted 379 

44  advocated  by  Calhoun, 
Clay,  Lowndes,  and  others. . .  .370 
"  of  1824  adopted  (Monroe). .  560 
44  effects  on  importations  (J. 

Q.  Adams) 623 

44     advocated 625 

revision  of,  in  1823 666 

made  a  political  question  in  Con- 
gress.   666 

view    of    a    protective     (Jack- 
son)   703,  965 

modification  of, J  703,  741,  763, 

recommended. . . .  {  785,  S36 

revision  of,  in  1832 995,  996 

opposition  to,  in  S.  Carolina 996 

Mr.  Verplanck's  bill  to  modify,  ,100s 
Mr.      Clay's      compromise    bill 

passed 1011 

views  of  a  protec-  C  1259,  1272,  1303 
tive  (Tyler)....  {  1306,  1341 

act  of  1841  passed 1419 

two  bills  vetoed  by  Tyler 1420 

act  of  1342  passed. 1420 

first  veto  message  12SO — second 

ditto 1281 

views  of  protection  and  revenue 

(Polk) 1444,  1462 

(see  manufactures  and  protection) 
Taxes,    Direct — bills   passed   by    1st 
and   2d    Congress    (Washing- 
ton)  82,83 

opposition  to,  in  Pennsylvania..  ..S3 
assessment     and     collection    of 

(John  Adams) 121 

opposition     to,     in     Pennsylva- 
nia  ".121,  134 

repeal  of,  recommended  (Jeffer- 
son)  154 

recommended  for  war  expenses 

(Madison) 310 

increased  in  1314 373 

continued  in  1X15 377 

reduced  in  1816 378 

repeal  of,  recommended  in  1817 

(Monroe) 403 

repealed 546 

required  for  revenue  in  1821.  ...430 
Taylor,  John  W.,  elected  speaker.  553,  654 
Tea  and  Coffee,  reduction  of  duties 

on,  proposed  by  Jackson 704 

Tennessee,  admitted  into  the  Union. .  .90 
relation  with  Indians,  appendix.v,  xv 
M  aators  and  representatives. . . .  1537 

synopsis  of  constitution 1574 

Texas,  neutrality  of  the  U.  S.  in  C    ,-„. 
difficulties     with      Mexico  <    „',., 

(Jackson) ( 

annexation  to  the  U.  S.  desired 

by  Texas 922 

special  messenger  in  relation  to.  .942 

acknowledgment      of       Indo-  C    942 

pendenccof. {  1163 


Texas,  treaty  with  (Van  Buren) 1098 

Mr.  Preston, of  S.  C.,  proposes  in 
Senate  the  annexation  of — but 
the  resolutions  were  not  adopt- 
ed  1163 

proposals  for  annexation  declined 

by  U.  S 1095 

boundary  line  with,  marked 1119 

relations   with         (  1257,  1274,  1303 

(Tyler) {  1336,  1374,  ^4 

treaty  of  annexation   1354,  1423 

rejected  by  the  Senate 1423 

special  messages  on 1359,  1360 

1361,  1362,  13u3 
joint  resolution  of  annexation  by 

Congress  recommended 1373 

debate  in  the  Senate  on  annexa- 
tion   M24 

annexation     becomes     a     purty 

question 1 121 

presidential  election   affected  bv 

it '.1125 

joint    resolutions  of  annexation 

adopted  in  Congress 1 127 

admitted  into  the  Union 15'i3 

senators    and     representatives 

from 1512 

synopsis  of  Constitution 157'.' 

Thames,  battle  of !  !<> 

Thompson,  Smith,  appointed  secre- 
tary of  the  navy r>  U 

"     judge  of  supreme  court. .  .  1 5rvi 

Tippecanoe,  battle  of 290,  1 1 7s 

Tobacco  trade,  efforts  to  extend Ill)  I 

Toll,  right  of,  granted   to  Ohio,  on 

Jsational  Road 9S3 

Tompkins,  Daniel  D.,  proposed  for 

president 38 1 

nominated  and  elected  vice-pre- 
sident   391 

re-elected  vice-president 552 

Tonnage,  duty  on  foreign  vessels. . .  .433 

bill  rejected 663 

increase  of. 7$0 

duty  on  French  vessels 1 3.V) 

Trafalgar  battle,  effects  of 254 

Treasury,  department  established 82 

building,  burning  of M36 

independent,  see  Sub-Treasury, 
embarrassments  of.  .363,  36*1,  1270 

public  money  outstanding 7uti 

revision  of  collection  laws  re- 
commended   706 

laws  against  frauds  imperfect. . .  .707 
reduction  of  offices  recommended.  7uS 
(see  Finances.) 
Treasury    .Votes,    issue    (361,363,36(3 

of )       1162,1109 

circulating  medium  (Madison)..  .3.10 

depreciation  of,  in  1*14 360 

Treaties  noticed  : — with  Morocco  ami 

Algiers 60,01,  SS, appendix    xiv 

with  Great  Britain  (Juy'«) 61,  t?y 

14     Spain :>->,  appendix  xx 

44     Indian  tribes  (Washington) 
appendix i,  it,  ni,  iv,  xv 


1624 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX 


Treaties,  copy  of  instructions  to  Mr. 
Jay  refused  by  Washington  to 

House  of  Rep.  appendix xvii 

with  Spain  (J.  Adams) 113 

"     Prussia 120 

«'     Indian  tribes  (Jefferson)  1*37, 180 

"     France  (Louisiana) 163,  177 

«     Tripoli 169 

"     French  Republic 

«         «         cession  of  Louisiana  240 

"     Great  Britain  (Monroe  and 

Pinkney's) 250 

rejection  of  by  Jefferson 251 

effects  of  the  rejection. . ., .  .251,  252 
excitement  occasioned  thereby.. 251 

compared  with  Jay's  treaty 251 

of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  1815, 

(Madison)   325 

with  Algiers,  1815 378 

commercial  with  Great  Britain 

ratified 379,  550 

with  Spain  (Monroe) j  JJ12, 429 

"     France 443,558 

"     Russia,  (N.  W.  coast) 468 

"     Sweden 467 

"     Creek    and    Cherokee    in- 

dians 4S2 

"     Colombia  (J.  Q.Adams)  582,  641 

"     Indian  tribes 585 

"    Denmark 596 

"     Central  America 597 

Mexico 622 

Indian  tribes 652 

Brazil 669 

Austria  (Jackson) 699,  1003 

Belgium  (Jackson)...  .833,  1013 

Chili 783,  1013 

Brazil 700,  981 

Portugal 782 

Denmark 699,  733,981 

Morocco 924 

Prussia 981 

Turkey 732,  981,  1003 

Choctavv  Indians 983 

France 757,  1002 

Mexico 1002 

Naples 1003 

Russia 1013 

Muscat  (Van  Buren) 1074 

Siam 1074 

Bolivia 1074,  1098 

Mexico 1095,  1119,  1 143 

Texas 1098 

Greece 1098 

Sardinia 1119 

Netherlands 1119 

Central  America 1120 

Ecuador 1120 

Belgium 1142 

Hanover 1142 

Portugal -.1142 

Brazil 1143 

Chili ••••....1143 

Great  Britain,  N.  E.  Bound- 
ary (Tyler) 1290,  1421 


Treaties  with  Portugal 1233 

"     Belgium 1257,  1373 

"     Ecuador 1257,  1304 

"     Peru 1258,  1350,  1374 

"     Mexico 1303 

"     German  Union 1335,1373 

"     China 1387,1423 

"     Texas 1334,1423 

"     Venezuela 1 374,  1384 

"     Prussia  (Polk) 1459 

Tripoli,  hostilities  with 153,  16S 

relations  with 158 

Gen.  Eaton's  expedition. . . .  180,  1S2 

treaty  with 179 

case  of  Hamet  Caramalli 182 

war  with  closed 243 

relations  with 323 

Troup,    Governor   of    Georgia,    his 
course    on    the    questions    of 

Creeks  and  Cherokees 652 

Trumbull,  Jonathan,  elected  Speaker 

83, 1543 

Tunis,  affairs  with  (Jefferson)    j      ? «r 

(Madison) 282,  328 

Turkey,    relations  with  {  ™j;   ™f;  ^ 

commission  to 732 

treaty  with 733 

Tyler,  John,  biography  of 1211 

elected  to  the  Virginia  Legisla- 
ture  1213 

acts  with  the  Democratic  party.  1213 
captain  of  a  volunteer  company 

during  the  war  of  1812 1213 

elected  to  the  Executive  Council.  12]  3 
elected  to  Congress  (House  of  R.)  1214 

his  course  in  that  body 1214 

elected  governor  of  Virignia. . . .  1215 

elected  to  the  U.  S.  Senate 1216 

advocates  Crawford  for  president.1217 
approves  of  Mr.  Clay's  course  in 

voting  for  Adams  as  president.1217 
opposes  Adams's  administration.  121 9 
supports  Jackson's  1219 

opposes  re-charter  of  U.  S.  bank 
and  internal  improvement  by 

U.  S.  government 1219,  1220 

sympathises  with  the  nullifiers 

of  S.  Carolina 1220 

re-elected  to  the  Senate 1220 

opposes  the  administration  of 
General  Jackson,  after  the  re- 
moval of  the  deposites  from 

U.  S.  bank 1220 

elected  president  of  the  Senate  .  1223 
resigns  his  seat,  in  consequence 
of  certain  instructions  from  the 

legislature  of  Virginia 1224 

nominated    for    vice-president, 

1835 1226 

elected  by  the  whigs  a  delegate 
to  the  Harrisburg  convention 

in  1839 1227 

advocates  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Clay 1227 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1625 


Cyler,  J.  is  placed  on  the  Whig  ticket 
(with   General    Harrison)   for 

vice-president 1227 

causes  of  his  nomination 1227 

elected  vice-president 1227 

his  accession  to  the  presidency  by 
the  death  of  Harrison  ..1227-1393  i 

administration 1393  i 

inaugural  address 1229 

addresses  and  messages. . .  1229-1392 

retains  Harrison's  cabinet 1395  i 

his  awkward  position  as  presi- 
dent  1413; 

dissolution  of  his  cabinet,  in  con- 
sequence of  his  course  in  op- 
posing Whig  .measures  at  the 
extra  session  of  Congress 1415  j 

is  denounced  by  the  Whig  party 
in  Congress 1417 

loses  the  confidence  of  both  par- 
ties   1421 

supported  by  political  adven- 
turers  1421,  1426 

course  of  the  Democratic  leaders 
towards  him 1412 

Mr.  Van  Buren's  remarks  on  the 
subject  of  his  bank  vetoes. ...  1-1 12 

refuses  to  furnish  to  the  House 
of  Representatives  the  names 
of  members  of  Congress  apply- 
ing for  office ". .  1269  j 

protests  against  certain  proceed- 
ings in  Congress 1297  ' 

,.„  j  .  (  1244,  1248,  12SO 

bills  vetoed  by. . .  J  1284>  136G>  13QO  ; 

pocket  vetoes 1314,  142S 

last  act  of  his  administration  . . .  1428  j 
character  of  his  administration. .  1423  ; 
personal  appearance   and    cha- 
racter  1228  ' 

nominated  for  election   as  pre- 
sident, by  his  friends,  in  1844.1420 
accepts     the     nomination,     but 
finally  withdraws,  and  appeals 
to  posterity 1426  ' 

U. 

Univertity,    National,    (Washing- 
ton)   35,66 

(Jefferson) 191 

(Madison) 233,332,335  t 

(J.  Q.  Adams) 590-1 

Upshur,  Abel  P.  appointed  secretary 

of  the  navy 1418 

appointed  secretary  of  state 1423 

death  of 1423 

Union  of  the   States  promoted   by 

extension  (Jefferson) 174 

conspiracies  to  dismember. .  .20-1, 2U5 
promoted    by    extension    C  410, 461 
(Monroe)  "  \ 

extraordinary  progress  of I1'1 

American,  historical  sketch  of.   1493 

•tales  admitted  into  the 1508 

VOL.  II.— 57 


V. 

lran  Suren,  Martin, biography  of.  .1029 
commencement  of  his  political 

life 1031,1033 

elected  to  the  Senate  of  N.York  1034 
supports  Dewitt  Clinton  for  pre- 
sident   103."> 

supports  the  war  with  G.  Britain  1035 
advocates  internal  improvement  103.' 
his  course  in  N.  Y.  politics  .  ...103:' 
his  course  in  presidential  nomi- 
nation of  1S16 1030 

Albany  Regency  organized  ....  1037 

elected  to  Senate  of  if.  S 1038 

"      member  of  state  conven- 
tion to  revise  constitution. . . .  103S 
advocates  Mr.  Crawford  for  the 

presidency  in  1323—1 1040 

opposes  Mr.  Adams's  administra- 
tion     .- 104C 

advocates  election  of  Gen.  Jack- 
son in  1S23 1040 

elected  governor  of  New  York. .  1040 
resigns,  on   being  appointed  by 
Gen.     Jackson     secretarv    of 

state ." 1041 

resigns  as  secretary  of  state  ....  104 1 
appointed  minister  to  G.  Britain  10-11 
his  nomination  rejected  by  the 

senate^ 1041 

nominated  for  vice  president  and 

elected 1041 

returns  from  England,  and  is  in- 
augurated vice  president 1042 

elected  president  of  the  U.S. . .  1012 

•     administration  1157 

inauguration 1157 

cabinet 1 157 

inaugural  address 104.') 

address  and  messages  ....  1045-1 1 55 
character  of  his  administration.  11 70 
nominated  for  re-election  to  the 

presidency 1012,  11GS 

defeated  by  the  election  of  Gen. 

Harrison 1042 

retires  to  private  life  at  Linden- 
wold 1042 

his  opinion  of  Mr.  Tyler's  bank 

vetoes 1412 

is  a  candidate  for  the  presidency 
at  the  democratic  convention, 

1944 104.1 

loses  the  nomination  by  the  Tex- 
as question 1043 

personal  appearance  and  charac- 
ter   : 1043 

Van  Rensselaer,  Gen.,  action  with  the 

British  at  Queenston 300 

Varnum   Joseph    B.    elected    speak- 
er  255,341 

f'e toes  by  President i  of  U.  S. 

(Washington)  apportionment  bill 

appendix xrri 

"  reduction  of  army,    ib 


1626 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


Vetoes  of  the  Presidents  of  U.  S. 

(Madison)  church  \n  Alexandria. 2S5 
"       in  Mississippi . .  2S6 

district  courts 292 

(retained)     naturaliza- 
tion law 304 

bank  U.  S 323 

internal  improvements, 

appendix xxviii 

(Monroe)  Cumberland  road  bill.  .491 
(Jackson)  Maysville  road  bill. . . .  719 

"         Bank  of  U.  S 767 

"         harbors  and  rivers 793 

"         (retained)  Wabasa  river.SS2 
"        Washington    Turnpike 

co 977 

"         (retained)   lighthouses, 

&c 735,  977 

"         (retained)       Louisville 

and  Portland  canal  co.735,  977 
"  (retained)  harbor  bill... 995 
"  "  interest  to  the 

states 995 

"         adjournment     of    con- 
gress   1021 

"         (retained)  funds  receiv- 
able for  U.  S.  revenue.  ...10:25 
"         (retained)  Clay's  Land 

bill,  appendix xxx 

Tyler,  fiscal  bank  of  U.  S 1244 

"       fiscal  corporation 1248 

first  tarifi  bill 1280 

"       second    do 1284 

"       reasons  for  approving  ap- 
portionment bill 1279 

"       ^retained)  repealing  sixth 

section  of  public  land  bill  1314 
"       (retained)  regulating  con- 
tested elections 1314 

"       eastern  harbor  bill 1366 

"       revenue  cutter  bill 1390 

"       (retained)    harbors     and 

rivers 1428 

Vermont,  admitted  into  the  Union.S3,15U8 
senators  and  representatives. . . .  1517 
synopsis  of  the  constitution....  1561 
Vessels  captured  during  war  with  G. 

Britain,  on  each  side. . .' 377 

Veto,  pocket,  origin  of  the  term 995 

examples   (  304,  735,  832,  977,  995, 
of  {      1012,  1025, 1314,  142S 

Virginia  democrats,  a  portion  of,  op- 
pose Jeil'erson's  administration. 248 
senators      and      representatives 

from ...............1531 

state  of,  synopsis  of  constitution  1567 
Volunteer  military  force  recommend- 
ed (Madison) 280,  302 

W. 
Wabash  river,  bill  to  improve,  vetoed 

by  Jackson 882 

Walker  Robt.  J.  appointed  secretary 

of  the  Treasury 1433 


War,  to  be  prepared  for,  the  means 

of  preserving  peace  (Wash'gton)34 
with  Great   Britain   threatened, 

appendix xiii 

prospects  of,   from  the  critical 
state  of  the  country,  in  1797, 

appendix xx) 

preparation  for,  with  France.  117, lly 
preparations  for,  with  G.  Britain 

recommended  by  Madison 2S8 

with  Gt.   Britain  recommended 

by  Madison 293,  353 

a  democratic  measure 348 

political  causes  of. 348 

declaration  of  reported 353 

majorities  on  adopting  in  congress  354 

copy  of  the  act 354 

president  issues  his  proclamation  354 
spirit  of  the  American  people, 

303,  322 

with  Great  Britain,  vigorous  pro- 
secution of  recommended 309 

advantages  of  to  the  U.  S 317 

British  manner  of  conducting. .  .322 
preparation  for,  in  time  of  peace. 326 

with  Algiers  recommended 327 

successful  termination  of 328 

continued  for  the  grievance  of 

impressment  alone 359 

effects  of,  on  the  people 364 

measures  adopted  by  congress.. .  .366 
prosecuted  with  vigor  and  zeal, 

in  1814 366 

preparations  for  continuance,  in 

1814 37v> 

effects,  advantages  and  disadvan- 
tages of 376 

summary  of  results  of 377 

expenditures,  losses,  &c 377 

with  Algiers'." 377,  378 

with  G.  Britain,  cost  of 426 

War  department,  established S2 

Madison  recommends  additional 

offices  in 293 

War  message,  Mexican 1485 

Warehouse     system,     recommended 

by  Jackson 706 

(Tyler) 1305 

Warren,   Admiral,   arrives    in    the 

Chesapeake 358 

proposes  an  armistice 35S 

Warrington  Capt.  captures  a  Br'tish 

sloop  of  war 321,  369 

his  services  in  suppressing  pi- 
racy   588 

acting  secretary  of  the  navy....  1423 
Washington,  George,  biography  of.  ..25 

elected  President  of  U.  S 28 

re-elected  "  29,84 

retires  from  Presidency 29 

death 29 

character  and  personal  appear- 
ance   30 

speeches  and  messages  of. 31-78 


ANALYTICAL    INDEX. 


1627 


Washington,  inaugural  address,  1759.. 31 

1793 54 

special  messages,  appendix i 

declines  pecuniary  compensation.. 33 

proclamation  of  neutrality 46 

"  respecting  Pensyl- 

variia  insurrection 51 

second         "         "     51 

farewell  address 69 

his  policy  with  foreign  nations. GO,  Gl 
congratulates    Congress   on    the 
success  of  the   experiment  of 

a  national  government 65 

administration  of 79 

inauguration  at  New  York SO 

appoints  his  cabinet 82 

tour  through  Eastern  States 62 

ratifies  Jay's  treaty S7 

his  private  character  assailed S5 

reply  to  Mr.  Adet,  on  presenta- 
tion of  French  colors SO 

character  of  his  administration.. .  .93 
refuses  to  the   House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, copy  of  instructions 

to  Mr.  Jay. . . ." 90 

appendix xvii 

declines  a  re-election 91 

appointed     commander-in-chief 
of    the    provisional    army,    in 

179S 132 

his  last  visit  to  Philadelphia 133 

death  of,  announced  to  Congress..  133 

appendix xxiii 

sympathy  of  Congress  expressed 

to  Mrs.  Washington,  appendix  xxiv 
his  remains,  desired  by  Congress, 
to  be  interred  at   the  Capitol, 

appendix xxiv 

action    of    Congress,    on    monu- 
ment to 137 

monument  to,  recommended  (J. 

Q  Adams) 593 

his  sword  presented  to  Congress.  1346 
Washington,  Mrs.,  letter  to  President 
Adams,  on  death  of  Gen.  Wash- 
ington   1 25 

Washington  City,  laid  out 10 

public  buildings,  commenced  at, 

appendix v. ; 

liberal  grants  of  lands   to  U.  S., 

appendix xvi 

removal  of  seat  of  government, 

to 123,  125,  120,  137 

taken   by  the  British,   in    1S14, 

320,  36b 

rebuilding  of  public  edifices 403 

advantages  as  a  metropolis 403 

improvement    of,   recommenda- 
tion  477 

Washington,  treaty  of...  1290,  1329.  1421 
Wa«D.  t  .  S.  sloop-of-Wdr,  success  of, 

321,369 

Wayne,  Gen.,  success  of,  against  In- 
dians   59 

campaign  and  treaty S(J 


Webster,  Daniel,  discussion  in  Senate 

on  nullification 969 

appointed  secretary  of  state, 

1192,  1395 

his  letters  on  remaining/  in  Ty- 
ler's cabinet 1409,  1416 

resigns 1422 

president's   special    message    in 
relation   to   his   expenditures 

while' secretary  of  state 1481 

Weights  and  Measure*,  uniformity 

in  (Washington) 34,  37,  42 

standard  of  (Madison) 335 

(J.  Q.  Adams) 591 

(Jackson) 940 

West  Indies,  refusal  of  British  gov- 
ernment to  open  the  ports  of... 416 
restrictions  continued  in  1S20....421 
see  Great  Britian. 
IVest  Point  .Military  Academy, 

(Washington). . '. ..43,  08 

(Jefferson) 211 

(Madison) 2^4,  331 

(Monroe) 1 15,  451,  471 

•       (J.  Q.  Adams) 5^5,  616,  627 

(Jackson) 70S,  90G,  93S 

(Van  Buren) 10S6 

Whig  party,  origin  of 1396 

see  conventions. — see  parties. 

\Vhiskey  insurrection 51,51,  63 

suppression  of. 57 

cost  of. . .  .87 

White,  Hugh  L.,  candidate  for  presi- 
dent, 1S3G 1019 

president  of  the  Senate  pro  tern.  1007 

White,  John,  elected  speaker.. 1400 

Wilkinson,   Gin.,  court  of  inquiry 

on 204 

charges  against 206 

Wines,  duties  on,  reduced 667 

Wirt,  William,  appointed  attorney- 
general  54 1 

continued         "         640 

Wickliffc, Charles  A. .appointed  post- 
master general 1413.  1550 

Wilkins,  William,  appointed  secre- 
tary of  war 1 123 

Wolcott,  Oliver,  appointed  secretary 

of  treasury,  by  Washington. ..  .87 

continued,  by  J."  Adams 129 

resigns 13* 

Woodbury,  Led,  appointed  secre- 
tary of  the  navy 9S7 

secretary  of  the  treasury,.! 01  S,  1157 
"         justice  of  supreme  court. ..1556 

Y. 

York  (now  Toronto),  Upper  Canada, 
taken  by  U.  States  troops  un- 
der Gen.  Dearborn 309,  364 

/. 

Zo/M'trrin,     Gorman,     negotiations 

with 1335 

irentv  with,  rejected 1373 


1776. 


A  FAITHFUL  CHRONICLE  OF  THE  WAR  OF 


AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE. 


To  every  true-hearted  American,  this  is  a  most 
welcome  and  invaluable  -work ;  It  is  the  voice  of  our 
Fathers  calling  upon  us  to  gnard  most  sacredly  the 
precious  boon  of  Freedom, — to  purchase  and  secure 
•which,  they  offered  upon  their  Country's  altar,  their 
lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor. 

OPINIONS   OF  THE   PRESS. 

"  To  THE  YOUTH  OF  MY  BELOVED  COUNTRY. 

"  Having  carefully  read  and  critically  examined  this  work  just  published, 
entitled  '  The  War  of  Independence,'  I  am  enabled  to  give  my  opinion  of  the 
merits  of  the  same,  which  I  do  most  cheerfully,  in  conformity  with  the  author's 
request ;  although  I  am  conscious  that  my  judgment  on  a  subject  of  this  kind 
is  of  less  value  than  that  of  many  others  of  more  experience  than  myself,  a& 
critics  or  historians. 

"  The  peculiar  merits  of  this  work  appear  to  me  to  consist  chiefly  in  its  admi- 
rable arrangement  in  chronological  order,  and  the  author  confining  himself 
strictly  to  the  subject  of  the  Revolution,  from  its  incipient  stages  to  the  final 
termination  of  the  contest,  and  the  permanent  settlement  of  our  national 
government  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  enabling  him  to  present  in 
detail  a  greater  variety  of  important  and  interesting  facts  than  are  to  be  found 
in  any  other  compendium  of  the  kind.  If  any  fault  is  to  found  on  this  head,  it 
is  perhaps  in  the  overcrowding  of  the  narrative  of  events  in  the  closing  chap- 
ters, to  which  condensation  the  limited  number  of  pages  of  the  work  compelled 
him  to  conform. 

"  Of  the  performance  of  that  portion  of  the  task,  which  belonged  to  him  as  an 
artist,  it  becomes  not  me  to  speak,  having  no  claims  to  the  character  of  n  con- 
noisseur in  the  arts,  but  I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  the  gem-nil  arrange- 
ment and  execution  of  the  engravings  display  originality,  judgment,  and  ta.*te, 
IM  appears  to  me,  and  I  think  the  public,  will  concur  with  me  in  plucing  thia 
look  before  any  other  illustrated  work  on  the  Revolution  yet  published. 


2  Critical  Notices  of  "  1776." 

"  With  regard  to  the  tone  and  spirit  of  the  volume,  the  felicity  of  the  style  of 
narrative  and  reflections,  and  the  great  care  taken  to  insure  accuracy,  as  is 
shown  by  the  author's  frequent  reference  to  the  best  authorities,  I  am  confi- 
dent that  he  is  entitled  to  the  reputation  of  a  competent  and  faithful  historian. 

"With  my  best 'wishes  for  the  general  circulation  of  this  valuable  work 
among  you  "  I  remain  yours, 

"EDWIN  WILLIAMS." 

From  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine,  August,  1847. 

"  The  enterprising  and  patriotic-spirited  publisher  of  this  exceedingly  beaut' 
ful  volume  will  surely  find  that  he  has  not  misjudged,  in  believing  that '  a  boot 
in  one  volume,  well  written,  and  embracing  a  faithful  chronicle  of  events  whic'a 
accomplished  the  laying  of  the  foundation-stone  of  this  great  republic,  woult 
be  invaluable  to  the  present  and  future  generations.'  He  has  certainly  sparec 
no  expense  in  the  preparation  of  the  work.  AH  the  engravings  were  expressly 
made  for  it ;  and  we  would  invite  particular  attention  to  the  appendix,  which 
contains  documents  and  information  that  the  present  generation  are  but  slightly 
familiar  with ;  while  the  work,  in  its  general  mechanical  appearance,  will  be 
found  well  worthy  the  patronage  of  the  American  people.  The  volume  begins 
with  the  period  of  the  union  of  the  colonies  against  the  French,  and  ends  with 
the  inauguration  of  WASHINGTON.  Its  numerous  engravings,  by  Mr.  Benson 
J.  Lossing,  reflect  great  credit  upon  the  skill  and  care  of  that  capable  artist ; 
as  does  the  entire  work,  indeed,  alike  -upon  editor,  publisher,  illustrate,  and 
binder.  Its  extensive  sale  must  soon  become  a  '  fixed  fact.'  " 

0 

From  the  Merchants'  Magazine,  September,  1847. 

"  Mr.  Lossing,  the  compiler  of  the  present  volume,  is  an  engraver  of  more 
chan  ordinary  skill,  possessing  a  correct  literary  taste,  and  is,  withal,  a  chaste 
and  graceful  writer.  In  the  preparation  of  the  work,  his  aim  seems  to  have 
been  to  give  a  concise,  yet  complete  and  comprehensive  narrative  of  the  lead- 
ing events  of  the  American  Revolution,  than  which  no  subject  is  of  more 
general  interest  to  the  American  people.  As  far  as  we  are  competent  to  judge, 
he  seems  to  have  accomplished  successfully  all  that  he  proposed,  having 
grouped  succinctly  the  more  important  facts  and  circumstances  connected  with 
the  rise,  progress,  and  termination  of  the  war,  and  presented  them  in  a  popular 
and  attractive  form.  The  facilities  afforded  by  previous  works,  and  recent 
biographies  of  the  men  who  figured  more  or  less  conspicuously  in  the  events 
of  that  memorable  period,  seem  to  have  been  diligently  consulted,  and  the 
materials  thus  furnished,  used  with  discrimination.  The  numerous  pictorial 
illustrations  are  handsomely  executed ;  and  we  have  seldom  seen  a  work,  so 
far  as  its  typographical  appearance  was  concerned,  more  generally  attractive. 
The  type  and  paper  on  which  it  is  printed,  the  binding,  and,  indeed,  the  entire 
manner  of  the  '  getting  up,'  reflect  great  credit  on  the  taste  and  enterprise 
of  Mr.  Walker,  the  publisher." 

From  the  Nero  York  Express. 

"  This  history  of  the  American  Revolution,  comprised  in  a  handsome  octavo 
folume  of  over  500  pages,  is  a  valuable  contribution  \6  this  branch  of  our  lite- 
rature, as  we  are  here  presented,  in  a  condensed  and  cheap  form,  with  the  most 
important  and  interesting  portion  of  our  national  history.  The  ponderous 
volumes  of  Gordon,  Andrews,  Marshall,  and  other  writers,  containing  the  details 
of  our  revolutionary  history,  are  accessible  to  only  a  small  portion  of  modern 
readers;  while  the  imperfections  of  such  histories  as  Botta's,  Ramsay's,  and 
others,  are  so  well  known  as  to  prevent  a  general  reliance  on  them  for  authority. 
It  will  be  admitted,  therefore,  we  think,  that  a  concise  popular  narrative  of  our 
Revolutionary  War,  embracing  clear  and  connected  details  of  the  causes  and 
events  of  tha*  momentous  period,  is  a  desideratum 


114  PULTON- STREET,  NEW- YORK. 


Tt 


The  New  York  liookbtadery. 

E3"~  This  old  establishment  is  chiefly  devoted  to  the  finer  and  more  cosMy  styles  of  Boole  Binding,  in  TITJtSKf  MO- 
ROCCO, RUSSIA.,  ENGLISH,  FRENCH  a"'l  AttERICAIT  CALF,  ami  especially  those  unique  and 
economical  half  Call  and  half  Morocco  styles.  In  all  cases  the  very  beat  of  Slock  and  workmanship,  with  «T*SNOTB 
and  BEAcrr  combined,  may  be  relied  upon. 

LARGE  ILLUSTRATED  WORKS,  BOOKS  OF  ENGRAVINGS,  SCRAP  BOOKS, 

ALBUMS,  PORTFOLIOS  AND  MUSIC, 

BOUND  WITH  GREAT  CARE  AND  STRENGTH,  OT  PLAIN  AND  ELEGANT  STYLES. 


E.  \V.  returns  his  thanks  to  his  friends  and  the  public  for  the  favors  they  have  so  liberally  bestowed  on  him  Jnr  upwards 
of  twelve  years,  and  takes  this  opportunity  to  inform  them  that  he  has  very  considerably  enlarged  and  improved  his  Estab- 
lishment, which  hr  believes  to  be  as  extensive  and  to  possess  as  great  facilities  at  iny  Book  Bindery  in  the  I  ntted  State*. 

His  two  Sons,  who  have  been  reared  under  his  special  care,  aided  by  talented  Instructors  in  the  an  ot  Book  Bind  inf.  are  now 
in  partnership  with  him,  and  they  confidently  hope,  by  their  united  attention  and  experience,  in  give  good  satisfaction  to  their 
pairons  —  who  may  rest  assured  no  expense  wilt  be  'spared  in  the  adoption  of  every  improvement,  tin-  employment  of  lh< 
Wheat  grade  of  Workmen,  and  the  most  carelnl  selection  of  Stock,  and  in  all  instances  the  most  reasonable  Scale  of  Prices 

/Itlshlfhl;  advantageous  to  GENTLEMEN  HAVING  LIBRARIES,  and  for  UTKKAKY  LNSTITl'TIOSt*.  lo 

APPLY    DIRECT   TO  THIS    E  ST  A  B  L  I  S  H  M  E  IV  T. 

They  will  effect  a  saving  of  TWENTY  PER  CENT.,  and  sometimes  more. 

N.  B.— Gcntlenr-n  residing  at  a  distance,  experiencing  difficulty  in  gelling  their  Binding  done,  will  find  it  to  their  adv»n 
lage  to  pack,  and  direct  them  as  above,  stating  style  and  price  ;  they  may  rely  U|H>II  their  bemg  well  N«und.  at  the  lowest 
price*,  and  carefullv  parked  and  returned  without  delay.  In  all  such  coses  the  owner  will  b*  cliarfe<1  with  frolffct,  and  an 
order  for  payment  Jon  he  binding,  on  a  bank  or  firm  In  S'ew-Vork,  u  required.  The  owners  of  books  lliu*  »cnt  art  rr«iu«stetl 
'<>  state  expressly  the  route  by  which  ihey  wlxh  them  to  be  relumed. 

Music  buuud  (  n  in  impmved  principle,  with  Patent  Spring  B;icks,  in  neat  and  elegant  bindings 


A    PROOF    OP    THE    POPUI^AKITY    OF    THIS    ESTABLISHMENT. 

,5,OOO  Copies  ot'.Jte*xr*.  Harper* tt  Pirtortal  ttihlc  A"  Shtikspcarc 

HAVE  BEEN   BOCND  IN  SPLENDID  PICTORIAL  PATTERNS    AT  TIIIH   BINDERY. 

E.  W.  and  Bom  particularly  Incite  the  attention  of  Librarians  and  c*nllenvn  having  Libraries,  t<>  tboir  ntcnsiv,  It, n  1m« 
EsUiblialinient,  posKssing  every  facility  for  the  best  of  worknnnoliip,  ei[x dition  and  low  prlrea.  R«\irwsand  Mafa/ine. 
b0sjsj^  to  pattern. 

N.  B^-The  J*irfMM-rit>eni  b«*to  a»»orw  their  frienrf*  «ml  the  rmbllc  thai  thetr  orler*  will  rererve  ptrttealiMlHMtM,  and 
;bat  tM  style  and  wyrkmaiialiip  shall  equal  any  binding  dune  eilhrr  lo  England,  France  or  America. 


E.  WALKER  &  SON'S, 

111  FULTON  STREET,  NEW.TORK. 


'K.  WALKER'S 


BOOK   ESTABLISHMENT, 

114  Fulton  Street,  New- York. 


D3=  RESPONSIBLE  AGENTS  WANTED  =O 

For  the  following  popular  and  useful  Publications,  to  whom  a  very  liberal  commission  will 

be  given. 

"  1776,"  or  the  War  of  Independence  ;  80  Engravings, Price  $2.50 

Statesman's  Manual.     2  vols.  8vo.     Washington  to  Polk.     Library  Style, 6.00 

Mrs.  Ellis'  Family  Monitor ;  Illustrated, 2.50 

Dr.  Bowling's  History  of  Romanism  ;  50  Engravings 3.00 

Guide  to  Knowledge  ;  Imperial  8vo.  300         do r 3.00 

Wonders  of  the  World ;  8vo.  250         do. 2.50 

De  Tocqueville's  Democracy ;  School  edition, 1.00 

Dr.  Cheever's  Lectures  on  Pilgrim's  Progress  ;  Illustrated 2.50 

Christian  Martyrology ;  8vo.  100  Engravings 1.50 

Christ's  Messengers  ;  Illustrated  ;    Extra  Saxony  gilt 1.50 

Wreath  of  Wild  Flowers 1.00 

Walker  on  Woman, 1.00 

Do.     on  Intermarriage,  with  Engravings 1.25 

Do.     on  Pathology 0.75 

Mrs.  Ellis'  Brother  and  Sister,  with  Portrait 0.50 

Robin  Hood  and  his  Merry  Archers  ;  Illustrated, 1.00 

Arabian  Nights  ;  40  Engravings, 1.00 

Fate  of  Infidelity  ;   18mo ^ 0.38 

The  Recruit,  or  American  Soldier's  Manual 0.50 

Mrs.  Barret's  Poems  ;  2  vols.  12mo , . . .  2.00 

Eliza  Cook's  Poems,  with  English  Engravings  ;    Mor 2.50 

Praed's  Poems  ;  12mo, 1.00 

»     ODD  FELLOWS'  BOOKS. 

The  Odd  Fellow's  Offering  for  1848,  elegantly  Illustrated , 2.00 

Do.  /  do.  1849,  considerably  enlarged,  do 3.00 

The  Juvenile  Odd  Fellow,  12mo 1.00 

Faith,  Hope  and  Charity 1.25 

Friendship,  Love  and  Truth 1.25 

E.  W.  has  constantly  on  hand  the  Messrs.  HARPER'S  PIC- 
TORIAL BIBLE  AND  SHAKSPE  ARE,  in  elegant  picto- 
rial Morocco,  Russia  and  Calf  bindings. 

114  Fulton  Street. 


A     001096538 


\ 


